Orli Znojmo

Orli Znojmo
City	Znojmo, Czech Republic
League	Czech Extraliga 1999–2009 Erste Bank Eishockey Liga 2011–
Founded	1933
Home arena	Nevoga Arena (Capacity: 4,500)
Colors	Red, White
Owner(s)	Pavel Ohera
General manager	Rostislav Docekal
Head coach	Jiří Reznar
Captain	Jiří Beroun
Website	Orli Znojmo
Franchise history
1933–1993	TJ Sokol Znojmo
1993–1997	SK Agropodnik Znojmo
1997–2001	HC Excalibur Znojemští Orli
2001–2006	HC JME Znojemští Orli
2006–2009	HC Znojemští Orli
2009–	Orli Znojmo
Championships
Czech 1. Liga	2 (1998, 1999)

Orli Znojmo (in English Znojmo Eagles) is a Czech-based ice hockey team that currently plays in the Austrian Hockey League. The club is based in Znojmo and their home arena is Hostan Arena.

From 1999 to 2009, the club competed in the Czech Extraliga. Their biggest success in that league was a third-place finish in 2005-06. National Hockey League players Patrik Eliáš, Martin Havlát and Tomáš Vokoun played for this club during the 2004–05 NHL lockout. On 1 April 2009, Orli sold its Czech Extraliga license to another South Moravian club, HC Kometa Brno.

After two seasons in the Czech First League, the club announced on 31 May 2011 that they were joining the Austrian-based Erste Bank Hockey League.^[1]

History

The club was founded in 1933 originally as TJ Sokol Znojmo and played until the early 1990s, at only a regional level. In 1993, Znojmo entered a sponsorship with Czech-Austrian company Excalibur under Jaroslav Vlasak. With this financial support club moved to become a professional outfit and in 1994 joined the Czech Second League. Renamed SK Agropodnik Znojmo, they competed the following three seasons in the Second League. From 1996, the club served as an affiliate to Extraliga clubs, HC Pardubice and HC Dukla Jihlava, in order to further establish junior players experience. After a successful playoffs in 1997, Znojmo were promoted to the Czech First League.

In their two seasons in the Czech First League, Znojmo now known as HC Excalibur Znojemští Orli, in reflecting their sponsorship, formed a competitive team and won their first Championship title in 1997–98 before failing to gain promotion in a 4:3 series defeat to HC Slezan Opava. After claiming their second consecutive title in the 1998–99 season, Znojmo were victorious in the promotion playoffs against Dukla Jihlava to celebrate their first entry into the Czech Extraliga.

In the following years, the club was able to hold its own in the Extraliga, but never managed to get past the playoff semi-finals. In 2001 was called again changed their name due to sponsorship to new sponsor in HC JME Znojemští Orli. The club's largest success in the Extraliga came in the achievement of the play-off semi-final in the 2005–06 season.

In summer 2008, there was speculation that the club wanted to sell his Extraliga license, but in the end, the Supervisory Board of the Association decided to continue to operate the first team in the Extraliga. In the 2008–09 season, HC Znojmo presented one of the oldest teams in the Extraliga with the average age of 29,consisting of Jiří Dopita and Jaroslav Kames as two players who were born before 1970. After the end of the season, the club sold its license due to the exit of the main sponsor EON, to HC Kometa Brno for 25 million crowns and voluntarily returned to compete First League. In addition, a player exchange between the clubs was agree and as a part of the restructuring. the club became known as Orli Znojmo.

After two seasons in the First League and in the spring of 2011, the club applied for inclusion in the Austrian Erste Bank Eishockey Liga. Under the ambition to give the team a new perspective, without having to take the financial risk of promotion in the Extraliga.^[2] On 31 May 2011, the EBEL granted the application after the Czech Ice Hockey Association's consent on the condition that the club continues to participate with a team in the first league. This requirement was not later maintained.

Current roster

Updated February 10, 2016.^[3]

#	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
55		Martin, BacaBaca Martin	D	L	27	2015	Liptovsky, Slovakia
55		Bača, MartinMartin Bača	D	L	27	2014	Liptovsky Mikulas, Slovakia
10		Bartoš, DavidDavid Bartoš	C	L	25	2011	Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
30		Beroun, JiříJiří Beroun (C)	RW	L	36	2002	Trebic, Czech Republic
15		Bořuta, AntonínAntonín Bořuta	D	L	28	2011	Zlín, Czech Republic
31		Cikánek, LukášLukáš Cikánek	G	L	28	2014	Kladno, Czech Republic
12		Číp, RadekRadek Číp	F	R	24	2014	Havirov, Czech Republic
67		Fiala, OndřejOndřej Fiala	C	L	29	2012	Sternberk, Czech Republic
23		Grof, JakubJakub Grof	D	R	35	2014	Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic
88		Havlík, AdamAdam Havlík	RW	L	25	2008
24		Klouček, TomášTomáš Klouček	D	L	36	2014	Praha, Czech Republic
89		Lattner, JanJan Lattner	LW	L	26	2008	Znojmo, Czech Republic
7		Nechvátal, PatrikPatrik Nechvátal	G	L	24	2014	Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic
91		Nemčík, MartinMartin Nemčík	D	L	24	2014	Bratislava, Slovakia
22		Novák, PatrikPatrik Novák	F	L	24	2013	Opava, Czech Republic
50		Pavlikovský, RichardRichard Pavlikovský	D	R	41	2013	Ilava, Slovakia
20		Podešva, MartinMartin Podešva	C	L	27	2013	Vsetin, Czech Republic
33		Pucher, PeterPeter Pucher	C	L	42	2011	Presov, Slovakia
11		Rehuš, BranislavBranislav Rehuš	RW	L	27	2014	Malacky, Slovakia
39		Rosa, PavelPavel Rosa	W	R	39	2014	Most, Czech Republic
51		Šeda, JanJan Šeda	C	L	31	2011	Pardubice, Czech Republic
9		Sova, AlešAleš Sova	D	L	25	2012	Brno, Czech Republic
93		Špaček, MarekMarek Špaček	F	R	23	2013	Znojmo, Czech Republic
19		Tomas, RomanRoman Tomas	LW	R	36	2014	Poprad, Slovakia
29		Tomec, TomášTomáš Tomec	G	L	28	2014	Skalica, Slovakia

Staff
Title	STAFF MEMBER
Head Coach	Jiri Reznar
Asst. Coach	Rostislav Docekal
Goalie Coach	Petr Hrachovina

References

1. "Znojmo to join Austrian EBEL". eurohockey.com. 2011-05-31. Retrieved 2011-05-31.
2. "EBEL expands to Czech Republic" (in German). hockeyfans.at. 2011-05-31. Retrieved 2011-05-31.
3. "Orli Znojmo Roster". OrliZnojmo. 2011-08-02. Retrieved 2011-08-02.

External links

• (Czech) Orli Znojmo Official website