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Indy Fuel head coach Duncan Dalmao will not return for the 2026-27 season, the team announced Thursday.<\/p>\n
Dalmao is leaving Indianapolis to become an assistant coach with the Bakersfield Condors of the American Hockey League, one level below the NHL. The move creates a head-coaching vacancy for the Fuel ahead of their 13th ECHL season.<\/p>\n
Fuel Owner and Chairman Jim Hallett thanked Dalmao for his work with the organization during the past five seasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring his time with Indy, Duncs has been a strong presence both behind the bench and in our community,\u201d Hallett said. \u201cWe are immensely proud to see him make this move to further his coaching career.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dalmao became the Fuel\u2019s interim head coach near the end of the 2021-22 season. He was named the permanent head coach before the 2022-23 campaign, becoming the fourth head coach in franchise history.<\/p>\n
During his tenure, Dalmao recorded 159 regular-season victories\u2014more than any coach in Indianapolis hockey history\u2014and guided the Fuel to four consecutive Kelly Cup Playoff appearances.<\/p>\n
The Fuel also enjoyed their best regular season under Dalmao in 2022-23. Indy set franchise records with 43 victories, 244 goals and 23 road wins while earning a playoff berth.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Dalmao thanked fans in Indianapolis and Fishers for supporting him and the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter arriving five years ago, I never imagined Indiana would come to feel so much like home,\u201d Dalmao said. \u201cI will never forget your unwavering support through the good and bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dalmao also expressed appreciation for the Fuel\u2019s players, hockey operations staff and front office, along with the Hallett family and the organization\u2019s affiliates, the Chicago Blackhawks and Rockford IceHogs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been the honour of my life to be able to operate within such an amazing franchise,\u201d he said. \u201cA piece of me will always remain here in Indy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Fuel did not announce Dalmao\u2019s successor Thursday.<\/p>\n
Indy is the ECHL affiliate of the NHL\u2019s Chicago Blackhawks and the AHL\u2019s Rockford IceHogs. The team will return to Fishers Event Center in October 2026 for its 13th season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Indy Fuel head coach Duncan Dalmao will not return for the 2026-27 season, the team announced Thursday. Dalmao…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-432386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}