HC Slezan Opava is an ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 team in the Second National Hockey League

2. národní hokejová liga

The 2. národní hokejová liga is the third-level ice hockey league in the Czech Republic under the First National Hockey League. It began in 1993.-Format :...

 (third-level league) from Opava

Opava

Opava is a city in the northern Czech Republic on the river Opava, located to the north-west of Ostrava. The historical capital of Czech Silesia, Opava is now in the Moravian-Silesian Region and has a population of 59,843 as of January 1, 2005....

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The club was founded in 1945. As soon as in 1951, Slezan was promoted to the Czechoslovak First Ice Hockey League and played there until 1953. Slezan Opava played in the top-level league also two seasons in 1957 and 1960. In the Czech Republic, the club was promoted to the elite Czech Extraliga

Czech Extraliga

The Czech Extraliga is the highest-level ice hockey league in the Czech Republic. As of 2009, it is ranked by the IIHF as the third strongest league in Europe....

 in 1996, after it won the promotion play-offs. The club had financial difficulties and sold the license for Extraliga in 1999 to HC Havířov. From the 1999/2000 season the club played the First National Hockey League (second-level league) but was relegated in the 2004/2005 season to the Second National Hockey League (third-level league).