NHL honors youth players for saving ball hockey rink alongside Flyers

NEW YORK -- Natalie Van Druff may only be 12 years old, but she's already developed a hockey mantra: grow the game.

And she shared that with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman among other League executives during a visit, along with her friend and teammate, Lilly Walter, 11, to the NHL offices in Manhattan on Tuesday.

The visit was in recognition of helping save their ball hockey rink at New Hanover Community Park in Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania, about 40 miles northwest of Philadelphia.

When the township proposed turning the rink into pickleball courts in October 2024, the girls stepped up and convinced city planners to focus on revitalizing the rink instead.

"It made me feel really good, made me feel like my voice actually mattered," Van Druff said. "It made me feel like I could be a change maker for the world that I live in."

The story of two preteens heading up the planning effort to revitalize their local hockey rink reached the Philadelphia Flyers and Flyers Charities in February.

"I read about it, and literally was like, this is exactly our mission for [Flyers Charities]," said Blair Listino, Flyers CFO and president of Flyers Charities. "This literally aligns more with our mission than anything I could have made up myself."

Listino was even more impressed after meeting Natalie and Lilly at the Flyers Charities Carnival in March.

"I was blown away by them," she said. "Just blown away at their determination and just the skill set they had as preteens to be so professional and profound and what they wanted to do for their community, not just themselves, and their ability to ask for it in a professional manner. They didn't come across like, 'Hey, we deserve this.' It was, 'We will work with the community, we will fundraise ourselves. We're not asking for a handout. We're going to put all the work in ourselves to get this done for our community.'"

Heather Walter, Lilly's mother, said the girls discussed various ways to raise money to pay for the project, from bake sales to T-shirt sales to asking area businesses for donations.

But the Flyers had another plan -- a $200,000 donation in May to pay for the project in full, including new flooring, boards, benches and penalty boxes. The park also will be used for future Flyers Learn To Play Ball Hockey programs.

"Our mission includes growing the game of hockey," Listino said. "We're super into supporting women in sports and especially youth sports, so it was really a no-brainer for us. We were more than thrilled to help out, and really just dug in to see what we could do."

The NHL also wanted to get involved, which led to an invitation for Natalie and Lilly, along with their families, to spend the day at the League offices, including a meeting with Commissioner Bettman as well as certificates of appreciation for what they accomplished.

"You two are great examples of what hockey is all about," Commissioner Bettman told them. "You're making sure that hockey is for everyone, which is great. Which is what we believe the game is all about."

The girls also toured the NHL Player Safety room, checked out the NHL Network studio and control room with chief content officer Steve Mayer, and took pictures with a replica Stanley Cup in the office of chief branding officer Brian Jennings, who presented the girls with special boxes of NHL trading cards.

They received goodie bags from the NHL and the PWHL, including their own NHL Street hockey sticks, and gift cards to shop in the NHL Store.

In addition to helping plan their revitalized ball hockey rink, Natalie and Lilly are the "Hockey Bosses" for Pick Up Sticks Hockey, a program they created for kids in their area who want to play hockey but don't have or can't afford their own gear.

"Pick Up Sticks Hockey is for girls and boys of any age to come and play," Natalie said. "We have extra sticks and gear sometimes, so if they haven't played hockey before, they can learn how to play hockey."

To help that program, the NHL pledged to donate equipment, including goalie gear, for young players in the community.

"One of the things that I get to do alongside my team is we continue to invest in ways where we can just grow the game," NHL vice president of community development and industry growth Jeff Scott said. "We want to grow the game so that everyone has an opportunity to play, regardless of where you come from, where you live, how much money you may have or not have in your pocket."

Next for Natalie, a forward, and Lilly, a defender, is getting ready for the fall hockey season, and middle school. But before that, they will be centerstage at the rink unveiling Monday.

"They did this for their community," Listino said. "They did this for the 1,000 youths that they play hockey with out there. So we want to give them all of the credit for doing this, and the Flyers are there to support them in any way we can."