When Mike and Joanne Angle's third son, Aaron, was 3 years old, he was diagnosed with autism. As he grew and received therapy, his parents didn't think he would play ice hockey even though it was their family passion.

"We knew as number three that he was different,' said Joanne. 'When we got the autism diagnosis we weren't surprised, but what we said was, 'What can we do to fix this and make his life full of quality experiences?'"

Their other sons — Jacob "Jake," Sean and Matthew, all began skating when they were 4 and were soon playing hockey with the Green Bay Area Youth Hockey Association. Jake opted out of playing competitive hockey early. He preferred music and art.

That left only two of their four sons on the ice. So when Aaron was 8 they finally gave him skates and let him try ice hockey.