ZSC Lions

The Zürcher Schlittschuh Club Lions (usually simply referred to as ZSC Lions) are a professional ice hockey team located in Zürich, Switzerland, playing in the National League A. The home arena, the 10,700 seater Hallenstadion, is in the Zurich district of Oerlikon. The team was founded in 1930 and played at the Dolder-Kunsteisbahn from its establishment until 1950.
==History==
Locally nicknamed "Z", the team was formed in 1997 as a result of the merger of the two local teams Zürcher Schlittschuh Club (German for "Zurich Skating Club") and Grasshoppers Club (GC), the ice hockey section of Grasshopper-Club Zürich. ZSC played in the National League A, was clearly the fan favourite of the city but in constant financial trouble. Grasshoppers, meanwhile, was playing in the Nationalliga B, failed to qualify for promotion several years in a row and had a small fan base, but was backed by a very wealthy man.
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 in 1944 and 1945. After the merger, the ZSC Lions won the Swiss Championship in 2000, 2001 and 2008, the IIHF Continental Cup in 2001 and 2002 and the Champions Hockey League in 2008.
During the 2008-09 Season, the ZSC Lions participated in the first ever Champions Hockey League, for which the automatically qualified. The other participating Swiss team, SC Bern, had to first win the qualifying tournament. for the group stage, the ZSC Lions were placed in group D, along with HC Slavia Praha and Linköpings HC. ZSC Lions came first in this group with only one defeat and three victories, thus qualifying for the semi-finals. On 7 January 2009 they qualified for the first Final of the CHL against the Finnish Espoo Blues, beating them 6-3 and 4-1 respectively. The first leg of the final was held on 21 January 2009 in the Magnitogorsk Arena against Metallurg Magnitogorsk and ended with a 2-2 (0-2,0-0,2-0) draw. The goals for ZSC were shot by Trudel and Wichser respectively in the first third of the game. The second leg was played one week later, on 28 January 2009, in the Diners Club Arena in Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland. ZSC Lions won the finals with a 5-0 with goals by Down, Sejna, Seger, Alston and Trudel.
On October 1st 2009, the Lions created a surprise by defeating the Chicago Blackhawks by the score of 2-1 in front of their home crowd to capture their first ever Victoria Cup. The win came as a major upset, since the Hawks had lined their full roster (except for injured Marian Hossa) and had severely beated up the 2008-09 NLA champions, HC Davos, 9-2 the previous day in a friendly game.
==Honours==
*Swiss Championship (6) 1936, 1949, 1961, 2000, 2001, 2008
*Continental Cup (2) 2001, 2002
*Spengler Cup(2) 1944, 1945
*Swiss Cup (2) 1960, 1961
*Silver Stone Trophy (1) 2009
*Victoria Cup (1) 2009
*Sveitsin Cup (2) 1960, 1961
==Former Players==
*Martin Kout
== External links ==
* ZSC Lions official site
* ZSC fan site; big ZSC forum
* ZSC fan site
* ZSC Youngsters
* ZSC Lions Blog
Category:Swiss ice hockey teams
Category:Established in 1930
Category:National League A team