NHL Seattle Kraken mascot Buoy chased by grizzly bear while fly-fishing in Anchorage, Alaska, USA

A fishing trip in Alaska took an unexpected turn for a US sports mascot when they were chased by a grizzly bear.

Members of the Seattle Kraken NHL team were in Anchorage, Alaska, as part of a partnership with the Bristol Bay Native Corporation and were attending an ice hockey camp hosted by the Anchorage Hockey Academy, local media reported.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE.

Kraken forward John Hayden and the team’s mascot, Buoy, were fly-fishing in Katmai National Park when they encountered the grizzly bear.

The team shared a video of the encounter to its social media.

“While we were fishing, we had a pretty close call with a couple bears,” Hayden tells the camera in the video.

It then shows the sportsman fishing, while the camera pans away from where he is looking and shows a grizzly bear on the other side of the shallow river.

The team quickly but calmly starts moving away from the animal, which is climbing on rocks and not yet paying much attention to the group.

However, the bear then jumps into the water and starts making its way towards them.

Just metres away from Buoy, the bear stars growling.

The bear then charges towards them, prompting Hayden and Buoy to quickly back away.

Fortunately, no one was injured during the encounter, as the bear eventually lost interest and walked away.

“I want to blame it on Buoy,” Hayden joked.

“They were pretty interested in his ... his whole look, so.

“We got out of it OK, but it was a close call.”

Social media users were understandably shocked by the video.

“There’s no way Buoy gets paid enough to be getting chased by bears in the offseason,” one person said.

“Imagine spending your last moments on earth in a Buoy costume being mauled by a bear,” another person commented.

“That would have actually been terrifying for the guy in the costume,” another user said. “Like normally it’s easy to forget about the guy in the suit, but here it’s impossible to forget.”

-With NBC