The 1995/96 championship opens with an event that will go down in history: the inauguration of the much desired new Resega's rink on the 25th of September 1995 with the first championship game between Lugano and Lausanne. After the unforgettable celebration, however, the hard times begin and in October the club parted because of Lahtinen's lack of results. John Slettvoll then returns to the bench but this time the weapon does not prove to be a winning one. Lugano finished the championship only at the 7th rank and was immediately eliminated in the playoff, still by Kloten.
In addition to the opening of the Resega, the 1995/1996 season will be remembered for the sad fate befalling defenseman bianconero Pat Schafhauser , who on the evening of December 5, 1995, on the Davos rink, crashed violently against the balustrade, causing a spinal cord injury that forced him into a wheelchair. After this accident, the Pat Schafhauser Foundation , designed for the purpose of creating a fund for possible playing injuries, is established on the initiative of Lugano.
New stimuli are needed for the 1996/1997 season, and Lugano calls an old field hockey acquaintance to the sidelines. bianconero: Mats Waltin, returning from two seasons at the helm of Davos. With him comes another great Swede, Michael Nylandercheleaves the Calgary Flames (NHL) to wear the jersey bianconera. Instead, he leaves for professional reasons the one who with Kenta will remain forever in the hearts of fans luganesi, namely Jörg Eberle. The championship is quite disappointing in the first phase. Then the team grows, inspired by Nylander and reinforced by Russian Pavel Torgaev, finally defeats the Kloten bogeyman before being beaten in the playoff semifinals by Gaetano Orlando's Bern.
The fans are hungry for victories, and the club is preparing a star-studded buying campaign. In addition to promising Jurassians Julien and Geoffrey Vauclair, arrivals include national team members Patrick Fischer, Andy Näser, Canadian Todd Elik, a cross and delight on and off the ice, Swedish multiple champion Peter Andersson, Trevor Meier, Rolf Ziegler, and returning from Canada Swiss-Canadian Mark Astley. Notable departures include those of the three foreigners Lebeau, Torgaev and Nylander. The season began poorly, however, and in November Waltin was replaced by Jim Koleff , who had come to Lugano as sports director. Jim brought the team back to the top of the standings but failed to save the season with the team bianconera eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by Davos, once again after penalty shoot-outs at the Resega. Great satisfaction instead for Julien Vauclair, drafted even by the prestigious Ottawa Senators.
Lugano wants to get back to winning ways, and to do that Jim Koleff calls two experienced men well known to him : Gaetano OrlandoandMisko Antisin : Régis Fuchs and Gaetan Voisard also arrive from Bern. To help the defensive department and Lars Weibel, here is the first foreign goalkeeper in history bianconera: Cristobal Huet, a young Frenchman ready to explode.
In anticipation of obtaining a Swiss passport in the future, Lugano also makes Igor Fedulov, LNB's top scorer, its own. Among the departures is that of Sjödin, for years the soul of the defense bianconera. The regular season is also marked by fickleness due to hand injuries affecting Orlando, who is replaced by Bill Mc Dougall.
At the beginning of the playoff, however, the team is complete and in great shape. Lugano suffers against Davos, eliminates in a great way and with an almost insuperable defence and goalkeeper, the reigning champions Zug and prepares to face Ambrì, protagonist of a record regular season. Ticino is buzzing and the derby air can be felt everywhere. Thanks to its greater freshness and experience, the 1998/1999 edition Lugano conquers its fifth national title on the 5th of April 1999 at the Valascia, overcoming its cousins in five games and winning in the valley 3 matches out of 3! Protagonists of this splendid enterprise were all the players, but one step higher we certainly find the goalkeeper Huet, the defenseman and captain Andersson and the indestructible Orlando who, at 36 years old, closes his amazing career.
The 1999/2000 season offers fans bianconeri memorable evenings and great entertainment. Lugano dominated far and wide during the regular season, which closed with 68 points to its credit and an impressive eleven points ahead of the runner-up. But the real feat the team bianconera, strengthened in particular with Philippe Bozon, Christian Dubé, former first choice of the New York Rangers in 1996, Oliver Keller and after Christmas also Wes Walz accomplished it in the Euroleague where, after defeating at the Resega 3-1 Dynamo Moscow and on penalties the Ice Tigers of Nuremberg, it reached the Semifinal Round. Koleff's men won the home challenge with Slovan Bratislava and, in a match of a thousand emotions, also conquered the rink of the Slovak champions 6-5 on the return leg. The club's seriousness and professionalism brought to Lugano the Top Four Final, the final four-team round to graduate the European champion team, and, in a buzzing Resega in front of 24,000 spectators in four games, the Russians of Metallurg Magnitogorsk captained by Gomoljako did the encore by beating Sparta Prague in the final. It was precisely the Czech champions who had blown the dream the night before in overtime. bianconero. A fantastic game solved by Czech Vujtek after Lugano had repeatedly come close to scoring the winning goal.
However, the extraordinary European adventure leaves its mark on the players' legs and minds. The playoff opens with easy successes against Fribourg and Ambrì but in the final game against ZSC Lions, Lugano falls visibly. The games are very tight, Andersson is in bed with angina and in spite of Dubé and Bozon's cues, Lugano bows at the Hallenstadion in "game 6" when, 10 seconds before the siren, Plavsic scores the 4-3 goal, favoured by a foul of Christian Weber on the goal keeper Huet, not recognized by the referee Bertolotti. Zurich is the Swiss champion and Lugano is the protagonist of a splendid year even though without any title to add to its trophy cabinet.
