Slovak Extraliga facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Tipos Extraliga

Formerly	Czechoslovak First Ice Hockey League
Sport	Ice hockey
Founded	1993
No. of teams	12
Country	Slovakia
Most recent champion(s)	HK Nitra (2nd title)
Most titles	HC Košice HC Slovan Bratislava (9 titles each)
TV partner(s)	TV JOJ (Slovakia) Sport1 (Czechia, Hungary, Slovakia)
Relegation to	Slovak 1. Liga
Related competitions	Slovak 1. Liga Slovak 2. Liga
Official website	hockeyslovakia.sk

The Slovak Extraliga is the top ice hockey league in Slovakia. It's also known as the Tipos Extraliga because of its main sponsor, Tipos. This name has been used since the 2020–21 season.

For a few years, from 2018–19 to 2020–21, the league even included one or two teams from Hungary.

Teams from the Extraliga can play in the IIHF's yearly Champions Hockey League (CHL). This is a big competition for top teams in Europe. How many teams can join depends on how strong their home league is. For example, in the 2022–23 CHL season, the Extraliga was ranked as the 10th best league in Europe. This meant the champion from the previous season got to play in the CHL.

The Slovak Extraliga started in the 1993–94 season. This happened after Czechoslovakia split into two countries, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Even though they split, all the teams finished the 1992–93 Czechoslovak Extraliga season first.

How Ice Hockey Games Are Played

Every game in the regular season has three periods. Each period lasts 20 minutes. There's a break of up to 18 minutes between periods.

If the game is tied after 60 minutes, they play an extra five-minute period. This is called overtime. In overtime, only three players from each team are on the ice at a time. The first team to score wins immediately. This is called "sudden death".

If the game is still tied after overtime, they have a shootout. In a shootout, players take turns trying to score against the goalie. Each team gets five tries. The team that scores more wins. If it's still tied after five tries, the shootout continues one by one until one team scores and the other doesn't.

Teams in the League

There are many exciting teams that play in the Tipos Extraliga. They come from different cities across Slovakia.

Teams for the 2024–25 Season

Here are the teams playing in the Tipos Extraliga for the 2024–25 season:

How the Season Works

The Tipos Extraliga season has two main parts: the regular season and the playoffs. The regular season runs from late September to early March. After that, the playoffs begin, usually in March and April.

The team that wins the playoffs is crowned the Slovak champion. They receive a special award called the Vladimir Dzurilla Trophy.

The Regular Season

During the regular season, each team plays 50 games. Points are given out based on how a team wins or loses.

• Winning in normal time gets 3 points.
• Winning in overtime or a shootout gets 2 points.
• Losing in overtime or a shootout gets 1 point.
• Losing in normal time gets 0 points.

The team with the most points at the end of the regular season is the league champion. The top six teams go straight to the playoffs. Teams ranked 7th to 10th play a special mini-series called the "play-in" round. This decides which two of them will get the last playoff spots.

The team that finishes last in the regular season has to play against the best team from the second-tier league, the Slovak 1. Liga. This is called the Play-Out series. The winner of this series gets to play in the Tipos Extraliga next season.

The Play-in Round

Since the 2018–19 season, teams ranked 7th to 10th play in the play-in round. This is a "best-of-five" series. This means a team needs to win three games to move on.

The 7th-ranked team plays the 10th-ranked team. The 8th-ranked team plays the 9th-ranked team. The higher-ranked team gets to play more games at their home arena. The two winners of these series get the final spots in the playoffs.

The Playoffs

The playoffs are an elimination tournament. Teams play against each other in "best-of-seven" series. This means a team needs to win four games to advance to the next round.

• Quarterfinals: The top-ranked team plays the lowest-ranked team that made it through the play-in round. The second-ranked team plays the other play-in winner. The 3rd-ranked team plays the 6th-ranked team, and the 4th-ranked team plays the 5th-ranked team.
• Semifinals: Teams are re-ranked based on their regular season finish. The highest-ranked team left plays the lowest-ranked team left. The other two teams play each other.
• Finals: The two remaining teams play for the championship!

In each series, the team that was ranked higher in the regular season gets "home-ice advantage". This means they play more games at their home arena. For example, in a best-of-seven series, they play games 1, 2, 5, and 7 at home (if needed).

League Names and Sponsors

The name of the league often changes because of sponsors. Sponsors pay money to have the league named after them.

The league was simply called Extraliga from 1993 to 1997. Then it had names like West Extraliga, Boss Extraliga, ST Extraliga, and T-Com Extraliga. From 2007 to 2011, it was known as Slovnaft Extraliga.

From 2011 to 2020, it was mostly known as Tipsport Extraliga or Tipsport Liga. Today, since the 2020–21 season, it is called Tipos Extraliga.

Past Champions

Many teams have won the regular season or the playoffs over the years.

Regular Season Winners

Playoff Winners (Slovak Champions)

Video Games

Did you know you could play with teams from the Slovak Extraliga in a video game? They were included in EA Sports' NHL series in the game NHL 09.

See also

• Czech Extraliga
• Czechoslovak Extraliga
• List of Slovak ice hockey champions