HC Energie Karlovy Vary is a professional ice hockey team based in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. They play in the highest-level national league, the Czech Extraliga.

HC Energie Karlovy Vary
CityKarlovy Vary, Czech Republic
LeagueCzech Extraliga
Founded1932 (1932)
Home arenaKV Arena
(capacity: 5,874)
ColoursBlack, white, grey, gold
       
Owner(s)Czech Republic Karel Holoubek
General managerCzech Republic Karel Holoubek
Head coachCzech Republic David Bruk
Websitehokejkv.cz
Franchise history
HC Energie Karlovy Vary 2002–present
  • HC Becherovka Karlovy Vary 1994–2002
  • Slavia Karlovy Vary 1964–1994
  • Dynamo Karlovy Vary 1953–1964
  • Sokol Slavia Karlovy Vary 1951–1953
  • Slavia Karlovy Vary 1932–1951

The club

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David Hruška

The history of the ice hockey in Karlovy Vary dates back to the 1932,[1] when a few enthusiasts established SK Slavia Karlovy Vary. The home arena of this club was a small lake nicknamed Little Versailles. In 1948, an artificial ice rink was built, which significantly improved the standards. Within a few years, the ice hockey team Karlovy Vary was competing on a national level. The club steadily remained in the first league (Přebor republiky) in the years 1951–52, 1952–53, 1953–54, 1954–55. The numbers of spectators coming to the games in those days were up to and over 10 000. In 1953 the team's name changed to 'Dynamo'. One of the greatest achievements of those days can be considered the games with HK Lokomotiv Moscow which ended 2:3 for Dynamo, or victory 8:5 against the Czechoslovakian National Team (which was training for the World Championships). Many key players were injured during the season 1954-55 and the club got relegated to the second league. However, as dominant as Dynamo was in the second league, they never managed to get back to the top league. The team was renamed back to Slavia in 1965. As harsh times came at the end of the 70s when the arena started to fall into disrepair and was not fit for purpose any more, the council decided to build two ice rinks. The construction of the first, training rink commenced shortly and was completed in 1975. The project to build the arena of national standards next to the training ground was never realized. The existing ice rink had the roof put on by the end of 80s. In 1990, changing rooms were built and further improvements were carried out such as new services, cooling of the surface, barriers with artificial glass, etc.[2] Basically everything that was missing right from the start. A large financial burden and no interest of the local council caused that the club was relegated to the division group (note: 1) Extraliga ('Extra League'), 2) 1. liga ('First League'), 3) 2.liga ('Second League'), 4) krajské přebory ('Division').[3] All changed in 1991 with a new management and generous sponsor: firm Jan Becher.[4] From the season 1993/1994, the team's name was changed to HC Slavia Becherovka Karlovy Vary (from season 1996/1997 HC Becherovka Karlovy Vary). The club reached the First League in 1995 and a couple of years later in 1997, HC Becherovka Karlovy Vary fought their way into the Extra League. They did not managed to defeat Opava in the playoffs, but with a stable position in the competition, the club bought the rights of HC Olomouc which was in financial difficulties. The club got a new sponsor in 2002, the Sokolovskou uhelnou a. s., and was renamed to HC Energie. In season 2007/2008, the team, led by coach Zdeňek Venera, fought their way into the finals, but lost in a 7-games battle to Prague's team Slavia.

The club's effort paid off next year under the coach Josef Paleček and captain Václav Skuhravy in repetition of last year's finals, HC Energie won 4:2 on games and celebrated their first Extraliga title. The best player of the playoffs that year was Lukáš Mensator.[5] The Extraliga Finals of the 2008/2009 season was also the last game in the old arena in Dolní Kamenna. From the next season, the club moved into the newly built KV Arena.[6]

Some of the icons of ice hockey in Karlovy Vary are Václav Šinágl, Lukáš Mensator and Tomáš Vokoun.

Energie's junior team joined the MHL, the KHL's junior league, for the 2012–13 season, but then left after the 2014–15 season.[7]

In 2017, the team lost the main sponsor Sokolovská uhelná and played the season 2017/18 in the second highest league. The next year, however, the team returned to the Extraliga.

Honours

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Domestic

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Czech Extraliga

Czech 1. Liga

Czech 2. Liga

Pre-season

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Tipsport Hockey Cup

  •   Runners-up (1): 2007

Players

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Current roster

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Source: hokejkv.cz[8]Source: eliteprospects.com[9]As of July 15, 2023.

No. Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace
8   Ondřej Beránek LW L 28 2013 Havlíčkův Brod, Czech Republic
21   Jiří Černoch RW R 28 2019 Klatovy, Czech Republic
72   Ondřej Dlapa D L 32 2021 Brno, Czechoslovakia
  Dominik Frodl G L 28 2023 Prague, Czech Republic
12   Dávid Gríger C R 29 2021 Poprad, Slovakia
85   Vladislav Habal G R 33 2020 Sokolov, Czechoslovakia
77   Tomáš Havlín D L 28 2021 Jablonec nad Nisou, Czech Republic
67   Jan Hladonik LW L 25 2020 Třinec, Czech Republic
11   Vít Jiskra LW L 23 2019 Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic
10   Petr Koblasa RW R 30 2019 Soběslav, Czech Republic
64   Martin Kohout LW L 29 2014 Rožnov pod Radhoštěm, Czech Republic
29   Štěpán Lukeš G R 28 2021 Chomutov, Czech Republic
38   Garrett McFadden D L 27 2023 Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada
83   Dalimil Mikyska D L 25 2021 Břeclav, Czech Republic
76   Martin Osmík C L 28 2014 Chrudim, Czech Republic
7   Michal Plutnar D R 30 2017 Chotěboř, Czech Republic
51   Lukáš Pulpán (A) D L 39 2020 Plzeň, Czechoslovakia
30   Tomáš Rachůnek (A) RW R 33 2020 Zlín, Czechoslovakia
17   Tomáš Redlich LW L 31 2020 Kladno, Czech Republic
90   Martin Rohan D L 34 2020 Sokolov, Czechoslovakia
20   David Tureček D R 23 2018 Kyjov, Czech Republic
44   Petr Vodička D L 27 2017 Plzeň, Czech Republic
5   Tomáš Vondráček (C) LW L 33 2019 Třebíč, Czechoslovakia
58   Martin Weinhold D R 27 2015 Most, Czech Republic

References

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  1. ^ "HC Energie Karlovy Vary".
  2. ^ "Zimní stadiony".
  3. ^ "Český svaz ledního hokeje - Hokejové soutěže - 1. liga sezóna 2010/2011". www.cslh.cz. Archived from the original on 2011-01-12.
  4. ^ "Sponzor karlovarského hokeje ohlásil odchod". 16 May 2001.
  5. ^ "Cena MF DNES: Nejlepší v play-off byl táta Mensator, který dotáhl Vary k titulu". 18 April 2009.
  6. ^ "KV Arena – Sports – Cultural and Congress Centre Karlovy vary". kvarena.cz. Archived from the original on 2010-09-26.
  7. ^ "MHL loses Energie - Eurohockey.com". www.eurohockey.com.
  8. ^ "Team Roster / HC Energie Karlovy Vary". www.hokejkv.cz. Retrieved 2021-11-25.
  9. ^ "Team Roster / HC Energie Karlovy Vary". www.eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 2021-11-25.
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