Photo credit: Regina Pats Hockey Club

By Regan Bartel

Captain celebrates holidays in Kelowna

Gabriel Szturc is driving home for Christmas

Dec 16, 2023 | 11:56 AM

It will likely be a unique Christmas for Kelowna Rockets Captain Gabriel Szturc.

Instead of flying back to Czechia for the holidays following a game tonight against the Saskatoon Blades, Szturc’s family is coming to see him in the Okanagan.

“I decided with my parents, so they will come here for Christmas and New Years,” the 20-year-old told RocketFAN. “It will be exciting, and I can’t wait.”

Szturc should be used to spending the holidays in North America after playing in back-to-back seasons for Czechia at the World Junior Hockey Championships. Last season, Szturc and Czechia won a silver medal on Canadian soil.

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“I am not a big fan of the travel,” he said, appearing to be content that he doesn’t have to travel over 11+ hours overseas for ten short days before returning to Kelowna for the second half of the season.

“I am pretty happy I can stay in Kelowna and my parents can fly here and spend time in our place than home in Czechia.”

While not returning to his homeland for Christmas, that doesn’t mean Szturc has to give up some of his favourite foods that he grew up enjoying during the holidays.

“Usually on Christmas Eve, we eat some type of fish,” he continued. “The type of fish is not here in Canada, so we are trying to figure out what we are going to eat. My dad said he would bring that fish on the plane, but I don’t think that’s allowed,” he said with a smile.

Agreed. Bringing across fresh fish may stink up the cabin of the aircraft and Canadian customs officials may give Szturc’s father the stink eye if he attempts the risky maneuver.

One thing is guaranteed. The soft-spoken forward will be watching the world juniors with interest when the tournament is held over the Christmas break in Sweden. It is the seventh time Sweden has hosted the event.

“I will be cheering for them, and I can’t wait to see my country compete for a medal again,” Szturc added. “Hopefully they go farther than we did last year.

“I will cheer for them and enjoy every moment when they beat Canada.”

Szturc knows that while his mind may wonder about enjoying time with his family, staying focused in tonight’s final game against the Blades is priority number one.

“We still have work to do,” he said. “It would be nice to end this trip with a win.”

The Rockets had exceeded expectations on this road trip, with three wins in four games, with the only blemish being a 6-3 loss in Brandon Wednesday night.

“We are playing much better than during the nine-game losing streak,” Szturc said. “If we can get to .500 percentage that would be great.

“I believe in our group, and we can do that, but we have to play a certain way.”