Natalie Honzalek gave the New Jersey Devils a bracelet and they gave her a ring.
The 15-year-old from Minnesota, who was diagnosed with a rare form of sarcoma cancer in her cheek, had her wish come true when she got to spend the weekend with her favorite hockey team.
During her on-ice practice with the team and a VIP game experience, she gave two of her favorite players, Jack and Luke Hughes, the “Natalie Strong” bracelets her family distributed when she was going through chemotherapy treatment.
“We had a bunch of those made to give out to family and friends and stuff, and we had some with us, and we just decided that it would be cool to give one to each of them,” Honzalek said.
She then got to try on some jewelry herself.
After meeting some former Devils, she got to try on team legend Ken Daneyko’s Stanley Cup championship ring.
“It was really cool,” she said. “Never thought I’d even be close to it, and then I got to wear it.”
She was one of three young Devils fans that received a once-in-a-lifetime experience, courtesy of the Devils Youth Foundation, Make-A-Wish and Fanatics.
Honzalek, who plays for the Northern Lakes Lightning hockey team in Minnesota, underwent 42 weeks of chemo along with radiation, according to a 2023 GoFundMe.
“When the family discussed the diagnosis, Natalie didn’t cry when told she couldn’t play softball or she would lose her hair,” the page reads. “She did cry when she was told she couldn’t play hockey next year.”
Unable to play the sport she loves, watching the Devils during the 2022-2023 postseason helped fill a void during a difficult time for Honzalek and her family.
“Hockey was the only thing getting me through being in the hospital,” she said. “We were always watching playoff games.”
This time, she got to see the team up close and personal.
“After beating [cancer], they gave me the opportunity to make a wish,” she said, “and I chose to meet the Devils.”
She was invited into the locker room, where she met the team and was presented with a customized jersey and other gifts at her very own locker. She then got to skate on the ice with the team during practice and even assisted on a Jack Hughes goal, calling the ice time her favorite portion of the experience.
“It’s all so surreal,” she said.
Honzalek was then joined by Devils alumni for lunch, which was capped by her trying on the championship ring. The day conclude with a shopping spree in the team store from Fanatics.
The following night, Honzalek and her fellow Wish kids watched the Devils take on the Pittsburgh Penguins from a luxury suite at Prudential Center. They sat on the bench during warm-ups, high-fived the team from the tunnel leading to the ice, took a Zamboni ride during intermission and got a tour of the MSG TV truck.
They then saw the Devils win a 2-1 thriller in a shootout.
“When a Wish child with a critical illness gets to experience their wish it creates a life-changing memory for them,” said Chris Falzone from Make-A-Wish New Jersey. “And we hope it brings them hope, strength and joy and something that they’ll never forget for the rest of their lives.”
Honzalek will never forget putting a championship ring on her finger or the Hughes brothers putting her bracelet on their wrists.
“It all means so much to me,” she said. “I cannot believe this is happening.”
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