“Samuel is a young, promising goalkeeper who wants to take his career one step further. He is a great goalkeeper who is also skilled with the stick. We believe that he will want to fight for his position with us,” said the general manager and Pilsen manager Martin Straka.
Hlavaj worked in Slovan Bratislava for the last two years. Before that, the 193 cm tall goaltender spent three years in North America, where he first caught in the USHL for Lincoln and then two seasons in another junior QMHL for Sherbrooke.
“We looked for Samuel on a recommendation and then I watched his matches. I was impressed by the fact that he is tall, but at the same time he moves very well in the goal area. He has a good passing game and is strong with the stick,” added goalkeeper coach Rudolf Pejchar.
Pilsen will bet on young goalkeepers. Pavlát, who was preparing with the national team before the WC in Riga and Tampere, is 23 years old. “I’m happy to work with young goalkeepers. It’s easier to work with them. They both have to fight for that role. Whoever is better will catch,” Pejchar pointed out.
Last season, Hlavaj caught 18 games for Slovan in the regular season of the Slovak extra league with an average of 2.55, with a success rate of 91.57 percent and kept one clean sheet. In the playoffs, he had an average of 3.10 in one game and a success rate of 90 percent.
“I’ve had it in my head for a long time that I would like to leave Slovakia for a better job. I considered several offers, but I liked the one from Pilsen the most. I felt that there was a lot of interest in Pilsen. In addition, there is a great background, a nice city and a large Rudolf Pejchar, who works as a goalkeeper coach here, also played a role,” he said.
Mladá Boleslav hockey players were strengthened by Pyrochta, Růžička and Skalický return
Defender Filip Pyrochta from the Swedish team Lulea HF strengthened the hockey players Mladá Boleslav. Goalkeeper Jan Růžička is also returning to the Skating Club after a year spent in Hradec Králové and Pardubice, and after three years Slovak forward Pavol Skalický, who was in Lukko Rauma for two years and continued in the Finnish league in TPS Turku last season.
Earlier, the club announced the arrivals of American Zach Osburn from Michalovce, another fullback Jan Štibinger from Liberec and forwards from Finland Matti Järvinen from Hämeenlinna and Filip Suchý from Pilsen.
Twenty-six-year-old Pyrochta, a former player of Liberec, Komety Brno and Vítkovice, is returning to the extra league after two years, during which he first worked for the Finnish team SaiPa Lappeenranta and transferred to Luley last February. Last season in her jersey, he scored eight points (3+5) in 62 games of the Swedish league, including the playoffs. He also played in the Champions League final, in which Lulea lost to Tappara Tampere 2:3.
“Filip is a skilled and very good ice hockey player. I think that the two-year Nordic stay gave him a lot and that he raised his confidence there. It may not look like it, but Filip can be very productive and I believe that he will help us a lot in the power plays,” he said the sports director of Mladá Boleslav, Martin Ševc, to the club website. In the extra league, Pyrochta has 209 games and 56 points (10+46). During the season, he also played on the farms of Nashville, Milwaukee in the AHL and with the Atlanta Gladiators in the ECHL.
A year older, Skalický worked in Mladá Boleslav from 2018 to 2020 and collected 73 points (27+46) from 112 games in the extra league. In three years in the Finnish league, he scored 98 points (45+43) in 168 games. He has three titles in the Slovak Extraliga: one with Košice and two with Banská Bystrica. He played in the KHL for Slovan Bratislava.
“He is a boy with an excellent character who is well equipped with strength, which should bring us emphasis on both sides of the rink. And in his case, of course, we count on goals,” noted Ševc.
With the exception of last season, the 26-year-old Růžička played in the extra league exclusively in his parent club Mladá Boleslav. In 38 games, he has an average of 2.38, a save success rate of 91.27 percent and seven clean sheets.
“There’s no point in lying to yourself, Honza hasn’t had a great season and he himself is well aware of it. But he’s a boy with an excellent character, so I know that he’ll want to make the most of it and change things. Everyone here we know him well and know that he is capable of much more. We believe that we will support him and he will support us,” said Ševc.
After four seasons, Ondřej Ježek is leaving the position of fitness coach in Mladá Boleslav and he has been replaced by Michael Obrtel. “The position of a fitness trainer is a bit thankless, because he actually does all his work in the background and is rarely sufficiently appreciated. However, in recent years we have benefited to a large extent from Ondra’s work,” added Ševc.
