HC Lausanne

HC Lausanne is an ice hockey team, based in the city of Lausanne, in the French speaking part of Switzerland. In 2004, during the NHL lock-out, the HC Lausanne signed NHL players like Martin St. Louis and Andy Roach.

History
Founded in 1922, the Lausanne Hockey Club is one of the oldest clubs in Switzerland. They played during sixteen years on Lausanne highs, at Chalet-à-Gobet. In 1938, LHC based their headquarters in Montchoisi where, in 1941, they merged with Star HC to become the Montchoisi Hockey Club. On November 6, 1949, the team of Lausanne definitively chose their original name: Lausanne Hockey Club. It is with this name that they started off in the Swiss national league. Even though they never obtained any title, the Lausanne Hockey Club has nevertheless always behaved honorably in the championship. Also, at many times, they finished at the second rank, obtaining the informal title of vice-champion. Relegated to Nationalliga B in 1954, they powered back to the Nationalliga A on March 2, 1957 and remained there until 1961. From then on, and during seventeen years, LHC maintained the Nationalliga B level where they performed sometimes and other times not. On February 18, 1978, in front of over 7,000 people, Lausanne Hockey Club won their promotion to Nationalliga A, defeating the HC Davos 8 goals to 4. After three seasons spent in the elite, LHC, in a sad atmosphere (one of the teammates died in a car accident), was relegated to NLB. They remained there from 1981 to 1984 before falling to the 1. Liga while also moving to the district’s ice centre of Malley (CIGM) where they still play today. They then played one season in first League (84-85) and made a round trip in NLB (85-86), to be back once again in first League. Three years of purgatory in the inferior league allowed the Lausanne Hockey Club to recover a sporting health status to reach the finals in 1989 and obtain their promotion to NLB. In 1992, the club’s survival was threatened by a bankruptcy. The situation generated a fantastic surge of solidarity followed by the operation “Save LHC”. At the same time, the team saved itself from relegation to the 1. Liga (season 1992-1993). The season 1993-1994 was crowned with a participation in the finals to access the national League A, finals played in five games against Rapperswil, the latter winning it over. At the beginning of the 1994-1995 season, Lausanne Hockey Club was naturally designated as the Nationalliga B favorite to access the NLA. At the end of a fantastic season, the club had been confronted to the team of GCK Lions during the finals and after five games, the decisive match was won by Lausanne 8 to 0 in a delirious full packed ice center. Lausanne Hockey Club had earned their promotion. The 1995-1996 season was particularly tough for the Lausanne Hockey Club. After a long series of losses the club decided to fire their head coach. The change didn’t prevent Lausanne from being relegated to NLB at the end of the season. During the following four seasons, the LHC occupied the middle of the NLB ranking before surprising everybody in 2000-2001 by occupying the head of the championship during almost the whole season. By winning against all the most serious opponents of NLB during the play-offs, Lausanne won the title of champion of NLB and defied HC La Chaux-de-Fonds for the promotion games. Winning against the HCC in six matches, LHC was back in NLA for the 2001-2002 season. As for today, in NLB, Lausanne plays the role of “favorite” for the other teams of the league. The club trying to reach a NLA once again through promotion.

HC Lausanne players who played in the NHL

 * Andrei Bashkirov
 * Jesse Belanger
 * Patrick Boileau
 * Philippe Bozon
 * Jimmy Carson
 * Martin Desjardins
 * Jean-Marc Gaulin
 * Jonas Hiller
 * Eric Landry
 * Patrice Lefebvre
 * Daniel Marois
 * Craig Norwich
 * Andy Roach
 * Jarrod Skalde
 * Martin St. Louis
 * Marko Tuomainen
 * Alfie Turcotte
 * Claude Verret