HC Energie Karlovy Vary 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 based in

Karlovy Vary Karlovy Vary (; , formerly also spelled ''Carlsbad'' in English) is a spa town, spa city in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 49,000 inhabitants. It is located at the confluence of the Ohře and Teplá (river), Teplá ri ...

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 ...

. They play in the highest-level national league, the

Czech Extraliga The Czech Extraliga () is the highest-level ice hockey league in the Czech Republic. It was created in 1993 following the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia midway through the 1992–93 Czechoslovak Extraliga season (which all Slovak and ...

The club

The history of the ice hockey in

dates back to the 1932, 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 HK Lokomotiv Moscow was an ice hockey team in Moscow, Russia (then Soviet Union). They played in the Soviet Championship League, and various other lower-level Soviet leagues from 1947-1983. History The club was founded in 1947 as part of the Lokom ...

which ended 2:3 for Dynamo, or victory 8:5 against the Czechoslovak National Team (which was training for the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

). 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. 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'). All changed in 1991 with a new management and generous sponsor: firm Jan Becher. 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 Opava (; , ) is a city in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 55,000 inhabitants. It lies on the Opava (river), Opava River. Opava is one of the historical centres of Silesia and was a historical capital of Czech Sile ...

in the playoffs, but with a stable position in the competition, the club bought the rights of

HC Olomouc HC Olomouc is a professional ice hockey team in the Czech Extraliga, from the city of Olomouc. They won the Extraliga championship in the 1993/1994 season. In 1997, the club sold the Extraliga license to HC Karlovy Vary, and was thus relegated ...

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. 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. Some of the icons of ice hockey in Karlovy Vary are

Václav Šinágl Václav () or rarely Vácslav is a Czech male given name. It is among the most common Czech names. The Latinized form of the name is Wenceslaus and the Polish form of the name is Wacław. The name was derived from the old Czech name Veceslav, mean ...

, Lukáš Mensator and

Tomáš Vokoun Tomáš Vokoun (; born 2 July 1976) is a Czech former professional ice hockey goaltender who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1997 to 2013, mainly with the Nashville Predators. He was selected by the Montreal Canadiens in the ninth ...

. Energie's junior team joined the MHL, the

KHL The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; ) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs based in Russia (20), Belarus (1), Kazakhstan (1), and China (1) for a total of 23 clubs. It was considered in ...

's junior league, for the 2012–13 season, but then left after the 2014–15 season. 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

Domestic

* Winners (1): 2008–09 * Runners-up (1): 2007–08 Czech 1. Liga * Winners (2): 1996–97, 2017–18 * 3rd place (1): 1995–96 Czech 2. Liga * Winners (1): 1994–95

Pre-season

Tipsport Hockey Cup * Runners-up (1): 2007

Players

Current roster

Source: hokejkv.czSource: eliteprospects.comAs of July 15, 2023.

References

External links

*
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Karlovy Vary Ice hockey teams in Czechoslovakia Ice hockey teams in the Czech Republic HC Karlovy Vary Ice hockey clubs established in 1932 1932 establishments in Czechoslovakia