Hockey Club Lev Praha (stylized as HC LEV Praha) was 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 located in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

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 ...

, which played in the

Kontinental Hockey League 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 ...

(KHL) in the

2012–13 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 ...

and 2013–14 seasons. In their two seasons played, Lev made the

Gagarin Cup The Gagarin Cup () is the trophy presented to the winner of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) playoffs, and is named after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space. The Cup was supposedly named after Gagarin because the last po ...

playoffs both times. In 2012–13, they finished 7th in the Western Conference and were swept in four straight games by

HC CSKA Moscow HC CSKA Moscow (, ''Central Sports Club of the Army, Moscow'') is a professional ice hockey club based in Moscow, Russia. It is a member of the Tarasov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). It is referred to in the West as "Central R ...

in the first round. In 2013–14, they finished 3rd in the West, then they swept

KHL Medveščak Zagreb KHL Medveščak Admiral (), also known as KHL Medveščak Zagreb, is a Croatian professional ice hockey team based in Zagreb, established in 1961. The team's name derives from the location of its original arena in the Medveščak area in centra ...

in four, outlasted

HC Donbass Hockey Club Donbass (; ''Romanization of Ukrainian, tr. Hokeinyi Klub Donbas'') is a Ukraine, Ukrainian professional ice hockey team based in Druzhkivka, that played in the Ukrainian Hockey League and briefly the KHL. HC Donbass is a six time Ukr ...

in six and beat

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl Hockey Club Lokomotiv (, ), also known as Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, is a professional ice hockey club based in Yaroslavl, Russia. It is a member of the Tarasov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). The name of the team is derived from its ...

in five to become Western Conference Champions. In the Gagarin Cup Finals, they faced Eastern Conference Champions

Metallurg Magnitogorsk Metallurg Magnitogorsk () is a professional ice hockey club based in Magnitogorsk, Russia. It is a member of the Kharlamov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). The club also competed in the Champions Hockey League (2008–09), Champion ...

. The series went to a seventh and decisive game before Metallurg prevailed and won the Gagarin Cup on home ice 7–4. Lev's home attendance in the 2012–13 regular season averaged 7,161 spectators per game, making it the highest-attended Prague hockey club and the sixth highest in the KHL. Lev holds the record for the five largest indoor home crowds in KHL history, with a record of 17,073 attending Game 4 of the Gagarin Cup Finals at

O2 Arena O2 Arena may refer to: *The O2 Arena, London * O2 Arena, Prague *The 3Arena, Dublin, formerly known as The O2 *The Uber Arena, Berlin, formerly known as O2 World *The Barclays Arena Barclays Arena (originally known as the Color Line Arena an ...

on April 24, 2014. However, after two seasons, because of financial problems caused by the withdrawing of two major sponsors, Lev did not play in the

2014–15 KHL season The 2014–15 KHL season was the seventh season of the Kontinental Hockey League. The season started on 3 September with the Opening Cup between defending champions Metallurg Magnitogorsk and Dynamo Moscow, replacing Lev Praha, last year's runne ...

. According to shareholders, this decision did not rule out the possibility of the KHL returning to Prague in the future. However, the team never returned to the ice.

History

HC Lev in Hradec Králové and Poprad

A team named ''HC Lev Hradec Králové'' was founded in 2010 and based in

Hradec Králové Hradec Králové (; ) is a city of the Czech Republic. It has about 94,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Hradec Králové Region. The historic centre of Hradec Králové is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech R ...

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

, with the intention to join the KHL for the 2010–11 season. However, the

Czech Ice Hockey Association The Czech Ice Hockey Association (), also known by the shortened name Czech Ice Hockey (), is the Sport governing body, governing body of ice hockey and sledge hockey in Czechia. It is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) ...

refused to give permission to the club. Therefore, the team was moved to

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 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 ...

and was finally able to join the KHL for the 2011–12 season. But after only one KHL season, the team was disbanded.

New team in Prague (2012)

Late in Lev Poprad's 2011–12 season, a change of owners renewed speculation about a move to

. In March 2012, the Czech Ice Hockey Association (ČSLH) granted permission for a KHL team to play in the Czech Republic, and at the end of April, a newly found team with the same name, HC Lev, but as a different organization, officially applied to the KHL to play in Prague. Lev Praha had a working agreement with local Extraliga club

HC Sparta Praha Hockey Club Sparta Praha, commonly known as HC Sparta Prague, is a Prague-based Czech professional ice hockey team playing in the Czech Extraliga. The club has won four Czech championships (most recently in 2007) and four Czechoslovak champio ...

and the two teams shared Tipsport Arena. During their two seasons, Lev also played a total of 11 home games at the larger and newer

Seasons

Lev signed Czech Josef Jandač as their head coach for the first KHL season, who named Jiří Novotný as the first team captain. They started the season on 6 September 2012 at home with a 2–1 win against

Dinamo Riga Dinamo Riga () is a professional ice hockey team based in Riga, Latvia. It most recently was a member of the Latvian Hockey Higher League. The club is affiliated with HK Zemgale/LBTU. The club was re-founded on 7 April 2008 as a successor of a D ...

. Lev started strong, and by winning six of their first seven games, they were even leading the Western conference for a while. After the

NHL lockout The NHL lockout may refer to any of the four industrial disputes in the history of the National Hockey League: * The 1992 NHL strike, which postponed 30 games of the 1991–92 season * The 1994–95 NHL lockout, which cancelled many of the gam ...

came into effect in September, they signed

Jakub Voráček Jakub Voráček (; born 15 August 1989) is a Czech former professional ice hockey right winger who played 15 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted seventh overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets at the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. In ...

, Jiří Hudler and

Zdeno Chára Zdeno Chára (; born 18 March 1977) is a Slovak former professional ice hockey defenceman. He played 24 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New York Islanders, Ottawa Senators, Boston Bruins, and Washington Capitals between 1997 a ...

for the duration of the lockout. Jandač was removed as head coach on 27 October and replaced shortly afterward by Václav Sýkora.

Achievements

''(1)'': 2013–14 KHL Western Conference ''(1)'': 2013–14 Prague Hockey Cup ''(1)'': 2013

Season-by-season record

''Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, OTW = Overtime/shootout wins, OTL = Overtime/shootout losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against''

Players

Team captains

''Note: This list does not include captains from the HC Lev Poprad.'' * Jiří Novotný, 2012–2014

Head coaches

''Note: This list does not include head coaches from the HC Lev Poprad.'' * Josef Jandač, 2012 * Václav Sýkora, 2012–13 *

Kari Jalonen Kari Jalonen (born January 6, 1960) is a Finland, Finnish professional ice hockey coach and former player. He was a former head coach of Czech Republic men's national ice hockey team in year's 2022 and 2023. He is not related to Finnish i ...

, 2013–14

References

External links

Official Facebook page

Official Twitter page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lev Praha Defunct ice hockey teams in the Czech Republic Sport in Prague Ice hockey clubs established in 2012 Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 2014 Former Kontinental Hockey League teams 2012 establishments in the Czech Republic 2014 disestablishments in the Czech Republic