On Tuesday evening, the second meeting of HC Košice was held within the newly created communication platform - HC Košice Community Forum. The meeting meeting took place in one of the saloons in Double Tree by Hilton hotel. The Forum was divided into three "panels". In each one of them, the guests had an opportunity to say a few words. Topics during the evening included: season evaluation from the perspective of the A-team and junior categories, evaluation of fulfillment of the goals set, planning of future activities and projects. Besides the above mentioned, the participants learned other important information related to a hockey academy, work in the club, and they were pleasantly surprised when heard they about the signature of the contract with two young talented players from Košice.

"We have set four vision pillars for the club. The first and the main one was the transformation into a community club. We need to bear in mind, that HC Košice doesn't belong to only one company, to one or two entrepreneurs. HC Košice must belong to Košice!” stated right at the beginning of the meeting the President of HC Košice, Július Lang. Besides other areas, Július discussed mainly the topic concerning sponsorship, where he described the current situation, negotiations and cooperation with sponsors of the hockey club. Košice make progress in this area and the Mayor of Košice also shows interest in hockey. The club gets an equal support from the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation and from the Košice Self-governing Region. "There are two paths the club may take. The first one is, that we buy expensive players, we pay them, and we will believe in potential success. The other one is much more complicated, requires bigger amount of patience, and is rocky – training and raising of the youth. You start from children and you reach the phase when the children grow up and become the players who are able to play a senior hockey." said Lang and introduced probably the main topic of the meeting - the youth. The youth is at the center of interest right now, and the club places the same emphasis on the youth as on the A-team. The proof of that is the effort to establish a hockey academy, and the club is constantly working on this project. More and more young players get an opportunity to play a senior hockey, and the age average of the senior team is one of the lowest in the league. Slovak players get more opportunities than the hockey legends, more precisely than the overseas players, and you can see this fact when you look at the representation team, where 5 players from HC Košice have been nominated. However, it does not end with senior players. Young players also make their best effort to get to the representation team. Led by the qualified professionals, they progress in their careers, and thanks to these professionals, they have an opportunity to wear the most valuable uniform.

Right after Július Lang, the Executive Director Norbert Koch got a chance to speak. Even though he's been the Executive Director for a short period of time, he has already managed to make the club progress in many aspects. "Since we are here to evaluate, I should be telling facts. I am very happy that we have some facts to present, and I will gladly do it," started Mr. Koch modest evaluation of his three-month-long work. Within the evaluation, he confirmed the words of Július Lang, and added other important information related to rental of the stadium. The club is trying to get the best deal with the Steel Arena, from which both parties would benefit.

The work of marketing people and people dealing with this area progresses consistently. The member of the Marketing Board of HC Košice, Stanislav Mucha, expressed his opinion on this matter. It was Mr. Mucha who has contributed to improvement of marketing in the greatest extent. "I am very glad that we managed to organize this second meeting. It is something we have promised ourselves already prior to the beginning of the season. Actually, it was our first marketing activity. We managed to keep our promise and we want to continue improving our marketing strategy, we want to communicate openly with community because, as it has been said already - HC Košice that's all of us right here!," said Mr. Mucha to almost completely full saloon, which is another proof that people are interested in the Community Forum. When we talk about progressing in the

marketing area, those are not just empty words. In three months, we have managed to organize many events for our fans and for the community. Here I would like to highlight the game for elementary schools and high schools, where 3,000 students came to the stadium, some of them travelled here from Prešov Region. Another step forward was a recent signature of memorandum of cooperation with three universities, and organisation of the Student's match which also attracted a higher number of spectators. And work of the marketing team does not end here. It is the opposite. In the upcoming future, we plant to organise many other interesting events. Stanislav Mucha revealed a few things about the Santa Claus match that will be held on 6th December, then he talked about Christmas markets and about the tickets for two home matches held in December which should provide lucrative possibilities satisfying every Steeler fan. There will also be a part reserved for popular retro uniforms which will be consequently put up for auction.

The first panel was concluded by Marcel Šimurda, the former hockey player and currently the coach of the youth team and video-analyst of HC Košice. Environment and conditions in Košice already belong among the best ones within the top Slovak competition, however, it is necessary to improve constantly, work on modernization, assist and try to obtain the latest technology which are used globally by hockey organizations. "I would like to notify that the club is about to buy a unique system called Spiideo. The system has been developed by Swedish company, and more than 300 professional hockey clubs use it. We want to be the first club in Slovakia buying this tool. It will enable us, coaches and video-analysts, to record and analyze trainings as well as matches. The system uses 4K cameras that should be placed throughout the stadium. A cameraman won't be needed. The system captures the whole rink from multiple angles. We will be able to view every detail of the game and follow a play across the entire field.”

