Beloved National Hockey League mascot Buoy may rule the rink, but in bear country, he’s skating on thin ice.
In a video posted to X, the Seattle Kraken mascot joined forward John Hayden on a fishing adventure. The two are dressed in fishing gear and standing in a river when a brown bear emerges from the trees and approaches the waterโs edge.
The brush with nature happened while the troll and Hayden were taking part in a youth hockey summer camp program in Anchorage, Alaska, according to a post shared by the ice hockey team on X.
“TROLL NARROWLY ESCAPES BEAR ENCOUNTER,” the post’s caption reads. “*No trolls or bears were hurt in the making, always respect wildlife in their natural habitat.”
The dramatic 51-second clip begins with Buoy standing beside Hayden, who tells the camera there was a close encounter with a bear during the trip.
The footage cuts back to earlier in the trip, showing Hayden using a fishing reel when someone off-camera warns, โWe got a bear.โ Over Hayden’s shoulder, the bear can be seen stepping into the water.
“Oh my God,” someone says. “We’ve got to move down.”
Hayden hands off his fishing reel to a crew member, and the group cautiously begins moving to put distance between themselves and the bear.
The camera follows Buoy and Hayden as they calmly wade farther into the water โ just as the bear lets out a ferocious growl. Seconds later, the bear breaks into a sprint, charging at Buoy before suddenly backing off.
โI want to blame it on Buoy. They were pretty interested in his whole look,โ Hayden says later in the video about the encounter. โWe got out of it OK, but it was a close call.โ
The comments section on the video post had no shortage of jokes over the run-in.
“If you see Buoy and a bear in the wild, HELP THE BEAR!” the official account for the Los Angeles Rams mascot, Rampage, quipped.
“Typical Boston fan in the wild,” another joked.
“BUOY WAS STANDING ON BUSINESS,” chimed in another. “HE WAS NOT INTIMIDATED BY THE BEAR.”
How to tell the difference between brown and black bears?
Alaska is home to three species of bears: black bears, polar bears and brown bears (which include the grizzly bear subspecies), according to the National Park Service (NPS).
The brown bear in the video is easy to distinguish from a polar bear by coat color. However, telling a brown bear from a black bear is trickier since both can have brown coats. Their key differences lie in their size and physical features. Brown bears and grizzly bears have a noticeable muscular hump between their shoulders, longer claws and smaller ears, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
You might have heard the adage “Brown, lie down. Black fight back.” In the case of a brown bear encounter, NPS advises remaining calm โ as Buoy and Hayden do in the video โ and, if necessary, lying on the ground and playing dead. Black bears, however, should be approached differently if they become aggressive. NPS advises making yourself look larger, shouting, and fighting back with whatโs available to you in the area.
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