Prague, 8 th September 2011 – The HC VERVA Litvínov hockey club is starting the new season not only with a new name but also with Martin Ručinský as the team captain. The club’s sports goal is to advance to the Tipsport ELH playoffs. In the coming year space will be given again also to young players and own pupils. The fans themselves decided that the club’s mascot will be the cheetah VERVÁK. The prices of permanent tickets and entry to the main parts remain unchanged.
“Work with our own pupils has been the club’s long-term strategy. The Litvínov hockey has so far brought up nine Olympic winners and 15 world champions, which is unique worldwide,” says Petr Hojer, the general manager of HC VERVA Litvínov. “During this year’s preparations several young players got a chance to fight their way into the A-team. The coming season could be a breakthrough for some of them,“ Petr Hojer adds.
The HC VERVA list includes 11 players below 24 years of age. The team will also be strengthened by the experienced attackers Martin Hujsa (from Slovan Bratislava) and Martin Frolík (guest from Kladno) as well as a defender Ján Brejčák, who spent last season in Poprad. From Ústí nad Labem came the last season’s hero, the goalkeeper Martin Volke, along with guest players Robin Hanzl and David Pojkar.
The new team captain is Martin Ručinský. “ Martin is definitely the most experienced player in our team. Apart from the country team successes and long-term NHL experience he also has behind him 185 games in the Litvínov hockey jersey,“ Jiří Kučera, the assistant coach of HC VERVA Litvínov explains this choice. During the season Martin Ručinský will also be the team’s media representation.
Promise to fans
At the press conference Martin Ručinský presented a non-traditional obligation undertaken by the HC VERVA Litvínov players. If the team, with the support from its fans, manages to get into the Tipsport ELH playoffs, Martin Ručinský along with the other players will fill people’s cars at the BENZINA filling station in Litvínov with the VERVA premium fuels. And these will be at a substantial discount against the usual prices. The club fans will thus get to meet their favourite players and save on fuel.
Under new name
The club is finishing this year of Tipsport Ice Hockey Extra League with a new name HC VERVA Litvínov. “By changing the name we want to utilise the club’s communication potential to present our VERVA premium fuels. We believe that the attributes of the VERVA brand, such as efficiency, energy, speed, endurance and acceleration will be now typical also for the Litvínov hockey,“ says Martin Durčák, an Executive of BENZINA, the club’s main partner. He also adds: “ Despite the name change we will keep the traditional club symbols, as the club colours and the logo with the hockey stick and puck.“ The company’s business name was changed on 10 th August 2011.
Yellow and with VERVÁK
HC VERVA Litvínov intends to have its fans participate more in the club’s life the next season. An example may be the voting on jersey colours, in which the fans supported the return of yellow in the light version (last year the jerseys were mostly white). In the dark version the jerseys remain black. The fans also sent proposals out of which the name was chosen for the club’s new mascot – the cheetah VERVÁK. In the fans’ final voting he received 58% of all the 1050 votes.
Good news for the fans is also the fact that the price of entry tickets and a season pass remains unchanged this year. The competition season 2011/2012 will be launched by the Litvínov players with a double game at home, on 16 th September against Karlovy Vary and on 18 th September against České Budějovice.
UNIPETROL, a.s. is a group of companies operating in the petrochemical industry in the Czech Republic. In 2005 UNIPETROL became a part of the PKN ORLEN Group, the largest oil processor in Central Europe. The UNIPETROL Group is oriented mostly towards oil processing, fuel distribution and petrochemical production. In all of these business areas the UNIPETROL Group is among the key players both in the Czech Republic and on the Central European market. The Group ranks among the leading firms in the Czech Republic in terms of its revenues, and employs almost 4,000 people.
Contact:
Mikuláš Duda
Press Department Manager
Telephone: +420 225 001 407, +420 736 502 520
E-mail: mikulas.duda@unipetrol.cz