2023–24 Slovak Extraliga season

The 2023–24 Slovak Extraliga season was the 31st season of the Slovak Extraliga, the highest ice hockey league in Slovakia.^[1]

2023–24 Slovak Extraliga season
League	Slovak Extraliga
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	15 September 2023 – 8 March 2024 (regular season) 11 March – 24 April 2024 (playoffs)
Number of games	50
Number of teams	12
Regular season
League Champion	HK Poprad
Top scorer	Olivier Archambault (Spišská Nová Ves) (59 points)
Playoffs
Playoffs MVP	Samuel Buček (Nitra)
Finals
Champions	HK Nitra
Runners-up	HK Spišská Nová Ves

Team changes

HC 19 Humenné are playing in the league for the first time after winning Slovak 1. Liga in the season 2022–23 in a best-of-seven playoff against Vlci Žilina.^[2]

HC MV Transport Prešov finished in the 2022–23 Slovak Extraliga season on the last 12th place and was relegated to a second highest ice hockey league in Slovakia.^[3]

Regular season

Standings

Each team played 50 games: playing each of the other eleven teams four times – 2x at home, 2x away (44 games) and during the Christmas holidays (22.12.2023 – 5.1.2024) each team played the inserted matches within the region 1x at home, 1x away = 6 games.

Points were awarded for each game, where three points are awarded for winning in regulation time, two points for winning in overtime or shootout, one point for losing in overtime or shootout, and zero points for losing in regulation time. At the end of the regular season, the team that finished with the most points was crowned the league champion.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Poprad	50	27	5	3	15	163	119	+44	94	Qualification to Quarter-finals
2	Michalovce	50	27	4	1	18	167	121	+46	90
3	Spišská Nová Ves	50	24	6	3	17	163	138	+25	87
4	Košice	50	24	2	5	19	147	117	+30	81
5	Slovan Bratislava	50	21	5	4	20	157	160	−3	77
6	Banská Bystrica	50	21	6	1	22	151	172	−21	76[a]
7	Zvolen	50	19	4	11	16	165	160	+5	76[a]	Qualification to Wild card round
8	Nitra	50	21	4	5	20	172	158	+14	76[a]
9	Trenčín	50	21	5	2	22	144	156	−12	75
10	Liptovský Mikuláš	50	18	3	4	25	136	161	−25	64
11	Nové Zámky	50	16	3	4	27	133	159	−26	58
12	Humenné	50	13	1	5	31	121	198	−77	46	Relegated to Slovak 1. Liga

Source: Tipos extraliga
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points.
Notes:

1. Bystrica 14 points, Zvolen 12, Nitra 10

Statistics

Scoring leaders

The following shows the top ten players who led the league in points, at the conclusion of the regular season.^[4]

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	+/–	PIM
Olivier Archambault	HK Spišská Nová Ves	45	14	45	59	+11	38
Ryan Dmowski	HK Poprad	44	30	27	57	+29	44
Samuel Buček	HK Nitra	44	26	31	57	−2	16
Carter Turnbull	HC '05 Banská Bystrica	41	25	31	56	+2	22
Kaspars Daugaviņš	HK Dukla Michalovce	48	11	43	54	+14	20
Matthew Wilkins	HC '05 Banská Bystrica	49	19	33	52	+4	87
Brent Gates	HK Nitra	48	14	38	52	+3	12
Liam Pecararo	HC Slovan Bratislava	46	17	31	48	+16	30
Igor Merezhko	HK Spišská Nová Ves	49	10	38	48	+27	14
Robby Jackson	HK Nitra	44	26	20	46	+12	10

Leading goaltenders

The following shows the top ten goaltenders who led the league in goals against average, provided that they have played at least 40% of their team's minutes, at the conclusion of the regular season.^[5]

Player	Team	GP	TOI	W	L	GA	SO	SV%	GAA
Dominik Riečický	HC Košice	24	1,287:06	13	11	41	3	93.64	1.91
Ádám Vay	HK Poprad	44	2,501:15	30	14	89	1	92.88	2.13
Jaroslav Janus	HC Košice	30	1,711:23	15	15	63	2	92.35	2.21
Stanislav Škorvánek	HK Dukla Michalovce	39	2,322:38	25	14	90	4	93.08	2.32
Marcel Melicherčík	HK Spišská Nová Ves	30	1,721:17	19	11	71	0	90.65	2.47
Denis Godla	HC Slovan Bratislava	30	1,744:44	19	11	79	2	91.51	2.72
Gašper Krošelj	HC '05 Banská Bystrica	27	1,491:51	16	11	71	3	91.94	2.86
Alexei Krasikov	HK 32 Liptovský Mikuláš	49	2,756:14	21	28	132	1	90.69	2.87
Connor LaCouvee	HK Dukla Trenčín	40	2,282:28	20	20	110	3	91.52	2.89
Pavel Kantor	HC Nové Zámky	48	2,867:45	19	29	139	1	91.18	2.91

