HC Slovan Ústečti Lvi is an ice hockey team in the Czech 2nd League (2. národní hokejová liga) (the second division). Their home arena is MEO Arena in Ústí nad Labem. The Team was known as HC Slovan Ústí nad labem History Predecessors The birth of ice hockey in Ústí nad Labem dates back to the end of the Second World War. In 1945 a group of enthusiasts got together with Jaroslav Kropáč as a leading figure and in 1946 they founded the hockey club, Sokol Ústí nad Labem. After couple of months they took their cue from their namesake in Prague and founded LTC (1946–1948). They entered the North-west group of winter sports and started to regularly enter the regional competitions. In the following years (1949–1959) the club changed its name to ZSJ Armaturka. In 1959 the club changed its owner and subsequently its name to TJ Chemička and played under this name until 1963. However, in this year the chemical company ceased funding of the hockey club due to financial difficulties. HC Slovan Ústí nad Labem (1966–1999) After numerous meetings with the city representatives it was decided not to allow the death of hockey in the city. At that time TJ Slovan National Board came up with the solution to run hockey club as their main field of activities. The hockey club was then handed in to chairman JUDr. Oldřich Rejna, who stayed in this position for another 23 years. In 1966 the team won TJ Slovan qualification achieving promotion to the second league, in which they played until 1972. After the 1971/72 season there was a change in the organisational structure of the whole competition. The First National League was created and the club then had to achieve the very demanding qualification standards to be admitted to the First National Hockey League. The team was immediately very successful finishing runners up in the 72/73 season, only one point behind Slezan Opava. The next 10 years saw the team regularly finishing the championship season in the top 3. In the 1979/80 season the team won the First National Hockey League championship by 7 points, but lost the Extra League promotion/relegation match against TJ Gottwaldov. In the following season Slovan won in its group stage again but this time only managed 3rd place in the finals. The 1986/87 season saw a crisis hit hockey in Ústí. In that year