Hockey Club Lev Praha (stylized as HC LEV Praha) was a professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

team located in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

, which played in the

Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; russian: Континентальная хоккейная лига (КХЛ), Kontinental'naya khokkeynaya liga) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs ba ...

(KHL) in the 2012–13 and 2013–14 seasons. In their two seasons played, Lev made the

Gagarin Cup The Gagarin Cup (russian: Кубок Гагарина, Kubok Gagarina) is the trophy presented to the winner of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) playoffs, and is named after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space. The Cup was ...

playoffs both times. In 2012–13, they finished 7th in the Western Conference and were swept in four straight games by

HC CSKA Moscow HC CSKA Moscow (1946–present, russian: ЦСКА Москва, Центральный Спортивный Клуб Армии, ''Central Sports Club of the Army, Moscow'') is a Russian professional ice hockey club based in Moscow. The club i ...

in the first round. In 2013–14, they finished 3rd in the West, then they swept

KHL Medveščak Zagreb KHL Medveščak Zagreb ( hr, Klub hokeja na ledu Medveščak Zagreb), also known as KHL Medveščak Mladi, is a Croatian ice hockey club based in Zagreb, established in 1961. The team's name derives from the location of its original arena in the ...

in four, outlasted

HC Donbass Hockey Club Donbass ( uk, Хокейний Клуб Донбас; russian: link=no, Хоккейный Клуб Донбасс, '' tr. Hokeinyi Klub Donbas'') is a Ukrainian professional ice hockey team based in Druzhkivka, currently playing in th ...

in six and beat

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl Hockey Club Lokomotiv (russian: ХК Локомотив, en, Locomotive HC), also known as Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, is a Russian professional ice hockey team, based in the city of Yaroslavl, playing in the top level Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) ...

in five to become Western Conference Champions. In the Gagarin Cup Finals, they faced Eastern Conference Champions

Metallurg Magnitogorsk Metallurg Magnitogorsk (russian: Металлург Магнитогорск) is a professional ice hockey team based in Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. They are members of the Kharlamov Division of the Kontinental Hockey League. They a ...

. The series went to a seventh and decisive game before Metallurg prevailed and won the Gagarin Cup on home ice 7–4. Lev's home attendance in the 2012–13 regular season averaged 7,161 spectators per game, making it the highest-attended Prague hockey club and the sixth highest in the KHL. Lev holds the record for the five largest indoor home crowds in KHL history, with a record of 17,073 attending Game 4 of the Gagarin Cup Finals at

O2 Arena O2 Arena may refer to: *The O2 Arena (London) *O2 Arena (Prague) *The 3Arena The 3Arena (originally The O2) is an indoor amphitheatre located at North Wall Quay in the Dublin Docklands in Dublin, Ireland. The venue opened as The O2 on 16 Decem ...

on April 24, 2014. However, after two seasons, because of financial problems caused by the withdrawing of two major sponsors, Lev did not play in the

2014–15 KHL season The 2014–15 KHL season was the seventh season of the Kontinental Hockey League. The season started on 3 September with the Opening Cup between defending champions Metallurg Magnitogorsk and Dynamo Moscow, replacing Lev Praha, last year's runner ...

. According to shareholders, this decision did not rule out the possibility of the KHL returning to Prague in the future. However, the team never returned to the ice.

History

HC Lev in Hradec Králové and Poprad

A team named ''HC Lev Hradec Králové'' was founded in 2010 and based in

Hradec Králové Hradec Králové (; german: Königgrätz) is a city of the Czech Republic. It has about 91,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Hradec Králové Region. The historic centre of Hradec Králové is well preserved and is protected by law as an ...

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

, with the intention to join the KHL for the 2010–11 season. However, the

Czech Ice Hockey Association The Czech Ice Hockey Association ( cs, Český svaz ledního hokeje, ČSLH) is the governing body of ice hockey in the Czech Republic. Structure According to the statutes, seven organs operate in the Czech Ice Hockey Association. Every two years ...

refused to give permission to the club. Therefore, the team was moved to

Poprad Poprad (; hu, Poprád; german: Deutschendorf) is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatra Mountains, famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. It is the biggest town of the Spiš region and the ten ...

