The word "warrior" gets thrown around an awful lot when describing hockey players, perhaps too liberally sometimes. After what Orlando Solar Bears forward Hunter Fejes just endured for the last several months, the title fits perfectly.

The Solar Bears announced that Fejes will make his season debut Thursday night after a battle with Hodgkins Lymphoma. Fejes wrote about his intentions to return in a first-person essay about his cancer battle about three weeks ago. He will be able to check that goal off his list when Orlando takes the ice against the Jacksonville Icemen at the Amway Center Thursday night.

For Fejes, the game represents the carrot that was dangling at the end of his long fight that began when he discovered a lump near his right collarbone a little more than eight months ago. After consulting with the team physicians to undergo further evaluation, a CT scan showed that Fejes had three masses in his chest that would prove to be cancerous.

The 28-year-old underwent a rigorous round of chemotherapy lasting three months before being told he was in remission. On Oct. 28, he rang the bell at the hospital to declare that he was cancer free. He was greeted by his friends, family and the entire Solar Bears team to celebrate.

The definition of strength and perseverance. 💜 Your Solar Bears family is so proud of you @HunterFejes and we cannot wait to see you on the ice tomorrow! We are with you EVERY step of the way.

— Orlando Solar Bears (@OrlandoHockey) December 21, 2022

While going through the unimaginable over the last several months, hockey was never far from Fejes's mind, as he wrote for ECHL.com: 

"Hockey has been my motivation throughout this journey and I plan for it to be my future. Without my passion for the sport I’m not sure what would have helped push me through treatment. It was a rollercoaster of events and it completely reshaped my outlook on life."

When Fejes makes his season debut Thursday, he will play in the 170th ECHL game of his eight-year professional career and 80th as a member of the Solar Bears.

“We are extremely happy to share in this special evening with Hunter and his family,” said Solar Bears president Chris Heller in a statement released by the team. “I have seen first-hand; how hard Hunter has worked to get back on the ice. His strength and resilience is inspiring to us all."

The Anchorage, Alaska native last played in a game on April 1. He had 18 points in 27 games last season after rejoining Orlando following a stint playing in Europe's ICEHL with Czech-based club Orli Znojmo at the start of the 2021-22 campaign.

In addition to his 169 career ECHL games, Fejes has also appeared in 89 American Hockey League contests and 98 games in various European leagues. He was a sixth-round draft pick by the NHL's Arizona Coyotes in 2012.

A product of both Shattuck-St. Mary's prep school and Colorado College, Fejes has carved out quite the career for himself. Perhaps the best moment of them all will come Thursday when he returns to the ice and the game that kept him motivated during the fight of his life.