| Ice hockey in the Czech Republic | |
|---|---|
 Jaromír Jágr speaks to fans after win at World Championships | |
| Country | Czech Republic |
| Governing body | Czech Ice Hockey Association |
| National team(s) | Men's national team Women's national team |
National competitions | |
International competitions | |
Ice hockey is one of the most popular sports in the Czech Republic. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Ice hockey was established in the Czech Republic in 1908. [4]
Ice hockey in the Czech Republic is governed by the Czech Ice Hockey Association. [5] By the 1940s Czechoslovakia emerged as an ice hockey powerhouse. [6]
The Czech Extraliga was first held in the 1993-94 season. [7] It replaced Czechoslovak First Ice Hockey League after Czechoslovakia split.
The Czech Extraliga has 14 professional teams that compete in the championship. There are 52 matches are played with each team playing each other four times. In the Play-offs, the teams placed 1st - 6th qualify for the play-offs, which will be played in best Of Seven matches. The teams placed between 7 - 10th play each other in the best-of-five matches, the other two participants compete in a play-off quarter-final.
Before the Velvet Divorce the Czech Republic national team played as the Czechoslovakia men's national ice hockey team and they had an intense hockey rivalry with the USSR. [8] [9]
The Czech Republic men's national ice hockey team is one of the major powers in world hockey winning Olympic gold in 1998. [10]
The Czech Republic is a member of the so-called "Big Six", an unofficial list of major powers in world hockey.
Jaromír Jágr is considered one of the greatest NHL players ever. He is one of many Czech ice hockey players who have had successful careers in the National Hockey League. [11]
The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics. The IIHF was created in 1908 while the European Championships, the precursor to the World Championships, were first held in 1910. The tournament held at the 1920 Summer Olympics is recognized as the first Ice Hockey World Championship. From 1920 to 1968, the Olympic hockey tournament was also considered the World Championship for that year.
Robert Lang is a Czech former professional ice hockey player. Drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in the fifth round, 133rd overall, at the 1990 NHL Entry Draft, Lang made his NHL debut with the team in the 1992–93 season. He has also played in the NHL for the Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals, Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks, Montreal Canadiens and Phoenix Coyotes, with whom he retired with in 2010.
The Spengler Cup is an annual invitational ice hockey tournament held in Davos, Switzerland. First held in 1923, the Spengler Cup is often cited as the oldest invitational ice hockey tournament in the world. The event is hosted by the Swiss team HC Davos and played each year in Davos from 26 December to 31 inclusively. Currently, all games are held at the Eisstadion Davos.
Ivan Hlinka was a Czech professional ice hockey player and coach. He is considered to be one of the most important figures in Czech ice hockey history. A big centre, his playing style was comparable to Phil Esposito, often scoring with shots from the slot. He played most of his career with HC Litvínov, and spent two seasons in the National Hockey League with the Vancouver Canucks. Internationally, Hlinka played for the Czechoslovakia men's national ice hockey team, and was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2002. After retiring as a player, he coached two seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins. His legacy includes the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament for national under-18 hockey teams, and the Ivan Hlinka Stadion.
The Slovak Extraliga, known as the Tipos Extraliga since the 2020–21 season for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level ice hockey league in Slovakia. From 2018–19 to 2020–21, the league included one or two teams from Hungary.
HC Dynamo Pardubice is a professional ice hockey club that plays in the Czech Extraliga. Its home venue is Enteria arena located in Pardubice. The club was originally named LTC Pardubice, acquiring its current name at the start of the 2015–16 season.
Vladimír Růžička is a Czech ice hockey coach and former professional player. Růžička was twice named the top player in the Czechoslovak Elite League, and was on the gold medal team in the Ice Hockey World Championship in 1985 and 1998 Olympic Games. He also played 233 games in the National Hockey League (NHL). Since 2008, Růžička has been the head coach of both HC Slavia Praha and the Czech national ice hockey team.
Hockey Club Sparta Praha, commonly known as HC Sparta Prague, is a Prague-based Czech professional ice hockey team playing in the Czech Extraliga. The club has won four Czech championships (most recently in 2007) and four Czechoslovak championships, as well as two Spengler Cups, making it one of the most successful hockey clubs in Czech history. The team HC Sparta Praha plays its home games at O2 Arena, the largest arena in the country.
