HC Valpellice

HC Valpellice
HC Valpellice
	Serie A
Home arena	Palaghiaccio Olimpico; (capacity: 2,500)
Head coach	Tom Barrasso
Website	www.hcvalpellice.it
Franchise history
1934–1957	Valpellice Sporting Club
1962–1992	US Valpellice
Championships
Coppa Italia	2013

HC Valpellice Bulldogs, nicknamed "La Valpe", is a professional

Serie A.^[1] Serie A is also sponsored by Reebok, which provides free equipment and sportswear to the players. Their current head coach is former NHL goaltender Tom Barrasso

.

History

The region of Piedmont has a long association with winter sports due its proximity to the Alps and Valpellice Sporting Club was founded in 1934 as one of the earliest winter sports clubs in the region. It folded in 1957 when its main sponsors stopped funding. The club was restarted in 1962 under the name U.S. Valpellice in Serie C, the bottom rung of the hockey league. They won promotion to Serie B and then Serie A, the top flight, and enjoyed seven seasons during the 1970s. During the 1983–84, it was relegated to Serie B. The club's decline in fortunes continued with the team facing relegation to Serie C and ongoing tussles with the government bureaucrats over arena renovations. It again folded in 2000. Instead, the Presidents of Valpellice and provincial rivals HC Torino founding All Stars Piemonte, a move which proved to be unpopular with fans. The current HC Valpellice was refounded in 2003.^[2] In 2013 and 2016 they won the Coppa Italia.