The bear has held cultural prominence in the Pacific Northwest for centuries but Spokane Chiefs forward Bear Hughes is at the spear’s tip, taking his animal’s namesake into the hockey world at large.

“So my mom’s side were baseball players, and my dad was a wrestler and a football player,” Hughes told EliteProspects. “My family and one of my cousins play hockey, but other [than that] hockey is not too huge in my family right now, but it’s starting to grow a little bit.”

It’s just going to keep growing if Bear has his way. Now, about that name. His birth name is Cassius Hughes, but he’s gone by Bear since he was four-years-old.

“There’s no one answer,” Hughes said of his first name. “I’ve been called Bear ever since I can remember. No one really ever called me Cassius except at school or so