Písek

Nowadays known as IHC Králové Písek, the club spent 2014–15 winning promotion out of the fourth-tier Jihočeská krajská liga back into the Czech 2. Liga. Getting there and staying there have been separate problems.

The club formed in 1990 out of a merger between VTJ Písek and JITEX Písek, and the name has moved almost as often as the club: VTJ Jitex Písek, then HC Jitex Písek, then IHC Písek, then IHC KOMTERM Písek, before settling on IHC Králové Písek in 2020. Between 1994 and 2005 it held a place in the second-tier 1. Liga for eleven straight seasons, reaching the semi-finals twice, in 1996 and 2000, before relegation ended that run.

The return in 2010 lasted one season. Dropped back down in 2011, the club kept its place in the league anyway by buying a licence from HC Vrchlabí. A further relegation in 2013 sent Písek all the way to the regional fourth tier, from which the 2014–15 promotion was the way back.

Games against HC Tábor carry the weight of the Jihočeské derby, and history in it runs one way: Tábor has had the upper hand more often than not. The club plays in blue and yellow at the Zimní stadion Písek, which holds 4,500, under the nickname Písečtí.

What the club has not managed is a settled run at the second tier of Czech hockey — every promotion so far has been followed, sooner or later, by the drop back down.