Celje

For fifty years there was already a club skating out of Celje before this one existed, and by the time it folded in 1995 the money had simply run out. Three years passed with no team in the city at all before a group rebuilt it from nothing in 1998.

What they built has never once been enough to take a national title. Since 1991 the Slovenian league has belonged to HK Olimpija and HDD Jesenice, and a semifinal run ended in a lost bronze-medal match in 2016–17. In the Inter-National League they went one round further in 2017–18, reaching the final only to be beaten by Jesenice again.

Two names carry the club's history more than any trophy does. Aljaž Ogrizek is Celje's all-time leading scorer, and Nejc Kaštelic has pulled on the jersey more often than anyone else, 289 games and counting. Between them they account for most of what the club actually has to show for nearly three decades back on the ice.

They play out of the Ledena dvorana Celje, a 1,500-capacity hall with 600 seats on the southern tribune and the rest standing room.