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)
						3	Spišská Nová Ves	4
	7	Zvolen	3			6	Banská Bystrica	0
	10	Liptovský Mikuláš	2								3	Spišská Nová Ves	4
											4	Košice	3
						4	Košice	4			(Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round)
						5	Slovan Bratislava	0
																3	Spišská Nová Ves	0
																8	Nitra	4
						2	Michalovce	4
	8	Nitra	3			7	Zvolen	1
	9	Trenčín	2								2	Michalovce	2
											8	Nitra	4
						1	Poprad	2
						8	Nitra	4

Wild card round

Zvolen – Liptovský Mikuláš 3–2 11.3.2024 Zvolen Liptovský Mikuláš 2-3 OT 12.3.2024 Zvolen Liptovský Mikuláš 7-6 OT 14.3.2024 Liptovský Mikuláš Zvolen 4-7 15.3.2024 Liptovský Mikuláš Zvolen 5-1 17.3.2024 Zvolen Liptovský Mikuláš 6-2 Zvolen won the series 3–2.

Nitra – Trenčín 3–2 11.3.2024 Nitra Trenčín 5-2 12.3.2024 Nitra Trenčín 3-4 14.3.2024 Trenčín Nitra 3-2 15.3.2024 Trenčín Nitra 4-5 17.3.2024 Nitra Trenčín 5-1 Nitra won the series 3–2.

Quarterfinals

Poprad – Nitra 2–4 20.3.2024 Poprad Nitra 3-1 21.3.2024 Poprad Nitra 1-5 24.3.2024 Nitra Poprad 0-2 25.3.2024 Nitra Poprad 2-1 SO 27.3.2024 Poprad Nitra 3-4 29.3.2024 Nitra Poprad 2-0 Nitra won the series 4–2. Spišská Nová Ves – Banská Bystrica 4–0 18.3.2024 Spišská Nová Ves Banská Bystrica 3-2 OT 19.3.2024 Spišská Nová Ves Banská Bystrica 4-2 22.3.2024 Banská Bystrica Spišská Nová Ves 3-4 OT 23.3.2024 Banská Bystrica Spišská Nová Ves 3-6 Spišská Nová Ves won the series 4–0.

Michalovce – Zvolen 4–1 20.3.2024 Michalovce Zvolen 5-0 21.3.2024 Michalovce Zvolen 5-1 24.3.2024 Zvolen Michalovce 2-6 25.3.2024 Zvolen Michalovce 3-2 27.3.2024 Michalovce Zvolen 3-1 Michalovce won the series 4–1. Košice – Slovan Bratislava 4–0 18.3.2024 Košice Slovan Bratislava 6-2 19.3.2024 Košice Slovan Bratislava 5-4 22.3.2024 Slovan Bratislava Košice 3-5 23.3.2024 Slovan Bratislava Košice 2-4 Košice won the series 4–0.

Semifinals

Michalovce – Nitra 2–4 3.4.2024 Michalovce Nitra 2-3 4.4.2024 Michalovce Nitra 2-8 7.4.2024 Nitra Michalovce 4-7 8.4.2024 Nitra Michalovce 5-1 11.4.2024 Michalovce Nitra 5-2 13.4.2024 Nitra Michalovce 4-3 OT Nitra won the series 4–2.

Spišská Nová Ves – Košice 4–3 5.4.2024 Spišská Nová Ves Košice 5-4 OT 6.4.2024 Spišská Nová Ves Košice 4-0 9.4.2024 Košice Spišská Nová Ves 6-2 10.4.2024 Košice Spišská Nová Ves 4-2 12.4.2024 Spišská Nová Ves Košice 4-3 OT2 14.4.2024 Košice Spišská Nová Ves 4-1 16.4.2024 Spišská Nová Ves Košice 2-1 Spišská Nová Ves won the series 4–3.

Finals

19 April 2024 18:00

Spišská Nová Ves

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

Nitra

Spiš Aréna, Spišská Nová Ves Attendance: 4,300

Game reference
	Filip Surák	Goalies	Sami Aittokallio
	31 min	Penalties	33 min
	32	Shots	35

20 April 2024 18:30

Spišská Nová Ves

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

Nitra

Spiš Aréna, Spišská Nová Ves Attendance: 4,300

Game reference
	Filip Surák Marcel Melicherčík	Goalies	Libor Kašík
	35 min	Penalties	43 min
	43	Shots	25

23 April 2024 18:00

Nitra

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

Spišská Nová Ves

Nitra Aréna, Nitra Attendance: 3,600

Game reference
	Libor Kašík	Goalies	Filip Surák
	6 min	Penalties	8 min
	34	Shots	32

24 April 2024 18:00

Nitra

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

Spišská Nová Ves

Nitra Aréna, Nitra Attendance: 3,600

Game reference
	Libor Kašík	Goalies	Filip Surák
	6 min	Penalties	35 min
	49	Shots	28

Final rankings

	Nitra
	Spišská Nová Ves
	Michalovce
4	Košice
5	Poprad
6	Slovan Bratislava
7	Banská Bystrica
8	Zvolen
9	Trenčín
10	Liptovský Mikuláš
11	Nové Zámky
12	Humenné