Robert Reichel is a Czech former professional ice hockey centre and coach. He began his career with HC Litvínov of the Czechoslovak First Ice Hockey League; his 49 goals in 1989–90 was the second highest total in Czechoslovakian history. Reichel played 11 National Hockey League (NHL) seasons for the Calgary Flames, New York Islanders, Phoenix Coyotes and Toronto Maple Leafs. In 830 career NHL games, he scored 252 goals and 378 assists for 630 points. He also played with the Frankfurt Lions of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). He ended his player career in 2010 in HC Litvínov, where he served as captain of the team.
Hockey Club Košice is a Slovak professional ice hockey club based in Košice that competes in the Slovak Extraliga, the top tier of Slovak ice hockey. It is the most successful hockey club in Slovakia and the former Czechoslovakia, having won the Tipos Extraliga nine times, the Czechoslovakian Hockey League twice, the 1st. Slovak National Hockey League once, the IIHF Continental Cup once, the Tatra Cup ten times, and the Rona Cup four times. The club is nicknamed "Oceliari", which means "Steelers" in English.
Milan Hnilička is a Czech former ice hockey goalie who played in the National Hockey League for the New York Rangers, Atlanta Thrashers and the Los Angeles Kings and politician. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies since 2017, but resigned in January 2021 after attending a party in breach of coronavirus restrictions. He was drafted 70th overall by the New York Islanders in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft. In 2000, Milan won the Calder Cup while playing for the Hartford Wolf Pack. He last played in the Czech Extraliga for Bílí Tygři Liberec. He announced his retirement in August 2010. Internationally Hnilička represented the Czechoslovakian national junior team and the Czech national senior team at multiple tournaments, including the 2006 Winter Olympics, where he won a bronze medal.
Rytíři Kladno is a Czech professional ice hockey team based in the city of Kladno. They are currently a member of the Czech Extraliga. The team president and owner is Jaromír Jágr, a former NHL player, who is currently playing in home games for the team in addition to his ownership and administrative roles. The team plays its home games at ČEZ Stadion.
Hockey Club 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 Tipos Extraliga. The club has won nine Slovak championships, one Czechoslovak championship (1979) and one IIHF Continental Cup (2004), 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.
Václav Nedomanský is a Czechoslovak former ice hockey forward. Nedomanský is best known as the first Czechoslovak hockey player to defect to North America to play. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2019. He is also a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame (1997), Slovak Hockey Hall of Fame (2002), Czech Ice Hockey Hall of Fame (2008) and was named into the IIHF All-Time Czech Team (2020).
Professional ice hockey (hockey) is the competition of ice hockey in which participants are paid to play. Professional competition began in North America in the United States in Pennsylvania and Michigan and in Canada around 1900. Professional ice hockey expanded across Canada and the United States and eventually to many other countries. There are major leagues around the world, including the National Hockey League in North America, the Kontinental Hockey League in Europe and Asia, and the Swedish Hockey League in Europe, as well as minor leagues such as the American Hockey League and ECHL in North America, and the Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey in Canada. High-level professional hockey is also present in Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Finland and Switzerland; professional hockey is also played in many other countries, as diverse as Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Austria, Australia and Japan.
Vlastimil Bubník was a Czech ice hockey player and footballer.
Karel Gut was a Czech ice hockey player and coach, who later worked in sports management. He was born in Prague and later played in the Czechoslovak Extraliga. While Gut played soccer in his youth, he was better known as an, "offensive-minded hockey defenseman". Gut was inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame in 1998, and has also been inducted into the Czechoslovak Ice Hockey Hall of Fame.
Martin Hosták is a retired Czech professional ice hockey player. He played 55 games in the National Hockey League with the Philadelphia Flyers during the 1990–91 and 1991–92 seasons. The rest of his career, which lasted from 1986 to 2001, was mainly spent in the Czechoslovak First Ice Hockey League and the Swedish Elitserien. Internationally Hosták played for both Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic at several tournaments, including three World Championships, winning two bronze medals, and the 1994 Winter Olympics.
The Czech Ice Hockey Association, also known by the shortened name Czech Ice Hockey, is the governing body of ice hockey and sledge hockey in Czechia. It is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and controls the majority of organized ice hockey in the Czech Republic.
The Czech Extraliga is the highest-level ice hockey league in the Czech Republic. It was created in 1993 following the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia midway through the 1992–93 Czechoslovak Extraliga season.
 | This ice hockey article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This article about sports in the Czech Republic is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
