2022–23 Slovak 1. Liga season

The 2022–23 Slovak 1. Liga season was the 30th season of the Slovak 1. Liga, the second level of ice hockey in Slovakia.^[1]

2022–23 Slovak 1. Liga season
League	Slovak 1. Liga
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	24 September 2022 – 3 March 2023 (Regular season) 7 March – 26 April (playoffs)
Number of teams	12+1
Total attendance	220,134
Average attendance	669
TV partner(s)	JOJ Šport, Niké TV
Regular season
League Champion	Vlci Žilina
Top scorer	Michel Miklík (Trnava) (62 points)
Playoffs
Finals
Champions	HC 19 Humenné (1st title)
Runners-up	Vlci Žilina

Regular season

Standings

Each team played 44 games: playing each of the other eleven teams four times – twice at home, twice away. At the end of the regular season, the team that finished with the most points was crowned the league champion. Each team played two matches with Slovakia U18 (home and away) to support the preparation of the SR team for 2023 IIHF World U18 Championships.^[2]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Žilina	46	25	8	3	10	181	113	+68	94	Qualification to Quarter-finals
2	Dubnica	46	24	3	7	12	148	123	+25	85
3	Humenné	46	23	6	4	13	172	127	+45	85
4	Trnava	46	19	9	5	13	175	149	+26	80
5	Martin	46	20	8	4	14	140	112	+28	80
6	Modré krídla Slovan	46	18	4	7	17	126	131	−5	69
7	Skalica	46	18	5	4	19	130	135	−5	68	Qualification to Wild card round
8	Považská Bystrica	46	18	4	5	19	155	153	+2	67
9	Žiar nad Hronom	46	19	1	5	21	142	142	0	64
10	Topoľčany	46	18	1	6	21	116	138	−22	62
11	Levice	46	18	3	2	23	138	152	−14	62
12	Brezno	46	8	5	2	31	90	172	−82	33	Relegated to Slovak 2. Liga
	SR 18	24	2	1	4	17	47	113	−66	12

Source: Slovenská hokejová liga
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points

Playoffs

Ten teams qualify for the playoffs: the top six teams in the regular season have a bye to the quarterfinals, while teams ranked seventh to tenth meet each other (7 versus 10, 8 versus 9) in a preliminary playoff round.

Bracket

	Wild-card round (best-of-5)					Quarter-finals (best-of-7)					Semi-finals (best-of-7)					Finals (best-of-7)
						1	Žilina	4
	7	Skalica	1			10	Topoľčany	1
	10	Topoľčany	3								1	Žilina	4
											9	Žiar nad Hronom	2
						2	Dubnica	3			(Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round)
						9	Žiar nad Hronom	4
																1	Žilina	3
																3	Humenné	4
						3	Humenné	4
	8	Považská Bystrica	2			6	Modré krídla Slovan	2
	9	Žiar nad Hronom	3								3	Humenné	4
											5	Martin	2
						4	Trnava	3
						5	Martin	4

Wild card round

Skalica – Topoľčany 1–3 7.3.2023 Skalica Topoľčany 7-2 8.3.2023 Skalica Topoľčany 1-5 10.3.2023 Topoľčany Skalica 4-3 11.3.2023 Topoľčany Skalica 2-1 Topoľčany won the series 3–1.

Považská Bystrica – Žiar nad Hronom 2–3 7.3.2023 Považská Bystrica Žiar nad Hronom 3-4 8.3.2023 Považská Bystrica Žiar nad Hronom 3-1 10.3.2023 Žiar nad Hronom Považská Bystrica 2-4 11.3.2023 Žiar nad Hronom Považská Bystrica 7-1 13.3.2023 Považská Bystrica Žiar nad Hronom 2-5 Žiar nad Hronom won the series 3–2.

Quarterfinals

Žilina – Topoľčany 4–1 16.3.2023 Žilina Topoľčany 8-0 17.3.2023 Žilina Topoľčany 7-2 20.3.2023 Topoľčany Žilina 6-7 21.3.2023 Topoľčany Žilina 5-4 OT 23.3.2023 Žilina Topoľčany 7-3 Žilina won the series 4–1. Humenné – Modré krídla Slovan 4–2 14.3.2023 Humenné Modré krídla Slovan 4-1 15.3.2023 Humenné Modré krídla Slovan 0-1 18.3.2023 Modré krídla Slovan Humenné 1-5 19.3.2023 Modré krídla Slovan Humenné 4-3 OT 22.3.2023 Humenné Modré krídla Slovan 4-3 SO 24.3.2023 Modré krídla Slovan Humenné 2-3 OT Humenné won the series 4–2.

