HC Slovan Bratislava

Hockey Club Slovan Bratislava (Slovak: Hokejový klub Slovan Bratislava) is a professional ice hockey club based in Bratislava, Slovakia. In 2012, it left the Slovak Extraliga and joined the international Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). In 2019, it returned to the Tipsport Liga, due to financial problems. The club has won eight Slovak championships (most recently in 2012) and one Czechoslovak championship (1979), making it the second most successful hockey club in Slovak history after their biggest rival HC Košice. The team plays its home games at Ondrej Nepela Arena, also known as Slovnaft Arena. The team is nicknamed Belasí, which means the "sky blues" in English.

HC Slovan Bratislava
NicknameBelasí (the Sky Blues),
Orli (the Eagles)
CityBratislava, Slovakia
LeagueTipsport Liga
(1993–2012, 2019–present)
Founded1921
Home arenaOndrej Nepela Arena
(capacity 10,055)
ColoursDark blue, white, red
              
Owner(s)Juraj Široký
PresidentJuraj Široký
General manager Juraj Bakoš
Head coach Roman Stantien
Captain Michal Sersen
Websitewww.hcslovan.sk

History

The sports club Slovan Bratislava was founded in 1919 as a football club, then called 1.CsSK Bratislava. In 1921, a hockey section was founded as "CsSK hockey". It played its first game in December 1924 against Wiener EV from Vienna, losing 6–1. In 1948, the name of the club was changed to Slovan Bratislava, which has been kept until today.[1]

For many years following World War II, Slovan was the only Slovak representative in the highest Czechoslovak league, and achieved several second-place finishes in the championship. The only title in the Czechoslovak First Ice Hockey League was achieved under coach Ladislav Horsky in the 1978–79 season. Additionally, the youth teams won several championships.[1]

After the separation of Slovakia and the Czech Republic in 1993, Slovan played in the Slovak Extraliga and won eight championship titles over 19 years.[1]

In addition to the success achieved in Slovakia, Slovan also performed well internationally, with three Spengler Cup wins in a row in 1972, 1973 and 1974. It is also one of only four clubs to play all four seasons of the European Hockey League, progressing to the playoff stage each year. Another highlight was winning the IIHF Continental Cup in the 2003–04 season. From 2011 to 2013, Slovan participated in the European Trophy international pre-season tournament.[1]

KHL

In March 2012, Slovan filed an application to play in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).[2] On 21 June 2012, Slovan Bratislava was officially admitted to the KHL, after they fulfilled all necessary conditions. Founded in 1921, they were the oldest KHL team by a large margin, as there were no ice hockey leagues in the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics prior to 1946.[3]

2012–13 season
See also: 2012–13 HC Slovan Bratislava season

In May, Slovan signed Rostislav Čada as the new head coach for the first KHL season, who had had a KHL experience from working at Avangard Omsk.[4] After playing two friendly matches against KHL teams and the European Trophy during the summer months, Slovan opened the 2012–13 season with a home game against Ukrainian HC Donbass on 6 September 2012, losing 2–4 in front of a capacity crowd. The first win was achieved 4 days later by defeating Spartak Moscow 2–1 after a shootout. During the NHL lockout between September 2012 and January 2013, the two defenders Ľubomír Višňovský and Andrej Sekera enhanced the team. Slovan ended the season with 78 points as 6th of the Western conference and thus clinched a play-off spot in their first KHL season.[5] In the first play-off round, Slovan played against then-defending champion Dynamo Moscow and lost all four matches.

During the regular season, Slovan had sold out 25 out of its 26 home games with an average attendance of 9,977 spectators, which was the seventh-highest average attendance in Europe that season.[6]

Mascot

Before the start of 2013–14 season, it was announced that the franchise will have a new mascot called Harvy. The mascot's name was determined by fans and its appearance will be of a bald eagle, which is also on HC Slovan's logo.[7]

Rivalries

While competing in the Czechoslovak league, Slovan's main rival was HK Dukla Trenčín. While competing in the Slovak Extraliga, Slovan had various rivals around the country, most notably HC Košice and Trenčín.

In Slovan's first two seasons in the KHL, its biggest rival was Lev Prague. The rivalry started when, in their first game, HC Lev's Zdeno Chára body-checked Slovan's team captain Miroslav Šatan, after which Šatan was out of the lineup for the rest of the season.[8] The fairness of this hit was the centre of many discussions. The games between Slovan and Lev were among the most anticipated of the season for both teams.[9] However, Lev Praha folded after the 2013–14 season.

Season-by-season record

This is a partial list of the last eight seasons completed by HC Slovan Bratislava. For the full season-by-season history, see List of HC Slovan Bratislava seasons.

