HK Poprad is a 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 ...

team 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 ice hockey league in

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 ...

. It plays its games in

Poprad Poprad (; ; ) is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatras, High Tatra Mountains, famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. The largest town of the Spiš region and the largest of all towns in the vic ...

, Slovakia. The squad's greatest successes include 2nd place in the

in 2006, 2011 and 2021. The team finished in the standings of the 2023-2024 season in 1st place, with a record of 27 wins and 15 losses. The club is nicknamed ''Kamzíci'', which means "

Chamois The chamois (; ) (''Rupicapra rupicapra'') or Alpine chamois is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope native to the mountains in Southern Europe, from the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Apennines, the Dinarides, the Tatra Mountains, Tatra to the Carpa ...

es" in Slovak.

History

HK Poprad, in its current incarnation, was founded in 1935 by the merger of two existing teams. Those teams were "SK Vysoke Tatry" (founded in 1926), and a team called "HC Poprad" (founded in 1929 as "Karpathenverein Poprad", name changed to "HC Poprad" in 1930). The 1935 merged team was named "HC Tatry". They started playing in the original SNHL, a 2nd-tier league, and eventually played as one of the strongest teams in various other 2nd-tier leagues. During this time, they went through various name changes, and won Slovak championships in 1970, 1981,1985, and 1991. The 1991 team, known at the time as "SKP PS Poprad", was admitted into the 1st-tier Extraliga of Czechoslovakia. After the dissolution of

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 ...

in 1993, Poprad started playing in the new independent Slovak Championship which was named the

. The team underwent more minor name changes until 2010, and since that year, the official team name has been HK Poprad. In the 1996–97 season Poprad was eliminated in the semifinals by

HC Košice 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 ...

. In the next season 1997–98, they played semifinals again against

and lost 0–3. However, these two seasons were successful because the team won bronze medals. In the 2005–06 season the team reached the most remarkable success, but lost 3–4 in the final series against MsHK Žilina. This success was repeated in the 2010–11 season, when they played against the long-time rival

and lost 1–4 in the final.

Season-by-season record

''This is a partial list of the last tenth seasons completed by HK Poprad.'' Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, OTW = Overtime/shootout wins, OTL = Overtime/shootout losses, L = Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against''

Honours

Domestic

* Runners-up (3): 2005–06,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2020–21 * 3rd place (2): 1996–97, 1997–98

Czechoslovak Extraliga 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. History ...

* 3rd place (1): 1937–38 Slovak Hockey League * Runners-up (1): 1941–42 * 3rd place (2): 1942–43, 1943–44 1st. Slovak National Hockey League * Winners (4): 1969–70, 1980–81, 1984–85, 1990–91 * Runners-up (4): 1966–67, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1987–88 * 3rd place (6): 1968–69, 1970–71, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1982–83, 1985–86

Pre-season

Tatra Cup The Tatra Cup () is an annual ice hockey tournament held in Poprad, Slovakia. It is the second oldest club tournament in Europe, after the Spengler Cup. The first installment of the Tatra Cup took place in 1929 in Starý Smokovec. Between the ye ...

* Winners (14): 1936/1937, 1937/1938, 1938/1939, 1941/1942, 1946/1947, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2012, 2014, 2018, 2020, 2023

Players

Current roster

Retired numbers

Franchise scoring leaders

These are the top-ten-point-scorers in franchise history. Figures are updated after each completed regular season. * – current Poprad player ''Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game''

Franchise playoff scoring leaders

These are the top-ten playoff point-scorers in franchise playoff history. Figures are updated after each completed season. * – current Poprad player ''Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game; * = current Poprad player''

NHL alumni

* Jamie Arniel (2022) * Ľuboš Bartečko (1993–1994, 2010, 2014–2015) *

Peter Bondra Peter Bondra (; born 7 February 1968) is a Ukrainian-born Slovak former professional ice hockey player. He was the general manager of the Slovakia national team from 2007 to 2011. A two-time 50-goal scorer, Bondra became the 37th player in Nati ...

(2004) * Michal Handzuš (1996) * Kevin Henderson (2016) * Miroslav Ihnačák (1992, 2004) * Brandon Mashinter (2021) *

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 ...

(2010) * Andrej Nedorost (2011) * Radoslav Suchý (1994, 2004–2005, 2010–2016) *

Tomáš Surový Tomáš Surový (born September 24, 1981) is a Slovak former professional ice hockey left winger who last played for Slovan Bratislava of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Playing career As a youth, Surový played in the 1995 Quebec Internat ...

(2000) * Ľubomír Vaic (1993–1994, 2011–2013) * Kyle Wanvig (2010) * Viktor Svedberg (2024) * Adam Cracknell (2025) *

Teemu Pulkkinen Teemu Pulkkinen (born 2 January 1992) is a Finland, Finnish professional ice hockey Winger (ice hockey), left winger who currently plays for HK Poprad of the Slovak Extraliga. Pulkkinen was drafted 111th overall by the Detroit Red Wings in the 2 ...

(2025) * Ben Thomas (2025) * Ivan Vishnevskiy (2021)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poprad, HK Ice hockey teams in Slovakia Ice hockey teams in Czechoslovakia

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 ...

Ice hockey clubs established in 1930 1930 establishments in Czechoslovakia