Dubnica – Žiar nad Hronom 3–4 16.3.2023 Dubnica Žiar nad Hronom 2-1 17.3.2023 Dubnica Žiar nad Hronom 4-0 20.3.2023 Žiar nad Hronom Dubnica 0-1 21.3.2023 Žiar nad Hronom Dubnica 4-3 23.3.2023 Dubnica Žiar nad Hronom 3-4 SO 25.3.2023 Žiar nad Hronom Dubnica 3-2 SO 27.3.2023 Dubnica Žiar nad Hronom 3-4 Žiar nad Hronom won the series 4–3. Trnava – Martin 3–4 14.3.2023 Trnava Martin 5-1 15.3.2023 Trnava Martin 0-4 18.3.2023 Martin Trnava 4-1 19.3.2023 Martin Trnava 3-5 22.3.2023 Trnava Martin 5-2 24.3.2023 Martin Trnava 2-1 OT 26.3.2023 Trnava Martin 2-3 Martin won the series 4–3.

Semifinals

Žilina – Žiar nad Hronom 4–2 30.3.2023 Žilina Žiar nad Hronom 6-3 31.3.2023 Žilina Žiar nad Hronom 2-1 3.4.2023 Žiar nad Hronom Žilina 5-4 SO 4.4.2023 Žiar nad Hronom Žilina 2-6 7.4.2023 Žilina Žiar nad Hronom 1-2 9.4.2023 Žiar nad Hronom Žilina 2-4 Žilina won the series 4–2.

Humenné – Martin 4–2 1.4.2023 Humenné Martin 3-1 2.4.2023 Humenné Martin 0-5 5.4.2023 Martin Humenné 2-3 6.4.2023 Martin Humenné 6-2 8.4.2023 Humenné Martin 5-0 10.4.2023 Martin Humenné 1-4 Humenné won the series 4–2.

Finals

15 April 2022 18:30 (CEST)

Žilina

2–5 (0–0, 1–3, 1–2) score in the series: 0–1

Humenné

Niké Aréna, Žilina Attendance: 4,636

Game reference
	Patrik Romančík	Goalies	Roman Durný	Referees: Juraj Konc Jr. Roman Výleta Linesmen: Adam Jurčiak Drahoslav Vyšný
	Halama (Grebenschikov, Varga) – 27:08 1–0 1–1 31:40 – Borov (Krajňák, Legalin) (PP) 1–2 33:45 – Lačný 1–3 39:47 – Frič (Markuš, Novota) 1–4 51:12 – Lenďák (Safaraleev, Vrábeľ) (PP) 1–5 56:25 – Lačný (Trandin) Rehák (Bečka, Lopušan) – 59:24 2–5
	39 min	Penalties	33 min
	45	Shots	29

16 April 2022 18:30 (CEST)

Žilina

7–0 (3–0, 2–0, 2–0) score in the series: 1–1

Humenné

Niké Aréna, Žilina Attendance: 3,342

Game reference
	Patrik Romančík	Goalies	Roman Durný Filip Krasanovský	Referees: Filip Crman Milan Novák Linesmen: Róbert Frimmel Michal Klejna
	Sýkora (Koyš, Pohl) (PP) – 03:14 1–0 Halama (Novák, Varga) (PP) – 07:36 2–0 Varga (Halama, Šidlík) (PP) – 13:25 3–0 Varga (Pohl, Halama) – 22:58 4–0 Halama (Tibenský, Varga) (PP) – 39:19 5–0 Halama (Tibenský, Kluka) (PP) – 44:18 6–0 Jakubík (Macek, Kluka) – 48:12 7–0
	8 min	Penalties	16 min
	34	Shots	18

