Kalle Kaskinen Completes the Coaching Staff

Hockey Club Lugano has completed the composition of the first team's coaching staff. Luca Gianinazzi will be assisted next season by two assistants.

In addition to relying on 50-year-old Krister Cantoni, the 30-year-old Bianconeri head coach will now also be able to count on the experience and analytical skills of Kalle Kaskinen, a Finnish coach born in Turku on April 10, 1974.

Kaskinen will replace 64-year-old Matti Alatalo, who in recent weeks had announced his decision to end his coaching career at the club level. The Bianconeri club would like to take this opportunity to thank Matti for his valuable collaboration during the last championship.

In his career, Kaskinen has alternated between working with individual clubs and working with the Finnish federation, with experience in the 2021/22 season as an assistant coach for Kosice (Slovakia) and the Czech Republic national team at the World Championships in Helsinki and Tampere.

After several years in the youth sector of "his" TPS Turku, Kaskinen was part of the coaching staff of Jokerit Helsinki in the KHL before returning home. Between 2017 and 2020, he was the head coach of TPS Turku. Between 2009 and 2014, he held head and assistant coaching roles in various youth selections (U16, U17, U18, U20) of the Finnish national team. In 2017, he was an assistant coach for the Finnish national team at the World Championships in Paris and Cologne.

These are the words of Bianconeri head coach Luca Gianinazzi:
"Kalle is a coach who pays great attention to detail. Thanks to his experience in the professional world and his cultural and hockey vision, he will complete our coaching staff in the best possible way. My personal thanks also go to Matti Alatalo for his support during my first year at the helm of the first team."