Naisten Liiga (ice hockey)
Naisten Liiga (lit. 'Women's League'), also called the Naisten SM-liiga (NSML) and Jääkiekon naisten SM-liiga (lit. 'Ice Hockey Women's Finnish Championship League'), is the elite league for women's ice hockey in Finland. Founded by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association as the Naisten SM-sarja (lit. 'Women's Finnish Championship series') in 1982, it was so known until being rebranded as the Naisten Liiga in 2017.[1][2] The league comprises approximately 250 players across ten teams.
Current season, competition or edition: 2023–24 Naisten Liiga season | |
 | |
| Formerly | Naisten SM-sarja 1982–2017 |
|---|---|
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Founded | 1982 |
| Inaugural season |
|
| Administrator | Finnish Ice Hockey Association |
| No. of teams | 9 |
| Country |  Finland |
| Most recent champion(s) | HIFK Helsinki (2022–23) |
| Most titles | Kiekko-Espoo (16) |
| TV partner(s) | Leijonat.tv |
| Relegation to | Naisten Mestis |
| International cup(s) | European Women's Champions Cup |
| Official website | Official website |
Kiekko-Espoo (previously 'Espoo Blues' and 'Espoo United') has dominated Naisten Liiga in the 21st century, winning sixteen Finnish Championships during the span of 1999 to 2022.[3] Tampereen Ilves is the second most successful club, with ten championship titles, and are the only organization to have iced a team in every season since the league's inception.
A majority of teams in Naisten Liiga share their names with men's professional teams in the Liiga or Mestis – HIFK, HPK, Ilves, KalPa, Kiekko-Espoo, Kärpät, Lukko, RoKi, TPS – but the women's teams have historically received few resources and limited promotion from the affiliated men's clubs.[4] In recent years progress has been made in building better relationships between the men's and women's teams; most men's clubs now provide some support to their women's counterparts by advertising games together or helping secure sponsorships.[5][6]
Teams
2023–24 season
| Team | Location | Home venue | Head coach | Captain |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HIFK |  Helsinki |
Pirkkolan jäähalli | Saara Niemi | Karoliina Rantamäki |
| HPK |  Hämeenlinna |
Jääliikuntakeskus Hakio | Jari Risku | Heta Seikkula |
| Ilves |  Tampere |
Tesoman jäähalli | Marjo Voutilainen | Jenna Lehtiniemi |
| KalPa |  Kuopio |
Niiralan Monttu | Mika Väärälä | Johanna Juutilainen |
| Kiekko-Espoo |  Espoo |
Tapiolan harjoitusareena | Sami Haapanen | Reetta Valkjärvi |
| Kärpät |  Oulu |
Raksilan jäähalli | Saija Tarkki | Aino Kaijankoski |
| RoKi |  Rovaniemi |
Lappi Areena | Teemu Koivula | Eveliina Ollila |
| Team Kuortane |  Kuortane |
Kuortaneen jäähalli | Juuso Nieminen | Jenniina Kuoppala |
| TPS |  Turku |
Kupittaan jäähalli | Terhi Mertanen | Pihla Hämeenniemi |
Past participants
1980s
|
1990s
|
2000s
|
Format
Season format
The Finnish Ice Hockey Association has altered the season format of the Naisten Liiga several times over the league's history. The system currently in use was introduced for the 2022–23 season.[9] It added six games per team to the regular season schedule and matched the season structure of the league's closest neighbor, the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL). The new format replaced the previous twenty-game preliminary series and ten-game divisional series structure, which was first introduced in the 2018–19 season and refined prior to the 2019–20 season.[10]
Regular season
The regular season is a quadruple round-robin tournament, with each team playing every other team four times – generally speaking, each team plays every other team twice at home and twice away, though there are some small variations – resulting in a 36-game season per team. Teams are ranked by points, with three points awarded for a win in regulation time, two points for an overtime win, one point for an overtime loss, and no points awarded for a regulation loss. Individual player statistics from the regular season determine the winner of the Marianne Ihalainen Award, for most points, and the Tiia Reima Award, for most goals scored.
The top eight teams at the end of the regular season qualify for the Naisten Liiga playoffs.
Playoffs
The three rounds of the Naisten Liiga playoffs (Finnish: Naisten Liiga pudotuspelit) are played as a best-of-five tournament, with the exception of the single-elimination game for the Finnish Championship bronze medal. In the quarterfinals, the initial round, teams are paired by seeding from the regular season, with the first seed facing the eighth seed, the second seed facing the seventh seed, and so on.
The champions of the Naisten Liiga playoffs receive the Aurora Borealis Cup as league champions and gold medals as Finnish Champions in women's ice hockey. Selected by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association, the MVP of the playoffs is awarded the Karoliina Rantamäki Trophy.
