HC Lev Poprad

This article is about KHL team 2010–2012. For the later team, see HC Lev Praha.

Hockey Club Lev Poprad (Lion), was a professional ice hockey team and a former member of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) based in Poprad, Slovakia. The Lev existed for only one year, playing in the 2011–12 KHL season.

HC Lev Poprad
Nickname	Lions
City	Poprad, Slovakia
League	Kontinental Hockey League (2011–12)
Founded	2010
Folded	2012
Home arena	Tatravagonka Arena (capacity: 4,500)
Colours
Franchise history
Hockey Club Lev Poprad
Current season

History

The team was originally called HC Lev Hradec Kralove and was based in Hradec Králové, Czech Republic. It had been intended to join the KHL for the 2010–11 season, for which it fulfilled all necessary conditions except that the Czech Ice Hockey Association refused to give permission to the club.^[1] Because of that, Lev's management decided to move the club to Slovakia, and was accepted by the KHL's administration to participate in the league in the 2010–11 season. However, the KHL later excluded the team from the league for the 2010–11 season because the team was not part of any national ice hockey governing body.^[2]

 

Lev's previous logo featured the city name Hradec Králové before relocating.

After further efforts, including joining the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation, Lev Poprad was officially admitted to the KHL in May 2011. During the 2011–12 season, they played in the Bobrov division of the KHL, while HK Poprad continued playing their Slovak Extraliga matches in the same arena.^[3]

2011–12 season

Almost two months after being officially admitted to the KHL, Lev announced the signings of the first five players on 30 June 2011. In the final roster, the majority of the players were from Slovakia and Czech Republic. Head coach was Radim Rulík and the team captain was Ľuboš Bartečko. Lev's regular season was planned to start on 10 September 2011 with a match at home against Avangard Omsk,^[4] but because of the 2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash, the start of the season was postponed and Lev had their first game on 12 September against Metallurg Magnitogorsk. However, for their first win they had to wait until the sixth game, a 2–0 away win against Dinamo Riga on 26 September. Lev also failed to qualify for the play-offs and ended the season as 21st overall, with 54 points from 54 games. The team's top scorer was Ľuboš Bartečko with 30 points (16 goals and 14 assists).

New team in Prague

Late in the 2011–12 season, a change of owners renewed speculation about a move to Prague, Czech Republic.^[5] In March 2012, the Czech Ice Hockey Association granted permission for a KHL team to play in the Czech Republic,^[6] 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.^[7] The Poprad-based HC Lev was disbanded after only one season.

Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, OTW = Overtime Wins, SOW = Penalty Shootout Wins, SOL = Penalty Shootout Losses, L = Losses, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, Pts = Points

Season	GP	W	OTW	SOW	SOL	OTL	L	GF	GA	Pts	Finish	Playoffs
2011–12	54	13	0	3	5	4	29	125	162	54	6th, Bobrov	Did not qualify

Franchise history

Milestones

 

Radim Rulík was a head coach for Lev Poprad during the 2011–12 season.

Event	Date	Details
First KHL match (at home)	12 September 2011	2–4 loss vs Metallurg Magnitogorsk
First KHL point	21 September 2011	3–4 SO loss at Atlant Moscow Oblast
First KHL win	26 September 2011	2–0 win at Dinamo Riga
First KHL shutout	26 September 2011	2–0 win at Dinamo Riga
First KHL win at home	30 September 2011	4–1 win vs Dynamo Moscow

Franchise scoring leaders

These are the top-ten point-scorers in KHL franchise history.^[8]

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game

Points Player Pos GP G A Pts P/G Ľuboš Bartečko LW 53 16 14 30 0.57 Tomáš Netík LW 42 17 11 28 0.67 Juraj Mikúš C 44 12 16 28 0.64 Václav Nedorost LW 37 14 8 22 0.59 Ladislav Nagy LW 30 7 12 19 0.63 Rastislav Špirko LW 53 10 8 18 0.34 Karel Pilař D 31 1 16 17 0.55 Jaroslav Kristek RW 39 10 6 16 0.41 Emil Lundberg C 54 10 6 16 0.30 Branislav Mezei LW 53 3 11 14 0.26

Goals Player Pos G Tomáš Netík LW 17 Ľuboš Bartečko LW 16 Václav Nedorost LW 14 Juraj Mikúš C 12 Rastislav Špirko LW 10 Jaroslav Kristek RW 10 Emil Lundberg C 10 Ladislav Nagy LW 7 Stepan Novotny RW 5 Martin Chabada RW 4

Assists Player Pos A Juraj Mikúš C 16 Karel Pilař D 16 Ľuboš Bartečko LW 14 Ladislav Nagy LW 12 Tomáš Netík LW 11 Branislav Mezei D 11 Jiří Hunkes D 10 Václav Nedorost LW 8 Rastislav Špirko RW 8 Jiří Sekáč C 8

Tatranski Vlci

Affiliated with Lev Poprad were the Tatranski Vlci (Tatra Wolves), a junior team playing in the Northwest division of the Junior Hockey League (MHL). The team consisted of Czech and Slovak players born 1990 or later. They played their home games in nearby Spišská Nová Ves. Just as HC Lev, the Vlci were also disbanded after only one season.

References

1. "HC Lev will not play in 2010-11 KHL Championship". Kontinental Hockey League. June 9, 2010.
2. ""Лев" не сыграет в ближайшем сезоне" (in Russian). Kontinental Hockey League. 2010-07-28.
3. "Back to 24". Kontinental Hockey League. 2011-05-09.
4. "Kontinental Hockey League Championship – Russian Ice Hockey Championship Season 2011/2012 Calendar" (PDF). Kontinental Hockey League. June 14, 2011.
5. . International Ice Hockey Federation. April 30, 2012. Archived from the original on May 3, 2012. Retrieved May 8, 2012.
6. "Permission granted". Kontinental Hockey League. March 30, 2012.
7. "Lev, drugs and healthy nutrition". Kontinental Hockey League. April 25, 2012.
8. "Lev Poprad Career KHL Stats". QuantHockey.com. Retrieved April 5, 2013.

See also

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lev Poprad.

• HC Lev Praha