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

and was finally able to join the KHL for the 2011–12 season. But after only one KHL season, the team was disbanded.

New team in Prague (2012)

Vrána, Chára, Bartečko 2012-12-02 Amur—Lev Praha KHL-game

Late in Lev Poprad's 2011–12 season, a change of owners renewed speculation about a move to

. In March 2012, the Czech Ice Hockey Association (ČSLH) granted permission for a KHL team to play in the Czech Republic, and at the end of April, a newly found team with the same name, HC Lev, but as a different organization, officially applied to the KHL to play in Prague. Lev Praha had a working agreement with local Extraliga club

HC Sparta Praha Hockey Club Sparta Praha, commonly known as HC Sparta Prague, is a Prague-based Czech ice hockey team playing in the Czech Extraliga. The club has won four Czech championships (most recently in 2007) and four Czechoslovak championships, as ...

and the two teams shared Tipsport Arena. During their two seasons, Lev also played a total of 11 home games at the larger and newer

Seasons

Lev signed Czech Josef Jandač as their head coach for the first KHL season, who named Jiří Novotný as the first team captain. They started the season on 6 September 2012 at home with a 2–1 win against

Dinamo Riga Dinamo Riga ( lv, Rīgas Dinamo) is a professional ice hockey team based in Riga, Latvia. It is a member of the Latvian Hockey Higher League. The club is affiliated with HK Zemgale/LLU. The club was re-founded on 7 April 2008 as a successor of ...

. Lev started strong, and by winning six of their first seven games, they were even leading the Western conference for a while. After the

NHL lockout The NHL lockout may refer to any of the four labour actions in the history of the National Hockey League: * The 1992 NHL strike, which postponed 30 games of the 1991–92 season * The 1994–95 NHL lockout, which cancelled many of the games of ...

came into effect in September, they signed

Jakub Voráček Jakub Voráček (; born 15 August 1989) is a Czech professional ice hockey right winger who plays for the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League (NHL). Voráček was drafted seventh overall by the Blue Jackets at the 2007 NHL Entry ...

Jiří Hudler Jiří Hudler (; ; born 4 January 1984) is a Czech former professional ice hockey forward. He played with the Detroit Red Wings, Calgary Flames, Florida Panthers and the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League (NHL). After beginning his car ...

and

Zdeno Chára Zdeno Chára (; born 18 March 1977) is a Slovak former professional ice hockey defenceman. He played 24 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New York Islanders, Ottawa Senators, Boston Bruins, and Washington Capitals between 1997 a ...

for the duration of the lockout. Jandač was removed as head coach on 27 October and replaced shortly afterward by Václav Sýkora.

Achievements

''(1)'': 2013–14 KHL Western Conference ''(1)'': 2013–14 Prague Hockey Cup ''(1)'': 2013

Season-by-season record

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

Players

Team captains

''Note: This list does not include captains from the HC Lev Poprad.'' * Jiří Novotný, 2012–2014

Head coaches

''Note: This list does not include head coaches from the HC Lev Poprad.'' * Josef Jandač, 2012 * Václav Sýkora, 2012–13 *

Kari Jalonen Kari Jalonen (born January 6, 1960) is a Finnish professional ice hockey coach and former player. Currently he is the head coach of Czech national team. He is not related to Finnish ice hockey coach Jukka Jalonen. Playing career A pr ...

, 2013–14

References

External links

Official Facebook page

Official Twitter page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lev Praha Defunct ice hockey teams in the Czech Republic Sport in Prague Ice hockey clubs established in 2012 Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 2014 Former Kontinental Hockey League teams 2012 establishments in the Czech Republic 2014 disestablishments in the Czech Republic