BK Mladá Boleslav
Rink: Ško-Energo Aréna
Capacity: 4,200
Built: 1956
League: Extraliga
City: Mladá Boleslav, Czechia
Home Of: BK Mladá Boleslav
Games Attended: 1
Only Game: October 11, 2026 vs Litvínov
Unique Arena: #132
European Arena: #9
After over a year of planning and build up, when the actual trip kicks off you never really think about the end of it. During a trip like this, when one game is done you immediately start thinking about the next one and what that experience will be like, but you never really think about the end. But the end of the trip is what I was faced with as I stood outside Ško-Energo Aréna in Mladá Boleslav on an early October Sunday afternoon in 2026. I was nearly 38 years old, and having never been so far away from home, the prospect of a trip overseas was a daunting one to someone who has usually stayed somewhat close to home in the grand scheme of things. But here I was standing in front of my ninth different Czech rink in just ten days, ready to put a cap on what ended up being a trip that went off without a hitch at all.
When our new Czech social media followers found out what our finale to the trip was, it went over about as well as another London Knights OHL title would to the other 19 franchises of the league. “You saved the worst for last!” Truth be told, no, we did not have high expectations (even before being told to not have any) for our final arena of the trip, but your options can be limited by the mercy of the hockey scheduling gods, particularly on a day when you need to stay somewhat close to Prague before you fly out the next morning. So as it was, our finale came at the small Ško-Energo Aréna in Mladá Boleslav, just 45km northeast of Prague. Mladá Boleslav is a small town of about 48,000 people best known for being the home of Škoda Auto. If you’re a hockey fan, you know Škoda as their cars have stood proudly on display in the corners of arenas hosting the annual IIHF World Hockey Championship each spring. While sharing pictures to friends back home during the trip one even responded, “you can fit so many Škoda’s in that corner!”
The Ško-Energo Aréna is nestled into a small valley in the centre of town. Trees tower over a small hill on one side, while historic buildings towered over the other. It somewhat reminded me of the area immediately around the Meridian Centre in St. Catharines on a smaller scale. The building is small from the outside, with a courtyard in front and a small concession stand for people to congregate in. The team store has its own entrance along the side of the building, and there is no access to it from inside the rink at all. It was easily the most disappointing team store of the trip, as it was more of a pro shop that had a small corner of BK Boleslav gear. The store seemed to be in a bit of disarray as well, with boxes and hockey gear strewn out all over the place. But thankfully we got our team puck and headed into the rink proper.
The main entrance is behind one of the nets at the end of the rink. You could go straight forward into a small grandstand of seats, or you take some stairs down to ice level. The arena floor is much bigger than the ice surface itself, so there are several concession stands in this end of the building at ice level with a view of the ice itself. This end of the rink also had people standing at the glass for the game, which was not something we had seen on the trip so far. The seating on the sides are raised up with the first row at about the same level as the top of the glass. Under these stands have several doorways to washrooms and dressing rooms which gave the rink a real vibe of a community rec centre back home.
You are able to navigate the arena at ice level on all sides except the bench side of the rink. The penalty box side also has a pathway in front of the first row of seats. This side has fewer rows of seats than the bench side, and has some suites at the top. The far end of the building has an elevated standing terrace where the team’s main supporters spend the game chanting, drumming and singing. The bench side seating is at a much steeper angle, and has a small concourse at the very top of the stands with a couple small concession stands. On this side tucked into the corner closest to the main entrance is a completely segregated standing terrace for visiting fans. From what I could see they had zero access to anywhere else in the building with their own separate entrance.
Both ends of the rink have structural support beams jutting up to the roof at an angle. While these beams in the supporters end sit high above them out of the way, the beams at the grandstand end come up out of the stands in about the third row. While we were sitting in this stand, we were closer to the corner and had a clear view of the ice but many seats in this end have badly obstructed views.
The ceiling of the arena is corrugated metal and is in a wavy shape, which is not something I’ve seen much of before. The roof itself is low which gives the rink a more intimate feel to it. There is no centre ice scoreboard, as the scoreboards themselves are placed on the wall behind each net at the ends of the rink. The videoboards are also placed on the walls but on the sides of the rink, and are slightly off centre as they are closer to the blue lines. Many Czech fans on social media told us that the atmosphere in Boleslav would be a dud, and by their standards they’re probably correct. But by our Canadian standards I found the crowd to be pretty good. It was nowhere close to the atmosphere of the other Extraliga arenas we went to on the trip, but it’s much better than your usual Sunday afternoon OHL crowd. The small visitors terrace was also packed with Litvínov supporters, who were very enthusiastic all game and definitely helped with the atmosphere in the rink. What also helped was while we had a very low scoring 2-1 game. The third period, despite no goals, was some fantastic back and forth hockey to watch for our final 20 minutes of game action on the trip which saw Boleslav hang on for the victory.
I came away pleasantly surprised at the experience. Of all the Extraliga rinks we saw on the trip it still probably ranks at the bottom, but that floor is pretty high and it’s not an atmosphere to be ashamed of at all. We left the rink into a darkened evening heading for dinner, and I felt the mixed emotions of sadness that it was the end of the trip, but accomplishment that we pulled off the nine games in ten days without any hitch. It definitely left me itching to come back to Europe to explore, not just more hockey arenas but the land as a whole. Unfortunately, it will be at least a couple years before I am able to return to Europe as of this writing a few weeks after the trip, but I am left with much excitement with what could be on the horizon when I do return. Czechia was awesome in every way, and if you’re a hockey fan who is willing to travel far to see the game, you owe it to yourself to head over there at some point and take some of it in for yourself.
Díky, Česko!
