Lyon Hockey Club Les Lions (LHC The Lions) is the

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 ...

team of

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...

, 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 where today the

Guimet Museum The Guimet Museum (full name in french: Musée national des arts asiatiques-Guimet; MNAAG; ) is an art museum located at 6, place d'Iéna in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France. Literally translated into English, its full name is the Nation ...

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 Winter sports or winter activities are competitive sports or non-competitive recreational activities which are played on snow or ice. Most are variations of skiing, ice skating and sledding. Traditionally, such games were only played in cold are ...

. 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 In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

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 Profile or profiles may refer to: Art, entertainment and media Music * ''Profile'' (Jan Akkerman album), 1973 * ''Profile'' (Githead album), 2005 * ''Profile'' (Pat Donohue album), 2005 * ''Profile'' (Duke Pearson album), 1959 * '' ''Profi ...

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.

Broadcasters

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

Virgin Radio Virgin Radio launched in the United Kingdom in 1993. In 2008, Virgin Radio UK was sold to TIML, a subsidiary of The Times of India group, and the name was changed to Absolute Radio; the Virgin Radio name was not included in the sale. In 2001, ...

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 Background music (British English: piped music) is a mode of musical performance in which the music is not intended to be a primary focus of potential listeners, but its content, character, and volume level are deliberately chosen to affect behav ...

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 sev ...

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 c ...

(Junior Caldera) and No Stress (

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 Rhône-Alpes () was an administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it is part of the new region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. It is located on the eastern border of the country, towards the south. The region was named after the river Rhône ...

' 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 . Th ...

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

, particularly

figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

. Each year the rink hosts the ''Pôle France de danse sur glace'' and world champion figure skaters

Marina Anissina Marina Vyacheslavovna Anissina (russian: Марина Вячеславовна Анисина; born 30 August 1975) is a Franco-Russian ice dancer. Competing with Gwendal Peizerat for France, she is the 2002 Olympic champion, the 1998 Olympic ...

and

Gwendal Peizerat Gwendal Peizerat (born 21 April 1972) is a French former competitive ice dancer. With Marina Anissina, he is the 2002 Olympic champion, the 1998 Olympic bronze medalist, the 2000 World champion, and a six-time French national champion. Per ...

both train at Charlemagne. The Patinoire Charlemagne was one of the host stadiums for the 2006 European Figure Skating Championshipsbr>
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 The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

(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 Jean-Marc Gaulin (born March 3, 1962) is a German-born Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played 26 games in the National Hockey League with the Quebec Nordiques between 1983 and 1986. The rest of his career, which lasted from 1982 ...

– Right-wing for the NHL's

Quebec Nordiques The Quebec Nordiques (french: Nordiques de Québec, pronounced in Quebec French, in Canadian English; translated "Quebec City Northmen" or "Northerners") were a professional ice hockey team based in Quebec City. The Nordiques played in the W ...

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 Nationa ...

– Captain of France national team, 2002 French Olympic team, two-time Ligue Magnus

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

* / 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.

LHC Benjamins

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

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 Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the ...

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 ...

ultras Ultras are a type of association football fans who are renowned for their fanatical support. The term originated in Italy, but is used worldwide to describe predominantly organised fans of association football teams. The behavioural tende ...

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 Generally speaking, a crowd is defined as a group of people that have gathered for a common purpose or intent such as at a demonstration, a sports event, or during looting (this is known as an acting crowd), or may simply be made up of many ...

of any hockey team in France in any league, save for Ligue Magnus teams

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

and

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the region of Normandy and the department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, the population ...

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 The Patinoire Charlemagne is an ice rink in Lyon, France, located in the Confluence quarter, in the 2nd arrondissement of Lyon. It hosts many international competitions, such as the European Championships of figure skating, and entertainments and i ...

. :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