Czechia and Gabriel Szturc finish fourth at 2022 World Junior Championship

Team Czechia and Kelowna Rockets forward Gabriel Szturc fell to Sweden 3-1 in the bronze medal game at the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship in Edmonton on Saturday.

Szturc appeared in all seven games for Czechia at the tournament, averaging 16:09 minutes of ice time, while posting six penalty minutes, a goal and eight shots on net.

Vancouver Giants forward Fabian Lysell turned on the jets to cut around a Czech defender and put Sweden up 1-0 at 14:22 in the first period.

Everett Silvertip Michael Gut replied for Czechia with a power-play goal at 13:30 of the second. Two minutes later, Sweden restored their lead with a goal from Isak Rosen. Linus Sojodin added the insurance goal with four minutes to play in the game.

Tri-City Americans netminder Tomas Suchanek made 20 saves for Czechia.

It was Czechia’s first opportunity to medal at the World Juniors since 2005.

Szturc will now report directly to Kelowna from Edmonton.

Szturc and the Rockets are set to open the WHL regular season against the Portland Winterhawks on Saturday, September 24 at Prospera Place. Season tickets are now available to the general public for the upcoming 2022-23 Rockets season. Click here for details and pricing.