Federation withdrew the title of Banská Bystrica

HC 05 Banská Bystrica remained champion for three weeks: the Executive Committee of the Slovak Ice Hockey Association (SZĽH) at its Tuesday meeting, on the initiative of HKM Zvolen with the support of Poprad, Michalovce, Kosice, Trencin and Slovan Bratislava, canceled the original decision of the League Council of March 12 and withdrew the trophy for the prematurely ended season. Extraliga in 2019/2020 will not have a champion.

The final ranking after the regular season remains valid and the Dušan Pašek Cup, awarded to the winner of regular season, is assigned to Banská Bystrica. At the same time, the club earns the ticket to participate in the Champions League, 2020/21 season.

The League Council decided to declare HC 05 Banská Bystrica as champion the day after the premature end of the Extraliga on 12 March. HC Slovan Bratislava came second and HC Košice third. Both clubs accepted this verdict against their will, refusing to receive the silver and bronze medals and returned them to the competition management.

"The League Council followed the existing provisions and applied them appropriately, but did not take into account other facts in this matter, namely the procedure for terminating the other competitions organized and managed by the SZL'H.  And since in other leagues the Slovak Ice Hockey Association has not granted or will not award prizes, the prize in the Extraliga violated the principle of equality, " announces the Federation on the official website.

The club posted on its Facebook page: "We accept the decision and are glad that it ended a controversial matter mainly to the sports public, induced by its first decision. The quick, immediate response of the executive committee of SZĽH prevented the disrespecting the name of our club and creating the impression that we assigned the title ourselves."

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