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Toronto Argonauts linebacker Isaac Darkangelo grew up in Michigan with five older siblings, but there’s one he calls the family’s “golden child”: his sister Shiann, a forward for the Montreal Victoire of the Professional Women’s Hockey League.

“Me and Shi are definitely close,” he said this week. “She’s the golden child, we call her. She’s got the hockey. I grew up watching her. Being the youngest, I was dragged to all the tournaments and was hanging out in the rink.”

The Darkangelos are embracing life as American siblings who play professional sports in Canada.

Isaac won a Grey Cup in his first CFL season in 2024 and has 23 tackles and one sack this year. Shiann had 17 points in 29 games last season with the Ottawa Charge, helping the team reach the Walter Cup final.

They push one another, attend each other’s games whenever they can, and are enjoying the journey together.

“I’m just so grateful that we get to do what we love for a living here,” Shiann said. “Now, it’s kind of fun in the off-season or times that we do get together, to be in the gym together [in Michigan] and push each other in that way.”

Shiann and Isaac grew up in Brighton, Mich., in a sporting family, where all of the kids went on to play collegiate sports. Brothers Anthony and Austin also took up football, while sisters Mariah and Ciara played softball. Shiann and Isaac credit their parents, Anthony and JoAnn, for not pressuring the kids into playing sports.

Isaac said that their mantra was always that the kids “get to play sports” instead of “have to play sports.”

Their father, Anthony, started a girl’s hockey program in Brighton when Shiann was a teenager.

“Prior to that I was playing with the boys, and we didn’t really know of girls’ hockey, so him and a couple of the dads started a team for us,” Shiann said. “A huge part in my success, obviously, is my family.”

Isaac played college football at Northern Michigan and Illinois, where he was roommates with future NFLers Chase and Sydney Brown, who hail from London, Ont. He had stints with the Detroit Lions and Las Vegas Raiders before signing with the Argos in 2024.

“My coach at Northern Michigan, Bobby Jurasin, he was a CFL Hall of Famer,” Isaac said. “I heard a lot about the [Canadian] game from him. I had an understanding of the game and an understanding of how great it is.”

Isaac still chats with the Brown twins every week.

“Syd actually came out to my game versus Saskatchewan [this season],” he said. “It was pretty cool.”

Shiann played NCAA hockey at Syracuse and Quinnipiac before starting her pro career in 2015 with the Connecticut Whale of the now-defunct Premier Hockey Federation.

She then traversed the globe playing professional hockey, including a season with the Shenzhen, China-based Kunlun Red Star of the old Canadian Women’s Hockey League.

“There were things up on the jumbotron trying to show fans what offside was or little details of the game,” Shiann said of playing in China. “It was really growing the game at the grassroots over there. Totally different to what we have now…it was cool to be a part of that with Chinese players on my team.”

Now both competing in Canada, Isaac and Shiann lean on one another as they pursue excellence in their athletic careers.

“I’ve got a really good relationship with Shi,” Isaac said. “Whether it’s calling her and asking her different things [about] how to treat my body or just phoning her about mindset things and how to look at things [and] certain situations, whether it’s to do with sports or even in life.”

Shiann has also learned from her youngest sibling.

“Who he is as a person, his resilience and determination to continue to be better,” she said. “He inspires me every day to keep going.”

But there is one area that Shiann hasn’t had a long-term influence on Isaac in: his diet. Shiann is vegan and tried to convert Isaac. The experiment didn’t last long.

“My sophomore year of college,” he said with a laugh. “I only lasted for about a year. I’m not going to lie to you, man. I enjoy eating food.”