Release from 02.05.2025

Kurt Kleinendorst is the new HCB coach

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HCB Südtirol Alperia has hired US-American Kurt Kleinendorst as new head coach. The 64-year-old has spent the majority of his coaching career in the American Hockey League, even winning the title with the Binghamton Senators in 2011. EC Red Bull Salzburg has extended the contract with Ali Wukovits.

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Kurt Kleinendorst ended his playing career at the age of 30 and began his coaching career. He took over the management of the Raleigh IceCaps in the ECHL, where he was honoured as the best coach of the year in his second season. In 1997, he moved to England for three years and was head coach and general manager of the Manchester Storm (with whom he also played in Bolzano against the HCB in the European Hockey League) before starting his NHL career: he worked for the New Jersey Devils for six years as an assistant coach and scout. The Devils won the Stanley Cup in 2003. In 2006, he became head coach of the Lowell Devils in the AHL and also coached the US national team at the 2008 World Championship as an assistant coach. In 2010, he won the gold medal as head coach of the USA U18 national team. In the following years, he continued his career as head coach in the AHL with the Binghamton Senators (with whom he won the championship) and the Iowa Wild, with a one-year interlude as head coach at the University of Alabama-Huntsville (NCAA). In 2015, he gained his first European experience as coach of ERC Ingolstadt, for whom he had already played in 1988. This was followed by two more years in the AHL (Binghamton and Belleville Senators), then he returned to Germany again in 2019: one year with the Nuremberg IceTigers, two more years as head coach of the Iserlohn Roosters before taking a two-year break for personal reasons.

"We had been in contact with Bolzano for several years. Now the time has come to arrive here, in a place rich in tradition with high expectations. We want to be a team that works hard. I'm convinced that even more speed is needed - that's modern ice hockey: talent, tactics, but also fast players who play offence and at the same time sacrifice themselves in defence," says the new head coach.

Bolzano has also extended the contract of associate coach Fabio Armani for a further season.

Salzburg extends with Wukovits
Ali Wukovits is entering his fifth season with EC Red Bull Salzburg. After a long injury break, the 28-year-old forward was back at his team's disposal in the decisive phase of the past championship. Wukovits, who has already won five league titles, has recorded 214 points in 454 games in the win2day ICE Hockey League so far.

FTC-Telekom Budapest has also extended the contract with Máté Seregély. The defenceman has played for the Hungarians since 2021.