Cancer survivor makes his return to hockey tonight! (VIDEO)

They say hockey players are some of the toughest athletes in all of sport, and Kyle Kramer is just one more example of that fact. Kyle is a survivor of Acute Myeloid Leukemia, a disease that he contracted when he was only 11 years old and in the fifth grade. Many including Kyle's mother, Heidi Krame, are crediting Kyle's tough hockey mentality as a major factor in his determination to beat the disease.

Kyle's hockey mentality kept him going," said Heidi. "We called it 'Kyle Style.' Hockey players are unique from other athletes. They lose teeth, get battered and bruised, cut and stitched up and then go right back onto the ice. That is my son Kyle. When the odds were against him, he went right back out with more determination than before."

Kyle has fought long and hard, and not just through the cancer. After Kyle needed a bone marrow transplant his family all went through test to see if any would be a compatible donor. His brother Danny was a match, and at first the family was overjoyed, but after the transplant Kyle was diagnosed with graft vs. host disease. As Kyle explains it the pain of the graft vs. host disease was far worse than even the harsh chemo therapy he had endured.

"After going through cancer, chemo was definitely hard. But the bone marrow transplant was the most difficult time in my life."

But Kyle fought through that too, and his fight and his love of the game is something that we can all be inspired by. Kyle's mother talked about his return to the game and what it meant to her son.

"I know he doesn't want or expect any extra attention or special treatment. He just wants to work hard, play the game and be a contributing member of the team. He wants to be an athlete. He wants to skate with his friends. He wants to be a kid."

  He may not want or expect any special treatment, but Kyle will play his very first hockey game tonight for Gov. Livingston High School at the Union Sports Arena., and you can bet he will have a host a supporters cheering him on for his big return to the ice. Here is Kyle's story in his own words courtesy of NJ.com: