The local hockey community is mourning the passing of Jimmy Hayes, the Dorchester native who won a national title with Boston College before a seven-year NHL career that included a two-season stint with the Boston Bruins.

According to the Boston Globe, Hayes died Monday morning unexpectedly. He was 31. A cause of death has not been announced, but the death is not considered suspicious.

The sudden news of Hayes' death spread quickly throughout the Boston area, where Hayes made an impact on and off the ice.

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At the Noble and Greenough School, a boarding school in Dedham where Hayes played varsity hockey for two seasons, boys varsity hockey coach Brian Day said nobody ever walked away from a conversation with Hayes without feeling good afterwards.

"The hockey piece is pretty self-evident as to how good a player he was, you can only imagine that kind of player in high school," Day said. "But I think when I think of Jimmy, I think of — aside from the hockey piece, obviously — a kid who really enjoyed being a part of our community and a kid that our community was really glad that he was a part of."

Day said having Hayes was a massive help in building a program. Day was the third coach at the school in three years, which he says could have scared off some prospective families.

"But the Hayes family came up and developed a nice relationship that continues to this day," he said. "That gave what I was doing some credibility so that other kids who were following him would look at Nobles as well. So I look at him as being just a big, big key to helping me try to develop what we've tried to accomplish over the last 20 years."

Nobles athletic director Alex Gallagher coached Hayes when he was a member of the varsity baseball team at the school. And although he might not have been as good on the diamond as he was on the ice, Hayes made an impact in ways that go beyond just runs and hits.

"The guys who played for him in hockey when he was at the highest level thought he was a tremendous teammate who brought out the best in his team. And I think the guys who played baseball with him would say that he did the exact same thing in a very different role on the baseball team," Gallagher said.

"He loved being there, loved being in uniform, loved cheering on his teammates. Loved doing anything he could to help the team be better and be successful," he went on. "I mean he was just a phenomenal human being."

The Eire Pub in Dorchester has a special connection to Hayes and his family. Jerseys of Hayes and his younger brother Kevin, who currently plays for the Philadelphia Flyers, hang in the pub.

Pub owner John Stenson said the family's presence means a lot to the neighborhood and that Hayes will be missed by not only Dorchester, but by everyone that he's ever met.

"Jimmy...he'd help anybody, he had a wonderful personality," Stenson said. "If you didn't know that he played for the Bruins, you wouldn't think he was a hockey player. ... Not status-filled or anything else. He was a regular kid from Dorchester."

Both Boston College and the Bruins both put out statements on Hayes' passing.

"Jimmy had an incredible personality that could light up any room. It was truly special to see Jimmy represent his hometown in a Bruins sweater," Bruins president Cam Neely said in a statement.

At the Noble and Greenough School, Day said the news of Hayes' passing has hit the community hard.

"Everybody's pretty banged up about this obviously," Day said. "But it's just a reflection on what a fine young man he was, and how much everybody loved him and how much he was able to do in terms of building relationships through the course of his much too short a life."