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, OTW = Overtime/Shootout Wins, OTL = Overtime/Shootout Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

SeasonGPWOTWOTLLPtsGFGAFinishPlayoffs
2011–12553117161021761383rd, ExtraligaSlovak Extraliga Champions, 4–3 (HC Košice)
2012–13521711519781241273rd, BobrovLost in Conference Quarterfinals, 0–4 (Dynamo Moscow)
2013–1454159426671201606th, BobrovDid not qualify
2014–1560155832631361887th, BobrovDid not qualify
2015–16602111424891541483rd, BobrovLost in Conference Quarterfinals, 0–4 (CSKA Moscow)
2016–1760227526851441664th, BobrovDid not qualify
2017–1856153731581191875th, BobrovDid not qualify
2018–1962105344331012136th, TarasovDid not qualify
2019–20552985131081911182nd, ExtraligaNot held due to the coronavirus pandemic

Honours

Domestic

Slovak Extraliga

Czechoslovak Extraliga

Slovak Hockey League

1st. Slovak National Hockey League

2nd. Czechoslovak Hockey League

  • Runners-up (1): 1954–55

International

IIHF European Cup

IIHF Continental Cup

Pre-season

Spengler Cup

  • Winners (3): 1972, 1973, 1974

Tatra Cup

  • Winners (5): 1974, 1975, 1990, 1997, 1998

Basel Summer Ice Hockey

  • Winners (1): 2010

Steel Cup

  • Winners (1): 2016

Rona Cup

  • Winners (1): 1998

Players

Current roster

Source: hcslovan.sk[10]Source: eliteprospects.com[11]As of August 3, 2020.

# Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace
91 Milan Kytnár C L 31 2019 Topoľčany, Czechoslovakia
Bruno Mráz LW R 27 2020 Bratislava, Slovakia
88 Andrej Meszároš D L 34 2016 Považská Bystrica, Czechoslovakia
Branislav Rapáč RW R 27 2020 Spišská Nová Ves, Slovakia
Dalibor Bortňák C L 29 2020 Prešov, Czechoslovakia
Brendan O'Donnell LW L 28 2020 Winnipeg, MB, Canada
Peter Kundrík C L 21 2020 Poprad, Slovakia
Jakub Sukeľ RW L 24 2020 Liptovský Mikuláš, Slovakia
3 Martin Štajnoch D R 29 2019 Bojnice, Czechoslovakia
8 Michal Sersen D L 34 2012 Gelnica, Czechoslovakia
Samuel Buček RW R 21 2020 Nitra, Slovakia
Nerijus Ališauskas D R 29 2020 Elektrėnai, Lithuania
5 Patrik Bačík D L 25 2016 Bratislava, Slovakia
47 Dominik Jendek RW L 19 2019 Bratislava, Slovakia
Patrik Maier D L 23 2020 Bratislava, Slovakia
12 Jakub Urbánek C R 21 2019 Martin, Slovakia
Samuel Petráš RW L 25 2020 Bratislava, Slovakia

Franchise scoring leaders

These are the top-ten-point-scorers in franchise history. Figures are updated after each completed season.[12]

  •  *  – current Slovan player

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game

Staff

Head coaches

These are the head coaches of HC Slovan Bratislava since they joined the Czechoslovak Extraliga:

Hall of Fame

The following players associated with HC Slovan Bratislava have been inducted in various Halls of Fame:

Hockey Hall of Fame

Hockey Hall of Fame is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

NameCategoryInducted
Peter ŠťastnýPlayer1998

IIHF Hall of Fame

The IIHF Hall of Fame is intended to honor individuals who have made valuable contributions both internationally and in their home countries.[13]

NameCategoryInducted
Václav NedomanskýPlayer1997
Vladimír DzurillaPlayer1998
Jozef GolonkaPlayer1998
Ján StaršíBuilder1999
Peter ŠťastnýPlayer2000
gollark: And there are non-UK countries which are still in the EU, although I don't think many of them are English-speaking.
gollark: Brexit caused things to actually happen in 2021. I believe it was voted in in 2016. There was definitely sufficient advance warning.
gollark: It's not like there weren't several years of advance warning before Brexit *did* anything.
gollark: (people vaguely know that some areas of it do some things, and they work using something something interacting synapses)
gollark: You can get a rough high-level overview of it, but we've done that with brains.

References
  1. "História klubu" (in Slovak). hcslovan.sk. 1 September 2011. Archived from the original on 21 March 2012.
  2. "The Slovakian candidate". khl.ru. 29 March 2012.
  3. "Slovan získal definitívny súhlas na štart v KHL" (in Slovak). hcslovan.sk. 21 June 2012.
  4. "Rostislav Čada oficiálne novým hlavným trénerom" (in Slovak). HC Slovan. 2 May 2012. Archived from the original on 25 June 2012. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
  5. "Slovan sa dočkal, postúpil do play-off" (in Slovak). SME. 13 January 2013.
  6. THE CALAMITY (25 February 2013). Континентальная Хоккейная Лига. Итоги сезона (in Russian). sports.ru.
  7. "Maskotom Slovana bude orliak Harvy" (in Slovak). Sport.sk. 2 September 2013. Archived from the original on 5 September 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
  8. "Slovan vyhral v derby nad Levom, Chára vyradil Šatana" (in Slovak). WebNoviny.sk. 3 November 2012. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  9. "LEV and Slovan renew Czecho-Slovakian derby". HC Lev Praha. 14 October 2013. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  10. "Team Roster / HC Slovan". www.hcslovan.sk. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
  11. "Team Roster / HC Slovan". www.eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  12. "HC Slovan Bratislava". EliteProspects.
  13. "IIHF Hall of Fame inducts six new members". National Hockey League. Retrieved 5 March 2010.

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