HC Kometa Brno

HC Kometa Brno
City Brno, Czech Republic
League Czech Extraliga
Founded 1953 (1953)
Home arena DRFG Arena (Capacity: 7,700)
Colours

blue, white

         
Owner(s) Czech Republic Libor Zábranský
Head coach Czech Republic Libor Zábranský
Captain Czech Republic Leoš Čermák
Website www.hc-kometa.cz
DRFG Arena

HC Kometa Brno ("Comet" in English) is a professional ice hockey team based in Brno, Czech Republic. They play in the Czech Extraliga. Kometa is the most successful ice hockey club in the Czech Republic with 13 Czechoslovak (and Czech) league championship titles. Holding three European Cup titles, Kometa ranks as the most successful Czech club in international ice hockey. The team has won 2 Czech championships in a row in seasons 2016/2017 and in 2017/2018.

Auditorium PSG Zlín match 29 November 2011.

History

Players and fans of Kometa during 2011 post-season friendly match.

The club was founded in 1953 as an army ice hockey club with the name Rudá hvězda Brno ("Red Star"). The majority of players were transferred from 2 hockey clubs in Brno (TJ Spartak Brno Zbrojovka and TJ Spartak GZ Královo Pole[1]). In 1962, the club changed its name to ZKL Brno (ZKL is abbreviation of "Ball Bearing Factory")[2] and stopped being an army team. In 1976, the name was changed to Zetor Brno. Shortly after the revolution (1994), the club changed its name to HC Kometa Brno. "Kometa" was the team's nickname since 1950's (opposite to official "Red Star") and the team was commonly referred to by this name since its beginnings.

Legendary playerFrantišek Vaněk 156 scoring

In 1996, the team was relegated from Czech Extraliga to the second highest ice hockey league – 1st Czech Republic Hockey League. For many years, the team struggled due to bad financing, multiple changes of owners and faced another relegation, which happened in 2001–2002 season. The club almost ceased to exist, playing in the East division of the third highest Czech ice hockey league – 2nd Czech Republic Hockey League. By the 2003–2004 season, it returned to 1. liga and began its little "renaissaince". In 2004, Kometa played its first playoffs series since 1997, reached the semifinals in 2008 and the finals in 2009. On 1 April 2009, Kometa (minority co-owner Rene Burger) bought the licence for Czech Extraliga from another South Moravian club, HC Znojemští Orli. This club will now serve as a farm team for Brno.[3]

In March 2012, the team managed to defeat HC Sparta Praha, the winner of the 2011–12 Czech Extraliga regular season, in six games, and qualified for the playoff semifinals.[4] In the semifinals, they defeated HC Plzeň 1929, the runner-up of the regular season, in five. In the final, Kometa lost the Czech Extraliga championship final to HC Pardubice in six games.[5]

Awards and trophies

History of the team name

  • 1953 – Rudá hvězda Brno
  • 1962 – TJ ZKL Brno
  • 1976 – TJ Zetor Brno
  • 1990 – HC Zetor Brno
  • 1993 – HC Královopolská Brno
  • 1994 – HC Kometa Brno
  • 1995 – HC Kometa Brno BVV
  • 1997 – HC Kometa Brno

Current players

Current roster for season 2016/2017[6]

Position#NameAcquired
G50 Karel Vejmelka2015
G30 Marek Langhamer2017
G30 Pavel Jekel-
D64 Tomáš Bartejs2016
D6 Jozef Kováčik2011
D63 Ondřej Němec2016
D71 Tomáš Malec2010
D77 Jan Štencel2016
D36 Jakub Krejčík2017
D61 Peter Trška2015
F12 Leoš Čermák (C)2011
F27 Kamil Brabenec2017
F10 Martin Erat2016
F90 Martin Dočekal2012
F9 Roman Erat2009
F91 Marek Kvapil2016
F22 Jan Káňa2010
F57 Jan Hruška-
F29 Tomáš Vincour2016
F53 Vojtěch Němec2011
F87 Marcel Haščák2016
F5 Tomáš Vondráček2012
F26 Martin Zaťovič2016
F97 Radim Zohorna2012
F20 Hynek Zohorna2011
F95 Alexandre Mallet2017
F88United States Peter Mueller2018

Notes

  1. ↑ http://www.hc-kometa.cz/historie.asp
  2. ↑ Originally Závody kuličkových ložisek; this factory – now ZKL Group Brno – became main sponsor of the club
  3. ↑ http://www.hokej.cz/index.php?lng=CZ&view=clanek&id=43278
  4. ↑ "Kometa je v euforii a už mluví o titulu. Máme na to, tvrdí hráči". Mladá fronta DNES (in Czech). iDnes. 20 March 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
  5. ↑ "Pardubice – Brno 5:6. Stav série 1:1. Drama pro kardiaky. Kometa přetlačila Pardubice, padlo 11 gólů!" (in Czech). Sport.cz. 10 April 2012. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
  6. ↑ http://hc-kometa.cz/soupiska.asp
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