SK Horácká Slavia Třebíč
Rink: Zimní stadion města Třebíče
Capacity: 5,000
Built: 1959
League: Maxa Liga
City: Třebíč, Czechia
Home Of: SK Horácká Slavia Třebíč
Games Attended: 1
Only Game: October 3, 2026 vs Pardubice B
Unique Arena: #125
European Arena: #2
After an amazing introduction to my first live European hockey game less than 24 hours before in Brno, it was going to be hard to follow that up when we headed to Třebíč and the Zimni Stadion města Třebíče, or KHNP Arena the mercifully (for this review) shorter name. The rink is built into the side of a hill, so it doesn’t look overly large from the outside. It feels kind of tucked away into a corner with a small street running between it and a tree line on a hill. Directly across the street from the front facade is the start of what looked like a very nice walking path leading away from the rink. The front facade is brand new from a recent large renovation that makes the arena look much more modern than it is. Out front is a large concrete patio type area with one concession stand that people like to gather at during intermissions. Much like Brno, expect a ton of secondhand smoke here. The front facade as you can see in the photo above also has a video screen which actually shows a feed of the game which is great if you’re stuck in a beer line outside at intermission or just to be able to see when teams are hitting the ice again and a signal to get back inside.
The main entrance to the building is up a level and once through a very small lobby you’re spilled directly onto a pretty barebones concourse at the top of the arena bowl. This arena was the closest to a modern-day junior clone we came across during our time in Czechia. The arena itself is quite old now having opened in January 1959, but just finished a near two year long renovation that wrapped up in the summer of 2026. Prior to this renovation the rink had a capacity of 5,000 with mostly standing room terraces. Now it’s a functional bowl of 2,500 red seats that has the concourse running around the top of the bowl. The seats are a bit steeper than most newer clone bowls these days, so they have great views of the ice. A new press box hangs off a wall on one side of the ice while there are two main concession stands with one at each end of the rink. There is a small team souvenir stand tucked into the corner at behind the net that has the building’s main entrance has a second level lounge with glass windows looking out over the bowl. Other than that there is little else in the building as no club history is on display and all the walls of the concourse are bare concrete.
The most impressive feature of the building is on the player bench side the back wall is all large windows which allows natural light to flow into the rink for an afternoon game like we were able to experience. It definitely draws a comparison to the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland which is the best example of a glassed-in arena.
As a Canadian the team branding is quite funny, as most of the merch and team jersey is plastered with the letters HST. In this instance HST stands for Horácká Slavia Třebíč but for those of us in Canada HST stands for ‘Harmonized Sales Tax’ which as of writing is a 13% tax in my home province of Ontario. Oh, the rivalry HST must’ve had with GST. The team jerseys are also pretty much an identical copy of the US National team’s jerseys which is an odd choice, but a clean classic look nonetheless. The team has a small group of 40-50 diehards at one end of the rink doing the usual singing and chanting with a drummer but outside of them the overall crowd is pretty sedated and a bit thin. The game we attended had an announced crowd of 1,200 people and really gave off a vibe of a GOHL game back home. This is entirely fair seeing as Třebíč is actually not an Extraliga team but are currently playing in the MaxaLiga, one step down from Czech’s top pro league.
At the end of the day I can’t say going to a game in Třebíč is a can’t miss event for Czech hockey, but on a Saturday when most teams aren’t playing because that’s the day when football (soccer) is being played, it was another notch on my arena belt.
