The idea of creating an international organization which would group the European hockey clubs, defend their interests, form the development of hockey leagues and create a space for cooperation originated in 2015 following the associations of other sports. Every year, the Alliance of European Hockey Club (EHC) organizes meetings with its members, among which belong also the representatives of the most successful hockey club in Slovakia, HC Kosice. Norbert Koch (Executive Director), Jan Stastny (Sports Manager), Tomas Kuriatnik (Board Member) and Stanislav Mucha (Marketing Board Member) attended the Hockey Business Forum in Berlin.

Inspiration on Every Corner

The fall meeting of the EHC clubs was held in Berlin, very close to the Berlin Wall, on September 29 and 30 in Mercedes Benz Arena, which is located right in the center of the square with the same name. It belongs to the most modern and the biggest stadiums in Europe (with the capacity of 17,000 spectators). Berlin Ice Bears (nowadays, Eisbären, before Dynamo Berlin) play their home matches inside this arena.

On Sunday, the home team hosted the game against Chicago Blackhawks, in which, as it had been expected, the guests from NHL dominated 3:1. Besides the fantastic game, the arena itself was the source of inspiration. It offered several great services, which all together created the atmosphere of a top event (hockey, show, catering, organization). Participants of the EHC shared their impressions and experiences with one another during the non-formal meeting.  

Forum with 100% Hockey Extract

Topics and guests of the Monday program brought several very interesting discussions and presentations. During the first one, Bill Daly (NHL deputy commissioner), Marc Lüthi (President of SC Bern and EHL), Alexey Krasnov (KHL Vice-President) and Franz Reindl (President of the German Hockey Association) discussed the matters with each other. The main topic of the discussion was the comparison of introduction of a salary ceiling in NHL and KHL. Marc Lüthi and Franz Reindl agreed that introducing such mechanism in the EU would be too complicated, if not impossible.  

Another guest with a very famous name was the former NHL start and the President of L.A. Kings club, Luc Robitaille. Kings are partners of the Berlin klub. The partnership has been created through the common owner. Robitaille expressed his opinion, where he stated that the NHL clubs may learn a lot in Europe and mutually help eachother.

Arena - Way Towards Success

Mika Sulin, the former player and the author of several construction projects of modern hockey arenas, inspired many spectators with his presentation. The state-of-the-art will be the new arena in Tamper, Finland, with the capacity of 15,000 spectators, which will be used not just for hockey matches but also as a shopping center and a modern apartment building with amenities.

Marketing Trends Driven by Technologies

Marketing topic was discussed by two speakers. The director of the company IX.co Christian Heimes presented several projects for well-known organizations (Chelsea London, CHL, etc.), in which personalization, interaction with fans and use of artificial intelligence played a crucial role. The representative of the SAP Fadi Naoum company presented a mobile application for fans of Adler Mannheim, which contains a complete functionality including the following modules: e-shop, ticket sale, parking, credit transfer, gamification etc.

Team and Club Go First

Another inspirational presentation was prepared by the coach Frölundy Indians Roger Rönnberg. According to Roger, it is the club who should set the team philosophy, not the coach. this will prevent the club from chaos that might occur after the potential change of the coach. It is important to teach young players this philosophy, who will acquire it gradually.

Where Is Hockey Heading

Very important element of the conference was the presentation of partners which offered solutions for the improvement of our club management as well as technological advances improving the training and game process. Here are a few examples.

New Generation Helmet – specially designed support of a helmet reduces the impacts of the head rotation resulting from clash.

Camera System – cloud solution allowing recording of practices and matches as well as their sharing using the latest analytical technologies. Thanks to this solution, coaches are able to monitor the progress of their players as well as their progress too.  

Virtual Reality (VR) – thanks to modern VR technologies, players can improve their technical skills using a simulator (ice simulation, hockey stick vibration after contact with a puck, etc.).

HC Kosice on Their Way towards the European Elite

Meeting of the EHC clubs was a great opportunity to confront the current situation, visions, plans and projects of HC Kosice with the European elite clubs. This opportunity confirmed, that the club is aware of its weak spots, sees them as an opportunity and as a challenge, and works intensively on the projects that may help it belong to the European Elite one day. The examples are: effort to transform the club into the community organization; digital vision of the club; youth academy project; modern approach to the creation of team philosophy and team structure; discussions with the Steel Arena and with the contractors; cooperation with external subjects. If HC Kosice keeps up with the trend set, it may be able to conquer the European elite. This, however, will require a lot of energy, hard work, support from fans, partners and from the whole community.