Montreal Canadiens Carey Price Gives Goal Gear To Hometown Minor Hockey Groups

Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price just might be the best professional hockey player in the world right now, but that doesn't mean he's forgotten where he came from.

Price, a member of the Ulkatcho First Nation from Anahim Lake in the interior of northern British Columbia, recently teamed up with his equipment sponsor CCM Hockey to donate thousands of dollars worth of goaltending gear to the local William's Lake minor hockey system as well as to a number of the area native councils.

Goaltending equipment can be prohibitively expensive to purchase with high-end custom sets of pads, gloves and protective gear often costing multiple thousands of dollars for each set. Price's donation goes a long way toward solving this problem in the community where he grew up. The recipients included the William’s Lake Minor Hockey Association (WLMHA), who received goaltending gear, the Williams Lake KidSport chapter, the Boys and Girls Club of Williams Lake and District, Williams Lake Big Brothers Big Sisters, who received hockey sticks and gear, and the Tsilhqot’in Nation (TN), the Northern Shuswap Tribal Council (NSTC) and the Cariboo Chilcotin Tribal Council (CCTC), who split 15 more sets of goaltending gear between them.

"Williams Lake Minor Hockey is proud to have received 12 sets of CCM Goalie Gear from WLMHA alumni Carey Price," a thank you message posted on the WLHMA website said. "The goalie gear has been distributed to all our house divisions from initiation thru to midget and will be worn with pride by our next generation of aspiring goalies. We would like to thank Carey Price and CCM for this incredibly generous donation and for inspiring our youth to reach their full potential!"

CCM, for their part, were happy to be part of the player's good gesture.

"We are very pleased to be a part of Carey’s donation to the William’s Lake Minor Hockey Association. His donation is a testament of his commitment to Canadian communities," said CCM Hockey in a statement given to Samaritanmag.

In the 2014-15 season Price won the William M. Jennings Trophy for fewest goals allowed, the Vezina Trophy for best goaltender, the Ted Lindsay Award for most valuable player as voted by NHL Players Association and the Hart Trophy for the most valuable player as voted by Professional Hockey Writer's Association. That said, the superstar still has a ways to go to match the giving nature his teammate P.K. Subban displayed this summer when Subban pledged $10 million to a Montreal children's hospital.

Regardless of which all-star Canadiens player is giving more, the charitable spirit seems to be working for the team. Montreal is in first place at 9-0 and the only team still undefeated in the 2015-16 National Hockey League season.