Hockey Club Košice is a Slovak professional

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 ...

club based in

Košice Košice is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of approximately 230,000, Košice is the second-largest cit ...

that competes in 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 ...

, the top tier of Slovak ice hockey. It is the most successful hockey club in Slovakia and the former

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

, having won the Tipos Extraliga ten times, the

Czechoslovak First Ice Hockey League The Czechoslovak First Ice Hockey League was the elite ice hockey league in Czechoslovakia from 1936 until 1993, when the country split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Slovak Extraliga and Czech Extraliga formed from the split. Histor ...

twice, the 1st. Slovak National Hockey League once, the

IIHF Continental Cup The Continental Cup is a second-level ice hockey tournament for European clubs (behind Champions Hockey League), begun in 1997 after the discontinuing of the European Cup. It was intended for teams from countries without representatives in the ...

once, the Tatra Cup 11 times, and the Rona Cup four times. The club is nicknamed "Oceliari" ("Steelers" in English). The team plays at the Steel Arena in Košice.

History

The club was established in

in 1962 as an army hockey club called TJ Dukla Košice. At that time, there were two weak regional ice hockey clubs in the city. The new club was much stronger and joined the Czechoslovak Hockey League within two years. In 1966, Dukla changed its name to TJ VSŽ Košice. In 1986, the club became the Ice Hockey Champions of Czechoslovakia for the first time, beating HC Dukla Jihlava in the finals. It won again in 1988, beating HC Sparta Prague. At that time, the club was the second-best ice hockey club in Europe after

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow () is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was the central part of the Armed Forces (sports ...

. After Czechoslovakia split into the

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

and

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 ...

in 1993, VSŽ Košice became a member of the

, which it soon went on to win three times. In 1998, the club changed its name to HC Košice. On 24 February 2006, Košice left Lokomotíva Košice Stadium and moved to the newly constructed Steel Aréna. The arena is named in honour of the club's sponsor, U. S. Steel Košice, and is also known as L. Troják Stadium after one of the club's most popular players. Košice won the league for the fourth time by defeating

HK 36 Skalica HK Skalica is a professional ice hockey team based in Skalica, Slovakia. It has been a member of the Slovak Extraliga since 1997–98 season, when the squad was promoted from the Slovak 1.Liga. Team is currently playing in the second highest lea ...

to end the 2008–09 season. A victory over

HC Slovan Bratislava Hockey Club Slovan Bratislava () is a professional ice hockey club based in Bratislava, Slovakia. In 2012, it left the Tipsport Liga (hockey), Slovak Extraliga and joined the international Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). In 2019, it returned to ...

at the end of the 2009–10 season saw the club win the league for the second year in a row and the fifth time in total, which it followed up by beating

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 ...

in the finals of the 2010–11 season to secure the league for the third year in a row (the first "hat trick" in the league's history) and the sixth time in total. Košice qualified for the finals for the sixth time in a row at the 2012–13 season, but suffered a loss to

HKm Zvolen Hokejový Klub HKM a.s. Zvolen is a professional Slovakia, Slovak ice hockey club based in Zvolen. The club has won the Slovak league championship three times (2001, 2013, 2021) and the IIHF Continental Cup in 2005. The team is nicknamed ''Rytieri ...

. A victory over

HK Nitra Hokejový Klub Nitra is a professional ice hockey club based in Nitra, Slovakia. The club has been a member of the Tipsport Liga (hockey), Slovak Extraliga since the 2003–04 Slovak Extraliga, 2003–04 season and winner of Slovak Extraliga in th ...

in the finals of the 2013–14 season led Košice to its seventh league victory. The club won its eighth and most recent league during the 2014–15 season, defeating HC '05 Banská Bystrica in the finals.

Honours

Domestic

* Winners (10): 1994–95, 1995–96, 1998–99, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2022–23, 2024–25 * Runners-up (7): 1993–94, 1996–97, 1997–98, 2002–03, 2007–08, 2011–12, 2012–13 * 3rd place (3): 2001–02, 2006–07, 2015–16 Czechoslovak Extraliga * Winners (2): 1985–86, 1987–88 * Runners-up (1): 1984–85 * 3rd place (1): 1988–89 1st. Slovak National Hockey League * Winners (1): 1963–64

International

IIHF European Cup The IIHF European Cup, also known as the Europa Cup, was a European ice hockey club competition for champions of national leagues which was contested between 1965 and 1997, governed by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). History The ...

* Runners-up (2): 1986–87, 1988–89

* Winners (1): 1997–98 * Runners-up (1): 1998–99 IIHF Super Cup * Runners-up (1):

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

Pre-season

Tatra Cup * Winners (11): 1978, 1979, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1992, 1993, 2008, 2017, 2024 Rona Cup * Winners (4): 1995, 1996, 2009, 2013

Players

Current roster

Notable players

* Ladislav Troják *

Jiří Holeček Jiří Holeček (born March 18, 1944) is a Czech professional ice hockey coach and former player. Holeček played in the Czechoslovak Elite League from 1964 to 1979, and on the Czechoslovak national team for many years. After joining the mili ...

* Bedřich Brunclík * Vincent Lukáč * Igor Liba * Jaromír Dragan * Jiří Bicek * Ľubomír Vaic * Marek Svatoš * Juraj Faith * Rudolf Huna * Peter Bartoš * Martin Štrbák * Miroslav Zálešák * Rastislav Staňa *

Ladislav Nagy Ladislav Nagy (; born 1 June 1979) is a Slovak former professional ice hockey player. He played eight seasons as a left winger in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the St. Louis Blues, Phoenix Coyotes, Dallas Stars, and Los Angeles Kings ...

* Peter Bondra * Peter Ihnačák * Miroslav Ihnačák *

Ján Lašák Ján Lašák (born April 10, 1979) is a Slovak former professional ice hockey goaltender. Lašák was drafted by the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League (NHL) in the 2nd round (65th overall) of the 1999 NHL Entry Draft and spent th ...

* Arne Kroták * Ivan Droppa * Jerguš Bača * Stanislav Gron *

Martin Marinčin Martin Marinčin (; born 18 February 1992) is a Slovak professional ice hockey defenceman for HC Oceláři Třinec of the Czech Extraliga (ELH). He was drafted in the second round, 46th overall, by the Edmonton Oilers in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. ...

* Tomáš Jurčo * Ján Laco * Erik Černák

References

External links

Official club website

Steel Arena website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kosice, HC Sport in Košice Kosice, HC Kosice, HC Ice hockey clubs established in 1962 1962 establishments in Czechoslovakia