KHL rejects HC Lev's bid

Shocking. A bolt from the blue.

This is how hockey players and officials are describing the unexpected failure of a breakthrough project that would have seen the Czech team HC Lev, from Hradec Králové, play next season in the Russian Continental Hockey League (KHL).

The KHL's Governors' Council raised turmoil in hockey circles both here and in neighboring Slovakia when they ruled July 28 that HC Lev will not be admitted to the league.

The decision came only three weeks before the Slovak Ice Hockey Association was expected to give HC Lev the final go-ahead to participate in the KHL and to play its home games in Poprad, Slovakia. It also came two days after the team hit the ice to kick off practice for the season.

"The negative decision came like a bolt from the blue," said HC Lev's Head Coach Radim Rulík. "We had not anticipated that. We all, including the players, are virtually left stranded prior to the season. We have to quickly look for new contracts."

HC Lev was expected to become the first Czech club to join the expanding KHL, which is attempting to become the Russian response to North America's National Hockey League (NHL).

Based in east Bohemia, HC Lev agreed with Poprad hockey officials to stage its home games in Slovakia after the Czech Ice Hockey Association (ČSLH) declined to support HC Lev's participation in the KHL, claiming that HC Lev's games could overshadow the country's top flight Extraliga and also trigger inflation in players' salaries.

The Slovak Ice Hockey Association had been scheduled to issue approval for HC Lev in late July, but it postponed the decision, asking HC Lev to submit additional documents.

"We missed the official request from the Russian Hockey Federation and also an approval from the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) that HC Lev can play in the KHL in spite of the fact that the organization is not a member of any national hockey association," said Vlastimil Chvojka of the Slovak Ice Hockey Association board.

Following ČSLH's disapproval, HC Lev withdrew as a ČSLH member. The organization intended to field an international team made of Czech, Slovak and Russian players. The team's main star was expected to be NHL veteran forward Žigmund Pálffy.

HC Lev's "free agent" status, in terms of membership in a national hockey association, was a thorn in the side of Russian Hockey Federation Manager Alexander Steblin.

"I was surprised after Slovak Hockey Association head Juraj Široký told me that HC Lev was not a Slovak organization. From what I've learned, they were free agents who reached agreement with the Poprad town hall after the club's owners promised to build up an ice-hockey rink in return for permission to play home games in Poprad," Steblin said.

Although delays in granting the official approval for the move to the KHL made some of the would-be team members look for contracts elsewhere, representatives of HC Lev reached backstage agreements with both the KHL's and the Slovak Ice Hockey Association's management about the organization's participation in the KHL. They believed getting final permission was merely a formality.

The KHL's Governors' Committee said the Slovak hockey authorities' delays in issuing particular approvals for HC Lev led to the rejection of HC Lev's application. In an official statement, KHL management says it was impossible to further delay the verdict and to live in uncertainty about how many teams would play in the league this season.

František Bouc can be reached at
fbouc@praguepost.com