The Czech representatives have been waiting for a victory in the Spengler Cup since 1982. Their chances for success seem to be quite good for this year. With Energy Karlovy Vary no other than the reigning Czech Champion is participating at the tournament, boasting one of the best defences in Europe.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Czechoslovakian teams dominated the Spengler Cup. Between 1962 and 1978, Czechoslovakian teams won the cup ten times. The dominant teams like Dukla Jihlava or Slovan Bratislava left a lasting impression in Davos. Since the 1980s, they have been unable to recapture their former successes with the last Czechoslovakian victory coming in 1982 thanks to Dukla Jihlava.
The political events of 1989 had a massive impact among other things on Czech ice hockey. Players were free to be lured to the NHL for far more lucrative deals, draining the Czech league teams and putting an end to their international tournament domination. Since then there has been quite a reversal of fortune and Sparta Prague is the only post-1989 Czech team to have made it to the Spengler Cup Finals with its qualification in 2004.
In its first participation in the tournament last year, HC Energy Karlovy Vary was unable to do anything to redress the issue, finishing the tournament in fourth place. In Karlsbad, the team has resolved to risk everything to gain success this year. "In any case, we want to improve upon our performance of the previous year," explained Sport Head Bronislav Pisa. The ambitions of the Czech Champions for their domestic Extra-League are more modest: The team from Karlsbad initially only plans on qualifying directly for the playoffs, which means that they must finish in the top six of the Czech League Table. "After that we shall see," Pisa explained.
Looking further into the future the team has one more major plan: the HC Energy Karlovy Vary would like to be the first Central European team to join the predominantly Russian Continental Hockey League (KHL). Moves were made in that direction already a year ago, but the financial crisis which has gripped the world for the past year forced the Czechs to recalculate their plans. The KHL had to forego a larger scale expansion and could only admit one additional Russian team to the league.
A Surprising Exploit
Entering into arguably the strongest European League would certainly be the culmination of the team's rocket-like ascent which the West Bohemian team has experienced. Ever since 1932 when the team known as SK Slavia Karlovy Vary began, the squad has languished largely unnoticed in the second or third league in Czechoslovakia until the mid 1990s. Until then, the team's glory years had been only between 1951 and 1956 when they played at the top of the first league and could boast having over 10,000 spectators at their games regularly.
Starting in 1989 they began to play their way to the Czech Hockey summit with the help of Czech hockey gurus Miroslav Vanek und Ladislav Trubac - the former still being an active managing director for the team to this day - by entering the 2nd League on their first attempt. In the mid-1990s they came knocking on the door of the top Czech Extra-League several times, but year after year barely failed in their attempts. The closest and bitterest miss came in the 1996/97 season for Karlsbad. In the Barrage against Extra-League representatives Slezan Opava, the team lost the first three games of the series, but fought hard with a show of strength to equalize only to lose in the decisive seventh and final game.
In any case, the Karslbad fans did not have to wait any longer to watch first class ice hockey: the team acquired its Extra-League license from Team Olomouc which had to withdraw from the League for financial reasons. In the first league, Karlovy Vary was initially established only as one of the cellar teams. As of 2006, the team had never finished any higher than 10th, but they never were relegated. During the 2007/08 season, Energy Karlovy Vary suddenly put on a surprisingly good show: finishing the regular season in fourth place, Energy qualified for the playoffs for the first time. Once in the playoffs, the team managed to make it to the finals. Though they ultimately lost to the Slavia Prague team that season, last season saw yet another opportunity for Karlovy Vary to fight for the Champions title. And they acquitted themselves well, by challenging the Prague team and taking the victory in a hard fought 4:2 series.
One of the secrets to Karlsbad's success is the strong back defence. With goal keeper Lukas Mensator and defenders Jakub Cutta and Ondrej Nemec, who have all often been used on the National team, Energy has a strong line of defence. Cutta has had years of experience in the different North American Leagues, having played with teams such as the Washington Capitals in the NHL. At the same time, the defence has been strengthened with four top-drawer players: Martin Paryzek returns to the Czech team after a two year commitment to the Ottawa Senators, while Jan Mucha, David Hajek and Tomas Brnak join Karslbad from the Czech league.
Karlovy Vary has also made improvements on the offensive side. Leading the new influx of talent, 23 year old Marke Hascak has had a remarkable amount of international experience having played for leagues in Canada, Latvia and Belarus. He will have powerful partners as center forwards: Petr Kumstat, who actually started his career as a defender, has developed into one of the top scorers in the league for Karlsbad. Captain Vaclav Skuhravy is a leading figure who has provided Karlovy Vary with sensational playing since 2002. He has also been a top contributor to the national team since 2005.
