Spišská Nová Ves players huddle before their March 2 match against Slovan Bratislava in the Tipos Extraliga, played in Spišská Nová Ves. (source: TASR - Veronika Mihaliková)
Seven years ago, the Spišská Nová Ves men's ice hockey team could not afford a bus to Trnava. This month, they lifted the trophy after finishing top of the Slovak Extraliga – Slovakia's premier hockey competition – in the regular season.
It is the kind of transformation that is the stuff of sports documentaries. An ice hockey club that once teetered on the edge of existence is now knocking on the door of history, wrote the Hospodárske Noviny daily. The Rysy (Lynxes) are no longer just a feel-good story: they are a force.
Two years ago, they won a bronze medal for third place. Last season, they pushed all the way through to the Extraliga play-offs final before falling just short. This year, there is only one step left to take, and within the club, there is a quiet belief that this season could be the one.
On March 2, HK Spišská Nová Ves, based in the town of the same name, won the regular season of Slovakia's top league, the Tipos Extraliga, for the second time in a row. (source: TASR)
Winning the regular season, which ends on March 7, is a landmark moment for Spišská Nová Ves, earning them the Dušan Pašek Cup. But the big prize – the championship – is still up for grabs. Play-off hockey is an entirely different beast, as last year’s regular-season winners, HK Poprad, discovered when they were unceremoniously dumped out in the first round.
So what is behind Spišská Nová Ves’s rise? Pavel Rajtar, a long-time analyst of the Slovak Extraliga, points to three key factors: “A strong core team of Slovaks, smart foreign signings, and a well-timed coaching change.”
That coaching switch may have been decisive. The club parted ways with Jason O’Leary in November, with Vladimír Záborský stepping in. The move immediately steadied the ship. “Záborský knew the players, he understood the system, and the team responded,” says Rajtar.
Recruitment has also been on point. American centre Connor Ford has been a difference-maker, while the Canadian duo of Zack Andrusiak and Greg Meireles are producing of more than one point per game. Add in the leadership of captain Branislav Rapáč and the experience of veterans like Juraj Valach, and it is a balanced roster with genuine depth.
Their success has inevitably raised the question: would they have topped the table if favourites HC Košice had not been battling with injuries all season? Maybe. But that should not diminish what Spišská Nová Ves has achieved. With a smaller budget and fewer resources, they have outpaced some of the biggest clubs in the country.
Now comes the real test. The Extraliga play-offs are unforgiving, and favourites can fall fast. But Spišská Nová Ves are not here to make up the numbers. They have already rewritten the script of Slovak hockey. Now, they must write the perfect ending to claim the Vladimír Dzurilla Cup.
