The Zürcher Schlittschuh Club Lions (ZSC Lions) are a professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

team located in

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...

, Switzerland, playing in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

(NL). Their home arena is the 12,000-seat

Swiss Life Arena The Swiss Life Arena is an ice hockey and entertainment arena in Altstetten, Zurich, Switzerland. It is located approximately 7 kilometers west of Downtown Zurich. The arena officially opened in October 2022. The arena currently serves as the ...

. The team was founded in 1930 and played at the Dolder-Kunsteisbahn from its establishment until 1950.

History

ZSC Lions were formed in 1997 as a result of the merger of the two local teams: the highly popular Zürcher Schlittschuh Club (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

for "Zürich Skating Club"), who were struggling financially in

National League A The National League (NL) is a professional ice hockey league in Switzerland and is the top tier of the Swiss league system. Prior to the 2017–18 season, the league was known as National League A. During the 2018–19 season, the league h ...

, and the ice hockey section of Grasshopper Club Zürich of the

National League B The Swiss League is the second tier of the main professional ice hockey league in Switzerland, behind the National League. The winners of the league each season plays a best-of-seven series against the bottom team of the NL, and if they win, the ...

, backed by entrepreneur and billionaire Walter Frey. ZSC was the first Swiss team to play in an indoor arena (Hallenstadion). They won the Swiss championship in the years 1936, 1949 and 1961 and the prestigious

Spengler Cup The Spengler Cup is an annual invitational ice hockey tournament held in Davos, Switzerland. First held in 1923, the Spengler Cup is often cited as the oldest invitational ice hockey tournament in the world. The event is hosted by the Swiss tea ...

in 1944 and 1945. After the merger, the ZSC Lions won the Swiss Championship in 2000, 2001, 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2018, and moreover won the

IIHF Continental Cup The Continental Cup is a second-level ice hockey tournament for European clubs (behind Champions Hockey League), begun in 1997 after the discontinuing of the European Cup. It was intended for teams from countries without representatives in the E ...

in 2001 and 2002.

Champions Hockey League and Victoria Cup

During the 2008–09 Season, the ZSC Lions participated in the first ever

Champions Hockey League The Champions Hockey League is a European first-level ice hockey tournament. Launched in the 2014–15 season by 26 clubs, 6 leagues and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), the tournament features top teams across Europe. Backgrou ...

. For the group stage, they were placed in group D with

HC Slavia Praha HC Slavia Praha (eng: HC Slavia Prague) is a Czech ice hockey team located in Prague playing the Czech 1st National Hockey League, the second-highest league in the country. Slavia played in the Extraliga from 1994 until 2015, winning the nati ...

and

Linköpings HC Linköpings may refer to: *Linköpings ASS, Linköpings Allmänna Simsällskap is a Swedish swim team *Linköpings FC, an association football club * Linköpings FF, premier men's football team * Linköpings HC, Linköpings Hockey Club See als ...

. The Lions qualified for the semi-finals with a 3–1 record, first place in the group. With their defeats of the Finnish

Espoo Blues The Espoo Blues were an ice hockey team in the SM-liiga. They played in Espoo, Finland, at the Espoo Metro Areena. The club went bankrupt at the end of the 2015–16 Liiga season. History The club was established in February 1984 as Kiekko-Espoo ...

, 6–3 and 4–1 respectively, they qualified for the tournament final. The first leg of the final was held on January 21, 2009 in the Magnitogorsk Arena where the Lions came back from a 0–2 deficit to

Metallurg Magnitogorsk Metallurg Magnitogorsk (russian: Металлург Магнитогорск) is a professional ice hockey team based in Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. They are members of the Kharlamov Division of the Kontinental Hockey League. They ...

to end with a 2–2 tie. The second leg was played a week later, on January 28, 2009, in the

Diners Club Arena St. Galler Kantonalbank Arena, formerly the Diners Club Arena, and originally known as Eishalle Lido, is an indoor sporting arena located in Rapperswil, Switzerland. The capacity of the arena is 6,100 and was built in 1987. It is the home arena ...

Rapperswil-Jona Rapperswil-Jona is a municipality in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of See-Gaster in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Besides Rapperswil and Jona, which were separate municipalities until 2006, the municipality includes Bollingen, B ...

, Switzerland. ZSC Lions won the game and the

Silver Stone Trophy The Silver Stone Trophy was originally designed and produced for the now defunct European Hockey League (1997-2000) by Italian artist Enzo Bosi. It weighs seven kilograms in silver chisel, equivalent to one British stone, hence the name ''The Silve ...

with a 5–0 victory. With their victory in the Champions Hockey League, the ZSC Lions qualified to play the

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division i ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

for the 2009 edition of the Victoria Cup challenge. Playing at their home arena, the Lions upset the Blackhawks with a 2–1 victory, winning the trophy. It was the first time since 1991 that the Blackhawks had lost to a club in Europe.

Honors

* NL Championship ''(9)'': 1936, 1949, 1961, 2000, 2001, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2018 * SL Championship ''(4)'': 1973, 1981, 1983, 1989 * Victoria Cup ''(1)'': 2009 *

''(1)'': 2009 *

''(2)'': 2001, 2002 * Swiss Cup ''(3)'': 1960, 1961, 2016 *

''(3)'': 1944, 1945, 1952 (disqualified for drug use)

Players

Current roster

References

External links

ZSC Lions official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zsc Lions Ice hockey teams in Switzerland Sport in Zürich 1930 establishments in Switzerland Swiss Women's League teams