The bear charged toward the mascot, splashing water, but turned away before making contact as Hayden, Buoy and the film crew walked back to shore, wading through the gentle stream.
The NHL team said it didn’t intend to involve the bear in filming, but included it in a video posted on X.
Grizzlies commonly feast on salmon in the river near Brooks Falls in the park. Organizers had hired guides for safety.
“Bears are everywhere at Brooks Falls and, like, this is their territory,” said Kraken Partnership Marketing Director Melissa O’Brochta, who also recorded the encounter from shore. “They’re also super used to seeing humans. So I wasn’t scared.”
A troll might have been a different story.
“I want to blame it on Buoy,” Hayden said on the video afterward. “They were pretty interested in his look.”
The run-in with the grizzly happened on June 25 as part of an annual trip organized by the Bristol Bay Native Corporation in Anchorage, Alaska, with events that promote youth ice hockey. Alaska does not have its own NHL team; the closest teams are in Seattle and Vancouver, Canada.