Release from 06.07.2020

Petri Matikainen remains head coach in Klagenfurt

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The EC-KAC goes with head coach Petri Matikainen into the bet-at-home ICE Hockey League. The club and the 53-year-old Finn, who led the Klagenfurt club to the league title in the 2018/19 season, agreed to continue their cooperation until the end of the 2021/22 campaign. In addition, Hydro Fehérvár AV19 announced the signing of Dávid Kiss as assistant coach.

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Petri Matikainen, who had already played in 76 league matches for Klagenfurt between 1997 and 1999 and had twice been runners-up, took over as head coach of the EC-KAC in summer 2018. In his very first year, the Finn led the club to the championship title and thus to the Champions Hockey League. After the premature termination of the last season 2019/20, he currently holds the position of head coach of the red-and-white team in 120 league matches: 59.2 percent of these matches ended in victory for the Klagenfurt team, which means that Petri Matikainen currently has a higher winning percentage than any of his ten direct predecessors as KAC coach.

Head coach Petri Matikainen: "I am looking forward to continue being head coach of the EC-KAC in the future. The two years of cooperation so far have been very successful, especially the first season in which we grew enormously as a team and won the title in the end. We have a strong, stable core in the organisation, which will help the next generation of players to develop. In a few years' time, they will be the ones who carry on and live on the great tradition of the club.

Dávid Kiss new assistant coach in Fehérvár
Hydro Fehérvár AV19 announced the signing of Dávid Kiss as assistant coach for the upcoming season in the bet-at-home ICE Hockey League. The now 30-year-old spent most of his active career with his home club in Székesfehérvár, but he has also played two seasons for the academy of EC Red Bull Salzburg. In recent years Kiss has coached the U18, U20 and the second team of Fehérvár.

„I think I am ready for this challenge. In the past years, I worked as a head coach, I had to make all decisions and now I step up and help another head coach. I want the team to reach as high as possible, higher than in the past 12 years. I am sure we will make a great team with Antti Karhula. He is also young, he communicates well and both of us have the aim to have a competitive team. I am extremely proud that I can continue my career in the organization where I started to play hockey as a kid, I climbed the ladder as a player too, playing in the Austrian league before and now I went on the same path as a coach as well“, explains Kiss.