Aleksi Peltonen stays, Harijs Cjunskis joins

Hockey Club Lugano announces that it has extended the contract of forward Aleksi Peltonen until the end of the 2026/27 season.

Born on June 8, 1998 in Helsinki, Peltonen joined his twin brother Jesper at the Cornèr Arena during the 2023/24 season. The Swiss-licensed Finnish forward has shown steady improvement and in recent months he has combined his work for the team with offensive production, recording 5 goals and 6 assists.

At the same time, Hockey Club Lugano announces the signing of defenseman Harijs Cjunskis to a three-year contract.

Cjunskis was born on April 30, 2006 in Mārupe, Latvia. The 187 cm, 85 kg left-shooting defenseman developed in HC Lugano’s youth system and holds a Swiss license. After playing for the club’s U15, U17 and U20 teams, he moved to North America.

During the 2024/25 season he played 71 games (15 points) in the QMJHL with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. This season he is skating with the Brooks Bandits in the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL), where he has collected 15 points in 34 games. The BCHL is a Canadian junior league featuring twenty teams from British Columbia and Alberta.

At the international level, Cjunskis has represented Latvia at two U18 World Championships and two U20 World Championships.

Hockey Club Lugano General Manager Janick Steinmann commented:

“Aleksi Peltonen made a huge development jump. He is a very reliable, hard working player. He earned himself a spot in our team playing a very solid team game every night. Harijs is an interesting prospect from our own youth department. He was two years away for his development and is ready to come back to HC Lugano to compete for a spot. He is a big defensive man who skates well and has a good potential. I am happy to have him back and it will be interesting to see how he will make the next steps in his career with us”.