HC Slovan Bratislava


Hockey Club 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. In 2019, it returned to the Tipos Extraliga. The club has won nine Slovak championships, one Czechoslovak championship and one IIHF Continental Cup, 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". It played its first game in December 1924 against Wiener EV from Vienna, losing 6–1. In 1948, the name of the club was changed to Slovan Bratislava, which has been kept until today.
For many years following World War II, Slovan was the only Slovak representative in the highest Czechoslovak league, and achieved several second-place finishes in the championship. The only title in the Czechoslovak First Ice Hockey League 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 over 19 years.
In addition to the success achieved in Slovakia, Slovan also performed well internationally, with three Spengler Cup wins in a row in 1972, 1973 and 1974. It is also one of only four clubs to play all four seasons of the European Hockey League, progressing to the playoff stage each year. Another highlight was winning the IIHF Continental Cup in the 2003–04 season. From 2011 to 2013, Slovan participated in the European Trophy international pre-season tournament.

KHL

In March 2012, Slovan filed an application to play in the Kontinental Hockey League. On 21 June 2012, Slovan Bratislava was officially admitted to the KHL, after they fulfilled all necessary conditions. Founded in 1921, they were the oldest KHL team by a large margin, as there were no ice hockey leagues in the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics 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 a shootout. During the NHL lockout between September 2012 and January 2013, the two defenders Ľubomír Višňovský and Andrej Sekera enhanced the team. Slovan ended the season with 78 points as 6th of the Western conference and thus clinched a play-off spot in their first KHL season. In the first play-off round, Slovan played against then-defending champion 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 was the seventh-highest average attendance in Europe that season.

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.

Logo

The rebranding of four leading Bratislava clubs in three sports – ice hockey, basketball, and volleyball – marks the completion of their unification under the new owner, JTRE Sports & Entertainment. This is reflected in a shared name and visual identity. From june 2025, the clubs operated under a single name: Slovan Bratislava
For more than three quarters of a century, the Slovan Bratislava brand has been synonymous with the most successful club in Slovakia and one of the most traditional in Europe across multiple sports, bringing together the largest fan base in our city and across the country. The clubs now share a common logo and club colors – sky blue, dark blue, white, with red and grey as complementary colors. A distinctive typographic monogram, SB, has proven to be the ideal link across different sports. Slovan Bratislava. We are sky blue. The name carries tradition, reflects pride, honor, and success.
The new visual identity was created by the agency 2:Score, which has extensive experience with sports projects. The agency is behind, for example, the rebranding of football club Sparta Prague and ice hockey club Kometa Brno, the anniversary season of FC Hradec Králové, as well as a long-term partnership with the Chance League – the top Czech football competition, which launched its biggest branding campaign, Fenomén, this summer.

Rivalries

While competing in the Czechoslovak league, Slovan's main rival was HK Dukla Trenčín. While competing in the Slovak Extraliga, Slovan had various rivals around the country, most notably HC Košice and Trenčin
In Slovan's first two seasons in the KHL, its biggest rival was Lev Prague. The rivalry started when, in their first game, HC Lev's Zdeno Chára body-checked Slovan's team captain Miroslav Šatan, after which Šatan was out of the lineup for the rest of the season. The fairness of this hit was the centre of many discussions. The games between Slovan and Lev were among the most anticipated of the season for both teams. However, Lev Praha folded after the 2013–14 season.

Season-by-season record

This is a partial list of the last eleven 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, OTW = Overtime/shootout wins, OTL = Overtime/shootout losses, L = Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
SeasonGPWOTWOTLLPtsGFGAFinishPlayoffs
60155832631361887th, Bobrovdid not qualify
2015–16602111424891541483rd, BobrovLost in Conference Quarterfinals, 0–4
2016–1760227526851441664th, Bobrovdid not qualify
2017–1856153731581191875th, Bobrovdid not qualify
2018–1962105344331012136th, Tarasovdid not qualify
Slovak Extraliga season|2019–20]552985131081911182nd, Extraliga
2020–2150266414941461154th, ExtraligaLost in Semifinals, 1–4
2021–22503235101041891181st, ExtraligaSlovak Extraliga Champions, 4–2
2022–2350273614931621152nd, ExtraligaLost in Quarterfinals, 2–4
2023–2450215420771571605th, ExtraligaLost in Quarterfinals, 0–4
2024–2554215820811641597th, ExtraligaLost in Wild card round, 1–3

Honours

Domestic

International

Pre-Season

Players

Franchise scoring leaders

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

Head coaches

These are the head coaches of HC Slovan Bratislava since they joined the Czechoslovak Extraliga:

Hall of Fame

The following players associated with HC Slovan Bratislava have been inducted in various Halls of Fame:

[Hockey Hall of Fame]

is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
NameCategoryInducted

IIHF Hall of Fame

The IIHF Hall of Fame is intended to honor individuals who have made valuable contributions both internationally and in their home countries.
NameCategoryInducted