HC Slovan Bratislava

Hockey Club Slovan Bratislava (Slovak: Hokejový klub Slovan Bratislava) is a professional ice hockey club based in Bratislava, Slovakia. In 2012, it left the Slovak Extraliga and joined the international Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). In 2019, it returned to the Slovak Extraliga. The club has won nine Slovak championships (most recently in 2022), one Czechoslovak championship (1979) and one IIHF Continental Cup (2004), making it the second most successful hockey club in Slovak history after their biggest rival HC Košice. The team plays its home games at Ondrej Nepela Arena, also known as Slovnaft Arena. The team is nicknamed Belasí, which means the "sky blues" in English.
==History==
The sports club Slovan Bratislava was founded in 1919 as a football club, then called 1.CsSK Bratislava. In 1921, a hockey section was founded as "CsSK hockey". They played their first game in December 1924 against Wiener EV from Vienna, losing 1-6. In 1939 the name of the club was changed to Slovan Bratislava, which has been kept until today. The club was also known as ŠK Bratislava from 1939-1945. They won the Slovak Championship in 1941 and 1942.
After World War II, Slovan was for a long time the only Slovak representative in the highest Czechoslovak league, and achieved several second places in the championship. The only title in the Czechoslovak Extraliga was achieved under coach Ladislav Horsky in the 1978–79 season. Additionally, the youth teams won several championships.
After the separation of Slovakia and the Czech Republic in 1993, Slovan played in the Slovak Extraliga and won eight championship titles. Also the junior teams kept winning several Slovak championships.
In addition to the successes achieved in Slovakia, Slovan also performed well internationally, with 3 Spengler Cup wins in a row in 1972–1974. It is also one of only four clubs, which played all 4 years of the European Hockey League and always progressed to the play-off stages. Another highlight was winning the IIHF Continental Cup in the 2003–04 season. Since 2011,
Slovan is also participating in the European Trophy.
===Kontinental Hockey League===
In March 2012, Slovan filed an application to play in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). On 21 June 2012, Slovan Bratislava was officially admitted to the KHL, after they fulfilled all necessary conditions. Founded in 1921, they are the oldest KHL team by a large margin, as there were no ice hockey leagues in the former Soviet Union prior to 1946.
====2012–13 season====
In May, Slovan signed Rostislav Čada as the new head coach for the first KHL season, who had had a KHL experience from working at Avangard Omsk. After playing two friendly matches against KHL teams and the European Trophy during the summer months, Slovan opened the 2012–13 season with a home game against Ukrainian HC Donbass on 6 September 2012, losing 2–4 in front of a capacity crowd. The first win was achieved 4 days later by defeating Spartak Moscow 2–1 after shootout. During the NHL lockout between September 2012 and January 2013, the two defenders Lubomír Višňovský and Andrej Sekera enhanced the team. Slovan ended the season with 78 points as 6th of the Western conference and thus clinched the play-off in their first KHL season. In the first play-off round Slovan played against Dynamo Moscow and lost all four matches.
During the regular season, Slovan had sold out 25 out of its 26 home games with an average attendance of 9,977 spectators which is the 7th highest average attendance in Europe.
==Mascot==
Before the start of 2013-14 season it was announced that the franchise will have a new mascot called Harvy. The mascot's name was determined by fans and its appearance will be of a bald eagle, which is also on HC Slovan's logo.
==Season-by-season record==
This is a partial list of the recent seasons completed by HC Slovan Bratislava. For the full season-by-season history, see List of HC Slovan Bratislava seasons.
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, OTW = Overtime/Shootout Wins, OTL = Overtime/Shootout Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
Season 	GP	W 	OTW	OTL	L 	Pts	GF 	GA 	Finish 	Playoffs
2009–10	47	35	5 	2 	5 	117	199	101	1st, Extraliga	Lost in Finals, 2–4 (HC Košice)
2010–11	57	25	5 	5 	22	90 	169	144	4th, Extraliga	Lost in Quarterfinals, 3–4 (HK Dukla Trenčín)
2011–12	55	31	1 	7 	16	102	176	138	3rd, Extraliga	Slovak Extraliga Champions, 4–3 (HC Košice)
2012–13	52	17	11 	5 	19	78 	124	127	3rd, Bobrov 	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 0–4 (Dynamo Moscow)
2013–14	54	15	9 	4 	26	67 	120	160	6th, Bobrov 	Did not qualify
 	60	15	5 	8 	32	63 	136	188	7th, Bobrov 	did not qualify
2015–16	60	21	11 	4 	24	89 	154	148	3rd, Bobrov 	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 0–4 (CSKA Moscow)
2016–17	60	22	7 	5 	26	85 	144	166	4th, Bobrov 	did not qualify
2017–18	56	15	3 	7 	31	58 	119	187	5th, Bobrov 	did not qualify
2018–19	62	10	5 	3 	44	33 	101	213	6th, Tarasov 	did not qualify
2019–20	55	29	8 	5 	13	108	191	118	2nd, Extraliga	Not held due to the coronavirus pandemic
2020–21	50	26	6 	4 	14	94 	146	115	4th, Extraliga	Lost in Semifinals, 1–4 (HKM Zvolen)
2021–22	50	32	3 	5 	10	104	189	118	1st, Extraliga	Slovak Extraliga Champions, 4–2 (HK Nitra)
2022–23	50	27	3 	6 	14	93 	162	115	2nd, Extraliga	Lost in Quarterfinals, 2–4 (Dukla Michalovce)
2023–24	50	21	5 	4 	20	77 	157	160	5th, Extraliga	Lost in Quarterfinals, 0–4 (Košice)
== Honours ==
=== Domestic ===
*Slovak Extraliga
** Winners (9): 1997–98, 1999–2000, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2011–12, 2021–22
** Runners-up (2): 1998–99, 2009–10
** 3rd place (5): 1994–95, 1995–96, 2000–01, 2003–04, 2008–09
*Czechoslovak Extraliga
** Winners (1): 1978–79
** Runners-up (8): 1948–49, 1959–60, 1960–61, 1961–62, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1969–70, 1971–72
** 3rd place (9): 1945–46, 1946–47, 1947–48, 1962–63, 1965–66, 1968–69, 1970–71, 1972–73, 1979–80
*Slovak Hockey League
** Winners (2): 1940–41, 1941–42
** Runners-up (2): 1942–43, 1943–44
*1st. Slovak National Hockey League
** Winners (2): 1981–82, 1989–90
*Czechoslovak 2. Liga
** Runners-up (1): 1954–55
=== International ===
*IIHF European Cup
** 3rd place (1): 1979–80
*IIHF Continental Cup
** Winners (1): 2003–04
** 3rd place (1): 2000–01
*IIHF Champions Hockey League
** Groupe Stage (2): 2021–22, 2022–23
=== Pre-Season ===
*Spengler Cup
** Winners (3): 1972, 1973, 1974
*Tatra Cup
** Winners (5): 1974, 1975, 1990, 1997, 1998
*Rona Cup
** Winners (1): 1998
==Team Photos==
SK Bratislava 1941.png|The club in 1941.
SK Bratislava 1942.png|The club in 1942.
==References==
==External links==
* Official Website of the HC Slovan Bratislava
Bratislava, HC Slovan
Bratislava, HC Slovan