Qualification
The teams finishing the season ranked ninth and tenth play a promotion/relegation series (Finnish: karsintasarja, lit. 'qualifying series') against the top two teams of the Naisten Mestis regular season.[9] The two teams that finish the series with the most points qualify for the following Naisten Liiga season and the two lower ranked teams are relegated to or remain in the Naisten Mestis for the following season.
Game format
A regulation game is sixty minutes in length, played over three 20-minute periods. In the event of a tie at the end of regulation time the winner is decided by a five-minute-length, three-skaters-per-side overtime period. If the game remains tied after the overtime period, the teams proceed to a shootout, in which each team designates three skaters to take penalty shots, one at a time, against the opposing goaltender. Teams alternate shots and each team takes one shot per round. The winner is the team with more goals after three rounds or the team that amasses an unreachable advantage before the third round. If the shootout is tied after three rounds, tie-breaker rounds are played one at a time until there is a winner.
Champions
All-time medal count
– team participating in 2023–24 Naisten Liiga season
| Team |  |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kiekko-Espoo[lower-alpha 1] | 16 | 3 | 8 |
| Tampereen Ilves | 10 | 12 | 6 |
| Oulun Kärpät | 3 | 7 | 8 |
| Shakers Kerava | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| JYP Jyväskylä[lower-alpha 2] | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| Helsingin Jääkiekkoklubi (HJK) | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Etelä-Vantaan Urheilijat (EVU) | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| Hämeenlinnan Pallokerho (HPK) | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| HIFK | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Kalevan Pallo (KalPa) | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Itä-Helsingin Kiekko (IHK) | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Saimaan Pallo (SaiPa) | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Vaasan Sport | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Team Kuortane | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Notes:
- Includes record of Espoo Blues, Espoo United, and Espoon Kiekkoseura (EKS)
- Includes record of JyP HT
Finnish Champions by season
| Season |  Champion |
 Runner-up |
 Third Place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982–83 | HJK Helsinki | Ilves Tampere | EVU Vantaa |
| 1983–84 | HJK Helsinki | EVU Vantaa | Ilves Tampere |
| 1984–85 | Ilves Tampere | EVU Vantaa | HJK Helsinki |
| 1985–86 | Ilves Tampere | HJK Helsinki | Vaasan Sport |
| 1986–87 | Ilves Tampere | EVU Vantaa | Shakers Kerava |
| 1987–88 | Ilves Tampere | EVU Vantaa | HIFK Helsinki |
| 1988–89 | EVU Vantaa | Ilves Tampere | HIFK Helsinki |
| 1989–90 | Ilves Tampere | EVU Vantaa | SaiPa Lappeenranta |
| 1990–91 | Ilves Tampere | Shakers Kerava | EKS Espoo[lower-alpha 1] |
| 1991–92 | Ilves Tampere | Shakers Kerava | EKS Espoo[lower-alpha 1] |
| 1992–93 | Ilves Tampere | Shakers Kerava | Kiekko-Espoo |
| 1993–94 | Shakers Kerava | Ilves Tampere | Kiekko-Espoo |
| 1994–95 | Shakers Kerava | Ilves Tampere | KalPa Kuopio |
| 1995–96 | Shakers Kerava | Oulun Kärpät | KalPa Kuopio |
| 1996–97 | JyP HT Jyväskylä[lower-alpha 2] | Shakers Kerava | Kiekko-Espoo |
| 1997–98 | JYP Jyväskylä | Oulun Kärpät | Kiekko-Espoo |
| 1998–99 | Espoo Blues[lower-alpha 1] | JYP Jyväskylä | Ilves Tampere |
| 1999-2000 | Espoo Blues[lower-alpha 1] | Oulun Kärpät | Ilves Tampere |
| 2000–01 | Espoo Blues[lower-alpha 1] | Oulun Kärpät | Ilves Tampere |
| 2001–02 | Espoo Blues[lower-alpha 1] | IHK Helsinki | Oulun Kärpät |
| 2002–03 | Espoo Blues[lower-alpha 1] | Oulun Kärpät | Ilves Tampere |
| 2003–04 | Espoo Blues[lower-alpha 1] | Ilves Tampere | Oulun Kärpät |
| 2004–05 | Espoo Blues[lower-alpha 1] | Ilves Tampere | Oulun Kärpät |
| 2005–06 | Ilves Tampere | Oulun Kärpät | Espoo Blues[lower-alpha 1] |
| 2006–07 | Espoo Blues[lower-alpha 1] | Oulun Kärpät | IHK Helsinki |
| 2007–08 | Espoo Blues[lower-alpha 1] | Ilves Tampere | Oulun Kärpät |
| 2008–09 | Espoo Blues[lower-alpha 1] | Ilves Tampere | HPK Hämeenlinna |
| 2009–10 | Ilves Tampere | Espoo Blues[lower-alpha 1] | HPK Hämeenlinna |
| 2010–11 | HPK Hämeenlinna | Ilves Tampere | Oulun Kärpät |
| 2011–12 | Oulun Kärpät | Ilves Tampere | HPK Hämeenlinna |
| 2012–13 | Espoo Blues[lower-alpha 1] | JYP Jyväskylä | Oulun Kärpät |
| 2013–14 | Espoo Blues[lower-alpha 1] | JYP Jyväskylä | HPK Hämeenlinna |
| 2014–15 | Espoo Blues[lower-alpha 1] | JYP Jyväskylä | Ilves Tampere |
