Ten teams enter the Czech playoffs in contention for the national championship. Four of the clubs have already secured their place in next year's Champions Hockey League, including first-placed Ocelari Trinec. Six teams, including second-placed HC Litvinov and defending champions PSG Zlin, chase the one available spot.
by Derek O'Brien
For most of the season Ocelari Trinec led the Czech Extraliga standings, and they clinched first place a week before the end. This meant that, for the second year in a row, they qualify for a Champions Hockey League B-License. In addition, three of the four Czech A-License holders are among the 10 teams in contention for the national championship.
The defending champions, PSG Zlin, are alive as well, grabbing the last of the six automatic quarter-final berths on the last day of the regular season. Teams seven through 10 will, starting on Wednesday, play a best-of-five preliminary round to determine the other two teams in the elite eight.
In addition to the national title, also at stake is one remaining B-License, which six clubs still have a shot at. It will go to whichever of HC Litvinov, Kometa Brno, Mountfield Hradec Kralove, HC Plzen, PSG Zlin or BK Mlada Boleslav advance the farthest in the playoffs. If two of them advance to the semi-finals but neither to the finals, it will go to whichever finished higher in the regular season.
The final regular season standings are listed below. Teams already qualified to the 2015–16 CHL are listed in bold, along with their corresponding license.
| # | Club | GP | RW | OW | OL | RL | GF–GA | Pts |
| 1 | HC Oceláři Třinec (B) | 52 | 32 | 4 | 3 | 13 | 183–117 | 107 |
| 2 | HC Litvínov | 52 | 30 | 6 | 3 | 13 | 167–120 | 105 |
| 3 | HC Kometa Brno | 52 | 28 | 3 | 5 | 16 | 153–135 | 95 |
| 4 | HC Sparta Prague (A) | 52 | 27 | 6 | 1 | 18 | 194–140 | 94 |
| 5 | Mountfield Hradec Králové | 52 | 26 | 3 | 1 | 22 | 136–131 | 85 |
| 6 | PSG Zlín | 52 | 22 | 5 | 5 | 20 | 145–153 | 81 |
| 7 | HC Plzeň | 52 | 19 | 8 | 2 | 23 | 144–133 | 75 |
| 8 | Vítkovice Ostrava (A) | 52 | 21 | 4 | 4 | 23 | 136–153 | 75 |
| 9 | HC Pardubice (A) | 52 | 22 | 1 | 6 | 23 | 143–156 | 74 |
| 10 | BK Mladá Boleslav | 52 | 21 | 0 | 9 | 22 | 156–164 | 72 |
| 11 | Bílí Tygři Liberec (A) | 52 | 16 | 9 | 3 | 24 | 128–131 | 69 |
| 12 | HC Energie Karlovy Vary | 52 | 16 | 2 | 10 | 24 | 110–146 | 62 |
| 13 | HC Olomouc | 52 | 13 | 5 | 5 | 29 | 126–167 | 54 |
| 14 | HC Slavia Prague | 52 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 35 | 106–181 | 44 |
Trinec combined high-powered offence (second in the league) and stingy defence (best in the league) to finish first. With 26 goals, Erik Hrna was tied for tops in the league, and his 47 points places him fifth in that category. Also producing up front were veteran Jiri Polansky (18 + 25 = 43), Jakub Osrava (20 + 19 = 39) and Martin Adamsky (22 + 14 = 36), while Vladimir Roth provides offence from the back end (9 + 24 = 33 in 35 games). Meanwhile, 23-year-old Simon Hrubec had a fantastic season in goal, usurping veteran Peter Hamerlik as the starter, and even made his debut on the Czech national team. He recorded six shutouts in 37 games and his 2.00 goals-against average was the best of any goalie who played more than 120 minutes.
Litvinov had their best season in years, finishing just two points behind Trinec to finish second. That gives them the best chance of any team of claiming the remaining B-License. In addition to having a great chance at winning the championship on their own, they would also qualify for a CHL berth if the title is claimed by any of the four already-qualified teams in the playoffs, including Trinec.
