The 2000/2001 season, the HCL's 60th birthday season, traces in some ways the previous one. I bianconeri indeed end the regular season in the lead, again ahead of the ZSC Lions. The quarterfinals and semifinals of the playoffs are very hard-fought and the successes against Fribourg and Bern, respectively, come mainly thanks to character and experience that allow several victories in overtime and especially on penalties where, by the way, the relentless JJ Aeschlimann closes Renato Tosio's great career at the Allmend. The very final with Zurich is very intense, often unfair, polemic and unfortunately with a very bitter tail. Lugano goes up three to one in the series but in "game 5" at the Resega does not close the account: a game played without fans of the opposing team after the violence outside the Hallenstadion. "Game 7" on the famous April 7, 2001 is then throbbing: Dubé scores but Zeiter equalizes at 51′. It goes to overtime where Morgan Samuelsson zaps Huet and freezes the fans' blood . bianconeri. Regrettably, however, it does not freeze the blood of some 30 thugs, protagonists of serious acts of incivility during the award ceremony.
The 2001/2002 championship begins with the Lugano-Rapperswil match that will be remembered as the first (and hopefully the last) played behind closed doors due to incidents during the final match of the previous season. On the bench of Lugano comes a former player from "Great Russia": Zinetoula Biljaletdinov. With him reaches Lugano a player already known and appreciated in Switzerland: the funambulist Petteri Nummelin. Also returning to the shores of the Ceresio are the inseparable André Rötheli and Patrick Sutter, while Ryan Gardner arrives from Ambrì. Philippe Bozon departs, replaced by Mike Maneluk.
Lugano has a great start to the season but gradually loses lucidity and play, until the elimination from the Continental Cup by the Milan Vipers, so that the management bianconera is forced to make the drastic decision to dismiss the incumbent coach. In his place returns to the bench Jim Koleff, who until then held the position of Sports Director. Before the playoffs and after a historic tour in Japan, two new players are acquired to reinforce the HCL ranks: Noël Guyaz from Chur and Ronnie Rüeger from Zug. The latter will take the place between the posts of Cristobal Huet, who will then leave Lugano in the summer to join the Los Angeles Kings' court in the NHL. At the end of the regular season the bianconeri find themselves in second place behind only Davos, but the playoffs do not bring great satisfaction with another elimination by the usual Lions after overcoming Zug in the quarters.
The 2002/2003 season saw the opening of the "post-Dubé" and "post-Huet" cycle, two players who left their mark in Lugano. To make up for the departure of the strong number 96 player, a Swiss field hockey talent Adrian Wichser is called up, who will turn out at the end of the regular season to be the DNA player with the most goals scored. Starting goalie is Ronnie Rüeger. Jimmy Koleff calls up to flank the foreign duo Maneluk-Nummelin, an old acquaintance of Swiss field hockey, the American Corey Millen, already an appreciated HCAP pawn, who nevertheless disappoints expectations. On the shores of the Ceresio also Krister Cantoni, who grew up in the HCL youthful teams and who, in the past years away from the Resega, gained a good experience, makes his return. However, Lugano struggles to get into gear and has trouble finding its game. Koleff then decides to buy another Canadian player: Brandon Convery. The move does not immediately bear the hoped-for fruit and, after yet another defeat, the top management luganesi finds itself on the ropes and decides to permanently part ways with Koleff whose relationship with the fans and the media now appears frayed. Thus an era abruptly closes.
Larry "Harry Potter" Huras arrives at the barrier in progress, instilling confidence and grit game after game, making Lugano great again and, as if by magic, capable of imposing its best game and entertaining the public. At the end of a very balanced regular season Lugano is fourth. It is preceded in the standings by Davos, ZSC, and Bern. The playoff series begins against Kloten, which proves to be a tough opponent as always, but the newfound Lugano manages to dictate pace and tempo, winning qualification to the semifinals. In the meantime, to reinforce the defensive line temporarily deprived of injured Nummelin, also arrives the very solid and reliable American fullback Barry Richter. The opponent to face in the semifinals is once again the Zurich Lions. This time, however, the trend is finally reversed and thanks to two convincing victories at the Hallenstadion, the bianconeri won with a partial score of 4-1 thanks to the good scoring streak of Convery and Maneluk and to the great defensive work of the whole team. Awaiting them in the final is Arno Del Curto's Davos, defending champions. The first two games are won by the Grisons, but Lugano does not give up, puts all its grit on the ice and with a character to make gladiators envious, wins the remaining four games.
A feat signed by the team as such more than by individualities, in the image of Rüeger, the indefatigable Keith Fair, the very useful Murovic, the brilliant Nummelin, and the inspired Rötheli. Race-6, which counts as match point, is clearly dominated by Captain Fuchs and his mates in front of a Resega packed in every order of seats, with a peremptory 4-0 resulting from an excellent collective performance. The bianconera lineup thus snatched the cup from the hands of a disappointed Reto Von Arx and brought the sixth title in history bianconera to the shores of the Ceresio. A title that all fans luganesi will remember as the last one won by the great Sandro Bertaggia as a player. Sandro, indomitable mastiff, great man and exemplary player, in fact decided to retire and hang up his skates, at the end of a fantastic career that lasted no less than 18 seasons with more than 800 appearances in the LNA and 6 Swiss champion titles with the Lugano jersey! That number 2 jersey that no one else bianconero will ever be able to wear again...
