Gaggini and Slettvoll relied on two Swedish stars for the 1990/1991 season: Magnus Svensson, a powerful defenseman with a great shot and Mats Näslund, an NHL star. With them comes to Lugano from Ajoie also the goalkeeper Christophe Wahl. The season ends with the second place in the regular season and the defeat in the playoff final against Bern in four games. Lugano crowns however the year with another participation to the final round of the European Cup at Düsseldorf where it grazes the exploit against the Finnish champions of Turku.

This is the winter of 1991/1992, one of the most difficult winters. I bianconeri face the season with several new signings. Replacing Näslund and Svensson come Gaston Gingras and Gilles Thibaudeau. The Swiss Brasey, Fontana and Bachschmied leave and Doug Honegger, André Rötheli, Patrick Sutter, JJ Aeschlimann and John Fritsche arrive on the shores of the Ceresio. In his ninth season at the helm of Lugano as coach, Wizard Slettvoll entered a crisis and with him his Lugano. A tribulated season with a second-place finish in the regular season and, immediately after the Olympic Games, the bitter elimination in the playoff quarterfinals by a very young Arno del Curto's Zurich. For the first time in playoff history, Lugano is not in the finals. The feat of the season, however, remains the qualification of the bianconeri to the final of the Spengler Cup where Lugano overcame Mannheim, beat Malmö in overtime, lost narrowly to Team Canada, and beat the legendary CSKA Moscow on penalties!!! The next day, in the final act, the Russian masters prevailed 5 to 2.

Separated at the end of the season from John Slettvoll, Lugano sought a new philosophy of play and a new style of society. Thus Canadian Andy Murray, a man of exquisite kindness, is hired to lead the team for the 1992/93 season. With him comes to Lugano a legend, the one who formed an unbeatable quintet for years in the Russian national team and CSKA Moscow: Igor Larionov. Joining this world field hockey star of the first magnitude is Czech Petr Rosol. Also landing in Lugano from Bern are two national players: Sven Leuenberger and Patrick Howald, as well as Swiss-Canadian Mark Astley. Strong on paper, however, Lugano fails to pick up steam. Murray struggles to adapt to the European mentality, and in December the club is forced by the internal locker room situation to remove him and recall Slettvoll. Also coming to the rescue is Canadian Brian Propp, who, with a Larionov finally restored after a long pubalgia, will form a very dangerous duet. All this is not enough, however, to get beyond the playoff semifinals. I bianconeri are in fact eliminated on penalties by Kloten at the Resega. Larionov leaves Lugano and returns to the NHL where he will win the Stanley Cup two years in a row with the Detroit Red Wings. Massy, Lüthi, Propp, Rosol and Eggimann leave with him.

The 1993/94 season brought two more Swedes to the shores of the Ceresio: forward Jan Larsson and defender Pär Djoos, as well as Samuel Balmer and two rookies destined to become crowd favorites bianconero: Lars Weibel and Marcel Jenni, scouted by John Slettvoll in the Under-18 national team he directed. The biggest novelty of the 1993/1994 season, however, is the temporary rink called Reseghina. The legendary old Resega is in fact being demolished pending the construction of a new and modern facility. 3. in the regular season, Lugano is eliminated in the semifinals of the playoffs once again by Kloten dragged by Michael Johansson, Kenta's brother, and compatriot Anders Eldebrink.

John Slettvoll then changed roles and became the sporting director of the bianconeri with Finnish Timo Lahtinen occupying the bench. The reinforcements for the 1994/95 season are named Tommy Sjödin, a very offensive Swedish defender, Pat Schafhauser and Peter Kobel.

The 1994/95 championship brought Lugano the 2nd place in the regular season behind Zug.

But the playoffs, once again, betray the. bianconeri, eliminated in the quarterfinals by the usual Kloten, which imposed itself at the Reseghina on the fifth challenge. Corroborated by the good show offered, the club renews its confidence in Lahtinen and calls to Lugano to give him a hand a fresh Stanley Cup winner, French-Canadian Stephane Lebeau, as well as two old foxes of the white-blue cousins, Keith Fair and Rick Tschumi.