
It was a golden tournament for Team Canada at the IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship in Vantaa, Finland.
Prince Albert’s Stryker Zablocki was one of the key players that helped Canada capture the gold medal with a 3-0 win over the United States on Sunday.
In a phone interview with the Daily Herald, Zablocki says the tournament is something she will remember for many years to come.
“We had an amazing group of girls and our coaching staff was awesome. We got to experience a lot of different cool things and we ended up getting the gold medal. That was just like the cherry on top and it was a wonderful experience.”
The tournament featured some of the top female players from across the world, it would be Zablocki on top of the scoring leaderboard at the end of it. In six games, Zablocki found the back of the net eight times and recorded four assists to lead the tournament in scoring.
Zablocki nearly doubled her scoring output from last year’s tournament in Switzerland where she scored two goals and added five assists for seven points.
She says the key to her success this year was feeling more comfortable on the international stage.
“This year there were a lot less nerves. I wasn’t as nervous as last year and I had more confidence on the world stage. It helped me a lot in the bigger games because I felt like I could play my own game without the nerves getting in the way.”
Canada finished on top of the Group B standings at the end of preliminary play and proceeded to punch their ticket to the semi-final with a convincing 17-0 win over Japan.
In the semi, Canada matched up with Team Czechia for the second year in a row. Czechia defeated Canada 4-2 in Zug, Switzerland last year to send the Canadians to the bronze medal game.
Canada would make good in the semifinal rematch with a 4-2 victory of their own. Zablocki had a goal and an assist in the winning effort. She says it was a good feeling to defeat Czechia after the heartbreaking loss in Zug last year.
“We were down 1-0 after the first, and we knew we had to come back and didn’t want to feel the way we felt last year after losing to Czechia. We came back and won 4-2, it was a great win by our team and it just felt really nice to get that over with.”
At the end of the tournament, Zablocki was one of two Canadians to be named to the tournament all-star team alongside captain Chloe Primerano. After registering 10 points in Finland, Primerano became the all-time scoring leader for Canada’s U18 Women’s National Team.

Zablocki says she enjoyed the opportunity to play alongside Primerano, who is currently playing for the University of Minnesota.
“She’s a great player and an even better person. It’s such an honor playing with her and she’s a great leader. I think it’s just like such a cool experience every time you get to step on ice with her.”
Throughout the tournament, Zablocki was joined in Vantaa with her father Jay while her mother Heather, younger sister Steele and older brother Storm watched the tournament back at home in Canada.
As the tournament went on with the Canadians winning and Zablocki experiencing tons of individual success, there were more posts on social media from Prince Albert residents supporting Zablocki and Canada on various platforms.
“The support means so much to me.” Zablocki says. “Just knowing that everyone has my back and supports me whichever way I go. The fact they are always watching and texting and reaching out and just following my journey, it means so much to me and I really appreciate everyone for that.”
sports@paherald.sk.ca