Every Sunday, Dan and Danny drive two hours from Moose Lake to Coon Rapids to practice with the Minnesota Wild sled hockey team. It's a day-long affair for a practice that usually lasts about an hour and a half at the most, but the Lilyas wouldn't trade it for the world.
"Danny lives for Sundays right now," Dan said. "We've been doing it so long, it feels like twenty minutes."
The sled hockey community in Minnesota is so tightly knit that while the Lilyas were initially concerned about Danny joining a team with so many older players, their fears were quickly assuaged.
"Being in the State of Hockey, it's amazing. There's a bunch of great guys out there and it's a really great community," Danny said.
And while Danny's football team is a brotherhood, there's something unique about being on a team where everyone's on the same ground rather than Danny being the only one in a wheelchair.
"It's nice for him because everybody's in the same situation," Dan said. "For him, it was kind of a confidence builder that there's other people with the same issues, whether they're paraplegic or whether it's from an accident or they were born this way, that they're all in a sled together and they're playing the game they all love."
As Moose Lake's holder for field goals and extra points, Danny gets wheeled out to the field before each kick and back off once the play ends. On the ice, Danny's as mobile as anyone -- whether they play hockey on a sled or on skates.
"It's taught me more freedom," Danny said. "Whenever I get out on the ice, I'm free of whatever things are holding me back at home or out on the football field, but when I play sled hockey I can just be myself."
Though Danny has proven he's determined enough to overcome whatever life puts in his way, the support of his parents, teammates and the rest of the Minnesota hockey community definitely makes it easier.