The 2019–20 Naisten Liiga season was the thirty-seventh season of the Naisten Liiga, the premier level of women's ice hockey in Finland, since the league’s establishment in 1982.
On 12 March 2020, the Finnish Ice Hockey Association cancelled the postseason in response to public health concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 Aurora Borealis Cup Final between Kiekko-Espoo and KalPa was scheduled to begin on 14 March 2020. As a result of the cancellation, the 2019–20 season became the first and only Naisten Liiga season to date in which the Finnish Championship was not awarded.
League changes Season format The season format designated for the 2019–20 season was a modified version of the format established for the 2018–19 season. While the opening series remained unchanged, the divisional series was expanded to six teams in each division. To fill the two empty slots of the Lower Division, two teams from the Naisten Mestis were added to the Liiga for the divisional series and onward. The playoff format was modified to account for the increased number of teams; eight teams would qualify for the playoffs rather than the previous six. This change allowed for a traditional single-elimination tournament to be played from the quarterfinal stage rather than having the top two teams automatically progress to the semifinal round.
Preliminaries
The preliminaries () are played as a double round-robin plus a two-game Opening Weekend Tournament; each of the ten teams plays a total of twenty matches. Points are awarded by match outcome: three points for a regulation win, two points for an overtime win, one point for an overtime loss, and no points/zero points for a regulation loss. The points earned in the opening series determine which division a team will be placed in for the continuation of the season.
Regular season
The regular season, also called the upper division series (), is played by the top six teams from the preliminaries. Like the preliminaries, the series is played as a double round-robin, with each team playing a total of ten games. All six teams in the regular season are guaranteed placement in the playoffs; the cumulative points earned in the thirty games of the preliminaries and regular season are used to establish the teams' playoff berths, from first to sixth. Only points scored in the upper division series are considered when determining the players who will receive the Marianne Ihalainen Award, for most regular season points earned, and the Tiia Reima Award, for most regular season goals scored; players in the lower division series are ineligible for the awards.
Lower division series
The bottom four teams from the preliminary series move on to the lower division series (), where they are joined by the top two teams from the cross-qualifiers () of the Naisten Mestis, the league directly below Naisten Liiga. The lower division series teams compete for the seventh and eighth seed positions in the playoffs; only the top two ranked teams from the lower division earn placement in the playoffs. Unlike the regular season/upper division series, all lower division teams start with zero points; only points earned in the series are considered when the teams are ranked.
Qualifiers
The lower division teams ranked third through sixth continue on to the qualifiers (). The points earned in the six qualifying series games are added to the points totals from the lower division series. The two teams with the highest point totals qualify for the following Naisten Liiga season, the two lower ranked teams are relegated to or remain in the Naisten Mestis for the following season.
Teams
Team nameFull team nameLocationHead coachHome venueCaptainHIFK Stadin Gimmat or HIFK Naiset HelsinkiSaara NiemiMalmin jäähalliKaroliina RantamäkiHPKHämeenlinnan Pallokerho Kiekkonaiset HämeenlinnaKatja PasanenMetritriski AreenaRiikka NoronenIlvesTampereen Ilves Naiset TampereVille TolvanenTesoman jäähalliJohanna JuutilainenKalPaKalevan Pallo Naiset KuopioMarjo VoutilainenOlvi AreenaEmma RitariKiekko-EspooKiekko-Espoo Naiset EspooSami HaapanenTapiolan harjoitussareeMinttu TuominenKärpätOulun Kärpät Naiset OuluJanne SalmelaOulun Energia AreenaSaila SaariLukkoRauman Lukko Naiset RaumaMarko ToivonenKivikylän AreenaMaija KoskiSportVaasan Sport Naiset VaasaMarko HaapalaVaasan Sähkö AreenaElina OjalaTeam KuortaneTeam Kuortane KuortaneMira KuismaKuortaneen jäähalliEmilia VesaTPSTurun Palloseura Naiset TurkuMatti TähkäpääMarli AreenaMinni LehtopeltoTeams promoted from the Naisten Mestis to the Lower DivisionAPVAlavuden Peli-Veikot Naiset AlavusNoora MäkirantaAlavus AreenaPirjetta TurunenRoKiRovaniemen Kiekko Naiset RovaniemiTuomas LiitolaLappi AreenaElla Lahtela
Regular season Preliminaries Series was played from 7 September to 24 November 2019. Top six teams advanced to the Upper Division (), while teams ranking sixth through tenth progressed to the Lower Division ().
Divisional series Upper Division
Lower Division
Playoffs The Naisten Liiga 2019–2020 Playoffs began 22 February 2020.
Bracket
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Statistics
Scoring leaders Preliminary series
The following players led the league in points at the conclusion of the preliminary series on 24 November 2019.
