TheHockey Club Lugano has defined in these hours the figure of the assistant coach who from today will join Luca Gianinazzi on the bench of the first team bianconera with an agreement valid until the end of the 2022/23 season.
He is Matti Alatalo, born Oct. 29, 1958, in Oulainen, Finland, a coach with 20 years' experience as a head coach, but also known for his skills as an excellent and demanding trainer as an assistant coach.
Matti Alatalo, father of Santeri, was from the beginning Luca Gianinazzi's first choice after his appointment as head coach. The two met in depth last year as part of a mentoring project in which the Finnish coach had accompanied the young coach's development bianconero.
After graduating from college as a sports teacher and a first bench at Cornell University in the U.S., Matti Alatalo's career took off in Switzerland, as assistant coach of the ZSC Lions between 1995 and 2002, a period during which he also won the national title in 2000, right in a historic final against Lugano.
After two championships as head coach of the GCK Lions in the LNB, Alatalo enjoyed a long stint (2002-2010) as head coach in his homeland in the Finnish top league, guiding first JYP Jyväskiylä, then HPK Hämeenlinna and for two seasons Kärpät Oulu, runners-up in the Liiga in 2009, to the transenna.
From 2011 to 2016, Alatalo later occupied as head coach of the GCK Lions farm team, a key role in the organization and development of the ZSC Lions, widely recognized as a model for youth training.
From 2017 to 2021, the new assistant coach of the bianconeri finally led Visp to the Swiss League championship.