Slovan just managed to survive with the team avoiding relegation by just one position. This however was only delaying the inevitable, and in the following year Slovan was relegated to the 2nd league. In the 1988/89 season the team won the 2nd league by 16 points, winning 23 of the 28 regular season group games. Nobody doubted the teams return to the 1st league after only 1 season out. However, Slovan didn’t manage to take its chance and failed to win the promotion/relegation match staying in the 2nd league and waiting 5 long years before a great 92 season saw them finally return to the 1st league in '93. The 1993/94 season was, and still is, the most successful in the club's history. Slovan reached 5th place and then in the quarter-final of the playoffs, eliminated HC Slezan Opava with a 3 games to 1 victory. Slovan's advance was stopped in the semifinals by HC Dadák Vsetín who then went on to win promotion into the Extraliga. After the 1997/98 season, due to major financial issues, the club was forced to sell its stake in the competition to KLH Chomutov and in the following year the club just managed to stay in its group, barely avoiding relegation to the regional championship. HC Slovan Ústečtí Lvi (1999–) The major financial issues that brought on the shocking '97 season and the sale of its stake in the 1st League to Piráti Chomutov was such a major setback for the team, that it took 10 years for HC Slovan to drag itself from the very bottom of the 2nd league back up among the top national teams. In a long but amazing turn around, HC Slovan went from a low of 12th place in the 2nd league through a fantastic run, being promoted back to the 1st League in 2000, winning the first league in the '05/06, winning again in the '06/07 season, to winning the promotion/relegation match gaining entry into the Extraliga for the 2007–08 season. The financial ability and international ringers in the Extra League made it almost impossible for HC Slovan Ústečtí Lvi to survive being relegated back to the Czech 1. liga and at the end of the hard fought and well played season they were expectedly relegated back to the 1st League. Back in the 1st League HC Slovan continued to show its class by winning the championship