| 2015–16 | JYP Jyväskylä | HPK Hämeenlinna | Espoo Blues[lower-alpha 1] |
| 2016–17 | Oulun Kärpät | Espoo United[lower-alpha 1] | KalPa Kuopio |
| 2017–18 | Oulun Kärpät | Ilves Tampere | Team Kuortane |
| 2018–19 | Espoo Blues[lower-alpha 1] | Ilves Tampere | Oulun Kärpät |
| 2019–20[lower-alpha 3] | Post-season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic. | ||
| 2020–21 | Kiekko-Espoo | KalPa Kuopio | HIFK Helsinki |
| 2021–22 | Kiekko-Espoo | HIFK Helsinki | Oulun Kärpät |
| 2022–23 | HIFK Helsinki | Kiekko-Espoo | KalPa Kuopio |
Notes:
- Included in record of Kiekko-Espoo
- Included in record of JYP
- The 2019–20 Naisten Liiga post-season was cancelled by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association on 12 March 2020, citing public health concerns regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. The Aurora Borealis Cup Finnish Championship finals between Kiekko-Espoo and KalPa and the Finnish Championship bronze medal games between Team Kuortane and Kärpät were scheduled to begin on 14 March 2020. With the cancellation of the season, neither the Aurora Borealis Cup nor any Finnish Championship medals were awarded for the 2019–20 season.[14]
League records
All-time records of the Naisten SM-sarja and Naisten Liiga combined, from 1982–83 through the conclusion of the 2021–22 season.[16][17]
Single-season records
- Most goals in a season: Riikka Sallinen, 73 goals (21 games; 1993–94, Shakers Kerava)
- Most assists in a season: Jenni Hiirikoski, 62 assists (28 games; 2015–16, JYP Jyväskylä)
- Most points in a season: Riikka Sallinen, 129 points (21 games; 1993–94, Shakers Kerava)
- Most points in a season, defenceman: Jenni Hiirikoski, 79 points (29 games; 2015–16, JYP Jyväskylä)
- Best points per game in a season, over ten games played: Riikka Sallinen, 6.14 points per game (129 points in 21 games; 1994, Shakers Kerava)
- Most penalty minutes in a season: Jenna Grönroos, 98 PIM (15 games; 2011–12, LoKV)
Single-playoff records
- Most goals in a playoff: Elisa Holopainen, 19 goals (12 games; 2022, Kiekko-Espoo)
- Most assists in a playoff: Susanna Tapani, 14 assists (6 games; 2015, HPK Hämeenlinna)
- Most points in a playoff: Elisa Holopainen, 29 points (12 games; 2022, Kiekko-Espoo)
- Most points in a playoff, defenceman: Nelli Laitinen, 21 points (10 games; 2022, Kiekko-Espoo)
- Best points per game in a playoff: Riikka Sallinen, 4.40 points per game (22 points in 5 games; 1994, Shakers Kerava)
- Most penalty minutes in a playoff: Marjo Voutilainen, 45 PIM (4 games; 2012, KalPa)
Career records
- Most career games played, skater: Riikka Noronen, 644 games (1995–2022)
- Most career goals: Karoliina Rantamäki, 375 goals (403 games; 1992–2022)
- Most career assists: Riikka Noronen, 447 assists (644 games; 1995–2022)
- Most career points: Riikka Noronen, 775 points (644 games; 1995–2022)
- Best career points per game, over 30 games played: Michelle Karvinen, 3.667 points per game (39 games; 2007–2009)
- Most career points, defenceman: Päivi Virta, 495 points (401 games; 1982–2006)
- Most career penalty minutes: Rosa Lindstedt, 483 PIM (314 games; 2002–2016)
- Most career games played, goaltender: Susanna Airaksinen, 224 games (2009–2022)
- Most shutouts in a career: Tiina Ranne, 29 shutouts (169 games; 2010–2022)
All-time scoring leaders
The top-ten point-scorers in Naisten SM-sarja/Naisten Liiga history. Statistics valid through conclusion of 2021–22 season.[16]
Note: Nat = Nationality; Pos = Position; S = Seasons played; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game; = player active in 2022–23 Naisten Liiga season
| Nat | Player | Pos | S | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Riikka Noronen | F | 27 | 644 | 328 | 447 | 775 | 468 |
|
Karoliina Rantamäki | F | 18 | 403 | 375 | 331 | 706 | 112 |
|
Linda Leppänen | F | 16 | 332 | 360 | 342 | 702 | 176 |
|
Petra Vaarakallio | F | 13 | 286 | 280 | 351 | 631 | 142 |
|
Tiia Reima | F | 20 | 332 | 330 | 272 | 602 | 352 |
|
Marianne Ihalainen | F | 19 | 323 | 320 | 282 | 602 | 152 |
|
Sari Marjamäki | F | 23 | 401 | 339 | 253 | 592 | 158 |
|
Anne Helin | F | 14 | 276 | 327 | 222 | 549 | 260 |
|
Annina Rajahuhta | F | 15 | 325 | 239 | 298 | 537 | 240 |
|
Johanna Koivula | F | 21 | 523 | 205 | 319 | 524 | 337 |
See also
References
- Foster, Meredith (21 March 2017). "Finnish Women's Hockey League Unveils New Name, Logo". The Ice Garden. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
- Finnish Ice Hockey Association, ed. (21 March 2017). "Naisten SM-sarja historiaan - Ensi kaudella pelataan Naisten Liigaa". leijonat.fi (in Finnish). Retrieved 28 June 2019.
