Adrenaline announce Sami Mantere as Head Coach for 2020

The Adelaide Adrenaline have announced that Assistant Coach Sami Mantere will assume the Head Coach role for the 2020 AIHL season.

Mantere resumes the role he departed in 2017, after Head Coach Jim Fuyarchuk stepped down last year after two seasons at the helm.

Mantere released this statement via the club's website:

"Hey Adrenaline fans,

I’m very excited to take the position of head coach for the 2020 season. 2019 was a very tough season for everyone involved and everyone felt the pain. But there was also a lot to learn from last season.

We’ve got a very exciting group of senior players and young players that have got no fear. These guys want to prove we are much better than what we have shown in the past. We won’t feel sorry for ourselves for losing players or anything else. Our plan is to focus on what we can do. We start training in a few weeks to make sure we’re ready when the season starts. We will let the effort and results do the talking.

It’s going to be exciting to see some of the players from the championship winning Tange team make the step up as well. These guys are as good young guys as any. And they have no fear.

I am absolutely sure we will be icing a team that will make any fan proud. We will outwork every team in the league starting from the first preseason practice.

Lastly I would like to say a huge thank you to coach Jim Fuyarchuk. I remember two years ago asking Jim if he would be willing to take over as the head coach. During those two years the results didn’t quite go our way but Jim never let that get to his head. I have learnt more coaching from watching Jim coach than probably any other coach and I would like to thank him for all that he did for the team and for all the mentoring and tips he has given me over the two years.

Cheers,

Sami"

The Adrenaline open their 2020 AIHL season on the road against the Melbourne Ice on April 18th.