Slovak Extraliga preview

14 Sep 2011 | Lukas Gonda

HC Kosice defending champions, the teams remain the same.

With today’s match between Slovakia U20 and Slovan Bratislava begins the 19th season of Slovak Extraliga. The teams remain the same, as last year including defending champion HC Kosice (budget 3 mil. €), HK SKP Poprad (1.1 mil. €), Slovan Bratislava (4 mil. €), Dukla Trencin (1,35 mil. €), Hkm Zvolen (1,3 mil. €), MsHK Zilina (1,25 mil. €), HK Nitra (1,2 mil. €), MHC Martin (1,1 mil. €), HC 05 Banska Bystrica ( 1 mil. €) and HK 36 Skalica (0,92 mil. €). The Slovak Extraliga will also include the Slovak U20 national team, playing home games against the other teams. The team will also play games in the second-tier 1.liga.

The odds-on favorites are HC Kosice and Slovan Bratislava, who have the highest budgets, but there are other teams that have a chance to surprise as well, such as HK SKP Poprad, HC 05 Banska Bystrica or HK 36 Skalica with the famous come-backer Zigmund Palffy. To avoid relegation is the goal for many teams, but the weakest teams seems to be MsHK Zilina, MHC Martin and HK Nitra. HK SKP Poprad will also cooperate with the KHL's HC LEV Poprad, who can loan players to SKP. Most players are from Slovakia, in second place is the Czech Republic with 28 players, and far behind is Sweden with 6 and Finland with 2.

Palffy will play for HK 36 Skalica this season

The top eight teams after the regular season will qualify for the playoffs. For the 9th-place team, the season will be over, while the 10th-place team will play with winner of 1.liga in a relegation battle.

TOP SUMMER TRANSFERS
1.   Miroslav Satan from Dynamo Moskva to HC Slovan Bratislava
2.   Zigmund Palffy did not play to HK 36 Skalica
3.   Radoslav Suchy from HK SKP Poprad to Avangard Omsk
4.   Jozef Balec from HC Kometa Brno to HC Slovan Bratislava
5.   Julius Hudacek from HC Kosice to Södertälje SK
6.   Roman Kukumberg from Amur Khabarovsk to HC Slovan Bratislava
7.   Lubomir Vaic from Västerås IK to HK SKP Poprad
8.   Miroslav Vantroba from HC 05 Banska Bystrica to HKm Zvolen
9.   Marcus Kristoffersson from Manchester Phoenix to HC 05 Banska Bystrica
10.   Jürgen Penker from UPC Vienna Capitals to HK Nitra

Top 5 scoring leaders last season:

			GP	G	A	P	PIM
1.	Miroslav Zalesak	totals	58	28	36	64	92
		Skalica	52	23	33	56	88
		Kosice	6	5	3	8	4
2.	Arne Krotak	Poprad	52	20	38	58	46
3.	Miroslav Stefanka	Nitra	56	17	39	56	34
4.	Peter Bartos	Kosice	57	23	30	53	32
5.	René Skoliak	Skalica	47	18	33	51	113