HC Prešov is an

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

team playing in the Slovak 1. Liga, and formed in 2021, after HC Prešov Penguins announced the dissolvation of their club. They play in the city of

Prešov Prešov () is a city in eastern Slovakia. It is the seat of administrative Prešov Region () and Šariš. With a population of approximately 85,000 for the city, and in total more than 100,000 with the urban area, it is the second-largest city i ...

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, 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 west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

History

The newly established hockey club HC 21 Prešov replaced

HC 07 Detva HC 07 Detva is a professional ice hockey team playing in the Slovak 1. Liga founded in 2007. They play in the city of Detva, Slovakia at Detva Ice Stadium. History The club was founded in 2007. In the 2017–18 season did not qualify for the ...

Slovak Extraliga The Slovak Extraliga, known as the Tipsport liga since the 2025–26 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. Teams fro ...

from the season 2021–22. Ernest Bokroš was the head coach and the basic team should be made up of players from Detva. The final point for moving the Detvian club to Prešov gave the

Slovak Ice Hockey Federation The Slovak Ice Hockey Federation (, SZĽH) is the Sport governing body, governing body that oversees ice hockey in Slovakia. Paul Loicq Award recipient Juraj Okoličány served as chairman and vice-president of the federation from 1990 to 2003. ...

, but it was only a formality. The owner of the Detvian club, Róbert Ľupták, decided to move the Extraliga license to Prešov. Not only he moves from Detva to Prešov, but also several other players, including forward Ján Sýkora. The first captain of the team was

Marek Zagrapan Marek Zagrapan (born 6 December 1986) is a Slovak professional ice hockey centre. He was drafted by the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Buffalo Sabres in the first round, 13th overall, at the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. Playing career Zagrapan was dr ...

from Prešov, who came from

HK Poprad HK Poprad is a professional ice hockey team in the Slovak Extraliga, the top ice hockey league in Slovakia. It plays its games in Poprad, Slovakia. The squad's greatest successes include 2nd place in the Slovak Extraliga in 2006, 2011 and 2021. Th ...

. Zagrapan was drafted by the

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Con ...

in the first round, 13th overall, in the

2005 NHL Entry Draft The 2005 NHL entry draft was the 43rd entry draft for the National Hockey League. Originally scheduled to be held on June 25, it was postponed to July 30 due to the 2004–05 NHL lockout. Special procedures were required to determine the order ...

References

External links

2021 establishments in Slovakia {{Slovakia-sport-stub