KHL Medveščak Zagreb

KHL Medveščak Zagreb
Greatest successes
22-time Croatian champion Yugoslav champion 1989, 1990, 1991
Club information
history	KHL Medveščak Zagreb (since 1961)
Location	Zagreb , Croatia
Club colors	blue White
league	International Hockey League Croatian Ice Hockey League
Venue	Dom športova Arena Zagreb
capacity	07,500 seats 15,024 seats
executive Director	Markoantonio Belinic
Head coach	Danijel Kolombo
captain	vacant
Season 2018/19	12th place (main round) no playoff qualification

The KHL Medveščak Zagreb is a Croatian ice hockey club from Zagreb . The club is a multiple Croatian champion .

Medveščak played in the Continental Hockey League (KHL) from 2013 to 2017 . From 2009 to 2013 and from 2017 to 2019 the club played in the Erste Bank Eishockey Liga (EBEL). Before that, he played in the Slovenian ice hockey league from 2006 to 2009 .

history

The club was founded in 1961 and played in the Yugoslav ice hockey league from the start. At that time the championship was dominated by the Slovenian club HK Jesenice , whose pioneering position could only be broken in the 1970s by the also Slovenian HDD Olimpija Ljubljana . Medveščak Zagreb only played a minor role in the competition for a long time and only worked its way into the top group in the late 1980s. Just before the breakup of Yugoslavia, the team won the title of Yugoslavian champions three times in a row and then continued this dominance in the Croatian ice hockey league after the local rival KHL Zagreb had taken over the scepter for some time at the beginning of Croatian league history .

Medveščak is the reigning Croatian record champion with a total of twelve titles won. From 1997 to 2007 the team won eleven championship titles in a row. Only KHL Mladost Zagreb was able to stop this winning streak in 2008. After two years in the Slovenian league, Medveščak moved to the Austrian EBEL in 2009, but continued to compete with a second team in the Slovenian league.

Change to the Erste Bank Liga

Alternative logo of the club

Due to the superiority in the domestic league, the team applied in 2007 to play in the Austrian ice hockey league (EBEL), but this request was initially not met due to the large distances and concerns about the sporting level of the club. After HC Innsbruck withdrew and the resulting lack of a tenth team, the application was finally granted in the spring of 2009. Medveščak strengthened the team with experienced transfer card players and brought some foreign players with Croatian roots into the team. In the first season , the club made it into the playoffs straight away and surprisingly prevailed in six games in the quarterfinals against the EC Graz 99ers , who had won the regular season with ease. In the semi-finals, however, the team was clearly defeated by EC Red Bull Salzburg . In the following year , after another eighth place in the basic round, the quarter-final against the EC KAC followed . The 2011/12 and 2012/13 seasons could be completed after the regular season in second place in the table. The team developed into a crowd puller in the league, especially through spectacular open-air games.

Entry into the KHL

After the first negotiations about a possible accession of the club to the Continental Hockey League (KHL) had already taken place in 2012 , these negotiations were concluded in April and the club was accepted into the Continental Hockey League for the 2013/14 season . The Canadian Mark French was signed as the new coach , and a number of players from the American Hockey League and top European leagues were signed to rebuild the squad. In the club's first KHL season, the team reached sixth place in the Western Conference, but was eliminated in the quarter-finals against HC Lev Prague .

During the KHL season 2016/17, the club was plagued by financial difficulties, several players and coach Gordie Dwyer left the team during the season.

Return to the EBEL

In March 2017 it was announced that the team will be playing in the EBEL again from the 2017/18 season. At the end of November 2018, it became known that Medveščak Zagreb was struggling with financial problems. As the club announced to the league, a sponsor had failed and had not made promised funds available. The board then released the players from their contracts and gave them the freedom to look for new clubs. Among others, Ivan Šijan , Antonin Manavian , Mario Puskarich , Nikolai Lemtjugow , Sébastien Sylvestre and Mike Aviani left the team in the following days . On December 10th, the coaching team around Aaron Fox followed . On December 12th, the EBEL announced in a press release that it would suspend the current transfer regulation with regard to the maximum number of player exchanges in order to enable Croatians to sign up local players and continue playing. Together with the league, Medveščak decided not to take part in the intermediate round. The club was dissolved in summer 2019. The previous club KHL Kuna has been renamed KHL Medveščak mladi (mladi for youth) and will play with a team with KHL Zagreb in the International Hockey League in the 2019/20 season .

Other competitions

Dom športova , KHL Medveščak Zagreb - Graz 99ers ; January 3, 2010

The team has participated in the Continental Cup four times since 2003 . Second place in the group stage was achieved as the best placement in 2004/05.

Furthermore, between 2000 and 2007, the team took part a total of seven times in the multinational interleague, which took place parallel to the respective national leagues, but was only able to achieve a semi-final participation in the 2004/05 season as the best result .

