Ice hockey in the Czech Republic

Ice hockey in the Czech Republic
Jaromír Jágr speaks to fans at a victory event after the Czech Republic's win at the World Championship in 2010
Country	Czech Republic
Governing body	Czech Ice Hockey Association
National team(s)	Men's national team Women's national team
National competitions
Czech Extraliga Czech 1.liga Czech 2.liga
International competitions
Ice Hockey European Championships IIHF World Championships Winter Olympics

Ice hockey is one of the most popular sports in the Czech Republic.^[1][2][3][4]

History

Ice hockey was established in the Kingdom of Bohemia in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1908.^[4]

Ice hockey in the Czech Republic is governed by the Czech Ice Hockey Association.^[5] By the 1940s Czechoslovakia emerged as an ice hockey powerhouse.^[6]

Domestic League

The Czech Extraliga was first held in the 1993-94 season.^[7] It replaced Czechoslovak First Ice Hockey League after Czechoslovakia split.

The Czech Extraliga has 14 professional teams that compete in the championship. There are 52 matches are played with each team playing each other four times. In the Play-offs, the teams placed 1st - 6th qualify for the play-offs, which will be played in best Of Seven matches. The teams placed between 7 - 10th play each other in the best-of-five matches, the other two participants compete in a play-off quarter-final.

National team

Before the Velvet Divorce the Czech Republic national team played as the Czechoslovakia men's national ice hockey team and they had an intense hockey rivalry with the USSR.^[8][9]

The Czech Republic men's national ice hockey team is one of the major powers in world hockey winning Olympic gold in 1998.^[10]

The Czech Republic is a member of the so-called "Big Six", an unofficial list of major powers in world hockey.

Notable players

Jaromír Jágr is considered one of the greatest NHL players ever. He is one of many Czech ice hockey players who have had successful careers in the National Hockey League.^[11]

References

1. Faltus, Milan (26 May 2018). "From Hall Of Fame To Uranium Prison Camp". Prague Post. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
2. "Blood on Ice: The 1969 Hockey Championships and Vengeance for Czechoslovakia". 17 August 2012. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
3. "BBC World Service - Sporting Witness, Czechoslovakia Ice Hockey Riots". BBC. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
4. Coolman, Michael (2010). "SPORTS AND IDENTITY Case study: Czech Republic and Ice Hockey" (PDF). jyx.jyu.fi/bitstream (in Finnish). Retrieved 2019-05-14.
5. "A brief history of Czech ice hockey - Radio Prague". Radio Praha. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
6. "How a hockey game powered a revolution". Washington Post. February 12, 2018.
7. Šimůnková, Karolína (2015). "Analysis of Ice Hockey League in the Czech Republic" (PDF). otik.zcu.cz. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
8. Pinchevsky, Tal. "When a Hockey Puck Was the Best Weapon for Defeating the Soviet Union". OZY.
9. "The (Inter-Communist) Cold War on Ice: Soviet-Czechoslovak Ice Hockey Politics, 1967-1969" (PDF). www.wilsoncenter.org. 2014. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
10. "Documentary captures Czechs' thrilling gold-medal run at 1998 Nagano Olympics". USA TODAY. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
11. Vanderberg, Zach. "Czech Mate: The Top Ten Czech Republic NHL Players Of All Time". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 14 May 2019.