Rytíři Kladno


Rytíři Kladno is a Czech professional ice hockey team based in the city of Kladno. They are currently a member of the Czech Extraliga. The team president and owner is Jaromír Jágr, a famous former NHL player, who is currently playing in home games for the team in addition to his ownership and administrative roles. The team plays its home games at ČEZ Stadion Kladno.

History

Kladno was a particularly strong team in the late 1970s, when it won four consecutive league titles, and again in 1980. The team's star, Milan Nový, was league MVP in 1977, 1981, and 1982, and won six scoring titles. František Pospíšil was league MVP in 1971 and 1972.
Before season 1997/1998 happened what everyone expected for some time, Kladno lost its longtime sponsor, ironworks Huť Poldi. After a long time the Poldi disappeared from Kladno hockey jerseys and the successes that this famous club has achieved in previous years have also disappeared and was de facto always last. Primarily the lack of funds did not allow to management improvement of club cadre and the main coach resigned.
Despite the departure of a number of players abroad, Kladno did not go bad after 2003 and celebrated return to the Czech highest-level league. However after the season 2012-13 Kladno performed poorly in the extraliga. Nor the withdrawal of coaches helped, and the co-sponsorship of Rene Burger the team reached the highest league again after the 12 years.
Jaromír Jágr played for his hometown Kladno for parts of four seasons, including during the NHL lockouts in 1994, 2004, and 2012. In January 2018, Jágr was assigned to HC Kladno after a partial season with the Calgary Flames.
During the 2010–2011 season, the team was docked 6 points for having used players who were not correctly registered to the club, an affair which also involved the clubs BK Mladá Boleslav and HC Plzeň.

Club names

Domestic

Czech Extraliga
Czech 1. Liga
Czechoslovak Extraliga
1st. Czech National Hockey League
2nd. Czechoslovak Hockey League
IIHF European Cup