Vinnie Hinostroza’s father once had to walk home from the rink as a child — wearing his skates.



The thought of blades on pavement for block after block of city streets is enough to make any hockey player shudder, but it was the only way Rick Hinostroza could get home without going barefoot.



“He used to bring his skates to the rink every day,” Vinnie said. “He didn’t play hockey growing up, but he did skate every day. One day, someone stole his shoes while he was on the ice. He had to wear his skates home because he didn’t have anything else.”



That was the Chicago neighborhood that Rick Hinostroza grew up in. The Hinostrozas emigrated from Ecuador before Rick was born, living in the Bucktown area of Chicago before the gangs started to take over.



The family moved back to Ecuador for a year when Rick Hinostroza was a teenager, trying to escape the gang violence that permeated the area in the 1970s before...