SEATTLE — John Hayden, a forward in the Seattle Kraken organization, always hoped he’d wind up on ESPN for a hockey accomplishment. Maybe a slick goal or an All-Star game selection.

“But I guess being chased by bears is my calling,” Hayden joked.

A video of him fly fishing in an Alaskan river alongside Kraken mascot Buoy went viral this summer. A bear appeared on the opposite riverbank, looking almost too surreal to be real at first glance. Hayden hands his rod off and glances back at the bear as it enters the river. The blue troll seems to draw the bear’s attention, but then again, he's also the closest.

The bear charges, then thinks better of it and backs off.

Hayden and Buoy had prepared for that moment in “bear school,” which is exactly what it sounds like. Rangers at Katmai National Park gave them instruction, the do’s and don’ts in this exact scenario. They were relieved to hear that fatal incidents were very rare. Their guides had bear spray with them if it came to that.

They weren’t in any real danger, right?

“I was definitely on edge, but sort of just trusted the process,” Hayden said.

Hayden was in Alaska for some annual outreach. Alaska is included in the Kraken Hockey Network coverage area and the goal is to help grow the game there. A player takes part in “Kraken Hockey Week” at the Anchorage Hockey Academy’s summer youth hockey camp. Last season, defenseman Jamie Oleksiak made the trip and raved about it” to Hayden.

Hayden was allowed to bring his younger sister Catherine along, which made it more special. They live in different time zones but remain close. Catherine got married Sept. 6 and while John attended her now-husband's bachelor party in Steamboat Springs, Colo., the Alaska trip was bonding time for the siblings.

John and Catherine hit the ice with campers and John helped fulfill a Make-A-Wish request. Three-year-old Caleb Seidl of Anchorage is battling leukemia. John surprised him and his family at a trampoline park, where Caleb learned he and his parents will be flown to Seattle for a Kraken game this fall.

Also on the agenda was a guided fly-fishing outing at Brooks Falls in the Katmai National Park and Preserve. The Haydens flew to King Salmon and took another plane to the park.

“It was an eventful day,” John said.

They donned waders and went into the water with Buoy. They admired nearby bears who were passing through, minding their business. Catherine reeled in a big catch and John had his own sockeye on the line when the viral bear started eyeing Buoy and headed toward them. The Kraken contingent started walking toward the shore, not running, in accordance with those bear school lessons.

Where was Catherine when the viral moment went down? Oh, just dealing with a different bear. That one was walking along the shore. The group had split in half and since some in Catherine’s group weren’t wearing waders, they had to retreat toward the woods. Splitting up from her sibling was the worst part, she said.

“John and I debriefed it, and we both had moments throughout the day where we were like, ‘Are we going to die?’” Catherine said.

Those moments were few, fleeting and unfounded. Catherine said they now consider it a "Top 5 day of their lives.

John played it cool on camera, drawing on an upbringing in Denver and experience out on the water with parents who love fishing.

“At the end of the day, it's their territory,” John said of the bears. “They're post-hibernation, looking for salmon. It's on us to respect what they're doing, to try and maintain a respectful distance and just let them do their thing. I thought we did a decent job.

“The video went viral, but I don't think it's that uncommon.”

A month after the trip, a clip of the incident took off. Local outlets covered it like serious news, announcing that no one was injured. ABC News picked it up and ESPN even sent out an alert. John was often identified as “Kraken player.”

Before playing field hockey for the University of North Carolina, Catherine finished high school in England. Her old buddies from The King’s School in Canterbury, Kent sent her the Daily Mail article titled: “Horrifying moment Kraken star John Hayden and team mascot are charged at by a bear while filming skit.” The tabloid’s story began: “One NHL team's relentless quest for off-season media content led a player and mascot into the path of a charging brown bear.”

For better or worse, the story had gone international.

Many of John’s current and former teammates reached out. He said Max McCormick, who captains top Kraken’s top affiliate the Coachella Valley Firebirds, is a dedicated outdoorsman. He gives Yale alumnus John grief for being a “New York city slicker.”

“To send him some of that content is good bragging rights for me,” John said.

Hayden signed a two-year contract extension in May after seeing 20 games with the Kraken in 2024-25, registering a goal and an assist. He’s spent most of three seasons within the Seattle organization in Coachella Valley.

The goal is always to make the NHL club out of training camp and that journey begins again in mid-September. Ideally he’ll be widely known as veteran forward John Hayden, solid dude, in the locker room. But perhaps his calling this year is to be “bear guy.”

“I’m sure I’ll be asked about it a decent amount,” John said.

And in spite of the tabloid takes, the bear incident wasn’t so horrifying that the Hayden siblings aren’t plotting their return to Anchorage.

“On the way home, John and I were texting. (I said) 'Tell your teammates it was awful, so we get to go back next year,’” Catherine joked.

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