Seattle Kraken Staffer Talks About The Moment A Bear Charged Team's Mascot
The staffer says she wasn't scared, which can't be said for most of us
The offseason for Seattle Kraken mascot, Buoy, took an interesting turn when the hockey-loving troll found itself staring down the business end of a grizzly bear while fly-fishing with Kraken center John Hayden in Alaska.
I know that sounds like a fever dream, but it really did happen, and fortunately, no one was hurt when the fairly large bear decided to make a cameo.
Buoy, Hayden, and members of the Kraken staff were in Katmai National Park doing some fly-fishing during a trip to Alaska to promote youth hockey.
That's when the grizzly showed up and gave everyone a bit of a scare.
Now, the Kraken's Partnership Marketing Director. Melissa O’Brochta — who happened to be the woman behind the camera at the time — has opened up about the incident.
"Bears are everywhere at Brooks Falls and, like, this is their territory," O'Brochta said in an interview with the Associated Press. "They’re also super-used to seeing humans. So I wasn’t scared. I knew we were going to be safe."
Alright, then I feel comfortable saying that O'Brochta is braver than I am, because my palms were sweating watching that video of the bear encounter, and I'm sitting in Florida.
If that had happened to me, I would've been on the first flight back to the Lower 48. The bear would lumber back into the woods, and everybody would be like, "Whoa, it suddenly got way less handsome around here; where did Matt go?"
Meanwhile, I'd already be at 30,000 feet, sitting in the back of coach, eating a pouch of fiesta mix and watching the third Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them movie even though I've never seen the first two.
I'd be lost as hell, but at least there wouldn't be any bears.
O'Brochta later also said that she believes that the bears just wanted to play, which is certainly the glass-half-full way of looking at it.
Of course, it's great to hear that everyone who was there seems no worse for wear, but I have a feeling they won't be sending Buoy back into the wild anytime soon.