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 .