Dukla Trencin

The Pohronské derby against HKM Zvolen is the fixture that still sets the calendar in Trenčín. Dukla's own start was a transplant, not a birth: an army club moved wholesale from Opava on 19 January 1962, and the uniform stuck long enough to give the team its nickname, Vojaci — the Soldiers.

The club won its only Czechoslovak Extraliga title in 1991–92, then carried that momentum into the new Slovak league, taking the championship in 1993–94, 1996–97 and 2003–04. Five more titles from 1965–66 to 1982–83 came in the old 1st Slovak National Hockey League, before the Extraliga existed in its current form.

No name attached to the club carries more weight than Pavol Demitra's. His number 38 is retired. Zdeno Chára came through the same production line and went on to captain the Boston Bruins to a Stanley Cup and win the Norris Trophy, the first Slovak to captain an NHL side. Marián Hossa left with three Stanley Cup rings from Chicago, and Marián Gáborík was picked third overall by Minnesota.

Domestically the club has stayed a fixture near the top without matching that 2004 title since: runner-up finishes in 2006–07 and again in 2017–18 mark the closest it has come back to the summit. The colours, yellow and red, have not changed; the standard the alumni set has proven harder to hold onto than the strip.