19 April 2022 19:00 (CEST)

Humenné

2–1 (0–0, 2–0, 0–1) score in the series: 2–1

Žilina

Humenné Ice Stadium, Humenné Attendance: 2,640

Game reference
	Roman Durný	Goalies	Patrik Romančík	Referees: Martin Korba Martin Smrek Linesmen: Andrej Bogdaň Michal Drblík
	Lačný (Vrábeľ, Vaško) – 23:01 1–0 Krajňák – 30:17 2–0 2–1 49:17 – Koyš (Sýkora, Šidlík)
	8 min	Penalties	10 min
	30	Shots	31

20 April 2022 18:00 (CEST)

Humenné

4–3 GWS (1–2, 1–0, 1–1) (OT: 0–0) (SO: 1–0) score in the series: 3–1

Žilina

Humenné Ice Stadium, Humenné Attendance: 2,480

Game reference
	Roman Durný	Goalies	Patrik Romančík	Referees: Peter Rojík Tomáš Orolin Linesmen: Tomáš Knižka Martin Ordzovenský
	0–1 01:15 – Grebenschikov 0–2 06:36 – Macek (Paukovček, Mráz) (PP) Trandin (Vrábeľ, Lenďák) (PP) – 12:23 1–2 Safaraleev (Lenďák, Vrábeľ) (PP) – 20:56 2–2 2–3 55:10 – Mráz (Pohl) Vrábeľ (Safaraleev, Lenďák) (PP, EN) – 58:19 3–3
	Lačný Krajňák Legalin Lenďák Markuš	Shootout	Pohl Halama Varga Růžička Mráz
	8 min	Penalties	16 min
	29	Shots	37

22 April 2022 18:30 (CEST)

Žilina

9–1 (2–1, 6–0, 1–0) score in the series: 2–3

Humenné

Niké Aréna, Žilina Attendance: 4,620

Game reference
	Patrik Romančík	Goalies	Roman Durný Filip Krasanovský	Referees: Vladimír Fridrich Martin Korba Linesmen: Martin Hercog Peter Tvrdoň
	Varga (Pacalaj, Melcher) – 06:16 1–0 Paukovček (Koyš, Pohl) (PP) – 08:42 2–0 2–1 18:45 – Ťavoda (Novický, Horvát) Mráz (Koyš, Macek) (PP) – 20:31 3–1 Melcher (Varga, Novák) – 20:45 4–1 Růžička (Koyš, Lopušan) – 22:20 5–1 Sýkora – 29:04 6–1 Macek (Mráz, Pacalaj) – 30:39 7–1 Jakubík (Sýkora) – 32:18 8–1 Rehák (Macek) – 56:25 9–1
	22 min	Penalties	18 min
	38	Shots	30

24 April 2022 16:00 (CEST)

Humenné

1–2 OT (1–0, 0–1, 1–1) (OT: 0–1) score in the series: 3–3

Žilina

Humenné Ice Stadium, Humenné Attendance: 2,294

Game reference
	Roman Durný	Goalies	Patrik Romančík	Referees: Tomáš Orolin Filip Crman Linesmen: Lukáš Kacej Andrej Bogdaň
	Safaraleev (Vaško, Lenďák) – 06:49 1–0 1–1 39:01 – Paukovček (Melcher, Varga) (PP) 1–2 62:43 – Pohl (Halama, Varga) (PP)
	8 min	Penalties	12 min
	18	Shots	41

26 April 2022 17:30 (CEST)

Žilina

2–3 GWS (1–0, 0–0, 1–2) (OT: 0–0) (SO: 0–1) score in the series: 3–4

Humenné

Niké Aréna, Žilina Attendance: 5,036

Game reference
	Patrik Romančík	Goalies	Roman Durný	Referees: Vladimír Baluška Daniel Konc Sr. Linesmen: Tomáš Knižka Tomáš Gegáň
	Sýkora – 06:56 1–0 1–1 Trandin (Ťavoda, Legalin) – 47:17 Mráz (Koyš, Šidlík) – 48:05 2–1 2–2 Safaraleev (Trandin, Frič) – 54:36
	Pohl Sýkora Mráz Varga Macek	Shootout	Lačný Krajňák Legalin Lenďák
	0 min	Penalties	0 min
	43	Shots	36

Final rankings

	Humenné
	Žilina
	Martin
4	Žiar nad Hronom
5	Dubnica
6	Trnava
7	Modré krídla Slovan
8	Topoľčany
9	Skalica
10	Považská Bystrica
11	Levice
12	Brezno
	SR 18