Naisten Liiga (ice hockey)

For the women's association football league previously called Naisten Liiga, see Kansallinen Liiga.

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.

Naisten Liiga

Current season, competition or edition: 2023–24 Naisten Liiga season
Formerly	Naisten SM-sarja 1982–2017
Sport	Ice hockey
Founded	1982 (1982)
Inaugural season	as Naisten SM-sarja, 1982–83 as Naisten Liiga, 2017–18
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

 

 

HIFK

 

HPK

 

Ilves

 

KalPa

 

K-Espoo

 

Kärpät

 

RoKi

 

Kuortane

 

TPS

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Location of teams in the Naisten Liiga

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	Sanna Lankosaari	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 Ässät (Pori), 1982–1995 EVU (Vantaa), 1982–1990 Haukat (Järvenpää), 1982–83 HJK (Helsinki), 1982–1986 Jäähonka (Espoo), 1982–1984 SaiPa (Lappeenranta), 1982–1992 Shakers (Kerava), 1982–1985 & 1986–1996 Tiikerit (Hämeenlinna), 1982–1984, 1987–88 & 1989–90 Kiekko-Vesa (Raahe), 1983–1985 Teräs-Kiekko (Raahe), 1983–1985 Ilves-Kiekko (Tampere), 1984–1987 & 1988–1990 Ketterä (Imatra), 1984–85 & 1991–1993 StU (Savitaipale), 1984–85

1990s Karhut (Joensuu) JoKP, 1992–1994 Kiekko-Karhut, 1994–1997 Karhut, 1997–98 Tappara (Tampere), 1993–94 & 1997–2008 JyP HT (Jyväskylä) JyP HT, 1989–1997 JYP, 1997–2000 IHK (Helsinki), 1998–2009 K-Kissat (Helsinki), 1999–2002

2000s JyHC (Jyväskylä) JyHC, 1996–2004 Cats, 2004–2009 JYP, 2009–2016 & 2020–21 KS Noux (Espoo), 2002–03 Y-Ilves (Ylöjärvi), 2002–2004 Team China, 2005–2007 LoKV (Lohja), 2008–2012 Salo HT (Salo), 2008–2013 APV (Alavus), 2009–10, 2019–20 & 2021–22 KJT (Kerava) KJT, 2013–2018 KJT Haukat, 2018–19 Sport (Vaasa), 2018–2022 Lukko (Rauma), 2016–2021 & 2022–23

Sources:^[7][8]

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

Further information: Ice hockey

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 2022–23 Naisten Liiga season

Team
Kiekko-Espoo^[a]	16	3	8
Tampereen Ilves	10	12	6
Oulun Kärpät	3	7	8
Shakers Kerava	3	4	1
JYP Jyväskylä^[b]	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:

1. Includes record of Espoo Blues, Espoo United, and Espoon Kiekkoseura (EKS)
2. Includes record of JyP HT

Sources:^[11][12][13]

Finnish Champions by season

 

Naisten Liiga logo, 2017–2020

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^[a]
1991–92	Ilves Tampere	Shakers Kerava	EKS Espoo^[a]
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^[b]	Shakers Kerava	Kiekko-Espoo
1997–98	JYP Jyväskylä	Oulun Kärpät	Kiekko-Espoo
1998–99	Espoo Blues^[a]	JYP Jyväskylä	Ilves Tampere
1999-2000	Espoo Blues^[a]	Oulun Kärpät	Ilves Tampere
2000–01	Espoo Blues^[a]	Oulun Kärpät	Ilves Tampere
2001–02	Espoo Blues^[a]	IHK Helsinki	Oulun Kärpät
2002–03	Espoo Blues^[a]	Oulun Kärpät	Ilves Tampere
2003–04	Espoo Blues^[a]	Ilves Tampere	Oulun Kärpät
2004–05	Espoo Blues^[a]	Ilves Tampere	Oulun Kärpät
2005–06	Ilves Tampere	Oulun Kärpät	Espoo Blues^[a]
2006–07	Espoo Blues^[a]	Oulun Kärpät	IHK Helsinki
2007–08	Espoo Blues^[a]	Ilves Tampere	Oulun Kärpät
2008–09	Espoo Blues^[a]	Ilves Tampere	HPK Hämeenlinna
2009–10	Ilves Tampere	Espoo Blues^[a]	HPK Hämeenlinna
2010–11	HPK Hämeenlinna	Ilves Tampere	Oulun Kärpät
2011–12	Oulun Kärpät	Ilves Tampere	HPK Hämeenlinna
2012–13	Espoo Blues^[a]	JYP Jyväskylä	Oulun Kärpät
2013–14	Espoo Blues^[a]	JYP Jyväskylä	HPK Hämeenlinna
2014–15	Espoo Blues^[a]	JYP Jyväskylä	Ilves Tampere
2015–16	JYP Jyväskylä	HPK Hämeenlinna	Espoo Blues^[a]
2016–17	Oulun Kärpät	Espoo United^[a]	KalPa Kuopio
2017–18	Oulun Kärpät	Ilves Tampere	Team Kuortane
2018–19	Espoo Blues^[a]	Ilves Tampere	Oulun Kärpät
2019–20^[c]	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:

1. Included in record of Kiekko-Espoo
2. Included in record of JYP
3. 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]

Sources:^{[11][12][13][15]}

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

Points

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

• Women's ice hockey in Finland
• Finland women's national ice hockey team
• Swedish Women's Hockey League

References

1. Foster, Meredith (21 March 2017). "Finnish Women's Hockey League Unveils New Name, Logo". The Ice Garden. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
2. 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.
3. Foster, Meredith (26 March 2019). "The Espoo Blues are the 2019 Aurora Borealis Cup Champions". The Ice Garden. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
4. Foster, Meredith (24 March 2017). "Women's Pro Hockey in Finland Tries to Get More Spotlight". The Victory Press. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
5. Aykroyd, Lucas (29 March 2019). "Women's Worlds media round-table". International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). Retrieved 28 June 2019.
6. 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.
7. Hunter, Andria (2008). "Finnish Women's Hockey League Results: 1990-91 to 1994-95". whockey.com. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. "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.
11. "Liiga (W)". Elite Prospects. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
12. "Compétitions nationales: Finlande hockey féminin 1997-98 to 2014-15". Hockey Archives (in French). Retrieved 6 July 2019.
13. "Naisten Liiga details". eurohockey.com. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
14. Mennander, Pasi (12 March 2020). "Koronavirus lopettaa Jääkiekkoliiton alaisten sarjojen kauden". leijonat.fi (in Finnish). Finnish Ice Hockey Association. from the original on 24 March 2020. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
15. Salmela, Sari; Pelkonen, Johanna (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.
16. 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.
17. "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)