Lyon Hockey Club Les Lions (LHC The Lions) is the ice hockey team of Lyon, France. The team currently competes in The French Ligue Magnus on 13 January 2014 it was announced they will have a partnership with the Tampa Bay Lighting and Syracuse Crunch. in 2019, the professional team was dissolved after bankruptcy.

History

1898–1953: Ice Hockey in Lyon

Ice hockey was played in Lyon as early as 1898 on a rink located on the

Boulevard des Belges The Boulevard des Belges is a wide and posh avenue located in Les Brotteaux quarter, in the 6th arrondissement of Lyon. It begins with the Quai de Grande Bretagne, runs along the southern part of the Parc de la Tête d'Or until the Avenue Verguin ...

where today the Guimet Museum stands. The ''Sporting Club de Lyon'' (Lyon Sporting Club) won the national ''Coupe Magnus'' title in 1905 and 1908 but the rink was converted to a museum in 1909 and Lyon was without a rink and a team for the next 44 years.

1953–1997: The CPL Era

In 1953 the ''Club des Patineurs Lyonnais'' (Skating Club of Lyon or CPL) was founded and in 1956 the Lyon team won France's Division 1 ice hockey championship. In 1963 CPL built the Patinoire Charlemagne that still today serves as the home of Lyon ice sports. In their new home CPL won France's Division 2 ice hockey championship in both 1972 and 1989. Christophe Geoffroy's management forces the CPL to the liquidation in 1997

1997-Pres.: Lyon Hockey Club

Following the collapse of CPL local businessman Christophe Geoffroy founded ''Hockey sur glace lyonnais Elite'' (Lyon Elite Ice Hockey). Teamed with the Lyon Hockey Club Association, an association charged with developing junior ice hockey, the Lyon Hockey Club was born. The new team experienced quick success and twice finished third in France's Ligue Magnus in 1997 and 1998. LHC qualified for Europe's Continental Cup in 1999 and reached the quarter finals before being eliminated. By 2000 LHC had been relegated to France's Division 3 championship but quickly began to rise through national ranks again. In the 2001 season Lyon reached and won the Division 2 championship and earned a place in Division 1 for season 2002. A poor season in 2002 saw the team return to the second division once again and, despite reaching the final in 2007, LHC remains a Division 2 team in 2008.

Team Colours and Jersey

Logo

The logo of the LHC features a red head of a lion in profile on a white background with the name of the team above (in white on red) and the team's nickname – 'Les Lions' – in white text on a blue background below. Red, white and blue are both the colours of France and the colours of the city of Lyon.

Jersey

The LHC play in red, blue, black and white jerseys. The jersey has changed in recent years from a predominantly white jersey in season 2006 to predominantly red in season 2007 and predominantly blue for season 2008. The front of the jersey features a stylised image of a lion and bears the logo of the LHC's major sponsor, Flunch. The jerseys are provided by equipment sponsor

Nike Bauer Bauer Hockey LLC (renamed Nike Bauer from 2005 to 2008) is a manufacturer of ice hockey equipment, fitness and recreational skates and apparel. Bauer produces helmets, gloves, sticks, skates, shin guards, pants, shoulder pads, elbow pads, hockey ...

Broadcasters

LHC media partners include Télé Lyon Métropole, the ''Tribune de Lyon'' and Virgin Radio.

Télé Lyon Métropole

LHC matches are a regular feature on Télé Lyon Métropole's Sunday sports review, Dimanche Sports. LHC players are also interviewed frequently for other TLM programs including Lundi Sport.

Tribune de Lyon

The Tribune de Lyon produces a pre-season guide to the LHC each year and reports on matches each week.

Virgin Radio

As well as reporting on LHC matches Virgin Radio provides the background music for matches. While the

playlist A playlist is a list of video or audio files that can be played back on a media player either sequentially or in a shuffled order. In its most general form, an audio playlist is simply a list of songs, but sometimes a loop. The term has sever ...

varies by season current songs on the match-night programme include

Sleeping Satellite "Sleeping Satellite" is a song by British singer-songwriter Tasmin Archer, released in September 1992 as the first single from her debut album, '' Great Expectations'' (1992). Co-written by Archer, the song received favorable reviews from music ...

(Junior Caldera) and

No Stress "No Stress" is a 2008 song recorded by the French house record producer and DJ Laurent Wolf. It was the first single from his sixth album ''Wash My World'', on which it features as the first track in its radio edit version, and as the tenth tra ...

(

Laurent Wolf Laurent Debuire (; born 16 November 1970), better known by his stage name Laurent Wolf, is a French electro house producer and DJ. He is the author of several compilations that contain his own tracks and also his remixes. He reached the top of th ...

