Citing the difficult situation with regards to the current standings, SC Bern has decided to fire head coach Kari Jalonen. He will be replaced by Hans Kossmann. The former assistant of Bern (2009-11) will take over together with Lars Leuenberger, who was the Bears' coach for the second half of the 2015-16 season (and won the National League title).
"I gave the best years of my coaching career to this organization. Three seasons, two championships. I am of course, disappointed. I want to thank the fans, I want to thank the city and I want to thank the media, it was an awesome journey. I loved every day of it. I want to thank all the players I had the opportunity to coach. It was fantastic and I wish them nothing but success", Jalonen comments to swisshockeynews.ch via his agent, Juho Sintonen.
The Finn was Bern's coach since 2016. With him behind the bench, they won two championships (2017 and 2019).
Swiss-Canadian Kossmann was last employed by the DEL's Grizzlys Wolfsburg. His most recent employment in Switzerland was with the ZSC Lions, when he replaced Hans Wallson mid-season and ended up winning the National League title.
