The HC La Chaux-de-Fonds ( Hockey Club La Chaux-de-Fonds or HCC ) is an ice hockey club from La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland . The men's team currently plays in the Swiss League , while the women's team takes part in the third-class LKC.
The hockey club La Chaux-de-Fonds was founded in 1919 and in 1953 the team moved to their current home stadium, the Patinoire des Mélèzes . There, after the first success in 1951, the team won their second and third second division titles in 1955 and 1959. The renewed Championship of National League B in 1965 came to mean as early as 1955 the rise in the first-class National League A . The club experienced its most successful period from 1968 to 1973, when the team won the Swiss ice hockey championship six times in a row . This makes the HCC one of the most successful ice hockey clubs in Switzerland. In 1980, however, the team had to relegate to the National League B.
It was not until 1987 that HC La Chaux-de-Fonds qualified again for the second-class National League B , in which he played for three years. After four more seasons in the third-class first division, the team finally rose again in 1994 to the National B division. There the HCC celebrated its fifth second division championship in 1995 and thus returned to the National League A. An eleventh place meant relegation two years later, after two more years in the NLB, another year in the top Swiss league followed in the 2000/01 season . Since relegation, the hockey club La Chaux-de-Fonds has been back in the National League B.
The women's team of the HCC qualified for the first time in 1990 for the first-class LKA , which had been founded two years earlier , after La Vannerie Friborg had given up their starting place. After only one season, the team had to relegate to the LKB after a sixth and thus last place and was replaced by the DHC Langenthal . Today the women play in the third class LKC.
In the 2017/18 season , the team was eliminated in the quarter-finals against HC Ajoie with 1: 4 wins. After the end of the 2018/19 season, in which they were runner-up (with 0: 4 wins in the final series against SC Langenthal) of the Swiss League, the club and head coach Serge Pelletier separated . He was succeeded by the Swede Mikael Kvarnström.
The club's teams play their home games in the Patinoire des Mélèzes (also Les Mélèzes ) , which was established in 1953 in the south-west of the city. The stadium has a total of 7,200 spectators, 1,200 of which are seated. The arena is also home to the HC Star amateur club .