The Swiss roster for the 2003/2004 season has only a few minor changes: replacing the great Sandro Bertaggia, the talented young defenseman Steve Hirschi, class of 1981, arrives in Lugano from Langnau. During the summer there was a lot of talk about the possible arrival of Oleg Petrov as Maneluk's replacement, but then, by everyone's will, it was decided to keep Iron Mike to whom an icon of Finnish field hockey was flanked, that Ville Peltonen, already world champion with one of his hat-tricks in the final, who in January had raised just at the Resega, as captain of the Jokerit Helsinki, the trophy of Continental Cup winner. Third foreigner is the untouchable Petteri Nummelin, who will also receive, among other things, the MVP award for the previous season. To note with pride and pleasure the inclusion of two youngsters in the first team roster: Mattia Bianchi and Roman Botta.
The championship begins and continues in the best possible way with the bianconeri who, propelled above all by the extraordinary offensive streak of the foreigners, end the regular season ahead of Bern at the top of the standings with the highest number of points ever recorded: 74 points in 48 games played! In early January, the team, accompanied by more than a hundred fans, experiences sports and life in Gomel, in impoverished Belarus. Sportingly, there remains some disappointment over the new bronze medal in the Continental Cup Superfinal. After victory over Rouen, Lugano lost narrowly to the hosts (3-2), before winning the final by playing a beautiful game against the reigning Russian vice-champions Severstal Cherepovets.
On February 22, 2004, the Resega celebrated an afternoon of deep emotion. In an environment of great collective participation, jerseys no. 1 of Alfio Molina, no. 2 of Sandro Bertaggia and no. 4 of Pat Schafhauser with the latter connected "live" via satellite and extremely moved from Minneapolis on the new giant screens.
In the first round of the playoffs the bianconeri face Freiburg, whom they eliminate in four games. In the semifinals the ghosts of the ZSC Lions pop up again. Lugano clearly won the first home game but lost the next three including one in overtime at the Resega and one on penalties away! Now losing is forbidden and, as we know, when the going gets tough...the tough get going! I bianconeri canceled the first Zurich matchball at the Resega, the second at the Hallenstadion thanks to an incredible comeback in the last moments of the game (with Rüeger on the bench and Peltonen's goal) and an overtime goal by Maneluk and the third again at the Resega. Incredible but true....the Lugano eliminates the Lions and finds itself in the final!
Thus, playing for the title in a Best of Five final will be Huras' men and Bern. It starts at the Resega and Lugano appears to be struggling from the psychophysical energies spent in the semifinal until two days before, thus immediately losing the home advantage. The second game played at the Bern Arena is won 2-1 again by the bears and, as with ZSC, now Lugano cannot lose anymore! At the Resega the team takes to the ice playing a perfect game and thus leading Bern to the fourth game. In front of an incredible crowd, crazy for the team from the capital, the bianconeri comeback and scored with a brilliant wriggle by Nummelin, the winning goal just three minutes from the end.
The awarding of the title is then decided at the fifth and last game in front of a sold-out Resega and after a memorable ticket hunting. The game was balanced until the end, when, only 32 seconds (!!!) before the last siren, Maneluk (with Lugano without Rüeger in goal) drew with a thunderbolt on the volley and postponed everything to the additional time. But by now the energies are gone and Bern succeeds in deserving the victory at the 14.20 of the overtime with Marc Weber's goal in the presence of an exemplary sportive public even at the moment of the cup's delivery. Congratulations to the new Bern champions but congratulations to Lugano for having given us an unforgettable playoff that will remain in the history!
The 2004/2005 season will go down in the annals as one of the most interesting in Swiss field hockey history and one of the most curious in the history ofHockey Club Lugano. The reasons are quickly stated: the NHL lockout, which enriched our league with such world stars as Joe Thornton, Rick Nash, Niklas Hagmann, Dan Brière and Martin St. Louis, and the untimely elimination of bianconeri in the playoff quarterfinals by defending champions Bern. All this after Huras's team once again ended the regular season firmly in the lead, strengthened above all by the performances of its two goalkeepers and Finnish foreigners-Petteri Nummelin and Ville Peltonen. Oh yes, because, taking advantage of the NHL's lockout precisely, the HCL hires Fribourg-born Colorado Avalanche goaltender David Aebischer. The latter spurs Rüeger on to a great regular season, so much so that when the facts are proven, complicit with the sword of Damocles of possible resumption at any time across the Atlantic, it will be Ronnie himself who will defend the cage bianconera for more matches.
The HCL winter is marked by a long string of injuries including adductor problems limiting Maneluk's performance and two concussions affecting in short succession Benoit Gratton, the Canadian center wanted by the technical staff to give more weight to the attack but, in reality, rarely living up to expectations. In spite of this, Lugano remains consistently at the top. From the Resega transit temporarily several foreign players of NHL origin such as Kimmo Timonen, Jason Blake but above all Alex Tanguay, 24-year-old Quebecois with crystal-clear class but very unlucky at first because of the reacquisition of an old hip pain then, on his return after two months, because of the stretching of a knee ligament. Tanguay must then throw in the towel and for the playoffs, to which the bianconeri come in with the uncomfortable role of favorite, Martin Gelinas, over 1,000 NHL appearances, two Stanley Cups won and a full season behind him in LNB with Forward Morges, is chosen. In addition, just on the eve of the playoffs, Paul Di Pietro, on the strength of the partner-team Chur for the entire championship, acquires Swiss citizenship and can thus reinforce the Lugano roster.
Unfortunately, however, for the second year in a row, Bern, although qualified for the playoffs by the skin of their teeth, proved to be an insurmountable obstacle with effective defensive play and more concreteness in the top moments. The series ends 4-1 overall. A veil of sadness also for JJ Aeschlimann who, after 14 seasons played in the bianconero, leaves the club to end his competitive career in Lausanne at the age of 38.
