PENTICTON, B.C. – North Iowa isn’t waiting around to build its staff for its inaugural season in the North American Hockey League.
The Bulls are excited to announce that Tsukasa Arinami has been named the team’s Western Canada scout for the 2021-22 season. Arinami, currently an assistant coach at the Okanagan Hockey Academy in Penticton, British Columbia, already has a history with the Bulls organization, proving instrumental in leading two-year forward Sota Isogai to the North Iowa program.
Arinami originally hails from Japan but played youth and junior hockey in Canada and Finland. While playing junior hockey in Finland, Arinami enrolled in the top European Hockey Coaching Program at the Haaga Helia University of Applied Sciences located within the Finnish Olympic Training Centre (Vierumaki).
Arinami went on to coach in various youth, collegiate and top female programs in Japan and throughout Asia after graduating with his upon graduating from Vierumaki in 2011 with a bachelors’ degree in sports management and the top European hockey qualification. Additional career highlights include working with female Olympic players from multiple countries, being part of the staff for the University Men’s Japanese National Team Program and other National Team projects. He continued his international experience as a coach at the IIHF Development Camp in 2008.
He has also worked for 2017 NHL Hockey School China, where he travelled to different Chinese cities and ran skills camps as part of NHL’s plan to promote hockey in China. Tsukasa brings a wealth of international experience to the Bulls, and will help to keep the team’s recruiting doors open in the Asian market as well as western Canada.
Additional NAHL scouts and staff for the North Iowa Bulls will be announced as the 2021-22 season draws closer.