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HC Košice
Nickname	Oceliari
City	Košice, Slovakia
League	Tipsport Liga
Founded	1962 as Dukla Košice (1962 as Dukla Košice)
Home arena	Steel Arena (capacity 8,378)
Colours	Dark blue, white, orange
General manager	Rastislav Rusič
Head coach	Roman Šimíček
Captain	Ladislav Nagy
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, which 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.) 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.

Honours

Champions

• 
  Tipsport Liga (8): 1995, 1996, 1999, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015


• 
  Czechoslovak Extraliga (2): 1986, 1988

Runners-up

• 
  Tipsport Liga (7): 1994, 1997, 1998, 2003, 2008, 2012, 2013


• 
  Czechoslovak Extraliga (1): 1985


• 
  Tipsport Liga (3): 2002, 2007, 2016


• 
  Czechoslovak Extraliga (1): 1989

International

• 
  IIHF Continental Cup (1): 1998


• 
  IIHF Continental Cup (1): 1999


• 
  IIHF European Champions Cup (2): 1987, 1989

Current roster

Updated September 8, 2018.^[1]

#	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
7001510000000000000♠51		Vladislav Habal	G	R	27	2016	Sokolov, Czech Republic
7001710000000000000♠71		Eduard Šedivý	D	L	26	2015	Myjava, Slovakia
7001790000000000000♠79		Jere Pulli	D	L	27	2017	Lappeenranta, Finland
7001300000000000000♠30		Stanislav Škorvánek	G	L	22	2017	Žilina, Slovakia
7000200000000000000♠2		Martin Dudáš	D	L	31	2015	Ostrava, Czech Republic
7001440000000000000♠44		Gabriel Spilar	RW	R	37	2018	Košice, Slovakia
7001270000000000000♠27		Ladislav Nagy	LW	L	39	2016	Šaca, Slovakia
7001700000000000000♠70		Václav Čížek	D	R	29	2017	Buranovice, Czech Republic
7001640000000000000♠64		Patrik Koch	D	L	21	2016	Bratislava, Slovakia
7001740000000000000♠74		Christian Michalčin	D	R	22	2014	Košice, Slovakia
7001100000000000000♠10		Jakub Suja	RW	L	29	2015	Prešov, Slovakia
7001140000000000000♠14		Tomáš Hričina	F	L	28	2015	Košice, Slovakia
7001850000000000000♠85		Tomáš Klíma	C	L	28	2016	Ilava, Slovakia
7001220000000000000♠22		Dávid Šoltés	RW	R	23	2015	Košice, Slovakia
7001830000000000000♠83		Šimon Petráš	RW	L	22	2017	Bratislava, Slovakia
7001170000000000000♠17		Tomáš Netík	LW	L	36	2018	Praha, Czech Republic
7001860000000000000♠86		Filip Vrábeľ	LW	L	22	2016	Košice, Slovakia
7001240000000000000♠24		Filip Hudák	C	R	20	2017	Snina, Slovakia
7001870000000000000♠87		Marcel Haščák	RW	R	31	2018	Poprad, Slovakia
7001530000000000000♠53		Klemen Pretnar	D	R	32	2018	Bled, Slovenia
7001530000000000000♠53		Jimmy McDowell	D	R	25	2018	Dimondale, MI, USA
7001470000000000000♠47		Evan Brophey	C	L	31	2018	Kitchener, ON, Canada

NHL alumni

• 
  Marek Svatoš (1999–00, 2013–14)


• 
  Martin Štrbák (2004–05, 2012–16)


• 
  Miroslav Zálešák (2010–12)


• 
  Jiří Bicek (1995–97, 2004–05, 2006–07, 2013–18)


• 
  Rastislav Staňa (2013–14)


• 
  Ladislav Nagy (1997–98, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2013–14, 2016–present)

Notable players

• Ladislav Troják


• Jiří Holeček


• Bedřich Brunclík


• Vincent Lukáč


• Igor Liba


• Jaromír Dragan


• Peter Bondra


• Ladislav Nagy


• Jiří Bicek


• Ľubomír Vaic


• Marek Svatoš


• Juraj Faith


• Rudolf Huna


• Peter Bartos

References

External links

• Official club website


• Steel Arena website