HC Košice

Hockey Club Košice is a professional ice hockey team playing in the Slovak Extraliga and is one of the most successful hockey teams in Slovakia and the former Czechoslovakia.


 * Czechoslovakia championships: 2 (1986, 1988)
 * Slovak Extraliga championships: 4 (1995, 1996, 1999, 2009, 2010)
 * Continental Cup winners: 1 (1998)

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 new name – TJ VSŽ Košice. Twenty years later, in 1986, the club became 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 Praha. At that time, the team of VSŽ Košice was the second best ice hockey team in Europe after legendary CSKA Moscow (The European Champions Cup 1986 and 1988).

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 the "legendary" Žigmund Pálffy missing 3 penalty shots against the Košice goaltender Július Hudáček.

Notable players

 * Ladislav Troják
 * Bedřich Brunclík
 * Vincent Lukáč
 * Igor Liba
 * Jaromír Dragan
 * Peter Bondra
 * Ladislav Nagy
 * Jiří Bicek
 * Ľubomír Vaic
 * Marek Svatoš