The second block was introduced by the General Manager of HC Košice, Jan Šťastný. Right at the beginning of his speech he recognized the effort of all his colleagues participating in the functioning of the club. "I would like to thank the colleagues from marketing department, manager and president of the club because really, what they have performed so far in terms of sport, I haven't experience in my entire career. They really are a great inspiration for us. Right now, it may look that we don't achieve the desired results, but from my perspective, I guarantee you that all people from sports department of the A-team and of the youth perform a great job, and taking step by step, we are moving towards achievement of our goals. Of course, based on my previous experience, I think that we need some time and space in order to make the results visible." After this followed the summary of the current season from the perspective of A-team, which was ensured by the already mentioned Jan Šťastný and by our forward Michal Chovan. Michal got injured during the game against Detva, and that is going to take him out of the game for some time. But as he assured the participants, the injury is not as bas as it seemed, and he will make everything he can to get back on ice as soon as possible, so that he could help his team achieve the set goals.

Peter Holaza commented the ongoing season of the U20, U18 and cadets. Coaches Miroslav Kozárik and Alexander Valentín also said a few words on the matter. Young players are successful also in these categories, and in many aspects, they belong among the best in Slovak competition. All these results have been achieved thanks to new methods implemented by Alexander Valentín. Alexander talked about it during the meeting. "I promote good grades and behavior outside the rink. We are constantly trying to improve behavior and discipline inside as well as outside the rink and at school. We will always do our best not only to make our guys successful on ice, but also to make them disciplined and educated people with good reputation. We unified the image of our boys throughout all hockey categories during a training process. Some might say that those are not important things, but for us those details determine whether the players are successful or not," said the youth coach Alexander Valentín. Many parents also participated in the Forum. They had the opportunity to get an insight into the functioning of the club and get a better insight. The representatives of the club welcomed their participation. "I often come across the opinion that

stadiums should be closed to parents, but in my opinion, it is the exact opposite. We should cooperate and communicate with parents and solve certain situations together" concluded Valentín.

The second panel was concluded as it had started with the speech of the General Manager Jan Šťastný. At the end of the panel there was a little surprise in the form of a ceremony, where some of the players signed their first professional contract. Two young talented players from Košice who represent the club and participate in its achievements got this great opportunity. Roman Faith and Samuel Nagy entered into a three-year contract with HC Košice, which is at the same time their first professional hockey contract. "In this respect, first I would like to thank all youth coaches. I think that you all know something important is starting to happen in Košice, the poof of which is this evening. Based on some knowledge and on communication with coaches, we have decided to sign a three-year professional contract with our home-grown players, Samuel Nagy and Robert Faith. It is the beginning of our journey, and I think that in the future, more and more players will play for the A-team. We know the quality of our junior players, but we didn't want to jump to conclusions, and we decided to pick these two players due to their age. We all believe that one or both of them will make a professional hockey career not only in Košice, but also on international level." commented on the decision Jan Šťastný.

The last part of the evening was about motivating young hockey players to study. The goal was to show the players that even though hockey fills them with joy, and it is their passion, they should not forget about education. They could hear more about it from the former player of HC Košice, Peter Slimák, whose carrier hadn't been heading the way he desired at the beginning, but later on it was proved that many times, the hockey life is unpredictable, and you just don't have a choice. "Transfer to normal life after the end of career was quite difficult because nobody had prepared me for that. Coaches usually talked just about hockey, and that is the reason why I like the idea of Alexander Valentín and people working with him. It is very important to care about education. One day you are at the top, the next one you might not be a hockey player anymore. This happened to me. I gathered valuable victories, then I got injured, left Košice, hosted for other club, and then got a slap when I found out that things in other clubs work differently," shared a not very pleasant experience the former player of HC Košice.

At the end of the meeting, Regional Manager of Development of the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation, Peter Žifčák, said a few words on a topic of the hockey academy. Defenseman Christián Michalčin talked about the beginning of his career and about the opportunity to play in the A-team, and the most productive player of the league, Marcel Haščák, compared career in Košice with career in other European giants. He talked very positively about HC Košice, and he emphasized several times that he feels that hockey in Košice is heading in the right direction, in the direction like other successful European clubs do, and that the conditions and the environment which the club creates for the players is excellent. The principal of sport high school, Tatiana Švecová, also clarified the importance of education. "Mr. Slimák has already quite precisely described destinies of some hockey players, and that is the reason we have started to create a model of the so called "double career" of a sportsman. Society felt the need and practice demonstrated that it is important to create special courses for students and sportsmen who are not the most talented, or who want to join the labor market directly without pursuing further education. We still have grammar school and students may study and continue their education at universities, however, we tried to find a solution for their problem in this manner.

Hockey players, higher representatives of the club, coaches, implementation teams of youth categories, parents, and loyal fans spent a pleasant evening during which they learned many interesting and valuable information from inside the club. The second community forum can be described as a successful one, and we are already looking forward to the next one. After all, hockey should join people.

HC Košice club would like to thank Double Tree by Hilton hotel for providing its premises.