Hockey Club Košice is a Slovak professional ice hockey club based in Košice that competes in the Slovak Extraliga, the top tier of Slovak ice hockey. It is the most successful hockey club in Slovakia and the former Czechoslovakia, having won the Tipos Extraliga nine times, the Czechoslovak First Ice Hockey League twice, the 1st. Slovak National Hockey League once, the IIHF Continental Cup once, the Tatra Cup 10 times, and the Rona Cup four times. The club is nicknamed "Oceliari" ("Steelers" in English). The team plays at the Steel Arena in Košice.

HC Košice
NicknameOceliari
LeagueSlovak Extraliga
Founded1920; 104 years ago (1920)
Home arenaSteel Arena
(capacity: 8,378)
ColoursBlack, white, orange
     
PresidentJúlius Lang
Head coachDan Ceman
CaptainMichal Chovan
Websitehckosice.sk

History

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Logo of HC Košice from 1962 to 1998
 
The previous HC Košice logo

The club was established in Košice in 1962 as an army hockey club called TJ Dukla Košice. At that time, there were two weak regional ice hockey clubs in the city. The new club was much stronger and joined the Czechoslovak Hockey League within two years. In 1966, Dukla changed its name to TJ VSŽ Košice. In 1986, the club became the Ice Hockey Champions of Czechoslovakia for the first time, beating HC Dukla Jihlava in the finals. It won again in 1988, beating HC Sparta Prague. At that time, the club was the second-best ice hockey club in Europe after CSKA Moscow. After Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993, VSŽ Košice became a member of the Slovak Extraliga, which it soon went on to win three times. In 1998, the club changed its name to HC Košice.

On 24 February 2006, Košice left Lokomotíva Košice Stadium and moved to the newly constructed Steel Aréna. The arena is named in honour of the club's sponsor, U. S. Steel Košice, and is also known as L. Troják Stadium after one of the club's most popular players. Košice won the league for the fourth time by defeating HK 36 Skalica to end the 2008–09 season. A victory over HC Slovan Bratislava at the end of the 2009–10 season saw the club win the league for the second year in a row and the fifth time in total, which it followed up by beating HK Poprad in the finals of the 2010–11 season to secure the league for the third year in a row (the first "hat trick" in the league's history) and the sixth time in total. Košice qualified for the finals for the sixth time in a row at the 2012–13 season, but suffered a loss to HKm Zvolen. A victory over HK Nitra in the finals of the 2013–14 season led Košice to its seventh league victory. The club won its eighth and most recent league during the 2014–15 season, defeating HC '05 Banská Bystrica in the finals.

Honours

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Domestic

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Slovak Extraliga

Czechoslovak Extraliga

1st. Slovak National Hockey League

  •   Winners (1): 1963–64

International

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IIHF European Cup

IIHF Continental Cup

IIHF Super Cup

  •   Runners-up (1): 1998

Pre-season

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Tatra Cup

  •   Winners (10): 1978, 1979, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1992, 1993, 2008, 2017

Rona Cup

  •   Winners (4): 1995, 1996, 2009, 2013

Players

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Current roster

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Source: hckosice.sk[1]Source: eliteprospects.com[2]As of 1 August 2023.

No. Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace
99   Róbert Bačo RW R 21 2023 Košice, Slovakia
61   Marek Bartánus (A) RW R 37 2021 Liptovský Mikuláš, Czechoslovakia
55   Antonín Bartoš D R 20 2022 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
8   Chase Berger C L 29 2023 St. Louis, Missouri, United States
75   Alex Breton D L 27 2022 Sainte-Marie, Quebec, Canada
91   Michal Chovan (C) LW L 36 2019 Zvolen, Czechoslovakia
18   Radek Deyl D L 35 2020 Košice, Czechoslovakia
22   Hunter Fejes LW L 30 2022 Anchorage, Alaska, United States
89   Jakub Ferenc (A) D R 35 2022 Levoča, Czechoslovakia
24   Matúš Havrila C L 25 2020 Košice, Slovakia
84   Joona Jääskeläinen RW R 28 2022 Imatra, Finland
32   Jaroslav Janus G L 35 2022 Prešov, Czechoslovakia
11   Oliver Jokeľ LW L 33 2018 Košice, Czechoslovakia
63   Patrik Lamper LW L 31 2022 Banská Bystrica, Slovakia
47   Mário Lunter LW L 30 2023 Banská Bystrica, Slovakia
56   Vladimír Mihálik D L 37 2023 Prešov, Czechoslovakia
28   Jens Olsson D L 39 2022 Malmö, Sweden
39   Brett Pollock LW L 28 2022 Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
33   Dominik Riečický G L 32 2020 Košice, Czechoslovakia
77   Patrik Rogoň RW L 27 2021 Žilina, Slovakia
71   Eduard Šedivý D L 32 2021 Myjava, Czechoslovakia
92   Eduard Šimun C L 29 2023 Topoľčany, Slovakia
45   Lukáš Vaculík RW R 22 2020 Košice, Slovakia
25   Cooper Zech D L 25 2023 South Lyon, Michigan, United States
27   Tomáš Zigo   C L 32 2023 Banská Bystrica, Czechoslovakia

Notable players

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References

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  1. ^ "Team Roster / HC Košice". www.hckosice.sk. Retrieved 2019-07-28.
  2. ^ "Team Roster / HC Košice". www.eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 2019-04-28.
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