Player Team KalPa 20 26 22 48KalPa 19 19 24 43Team Kuortane 20 21 18 39Kiekko-Espoo 20 10 26 36Kiekko-Espoo 20 18 16 34Kiekko-Espoo 20 17 17 34Team Kuortane 20 18 14 32KalPa 16 14 18 32HPK 20 16 19 31HPK 20 11 18 29
Divisional series
The following players led the Upper Division in regular season points at the conclusion of the series on 2 February 2020.
Player TeamKärpät 10 6 10 16KalPa 10 11 3 14KalPa 10 9 5 14Team Kuortane 10 7 6 13Kärpät 10 4 9 13
The following players led the Lower Division in regular season points at the conclusion of the series on 2 February 2020.
Player TeamHIFK 10 11 11 22HIFK 9 8 11 19Sport 8 9 8 17Sport 10 9 8 17HIFK 10 3 14 17
Leading goaltenders
Preliminary series
The following goaltenders led the league in save percentage at the conclusion of the preliminary series on 24 November 2019, while starting at least one third of matches.
Player Team KalPa 12 10 2 24 2 .939 2.00 Ilves 15 5 5 30 3 .939 2.17 Kärpät 10 5 3 18 2 .939 1.78 Kärpät 10 5 3 14 4 .936 1.40 TPS 16 3 9 58 1 .929 3.63
Divisional series
The following goaltenders led the Upper Division in regular season save percentage at the conclusion of match(es) on 29 January 2020, while starting at least one third of matches.
Player Team HPK 5 4 1 5 1 .970 1.01 KalPa 3 2 1 5 0 .955 1.69 KalPa 5 3 1 9 0 .951 1.78 Kärpät 3 2 1 4 1 .949 1.34 Kärpät 5 4 0 9 0 .940 1.80
The following goaltenders led the Lower Division in regular season save percentage at the conclusion the series on 2 February 2020, while starting at least one third of matches.
Player Team HIFK 4 3 0 4 1 .961 1.00 Lukko 6 2 1 7 0 .957 1.25 HIFK 5 3 1 4 3 .953 0.86 TPS 7 2 2 18 0 .929 2.59 Sport 8 3 1 20 3 .927 2.45
Awards
Finnish Ice Hockey Association awards
Riikka Nieminen Award (Best Player): Tanja Niskanen, KalPa Tuula Puputti Award (Best Goaltender): Johanna Oksman, Kärpät Päivi Halonen Award (Best Defenceman): Nelli Laitinen, Kiekko-Espoo Katja Riipi Award (Best Forward): Elisa Holopainen, KalPa Noora Räty Award (Best Rookie): Krista Parkkonen, HIFK Sari Fisk Award (Best Plus/Minus): Matilda Nilsson, KalPa Marianne Ihalainen Award (Regular season most points): Saila Saari, Kärpät Tiia Reima Award (Regular season most goals): Elisa Holopainen, KalPa Emma Laaksonen Award (Fair-Play Player): Viivi Vainikka, Team Kuortane Student Athlete Award: Tanja Koljonen, Ilves U18 Student Athlete Award: Nelli Laitinen, Kiekko-Espoo Hannu Saintula Award (Coach of the Year): Marjo Voutilainen, KalPa Karoliina Rantamäki Award (MVP of the Playoffs): not awarded Anu Hirvonen Award (Best Referee): Johanna Tauriainen Johanna Suban Award (Best Linesman): Johanna Oksanen
Source: Finnish Ice Hockey Association
2019–20 Naisten Liiga All-Stars
All-Star Team Goaltender: Johanna Oksman, Kärpät Defenceman: Nelli Laitinen, Kiekko-Espoo Defenceman: Minttu Tuominen, Kiekko-Espoo Winger: Elisa Holopainen, KalPa Center: Tanja Niskanen, KalPa Winger: Matilda Nilsson, KalPa
All-Star Team II Goaltender: Tiina Ranne, KalPa Defenceman: Isa Rahunen, Kärpät Defenceman: Kreetta Kulhua, Ilves Winger: Kiira Yrjänen, Team Kuortane Center: Viivi Vainikka, Team Kuortane Winger: Ida Karjalainen, HPK
Source: Finnish Ice Hockey Association
Naisten Liiga Player of the Month
September 2019: Matilda Nilsson, KalPa October 2019: Kiira Yrjänen, Team Kuortane November 2019: Emmi Rakkolainen, Kiekko-Espoo December 2019: Emmanuelle Passard, HIFK January 2020: Viivi Vainika, Team Kuortane
Milestones
On 20 October 2019, HPK forward and captain Riikka Noronen scored her 703rd career point, surpassing Linda Välimäki's record and taking sole possession of first on the all-time career points list On 24 November 2019, Lukko forward and captain Maija Koski played her 100th Naisten Liiga game
References
External links Naisten Liiga official website (in Finnish)