Ethan Bear repays a man's act of kindness in an beautiful way.

Fans of the National Hockey League, and of hockey in general, have always had a great amount of reverence for the athletes that play the game that we all know and love. That comes due in large part to the fact that hockey players are generally pretty good dudes and tend to have a very positive impact on the communities around them, and the latest example of this comes from Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Ethan Bear.

We might have never known of the good deed by Ethan, but on Sunday a woman by the name of Joce Starr on social media took to her profile to share some photographs of what Ethan had done for her son. In the pictures a young boy named Lionel can be seen purchasing some new hockey equipment, hockey equipment he bought courtesy of Ethan himself. According to Joce, all of the equipment was bought and paid for by Ethan and to top it all off the youngster even had the chance to go shopping with the former Edmonton Oilers' defenseman who no doubt helped him make some good choices on his new gear.

Given that these are just images that have been shared on Facebook we don't have the full details of what went down here but thanks to Ethan's mother, Gerree Bear, we do have some additional context. In a message she published under the photographs, Gerree indicated that some time ago Lionel's grandfather Doug had done something similar for the young children in the area. Those children just so happened to include a young Ethan Bear, who is now paying it forward in honor of Doug who is no longer with us.

From Gerree Bear:

Joce, your dad Doug George was a kind generous guy and devoted his life to sports for the children/youth and running the rink for them. Ethan says Doug did a lot for him and he will always remember that and holds his memory dear to his heart. Doug would never want a child to go without. If someone needed some kind equipment at the rink, he would dig wherever he could to find some and check all his resources to help. This is one way to pass on that same kindness that Doug would. He would want to see his grandson continue to play. 

You can check out the photos from their shopping extravaganza below.