After a highly disappointing 2011-12 campaign that saw the team fall precipitously from the summit of the Czech Extraliga, HC Ocelari Trinec (Trinec Steelers) has gotten off to a fast start in the early going of the current season. The team has won four of its first five games, scoring 16 goals to date while yielding only eight.
Trinec dominated the league in 2010-11, finishing in first place during the regular season and then winning the first championship in team history. Last season, the club crashed back down to earth, falling to 10th place in the 14-team league. During the offseason, the team made numerous roster changes. Most notably, the club brought back forward Martin Ruzicka after a one-season stint in the KHL with Amur Khabarovsk.
Ruzicka was a crucial piece of the puzzle in the team's championship season, ranking fifth in the league in scoring during the regular season and then staging a playoff run for the ages. In 18 playoff games, Ruzicka compiled 17 goals, 16 assists and 33 points to shatter the league's single-season playoff scoring record. The previous mark was held by Zigmund Palffy, who posted 26 points (18 goals, 6 assists) for Dukla Trencin in the 1992 playoffs, prior to the split of the former Czechoslovakian league into separate circuits in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.