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. 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.

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.

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, 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. In March 2012, the Czech Ice Hockey Association 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. 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.

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.

See also

• HC Lev Praha