České Budějovice hockey players will be strengthened by Ordoš, Kubík, Harris, Beránek and Doudera
Forwards Jan Ordoš, Adam Kubík, Martin Beránek, Brant Harris and defender Milan Doudera will wear the jersey of extraleague České Budějovice hockey players next season. The South Bohemians informed about the contracts with five reinforcements on the club website. They all signed for two years, the contracts of Beránek, Harris and Doudera also include the possibility of a one-year option.
The 26-year-old Ordoš has been faithful to the colors of Liberec in the domestic top competition, with whom he won the championship in 2016 and extra-league silverware in 2017 and 2019. The striker with national team experience returned to Ještěd after the 2020/21 season, which he spent in Oskarshamn, Sweden. In the last year, Ordoš played in 48 games of the regular season and scored 29 points for 16 goals and 13 assists, he was the second best scorer of the White Tigers. He did not score in 10 starts in the playoffs.
Two years younger, Kubík played in the extra league for Hradec Králové and Kladno, in whose jersey he also played the last two seasons among the elite and was the Knights’ top scorer in both. Last year, Kubík played in 44 games of the long-term phase and scored 36 points (16+20). He added a goal and an assist in the four playoff duels against Zlín.
The 22-year-old Beránek is returning to his parent club, with whom he won bronze a year ago, after a season spent in Mladá Boleslav and Pilsen. He scored five points (3+2) in 32 games in the Bruslař uniform, and managed a goal and an assist in 14 starts for the Indians, including the preliminaries of the playoffs.
The 33-year-old Canadian Harris, who also has experience in the overseas AHL, EBEL league and the second highest Swedish competition, spent the last seasons in Slovan Bratislava and won the title with them last year. He averaged more than a point per game in each of his three seasons in the Slovak capital. In the past season, he scored 56 points (29+27) in 48 duels in the regular season, and added six (3+3) in six playoff games.
The 30-year-old Doudera left Kladno for Třinec in 2014 and celebrated four titles with the Steelers during an extremely successful season, including the last one won by the Silesians on Friday after the final win over Hradec Králové. Doudera, who also has 43 national team starts and participation in the World Cup (2016), contributed 12 points (2+10) in 47 games of the regular season, and had one record in 22 games in the playoffs.
Earlier, the South Bohemians announced the arrival of reinforcements in the defense of Pavel Pýcha, David Štich and Michal Gulaši.
Slovak defender Zeleňák will work in Vítkovice
Slovak hockey defenseman Vojtech Zeleňák, who last season worked in the first league Frýdek-Místek, is a new player of the extra-league Vítkovice. The 24-year-old student from Košice, who is 196 centimeters tall and weighs 101 kilograms, signed a one-year contract with an option in Ostrava.
“Vojtech Zeleňák is a young back, tall, well-built, thanks to which he can play well to the body and does not have to be afraid of a physical game. He is a player who has potential and we believe that he will develop it here in Vítkovice and that he will have a good time here. do the most,” sports director Roman Šimíček told the club’s website.
???? | On May 1st, the player market opens and we introduce you to the first new face in our team!
Vítkovice acquired Slovak fullback Vojtech Zeleňák! The two-meter and 100-kilo crop comes from Frýdek-Místek, last season he also played for Třinec https://t.co/oRDyMJgdQA
— HC VÍTKOVICE RIDER (@hcvitkovice) May 1, 2023
Zeleňák scored seven points for two goals and five assists in 47 games for Frýdek-Místek last season. He also played for Litoměřice, Benátky nad Jizerou and Jihlava in the first league and collected 13 points (3+10) in 92 matches. This year, he played in six duels in the Champions League for Třinec, but did not appear in the champion’s jersey in the extra league.
He left Košice for Přerov at the age of 15 and after one season moved to Sparta Prague. In the Slovak Extraliga, he first played for the Slovak 20 and then for Zvolen, Košice, Michalovce and Trenčín. He also briefly played for the Bratislava Capitals in the international Austrian ICEHL.
The Poprad hockey players will be led by the Czech coach Totter, who came to them from Prostějov
Aleš Totter became the new coach of Poprad hockey players. The club, which was eliminated in the preliminary round of the playoffs in the current year of the Slovak extra league, announced the arrival of the 51-year-old Czech coach on the website.
Totter headed to Poprad, where he replaced Peter Mikula, after two seasons in Prostějov, in which the team advanced to the semifinals of the first league. In the past, he worked as an assistant in České Budějovice and also managed Most, Chomutov and Beroun.
