At a press conference on Friday morning, the Pardubice hockey club officially changed its name to HC Dynamo Pardubice – they will be known in the Champions Hockey League as Dynamo Pardubice.

by Derek O'Brien

PARDUBICE – In the past decade, Pardubice has been one of the most successful Czech hockey clubs both on and off the ice, winning three national championships and consistently drawing the best attendance in the Czech Extraliga. Now moving forward, they reach back to their past for a new name – HC Dynamo Pardubice, the name the team used from 1953 to 1960. 

In recent decades, the club has used a variety of names, usually involving a corporate sponsorship name alongside the city name. For the past four seasons, their title sponsor has been CSOB Pojistovna, an insurance company. Despite officially dropping the company name from the team name, the partnership between the two will continue.

“I highly appreciate the approach of CSOB Pojistovna, which has allowed the name change in a way that will not affect the financial situation of the club,” said club general manager Ondrej Sejbek. “We want to bring the club closer to the fans, and also to be understandable in the Champions League, where clubs with commercial names are not so widespread.”

As per CHL naming conventions, the team was called HC Pardubice during the 2014–15 season when it played in the international club competition. For 2015–16 and beyond, it will be known as Dynamo Pardubice.

“From a sports point of view of this situation, I can evaluate it better,” offered sports manager Dusan Salficky. “It's a distinctive approach to the fans of our club. I am all for it, because to hear our fans chant the name Dynamo in the arena will be great. I believe that our fans will appreciate it and will cheer us on with even more enthusiasm.”

Along with the name change comes a new logo. The most prominent feature of the old logo, the white horse, remains, placed on a red shield background and the name “Dynamo” written across in script, with “Pardubice” in smaller upper-case letters underneath.

“The name change is great,” said team captain Petr Caslava. “I think everything's already been said. The players on the team will try to represent Dynamo on the ice.”