Litvinov had the top two scorers in the league as well as the top goaltender. Viktor Hrubl's 37 assists and 58 points both led the league, while 43-year-old veteran Martin Rucinsky was second in both categories with 35 and 54. Frantisek Lukes (18 + 22 = 40) and Peter Jansky (16 + 15 = 31) were quite often the recipients of the team's two big playmakers. Pavel Francouz, meanwhile, has been considered the top goalie in the league for the past couple years, and this season he led all goalies with 34 wins, seven shutouts and a 93.18 save percentage. His goals-against average (2.08) and minutes played (2711) were not far off the pace either.
As the top two finishers in the league, Trinec and Litvinov know that they'll start their quarter-final series on 13 March, but they don't yet know who they'll be facing. Their opponents are still to be determined. The two preliminary-round series are Plzen–Mlada Boleslav and Vitkovice–Pardubice. Keep in mind that the race between these four teams was extremely tight, and only three points separated them in the end, so both are virtually coin-tosses as to who should win.
Plzen have been one of the top Extraliga clubs for the past several years, winning the title in 2013, while Mlada Boleslav are in their first year back in the league after a two-year absence. For them, making the playoffs has already made it a successful season, but that doesn't mean they're satisfied. Mlada Boleslav actually had the fourth-ranked offence in the league, led by 40 points from Tomas Klimenta and 39 from veteran David Vyborny. However, they also had the third-worst defence, which Plzen will try to exploit. Jan Sykora was Plzen's top scorer with 40 points (20 + 20), while young defenceman Jakub Jerabek chipped in with 32 (7 + 25).
Meanwhile Vitkovice and Pardubice were statistically similar, so it's especially tough to call a winner in this clasho of two A-License holders. Vitkovice get home-ice advantage by virtue of having one more point. Pardubice was led by Petr Sykora (not the one who had the lengthy NHL career, though this one did have a stint) with 26 goals, which was tied for tops in the league, and 44 points, which was sixth. Vitkovice's offence was led by Vladimir Svacina with 42 points and Ondrej Roman with 41.
Two quarter-final series are already set, and will both start on 11 March. Third-seeded Kometa take on defending champions Zlin, while Sparta and Mountfield hook up in the four-five match-up.
Kometa's leading scorer was 41-year-old Petr Ton (22 + 20 = 42), while in goal, Marek Cilak was one of the league's busiest goalies and was second in wins (29) and third in shutouts (5). Kometa can't be pleased that their reward for finishing third is the defending champions, who had a dreadful start to the season but have found their stride at just the right time, and come into the playoffs hot. Veteran captain Petr Cajanek was once again the team's leading scorer (12 + 24 = 36). Last season, Libor Kasik backstopped Zlin to the title as a 21-year-old. This season has been a lot more difficult for him, and he'll need to re-find his form in the playoffs.
Finally, Sparta take on Mountfield. Sparta scored a league-best 194 goals, but their 140 goals against was middle of the pack. Veteran Jaroslav Hlinka, the club's all-time scoring leader, was the team's top scorer with 50 points, tied for third-best in the league. His 33 assists were third-best, and Adam Polasek was the league's top-scoring defenceman with 36 points (10 + 26). A couple of Slovakian KHL veterans, Rastislav Stana and Jaroslav Janus, both struggled mightily in goal, and 23-year-old Filip Notovny will probably get the call in the playoffs.
Mountfield will hope that their offence led by point-per-game scorer Tomas Mertl (24 + 26 = 50, third-best in the league) can exploit that situation, and that their third-ranked defence can stop the Sparta attack. It's unclear who the Hradec Kralove club will turn to in goal. Pavel Kantor got the bulk of the playing time but 24-year-old Ondrej Kacetl, who started the season in the Czech second-tier league, had superior statistics and played in their last two regular-season games as the team was battling for positioning.
The four teams that survive the quarters will play in the semi-finals, beginning 26 March. The finals begin on 11 April, with the champion to be crowned no later than 23 April. Find the complete playoff schedule and up-to-date results here.