Prior to the beginning of the season, the most successful club in the Slovak hockey history presented a plan of transformation of HC Košice into a community club. Transparent communication and close cooperation with private as well as public organizations should be the pillars of it.

After confirming the extension of cooperation with the Magistrate of Košice and with the Košice Self-governing Region, the club organized a game where it invited all elementary schools and high schools to watch it for free. Almost 3,300 pupils came to this game. Another very significant step towards the community is signing of Memorandum of Cooperation with the Technical University, Pavol Jozef Safarik University and with the University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Košice. The parties signed the Memorandum together during the press conference that was held on October 28, 2019 in Double Tree by Hilton hotel with the participation of journalists.

Main Areas of Cooperation Incorporated in Memorandum:

• promotion of activities propagation of HC Košice and their provision to university students within the agreed extent.

• promotion of projects enabling use of students' knowledge in the projects aiming at development and prosperity of HC Košice,

• provision of advantages to university students in relation to the organized sport events (for example, offering them cheaper tickets to home matches)

• cooperation in organizing hockey games (senior home matches of HC Košice) that are thematically devoted to the Student's Day ("Deň študentstva") and other sport events,

• participation of players of HC Košice in university events with the purpose to promote the cooperation between the mentioned entities,

• mutual promotion of events and activities (according to accessible possibilities of the parties).

Memorandum was signed by: Ing. Július Lang (the President of HC Košice), Mgr. Norbert Koch, (the Executive Director of HC Košice), Ing. Jaroslav Porubän, PhD. (the Vice-Rector for Development and External RelationsTUKE), prof. RNDr. Pavol Sovák, CSc., (the Rector of UPJŠ), MVDr. Martin Tomko, PhD. (the Vice-Rector for Education UVLF), Ing. Jakub Palša (the President of the Student University Council TUKE).

The first common project will be the Student match, which will be held on November 19, 2019 (Tuesday). The duel against Liptovsky Mikulas will be accompanied by an interesting program thematically devoted to the events from November 1989. The parties have agreed that this “Student game” could become a traditional event which would be organized every year.

Of course, the management of HC Košice welcomes the cooperation with universities. Ing. Július Lang (the President of HC Košice): "We are incredibly happy that our well-known institutions of the community of Košice accepted our offer to cooperate. Through these common activities, we will be able to approach more than 17,000 students and hundreds of teachers. I believe that these young people will find their way to the Arena and will support us. On our part, we will do everything we can to thank our partners and to make long-term partnerships from which all of the parties will benefit from.

The common position in the name of all universities was presented by prof. RNDr. Pavol Sovák, CSc. (Rector of UPJŠ): “Three universities from Košice – Pavol jozef Safarik University in Kosice, Technical University in Kosice, University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmary in Kosice regularly cooperate in the field of education, science and research. Thanks to this Memorandum of Cooperation between HC Košice and the mentioned universities, sport will become another field of cooperation. You can see the proof in the upcoming hockey game of HC Košice which thematically devoted to Student's Day ("Deň študentsva"). We believe that we will cooperate and participate in other successfull projects also in the future, and that together we will contribute to mutual promotion of organized activities and events."

In the name of students, Ing. Jakub Palša (Student President of the University Council TUKE) expressed his opinion: "I hope that the cooperation between the three universities and the hockey club HC Košice will bring along some other interesting events where we will meet as we met here today, at this press conference. I believe that the cooperation between the mentioned institutions and signing this Memorandum will create many opportunities to promote sports among university students.

Košice, October 28, 2019