Everett Kane’s pro hockey career began the way many great stories do: not with fanfare, but with steady work and the quiet belief of the people who’d loved him since he was small.

At eighteen, fresh off a senior year where he’d captained Evergreen High to back-to-back state titles and earned Minnesota Mr. Hockey honors, Everett committed to the University of Denver—just like his big sister Lily had. The Pioneers’ coach remembered Lily well and saw the same fire in Everett: a ...