Matti Alatalo is the New Assistant Coach

Hockey Club Lugano has finalized the appointment of the assistant coach who will join Luca Gianinazzi on the Bianconeri first team's bench. The agreement is valid until the end of the 2022/23 season.

The position has been filled by Matti Alatalo, born on October 29, 1958, in Oulainen (Finland). He is a coach with twenty years of experience as a head coach but is also known for his excellent and demanding qualities as an assistant coach.

Matti Alatalo, the father of Santeri, has been Luca Gianinazzi's first choice since his appointment as head coach. The two got to know each other well last year during a mentoring project in which the Finnish coach supported the development of the young Bianconeri coach.

After earning a university degree in sports education and a first coaching position at Cornell University in the USA, Matti Alatalo's career took off in Switzerland as an assistant coach for the ZSC Lions from 1995 to 2002, during which time he also won the national title in 2000, in a historic final against Lugano.

After two seasons as head coach of the GCK Lions in the NLB, Alatalo spent a long period (2002-2010) as a head coach in Finland's top league, leading JYP Jyväskiylä, HPK Hämeenlinna, and for two seasons, Kärpät Oulu, which finished second in the Liiga in 2009.

From 2011 to 2016, Alatalo served 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 Bianconeri assistant coach led Visp in the Swiss League.