Rytíři Kladno
City	Kladno, Czech Republic
League	Czech Extraliga
Founded	1924 (1924)
Home arena	ČEZ Stadion (capacity: 5,200)
Colours	Dark blue, white     Secondary: light blue, light gold, ocean blue, dark gold
Owner(s)	Jaromír Jágr
General manager	Jiri Burger
Head coach	Otakar Vejvoda
Captain	Tomáš Plekanec
Website	rytirikladno.cz
Franchise history
1924–1948	HOSK Kladno
1948–1949	TJ Sokol Kladno
1949–1953	TJ Sokol SONP Kladno
1953–1958	DSO Baník Kladno SONP
1968–1977	TJ SONP Kladno
1977–1989	TJ Poldi SONP Kladno
1989–1997	HC Poldi Kladno / HC Kladno
1997–2000	HC Velvana Kladno
2000–2003	HC Vagnerplast Kladno
2003–2006	HC Rabat Kladno
2006–2010	HC GEUS OKNA Kladno
2010–2011	HC Vagnerplast Kladno
Since 2011	Rytíři Kladno

Rytíři Kladno (English: Kladno Knights) is a Czech professional ice hockey team based in the city of Kladno. They are currently a member of the Czech Extraliga.^[1] The team president and owner is Jaromír Jágr, a former NHL player, who is currently playing in home games for the team in addition to his ownership and administrative roles.^[2][3] The team plays its home games at ČEZ Stadion.

History

Kladno was a particularly strong team in the late 1970s, when it won four consecutive league titles (1975–1978), 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 the league MVP in 1971 and 1972. The team was sponsored by the State Security police until the Velvet Revolution of 1989.

Before the 1997-98 season Kladno lost its sponsor, ironworks Huť Poldi. Eventually the Poldi crest disappeared from Kladno jerseys and the successes that this once famous club achieved in previous years also disappeared, perennially finishing last in the league. Primarily the lack of funds did not allow to management improvement of club cadre and the main coach resigned.^[4]

Despite the departure of a number of players abroad in 2003, Kladno continued to perform well 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, 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.^[5] Jágr took over majority ownership from his father in 2011.^[6]

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.^[7]

Club names

Rytíři Kladno players (2017)

The club began in 1924 as the ice hockey department of SK Kladno, abbreviated HOSK Kladno. When the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia seized the Czechoslovak government in 1948, private sports clubs were reorganized as tělovýchovných jednot (TJ, lit. 'physical education unities') and obligated to join the Sokol movement; HOSK Kladno was therefore renamed TJ Sokol Kladno. The following year, the club became associated with the United Steelworks (Spojené ocelárny, národní podnik, SONP), a national enterprise which operated the former Poldi steelworks in Kladno, and its name was expanded to TJ Sokol SONP Kladno.

When the Czechoslovak State Committee for Physical Education and Sport (SVTVS) was established in 1953, all sports clubs were designated as voluntary sports organizations (dobrovolné sportovním organizacím, DSO) and nine DSOs were created in affiliation with trade unions. TJ Sokol SONP Kladno was renamed DSO Baník Kladno SONP, as 'Baník' was the name of the DSO affiliated with the union of miners and steelworkers. The club name was shortened to TJ SONP Kladno in 1958 and that name was used for almost twenty years, until it was expanded to TJ Poldi SONP Kladno in 1977.

Following the Velvet Revolution in 1989, the club returned to private ownership and was called HC Poldi Kladno. The club retained the 'HC Kladno' element of its name for the following two decades, though the full club name changed multiple times for sponsorship reasons. Sponsors included Poldi, which had been re-privatized; Velvana, an automotive chemical manufacturer; Vagnerplast, an acrylic bathtub manufacturer; Rabat, a construction materials supplier; and GEUS Okna, a window manufacturer.

The club has been named Rytíři Kladno since 2011.

Players

Current roster

Source: rytirikladno.cz^[10]Source: eliteprospects.com^[11]As of 15 July, 2023.

No.	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
41		Jakub Babka	D	R	31	2022	České Budějovice, Czechoslovakia
88		Matěj Beran	LW	L	30	2021	Plzeň, Czech Republic
89		Ondřej Bláha	LW	L	23	2018	Prague, Czech Republic
29		Landon Bow	G	L	28	2021	St. Albert, Alberta, Canada
1		Adam Brízgala	G	L	25	2018	Prague, Czech Republic
44		Jake Dotchin (A)	D	R	29	2021	Cambridge, Ontario, Canada
24		Matyáš Filip	C	L	23	2018	Jindřichův Hradec, Czech Republic
68		Jaromír Jágr	RW	L	51	2017	Kladno, Czechoslovakia
55		Karel Klikorka	D	L	22	2023	Prague, Czech Republic
–		Denis Kusý	RW	R	26	2023	Prague, Czech Republic
–		Chris Martenet	D	L	27	2023	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
43		Antonín Melka	LW	L	33	2018	Kladno, Czechoslovakia
14		Tomáš Plekanec (C)	C	L	41	2020	Kladno, Czechoslovakia
23		Martin Procházka	RW	R	29	2022	Roudnice, Czech Republic
20		Jaromír Pytlík	C	R	22	2021	Dačice, Czech Republic
–		Deven Sideroff	RW	R	26	2023	Summerland, British Columbia, Canada
28		Ondřej Slováček	D	L	29	2022	Vsetín, Czech Republic
92		Jakub Strnad	LW	L	31	2023	Kladno, Czechoslovakia
26		Jiří Ticháček	D	L	20	2020	Kladno, Czech Republic
5		Václav Veber	D	R	24	2022	Kladno, Czech Republic

Honours

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to HC Kladno.

• Official website (in Czech)
• Kladno Sport
• Rytíři Kladno - Facebook
• Meltzer, Bill. "Kladno: Small Town, Big Draft Legacy" article at NHL.com Retrieved 06–27–06.