From the beginning of the season, HC Kosice has been presenting its effort to transform into the community club.  All its efforts have been leading towards this goal, what can be seen in the form of several interesting and at the same time beneficial projects and events.  As we have already informed the community, another press conference took place on Monday, in Double Tree by Hilton hotel, during which another important step towards its goal has been taken. The President and the Executive Director of our club, Rectors and Vice-Rectors of the universities of Kosice, the leader of the student council, they all signed the Memorandum of Cooperation between HC Kosice and the three excellent universities – Technical University, Pavol Jozef Safarik University and University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Kosice.    

At the beginning of this meeting, the President of HC Kosice, Julius Lang, presented the vision and long-term goals of the cooperation. "The aim of HC Kosice as one of the most successful hockey clubs in the history of Slovakia is to transform itself into the community club which opens itself to communities, the club which communicates transparently and cooperates with private as well as public sector. We managed to extend the cooperation with the Magistrate of Kosice as well as with the Kosice Self-governing Region. We have started to work with elementary schools and high schools - we have organized the game recently, where more than 3,000 children came to support our players - and we want to progress further! Our goal is to attract as many people as possible to the Steel Arena. I believe that sport is a good thing for people and their lives, whether one does it passively or actively. At the same time, sport improves and shapes personality. From now on, our goal is to cooperate also with universities, and that is the reason we are here today.  We have various ideas, visions of how we are going to achieve this, how we will support students, so that they would start coming to the Steel Arena more often. Moreover, our students can help us and hockey a lot. This is the main idea, the main vision and motive.    

Club's initiative to cooperate with universities as well as involvement of young people and students in general in the functioning of the club is in its nature an original idea. Such a successful club, as HC Kosice definitely is, wants to attract young people to watch the game, and thanks to this memorandum, they will have even more opportunities to do so. The representatives of the universities do realize this fact. "I want to get back to the motive itself of this memorandum, which is the cooperation and creation of strong cultural and sports center, and educational center in Kosice. Each one of us should try to contribute at least in some way. Therefore, I would really appreciate to meet with the representatives of HC Kosice, who think of us when they are trying to make the club better, and of course, we see this in a very positive way. We are the universities with many students who come from different regions, so the mark or the symbol of HC Kosice is widely accepted," stated in his speech the Rector of Pavol Jozef Safarik University in Kosice, professor Pavol Sovak. "If we enable interaction of our students with the members and players of the club, it certainly is an interesting thing and it may be motivating.  I am very happy that we are starting our cooperation during the period when the whole society celebrates the anniversary of the Velvet Revolution."

The duel between HC Kosice and MHk 32 Liptovsky Mikulas should be a sort of notional start of this cooperation, which will be held on Tuesday, November 19. "The student match will be held on 19th of November. It is supposed to create an opportunity for universities and the whole society to share their comments and opinions on the events that happened in 1989. The Steel Arena provides an opportunity for a great number of students to meet together and to gather a great number of students and call for this message to be carried on in the future. Tickets for this game will be cheaper for students, and freshmen will pay a symbolic 1€ for the ticket. Program of the game will include different interactive activities that we have worked on intensively together with the universities. Within the schools, there will also be a media campaign. Our hockey players will be there too. We want to create a tradition ensuring that the message of the day will be carried out in the future too," says the Exectuive Director of HC Kosice, Norbert Koch. 

Rector of Pavol Jozef Safarik University, professor Sovak also stated that the "competition" between the universities of Kosice practically doesn't exist, and they didn’t even think about it during negotiation of the Memorandum. In fact, it is the opposite. Certain projects have been working very well between the universities for a longer period. "During our meeting, somebody asked a question how we feel about signing the Memorandum with other universities.  Everybody reacted right away, as it is our "habit". Kosice is famous for its academic community, people stand together, so we really welcome the opportunity to sign the common Memorandum. We have many other projects which bring us together, whether it is the area of science and research, or something else. For example, in the area of education we have a joint study program between the University of Pavol Jozef Safarik and University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy. I think that the timing of this Memorandum is very good. Even though the Memorandum is brief, it has a big potential and also, the basic activities provide opportunities for its realization, so that the individual leaders responsible for its fulfillment would be able to fulfill their task," said Mr. Sovak.

When talking about the existing relationships, it should be mentioned that over the past years, HC Kosice has already worked with universities. Therefore, by signing this Memorandum, the satisfaction of all parties has been confirmed, and so the cooperation can be further developed.  "When signing the Memorandum, no party hesitated even the second because even though we come from the academic environment, we do realize that social life does not end after leaving the university. We think that during their studies, the students shouldn't gain their expertise just in the field, but they should also gain experience and knowledge from other fields, social conscience, empathy and at the same time love for sport. That is the reason why it is positive information for us and in this case, HC Kosice is a very good partner. We also want to show our students that the university is not just about sitting behind the desk, but it is also about the whole life. I believe that they will become fans and that it will persist in them. The Memorandum is a very nice example not only for Kosice but also for the whole state, that HC Kosice really opens up and is developing towards its goal to become the community club. It is the right path, the right way of thinking, and we are very glad that we can support it. I also hope that our students won't play a passive role because I know that this is not the only form of cooperation. I also know of other cases, where our students cooperate with HC Kosice, and I believe that it will stay this way, and that we will be able to proudly promote this cooperation," briefly expressed his opinion on Memorandum the Vice-Rector for Development and External Relations of the Technical University, Associate Professor, Jaroslav Poruban.

The Memorandum is very coherent, and every party should benefit from it. Beside other matters, HC Kosice also cares about its partners or coworkers with whom it wants to regularly strengthen relationships and move forward in all aspects. Mutual support which is the main goal of this cooperation simply has to bring certain benefits to the club and also to schools and students.  Vice-Rector of the University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy, Marian Tomko, shares the same opinion. "I think the same as my fellow members, and I also want to say that neither the University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Kosice hesitated and joined this common initiative. Kosice is the academic city, but also the city of sport and culture. So, it is very important for this cooperation between universities and sport institutions to function also in the future. We will do everything we can to keep this cooperation and develop it even further so that the related projects could proceed and move forward. Maybe in the beginning we will just get students to do the sport passively, but that is the first step to make these people start to like the sport and maybe do it actively in the future because today, young people do not have this active approach to sport as it would be good to have. We are looking forward to this cooperation between HC Kosice and universities. I believe, that it will be successful.”

The representative of all students, Jakub Palsa, confirmed their enthusiasm for the idea and expressed his opinion "First of all, I would like to thank the hockey club HC Kosice for its dedication to provide opportunities and possibilities to promote sport among the universities.  I believe that the cooperation between three universities of Kosice will bring the hockey club many interesting events where we will be able to meet, as it is today at this press conference.  Approximately a year ago, the management of HC Kosice contacted me, as I was the representative of students at that time and offered to students of the Technical University in Kosice tickets for two interesting matches for a symbolic price. We liked it a lot, and that is also the reason we have decided to continue in the cooperation. "I am glad also two other universities of Kosice are joining us, so a big thank you from students goes also to the management of these universities. Signing of this Memorandum opens up new possibilities and ways of socializing for us, students." Subsequently, he added something which confirms the fact that students really are interested in hockey, and they are, besides other, the fans: "To conclude, I would like to wish the best luck to the hockey players of Kosice and tell them: Let's go!