HC Valpellice Bulldogs, nicknamed "La Valpe", is a professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

team in

Torre Pellice Torre Pellice ( Vivaro-Alpine: ''La Torre de Pèlis'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southwest of Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important bu ...

, near

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. The team plays in the country's top division,

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

. Serie A is also sponsored by

Reebok Reebok International Limited ( ) is an American footwear and clothing brand that is a part of Authentic Brands Group. It was established in England in 1958 as a companion company to J.W. Foster and Sons, a sporting goods company which had bee ...

, which provides free equipment and sportswear to the players. Their current head coach is former NHL goaltender

Tom Barrasso Thomas Patrick Barrasso (born March 31, 1965) is an American professional ice hockey coach and former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 18 seasons. Barrasso began his time in the NHL with the ...

History

The region of

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

has a long association with winter sports due its proximity to the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

and Valpellice Sporting Club was founded in 1934 as one of the earliest winter sports clubs in the region. It folded in 1957 when its main sponsors stopped funding. The club was restarted in 1962 under the name U.S. Valpellice in Serie C, the bottom rung of the hockey league. They won promotion to Serie B and then Serie A, the top flight, and enjoyed seven seasons during the 1970s. During the 1983–84, it was relegated to Serie B. The club's decline in fortunes continued with the team facing relegation to Serie C and ongoing tussles with the government bureaucrats over arena renovations. It again folded in 2000. Instead, the Presidents of Valpellice and provincial rivals HC Torino founding All Stars Piemonte, a move which proved to be unpopular with fans. The current HC Valpellice was refounded in 2003.La storia della Valpe
/ref> In 2013 and 2016 they won the

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

Arena

Valpellice plays at the multipurpose Giordio Cotta Morandini Olympic Ice Arena, which was constructed from 2003 and 2006 after a flood partially damaged the old arena several years prior. It was not chosen as a venue for the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics (), officially the XX Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February in Turin, Italy. This marked the second time Italy had hosted the Winter O ...

hosted in

, with the Palasport and the

Torino Esposizioni Torino Esposizioni is an exhibition hall and convention centre in Turin, Italy which was primarily completed in 1948, designed by Pier Luigi Nervi. The building is made with primarily '' ferrocemento'' and glass. Ferrocemento is a form of concr ...

being chosen to co-host ice hockey events.

References

External links

Official Website
Valpellice 1934 establishments in Italy Sport in Piedmont Torre Pellice Ice hockey clubs established in 1934 {{Europe-icehockey-team-stub