Hockey player's act of kindness earns him a Thanksgiving dinner.

As fans of the sport of hockey we often like to brag about the quality of professional athlete that can generally be found in the sport. You of course have your occasional bad apples but for the most part hockey players are usually very upstanding members of their communities, and I'm proud to say that this applies to all levels of the sport.

This week we were treated to yet another example of this when a small act of kindness went viral on social media over the Thanksgiving holiday period. That act of kindness came courtesy of Charlotte Checkers forward Ryan Lohin, a former 7th round pick (208th overall) of the Tampa Bay Lightning at the 2016 National Hockey League Entry Draft. The Checkers are based in Charlotte, North Carolina but are affiliated with the Florida Panthers and Seattle Kraken.

Lohin was sitting in the lobby of a building when he saw a woman who was struggling with her groceries right outside the door, that woman as it turns out was Vivian Bowman-Meeks.

“I was really having a hard time getting all of my groceries out of my car, and he was sitting in the lobby and I guess he kind of saw me struggling trying to get everything on the cart, so he came out and asked if I needed some help,” said Vivian as per WBTV.

So like the kind man that he is Lohin did exactly that, and as he helped Vivian with her groceries the two of them struck up a conversation. Vivian had come from Atlanta to spend Thanksgiving with her family in Charlotte, but Lohin would have to spend the day largely alone given that he was away from his family.

“So for me, it was kind of Facetiming and planning on getting on a Zoom maybe with the family, but that was probably the closest I was going to get to a family feel,” said Lohin.

Vivian felt so moved by Lohin's act of kindness that she decided she would invite him to share Thanksgiving with her family, admitting later that she had quietly shed tears of joy when alone as a result of Lohin's good deed.

“No matter what he plays or what sports he’s in, I can tell he just had a good heart.”

As for why he went out of his way to help Vivian, Lohin admitted that he would want someone to do the same for any member of his family that found themselves in a similar situation.

“You want to help and you hope others would help your family members or friends, I guess just the right place at the right time to lend a hand, and it wasn’t much of my time to make someone’s day a little bit easier and that’s what I was kind of thinking at the time,” said Lohin.

Not only did Lohin take Vivian up on her invitation, but the two even snapped a couple of pictures to share with the rest of the world on social media. Now they say they will try and reunite again sometime in the future, to celebrate the wonderful moment of kindness that brought them together.