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Czech Extraliga
	Current season or competition:; 2008-09 Czech Extraliga season
Sport	Ice hockey
Founded	1993
No. of teams	14
Country(ies)	Czech Republic
Most recent champion(s)	HC Energie Karlovy Vary
Most championships	Vsetínská hokejová (6)
TV partner(s)	Česká televize
Official website	http://www.hokej.cz/

The Czech Extraliga is the highest-level ice hockey league in the Czech Republic. The name of the league is leased a general sponsor and changes frequently. In 1999-00, it was known as the Staropramen Extraliga; for 2001-01 and 2001-02 seasons, it was called the Český Telecom Extraliga; from 2003-04 to 2005-06, it was known as the Tipsport Extraliga; for the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons, it was known as the O₂ Extraliga. As of 2009, it is ranked by the IIHF as the third strongest league in Europe^[1].

The Czech Extraliga is rooted in the Czechoslovak First Ice Hockey League. The Czech Extraliga was spun off in 1993 following the administrative break-up of Czechoslovakia. A lot of Extraliga players leave every year on transfers to the North American NHL and Eurasian league, the KHL. There are currently 57 Czech ice hockey players based in the National Hockey League, making Czechs the third largest nationality represented in the league, after Canadians and Americans.

[edit] Format

14 teams compete in the league. The top 10 teams at the end of the regular season advance to the final play-offs. After the regular season (52 rounds), the teams that finished 7th to 10th will play a pre-quarter final playoff series (best-of-five) to determine who will join the top six into the quarter finals (best-of-seven).

Since the 2006-07 season, three points has been be awarded for a win in regular time, and two points for an overtime victory, while the defeated team in overtime gets one point. If necessary, penalty shots are used to decide games after overtime.

There was also only one assist credited for each goal instead of two since 2006-07, which affected the league statistics, so the rule was cancelled in the 2008-2009 season. Two assists are counted now.

The four lowest ranked teams (11 - 14) after the regular season play in a play out group (12 rounds, all regular-season matches are counted into the ranking). The last placed team after the play out group plays with a winner of 1. národní hokejová liga play off serie (best-of-seven). The winner of this serie will play in the Extraliga next season. The loser will play 1. národní hokejová liga.

[edit] 2009-10 teams

Note: The names of most teams are leased to general sponsors and change frequently.

Team	2008-09 league position
Liberec White Tigers	9th
HC Mountfield (České Budějovice)	11th
HC Energie Karlovy Vary	2nd
HC Eaton Pardubice	5th
HC Plzeň 1929	3rd
PSG Zlín	8th
HC Benzina Litvínov	7th
HC GEUS Okna Kladno	13th
HC Slavia Praha	1st
HC Sparta Praha	4th
HC Oceláři Třinec	10th
HC Vítkovice Steel	6th
BK Mladá Boleslav	14th
HC Kometa Brno	promoted from the Czech 1.liga by purchasing licence for Czech Extraliga From Orli Znojmo
	12th (Orli Znojmo. Now Playing in the Czech 1.liga, because sold the licence for Czech Extraliga to HC Kometa Brno)

[edit] 2009-10 Interim positions

monthly actualized

Pos.	Team	GP	Pts
1st	HC Vítkovice Steel	22	42
2nd	RI OKNA Zlín	22	42
3rd	HC Oceláři Třinec	22	41
4th	HC Eaton Pardubice	21	40
5th	HC Slavia Praha	22	37
6th	HC Plzeň 1929	22	37
7th	HC Sparta Praha	22	32
8th	Mladá Boleslav	22	31
9th	HC Benzina Litvínov	22	31
10th	Liberec White Tigers	22	30
11th	HC Mountfield (České Budějovice)	21	29
12th	HC Energie Karlovy Vary	22	28
13th	HC GEUS Okna Kladno	22	28
14th	HC Kometa Brno	22	15

[edit] The playoffs

The top 10 teams at the end of the regular season play in the final play-offs.

Starting from the 2003-04 season, the play-offs has its own general sponsor, with the play-offs' official name being Česká pojišťovna play-off Tipsport extraligy. The play-offs determine the league championship.

[edit] Champions

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ "Russian league tops first CHL ranking". http://www.iihf.com/en/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/browse/3/article/russian-league-tops-first-chl-ranking-1.html. Retrieved 2009-11-03.

[edit] External links

[IIHFRank-0] "Russian league tops first CHL ranking". http://www.iihf.com/en/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/browse/3/article/russian-league-tops-first-chl-ranking-1.html. Retrieved 2009-11-03.

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