HC Košice

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).

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.) 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)

Domestic

Slovak Championship (7):

Czechoslovak Championship (2):

1. SNHL (1):

International

IIHF European Champions Cup

IIHF Continental Cup

Current roster

Updated May 10, 2013.

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

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

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

Notable players