Prince Albert's Stryker Zablocki (#28) celebrates a goal with her teammates after scoring during Canada's 4-2 semi-final loss to Czechia at the U18 Women's World Championship in Zug, Switzerland on Jan. 13, 2024. (INTERNATIONAL ICE HOCKEY FEDERATION/ANDREA CARDIN)

By Derek Craddock

MAKING PA PROUD!

‘Super thankful’: Zablocki returns home after bronze-medal finish with Team Canada

Jan 16, 2024 | 4:00 PM

A Prince Albert hockey player returned home after a memorable experience representing Canada in Switzerland.

Stryker Zablocki was a member of Team Canada for the U18 Women’s World Hockey Championships which wrapped up on Sunday.

Canada claimed the bronze medal at the tournament after beating Finland 8-1 with Zablocki netting one assist.

While it was not the outcome, she and the team were hoping for, Zablocki is still grateful for the experience.

“We still got to medal at a world event so, we’re all still super proud of that and we still got to obviously get a bronze for Canada,” she said. “We were super thankful for that.”

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Through six games in the tournament, Zablocki had two goals and seven assists with a plus-eight rating.

Canada was undefeated until the semi-finals where they fell 4-2 to Czechia. The United States eventually beat the Czechs 5-1 to claim gold.

This isn’t the first major championship that Zablocki has played in over the last 12 months. In September, she scored six points with Team Saskatchewan at the U18 National Female Hockey Championships. She also suited up for the Rebels at the 2023 Esso Cup which was held in Prince Albert.

Throughout the tournament, Zablocki said it was encouraging to have the well wishes and support from family, friends, and teammates back home. Zablocki was the only Saskatchewan player to crack the Canadian roster and hopes that will change in the future.

“It’s awesome to see that I can represent my province and hopefully we can get some more girls on the team eventually and yeah, kind of just create a good culture around that.”

Zablocki has one year remaining of AAA hockey and has committed to Northeastern University in Boston where she plans to start by the fall of 2025.

So far this season, Zablocki has scored 24 goals with the Regina Rebels in just 17 games so far.

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derek.craddock@pattisonmedia.com