The second team has been playing in the Croatian ice hockey league since 2009 and has won the Croatian championship title nine times in a row. From 2015 to 2017 the team took part in the Slovenian Ice Hockey League. She has been playing in the (Slovenian) International Hockey League since 2017, and she won it at the first edition .

successes

• International Hockey League Champion: 2018
• Croatian champion : 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018
• Yugoslav champion 1989, 1990, 1991

Club statistics

The following statistics refer to the participation of the club in the Austrian Ice Hockey League (EBEL) and the KHL.

season	Main round									Play-offs							annotation
	Games	S.	N	NNV	T	GT	TVH	Points	rank	Games	S.	N	NNV	T	GT	TVH
EBEL 2009/10	54	25th	22nd	7th	160	182	−22	57	8th	11	5	6th	0	27	31	−4	Quarter-final win against Graz 99ers semi-final-out against EC Red Bull Salzburg
EBEL 2010/11	54	23	25th	6th	171	171	0	52	8th	5	1	3	1	18th	20th	−2	Quarter final out against the EC KAC
EBEL 2011/12	50	29	14th	7th	166	128	+38	65	2	9	5	4th	0	25th	26th	−1	Quarter-final win against Orli Znojmo, semi-final-out against EC KAC
EBEL 2012/13	54	31	15th	8th	175	140	+35	70	4th	6th	2	1	3	19th	21st	−2	Quarter-final-out against EC Red Bull Salzburg
KHL 2013/14	54	28	14th	12	138	126	+12	92	6th, West Div.	4th	0	4th	0	9	17th	−8	Round of 16 out against HC Lev Prague
KHL 2014/15	60	23	32	5	147	191	−44	68	13th, West Div.	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
KHL 2015/16	60	25th	26th	9	144	172	−28	78	10th West Div.	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
KHL 2016/17	60	23	33	4th	138	186	−48	69	12th, West Div.	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total EBEL	212	108	76	28	672	621	+51	244		31	13	14th	4th	89	98	−9
Total KHL	234	99	105	30th	567	675	−108	307		4th	0	4th	0	9	17th	−8

Legend: S = victories, N = defeats in regular time, NNV = defeats after extra time or penalty shoot-out, T = goals, GT = goals conceded, TVH = goal difference

Trainer since 2009

Period	nation	Trainer	Remarks
2009		Enio Sacilotto	released early
Nov 2009 - Dec 2010		Ted Sator	1 time semi-final out, released early
Dec. 2010 - July 2011		Doug Bradley
2011-2013		Marty Raymond	one semi-final out, one quarter-final out
2013-2014		Mark French	11th place (west); Playoff round of 16
Jul. – Oct. 2014		Chuck Weber
Oct. 2014 – May 2015		Doug Shedden
June 2015 – Jan. 2017		Gordie Dwyer
Jan. 2017 – Dec. 2017		Connor Cameron
Dec. 2017– July 2018		Doug Bradley
July 2018 – Dec 2018		Aaron Fox
since December 2018		Danijel Kolombo

Stadion

The home games of Medveščak Zagreb are played in the Dom športova in Zagreb , which was built in 1972 and offers space for 6,300 spectators. After the bears entered the Austrian ice hockey league, the hall was regularly sold out, which played a decisive role in raising the number of spectators for the EBEL to more than one million for the first time in the club's premiere season.

In the 2009/10 season, the team dodged twice in the Salata open-air arena and played one game each against the EC VSV and the Vienna Capitals in the open air. In January 2010/11 the club held four matches in the much larger Arena Zagreb and was able to attract a total of more than 60,000 spectators.

Average audience

Source: ÖEHV website

season	Home games	spectator	Spectators per game
2009/10	32	190,850	5,964
2010/11	29	225,794	7,786
2011/12	30th	255.360	8,512
2012/13	30th	232,500	7,750

Web links

Commons : KHL Medveščak Zagreb  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• medvescak.com: Official website (Croatian)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Thomas Fritzmeier: Medvescak Zagreb: Ice cream fairy tales with Bavarian characters - More ice hockey. In: merkur.de. February 28, 2015, accessed March 15, 2017 . 
2. ↑ Medvescak Zagreb: From the EBEL to the KHL - The "bears" from Zagreb are leaving the EBEL league. New destination: the Russian KHL. sportnet.at, April 30, 2013, accessed on June 26, 2013 . 
3. ↑ hockeyfans.at, Zagreb's KHL roster is almost complete , July 3, 2013, accessed on July 3, 2013
4. ↑ Zagreb lacks money for a comeback. Retrieved March 15, 2017 . 
5. ↑ Dwyer becomes Kossmann's successor in Ambri . ( luzernerzeitung.ch [accessed on March 15, 2017]). Dwyer becomes Kossmann's successor in Ambri ( Memento of the original from March 16, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ↑ Zagreb returns to Erste Bank Eishockey Liga. Retrieved March 15, 2017 . 
7. ↑ Zagreb facing financial crisis , report on ring-hockey.at of December 7, 2018
8. ^ Statement by the league on the current situation at Medveščak Zagreb from December 12, 2018.
9. ↑ http://www.hrhokej.net/index.php/2013-08-16-11-52-39/2013-08-17-20-16-38/clanci-slo/4772-20mzgmla01
10. ↑ New coach takes over in Zagreb. In: laola1.at. December 24, 2017, accessed December 18, 2018 . 
11. ↑ New Coaching Team: Aaron Fox takes over Medveščak, Marcel Rodman is coming back ... In: medvescak.com. July 30, 2018, accessed December 18, 2018 . 
12. ↑ Homepage of the ÖEHV ( Memento of the original from January 31, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.