Home Ice

The LHC plays all its home matches at the Patinoire Charlemagne. Commissioned in 1967 and opened in 1969, the Patinoire Charlemagne's distinctive architectural style incorporating concrete, glass and aluminum saw it placed on the Rhône-Alpes' List of 20th century Buildings of Architectural Interest. Since May 2006 more than 3.7 million

euros The euro (symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . T ...

have been spent to refurbish the arena and stadiu

Patinoire Charlemagne offers many services apart from the ice hockey rink including medical facilities, a bar, a dance hall, meeting rooms and a press centr

The Patinoire Charlemagne is also well known for hosting other ice sports, particularly figure skating. Each year the rink hosts the ''Pôle France de danse sur glace'' and world champion figure skaters Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat both train at Charlemagne. The Patinoire Charlemagne was one of the host stadiums for the

2006 European Figure Skating Championships The 2006 European Figure Skating Championships were a senior international figure skating competition in the 2005–06 season. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. The event was ...

br>
The ice is Hockey rink, Olympic sized (60 metres long by 30 metres wide) and has a capacity of 4 400 spectator

Roster

Updated 8 February 2019.

Past Players

While not considered a breeding ground for great players Lyon has been able to both develop young stars and attract former NHL stars to the Patinoire Charlemagne. LHC alumni have played in the North American National Hockey League (NHL), the French Ligue Magnus and on French Olympic teams. Among the most notable of LHC past-players are: * Baptiste Amar – 2002 French Olympic team * / Roger Dubé – 1998 French Olympic team * / Jean-Marc Gaulin – Right-wing for the

NHL 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 ...

's Quebec Nordiques 1982–87 *

Laurent Meunier Laurent Meunier (born January 16, 1979) is a French-born Swiss former professional ice hockey player who spent most of his career in Switzerland playing in the National League (NL) and the Swiss League (SL). He also captained the French National ...

– Captain of France national team, 2002 French Olympic team, two-time Ligue Magnus MVP * / André Svitac – 1992 French Olympic team

LHC Junior Squads

As well as the senior team the LHC competes in six levels of

junior ice hockey Junior hockey is a level of competitive ice hockey generally for players between 16 and 21 years of age. Junior hockey leagues in the United States and Canada are considered amateur (with some exceptions) and operate within regions of each cou ...

LHC Moustiques

A team for players aged less than 9 years.

LHC Poussins

A team for players aged under 11 years. The team is coached by LHC player

Geoffrey Paillet Geoffrey Paillet (born 22 December 1986 in Tours, France) is a professional ice hockey forward currently playing for the Remparts de Tours. Career Paillet made his senior debut in 2004 for the Amiens squad in France's FFHG Division 2 champion ...

LHC Benjamins

A team for players aged under 13 years. The team is coached by LHC player

Pascal Margerit Pascal Margerit (born 12 February 1971) is a French ice hockey player. He competed in the Ice hockey at the 1992 Winter Olympics, men's tournament at the 1992 Winter Olympics. Career statistics References

1971 births Living people Ch ...

LHC Minimes

Two teams – Minimes Excellence and Minime Elite – for players aged under 15 years.

LHC Cadets

A team for players aged under 18 years.

Mascot, Nickname and Supporters

The official mascot of the LHC is Pepito the Lion. Always in attendance at home games, Pepito wears a Lyon hockey jersey and a straw hat. The nickname of the LHC is 'The Lions' and relates to the

symbol A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different conc ...

of city of Lyon. The most vocal supporters of the LHC are the Lions Gones. This group of fans are similar to

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

ultras and share their name with the Bad Gones of the city's

Olympique Lyonnais Olympique Lyonnais (), commonly referred to as simply Lyon () or OL, is a men and women's French professional football club based in Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The men play in France's highest football division, Ligue 1. Founded in 1950, th ...

football team. According to the Tribune de Lyon, despite being a Division 2 team the LHC attracts the highest crowds of any hockey team in France in any league, save for Ligue Magnus teams Grenoble and

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...

Notes

:
Crunch, Senators to hold camp in Lyon
:2.Historique du Lyon Hockey Club. :3.Historique du Lyon Hockey Club. :4.Historique du Lyon Hockey Club. :5.Historique du Lyon Hockey Club. :6.Historique du Lyon Hockey Club. :7.Historique du Lyon Hockey Club. :8.FFHG Division 2 2008–2009 Teams. :9.Les Lions dans la douleur. :10.Et de deux pour les Lions. :11.A l'image d'un derby. :12.Strict minimum pour les Lions. :13.Première défaite des Lions. :14.Avec la manière. :15.FFHG Division 2. :16.Lyon Hockey Club: Nos Partenaires. :17.Lyon Hockey Club: Nos Partenaires. :18. Patinoire Charlemagne. :19.Moustiques. :20.LHC Poussins. :21.LHC Benjamins. :22.LHC Minimes. :23.LHC Cadets. :24.LHC Espoirs.

References

External links

Lyon Hockey Club
– Official Site
Lions Gones
– Supporters Club {{Ligue Magnus Ice hockey teams in France Sport in Lyon