HC Košice

HC Košice
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Nickname	Oceliari
City	Košice, Slovakia
League	Slovak Extraliga
Founded	1962 as Dukla Košice (1962 as Dukla Košice)
Home arena	Steel Aréna (capacity 8,378)
Colours	darkblue, white, orange
General manager	Juraj Bakoš
Head coach	Peter Oremus
Captain	Martin Štrbák
Website	www.hckosice.sk

Hockey Club Košice is a professional ice hockey team playing in the Slovak Extraliga and is the most successful hockey team in Slovakia and the former of Czechoslovakia. The team is nicknamed Oceliari, what means Steelers in English.

History

The club existed since 1962, when it was established as an army hockey team named TJ Dukla Košice. At that time, there were two weak regional ice hockey clubs in Košice. The new club was pretty mighty and within two years it joined the Supreme Czechoslovak League.

In 1966 Dukla accepted a new name TJ VSŽ Košice. Twenty years later, in 1986, the club became, for the first time, the Ice Hockey Champion of Czechoslovakia (beat HC Dukla Jihlava in finals). In 1988, TJ VSŽ Košice obtained its second lead - in finals beat HC Sparta Prague. At that time, the team of VSŽ Košice was the second best ice hockey team in Europe after legendary CSKA Moscow (The European Cup 1987 and 1989).

Former logo of HC Košice (until 1998)

In 1992, the federal Czechoslovak parliament decided to split country into two independent states – the Czech Republic and Slovakia, as of January 1, 1993. As a Slovak team, VSŽ Košice became a member of Supreme Slovak Hockey Ligue – Slovak Extraliga, and in the next years obtained three titles of Slovak hockey champion.

In 1998, the club changed name again. Hockey Club (HC) Košice removed to Lokomotíva Košice Stadium because of the Steel Aréna – Košice‘s L. Troják Stadium construction. The new home arena of HC Košice was open on February 24, 2006. It is named in honour of the general sponsor of HC Košice – the U. S. Steel Košice (a member of the United States Steel Corporation, U.S.A.) and legendary Košice‘s ice hockey player Ladislav Troják.

2009 Slovnaft Extraliga champions beating HK 36 Skalica 4–2 with Košice goaltender Július Hudáček saving Skalica's legend Žigmund Pálffy three shots in the shootout of the sixth game to secure victory.

2010 Slovnaft Extraliga Champions for the 2nd year in a row and the 5th time in total, beating HC Slovan Bratislava 4-2. Július Hudáček was again the hero of the final series with save after save, although the final goal was fittingly scored by Vlado Dravecký.

2011 Slovnaft Extraliga Champions for the 3rd year in a row (the first "golden hat trick" in the Slovnaft Extraliga history) and the 6th time in total, beating HK Poprad 4-1 in finals. Július Hudáček again was the player of the series along with captain Peter Bartos.

3 May 2011 - Rostislav Čada resigns as manager to join Avangard Omsk in the KHL.

2012 Košice lost 4-3 in games in the Play Off final Against Slovan, due to an extra time goal from Libor Hudacek, brother of Kosice's former goalie.

2013 Košice qualify for their 6th finals in a row where they played Zvolen, finally losing 4-1. Although scoring as many goals during the final series and winners Zvolen.

2014 Košice win the Slovak championship for the seventh time. Košice beat Nitra 4-3 after winning the seventh final game 6-0 at the Steel Arena.

Season-by-season results

This is a partial list of the last seven seasons completed by HC Košice. Code explanation; GP—Games played, W—Wins, OTW—Overtime wins, OTW—Overtime losses, L—Losses, GF—Goals for, GA—Goals against, Pts—Points. Top Scorer: Points (Goals+Assists)

Season	League	Regular season									Post season results	Top scorer (regular season)
		Finish	GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	Pts
2007–08	Extraliga	2nd	54	31	5	5	13	188	127	103	Lost in finals, 3–4 (HC Slovan Bratislava)	J. Faith 52 (23+29)
2008–09	Extraliga	1st	56	37	6	3	10	232	131	126	Won Slovak Championship, 4–2 (HK 36 Skalica)	R. Huna 72 (31+41)
2009–10	Extraliga	3rd	47	24	3	3	17	179	126	81	Won Slovak Championship, 4–2 (HC Slovan Bratislava)	R. Huna 49 (24+25)
2010–11	Extraliga	1st	57	38	10	3	6	217	102	137	Won Slovak Championship, 4–1 (HK Poprad)	P. Bartoš 53 (23+30)
2011–12	Extraliga	1st	55	35	2	1	17	191	130	110	Lost in finals, 3–4 (HC Slovan Bratislava)	M. Zálešák 47 (15+32)
2012–13	Extraliga	2nd	56	32	4	5	15	214	138	109	Lost in finals, 1-4 (HKm Zvolen)	R. Jenčík 66 (23+43)
2013–14	Extraliga	1st	56	39	4	0	13	174	98	125	Won Slovak Championship, 4–3 (HK Nitra)	P. Bartoš 47 (14+33)

Achievements

Domestic

Slovak Championship (7):

• 1994–95, 1995–96, 1998–99, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2013–14

Czechoslovak Championship (2):

• 1985–86, 1987–88

1. SNHL (1):

• 1963–64

International

IIHF European Champions Cup

• Runners-up: 1987, 1989

IIHF Continental Cup

• 1997–98

Current roster

Updated May 10, 2013.

#	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
28		Juraj Cebák	D	R	41	2012	Prievidza, Czechoslovakia
24		Matúš Chovan	C	L	32	2010
25		Richard Jenčík	RW	L	39	2003	Košice, Czechoslovakia
20		Miroslav Macejko	D	L	32	2012
2		Dominik Riečický	G	L	31	2012	Košice, Czechoslovakia
43		Peter Bartoš	F	L	50	2013	Martin, Czechoslovakia
12		Jiří Bicek	F	L	45	2013	Kosice, Czechoslovakia
23		Matej Cerik	F	L	35	2013	, Slovakia
80		Tomas Hrnka	F	L	32	2013	, Slovakia

NHL alumni

This is a list of players who grew up in the HC Košice organization and then played at least one NHL game.

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/– = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalty Minutes

Player	Pos	NHL Teams	GP	G	A	Pts	+/–	PIM
Ladislav Nagy	LW	Blues, Coyotes, Stars, Kings	435	115	196	311	+35	358
Marek Svatoš	RW	Avalanche, Predators, Senators	344	100	72	172	-4	217
Jiří Bicek	LW	Devils	62	6	7	13	+6	29
Martin Marinčin*	D	Oilers	2	0	0	0	0	2
Tomáš Jurčo*	RW	Red Wings	1	0	0	0	0	0

GP = Games Played; W = Wins; L = Losses; OTL = Overtime losses; Sv% = Save Percentage; GAA = Goals Against Average; MIN = Minutes on ice

Player	Pos	NHL Teams	GP	W	L	OTL	Sv%	GAA	MIN
Rastislav Staňa	G	Capitals	6	1	2	-	.890	3.13	211

* still NHL active players (Last updated: 16 December 2013).

Notable players

• Ladislav Troják
• Bedřich Brunclík
• Vincent Lukáč
• Igor Liba
• Jaromír Dragan
• Peter Bondra
• Ladislav Nagy
• Jiří Bicek
• Ľubomír Vaic
• Marek Svatoš
• Juraj Faith
• Rudolf Huna
• Peter Bartos

External links

• Official club website
• Steel Arena website