- Foster, Meredith (26 March 2019). "The Espoo Blues are the 2019 Aurora Borealis Cup Champions". The Ice Garden. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
- Foster, Meredith (24 March 2017). "Women's Pro Hockey in Finland Tries to Get More Spotlight". The Victory Press. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
- Aykroyd, Lucas (29 March 2019). "Women's Worlds media round-table". International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). Retrieved 28 June 2019.
- Teiskonlahti, Kirsi (11 September 2018). "Naiskiekon arvostus on kasvanut, mutta ihannetilanteeseen on Suomessa vielä pitkä matka – kehitys vaatii hurmosta ja SM-liigaseurojen apua" [Appreciation for women's hockey has increased but it is far from an ideal situation in Finland - development will require funds and assistance from Liiga clubs] (in Finnish). YLE Sport. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
- Hunter, Andria (2008). "Finnish Women's Hockey League Results: 1990-91 to 1994-95". whockey.com. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
- Aaltonen, Juha, ed. (2019). Jääkiekkokirja: Suomen Jääkiekkoliiton ja Liigan Virallinen Kausijulkaisu 2019–2020 [The Ice Hockey Book: The Finnish Ice Hockey Association and Liiga Official Guide & Record Book 2019–2020] (PDF) (in Finnish). Layout by Joonas Ahola. Jääkiekon SM-liiga Oy & Suomen Jääkiekkoliito. Annamedia Oy. ISSN 0784-3321. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- Antila, Pirkka (28 April 2022). "Naisten Liigan, Mestiksen ja Suomi-sarjan pelaamistavat vahvistettu kausille 22-23 ja 23-24". Finnish Ice Hockey Association (in Finnish). Retrieved 15 August 2022.
- "Sarjatoiminta: Sarjojen pelaamistavat miehet, naiset ja A–C nuoret: Kaavio Naisten Sarjat 19-20" (in Finnish). Finnish Ice Hockey Association. June 2019. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
- "Liiga (W)". Elite Prospects. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
- "Compétitions nationales: Finlande hockey féminin 1997-98 to 2014-15". Hockey Archives (in French). Retrieved 6 July 2019.
- "Naisten Liiga details". eurohockey.com. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
- Mennander, Pasi (12 March 2020). "Koronavirus lopettaa Jääkiekkoliiton alaisten sarjojen kauden". leijonat.fi (in Finnish). Finnish Ice Hockey Association. Archived from the original on 24 March 2020. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
- Salmela, Sari; Pelkonen, Johanna (2008). "SM-sarjan historiaa vuosilta 1982 - 2008" [History of the SM-sarja from 1982 to 2008]. leijonat.fi (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 6 September 2008. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
- Suomen Jääkiekkoliitto; Jääkiekkon SM-liiga Oy (2020). Aaltonen, Juha (ed.). Jääkiekkokirja 2021: Suomen Jääkiekkoliiton ja Liiga Kausijulkaisu 2020–2021 [Ice Hockey Book 2021: The Finnish Ice Hockey Association and Liiga Guide & Record Book 2020–2021] (PDF) (in Finnish). Helsinki: Uusi Suomi/Kiekkolehti. p. 237. ISSN 0784-3321.
- "Naisten Liiga (W) - All-time totals". Elite Prospects. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
External links
- Official website (in Finnish)
- League information and statistics from EliteProspects.com and EuroHockey.com and HockeyArchives.info (in French)