HKM Zvolen
| HKm Zvolen | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Nickname | rytieri |
| City | Zvolen, Slovakia |
| League | Slovak Extraliga |
| Founded | 1927 |
| Home arena |
Steiger Aréna (capacity 7,038) |
| Colours | blue, yellow, red |
| General manager |
 Milan Čanky
|
| Head coach |
Peter Mikula
|
| Captain |
Lukáš Jurík
|
| Website | www.hkmzvolen.tipsportextraliga.sk |
Hokejový Klub mesta Zvolen is a professional Slovak ice hockey club based in Zvolen. The club has won the Slovak league championship twice and the IIHF Continental Cup in 2005. The team is nicknamed Rytieri; it means Knights in English.
The club was founded on 18 March 1927 as ZTC Zvolen. However, they played their first official game in 1932 against Slávia Banská Bystrica. They lost 0–18 in the first game and 1–20 in the second game against Slávia. Zvolen played their first home game on 14 February 1932. They lost 0–2 against Slávia. In the 1933–34 season they played for the first time in organized competition, the Championship of Stredoslovenská župa. In the next season they won their first official game against Sokol Kremnica. Hockey in Zvolen was even played during World War II. After WW II they had very successful years between 1947 and 1953. Then there was a decline.
Renewal of hockey in Zvolen started in 1964, when the Lokomotíva Bučina Zvolen club was established. In 1970 they promoted to the 1. SNHL (1st. Slovak National Hockey League), second level of Czechoslovak hockey. They placed 6th in their first season at the 1. SNHL. In the 1971–72 season they finished 3rd and in the next season they won the 1. SNHL. The club's scoring leader was Jozef Golonka. Zvolen was qualified to the preliminary round for the Czechoslovak Extraliga. There they lost 7 of 8 games and did not promote to the Extraliga. Zvolen won the 1. SNHL again in the 1974–75 season. Zvolen forward Ján Letko was the top scorer of the 1. SNHL (48 goals). However, they lost in the preliminary round against Ingstav Brno and did not promote to the Extraliga. In the 1975–76 season they repeated victory in the 1. SNHL. In the preliminary round they lost a series 3–4 against TJ Gottwaldov. Their fourth and last victory of the 1. SNHL came in the 1977–78 season, but in the preliminary round they lost a series 2–4 against TJ Gottwaldov. Thus Zvolen never played in the Czechoslovak Extraliga, top level of Czechoslovak hockey.
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