The Lahti Pelicans Naiset, commonly referred to as the Lahden Pelicans Naiset, ('Lahti's Pelicans Women') or simply the Pelicans Naiset, are an ice hockey team in the Auroraliiga. They play at Wemasto Areena in Lahti, the capital city of the Päijät-Häme region in southern-central Finland. The team was promoted from the Naisten Mestis to the Auroraliiga in the 2026 postseason and the 2026–27 Auroraliiga season will mark the Pelicans' debut in the Finnish Championship (SM) league.
History Pelicans Naiset was reestablished in 2020 by Junior-Pelicans ry, a youth and recreational ice hockey association affiliated with the Pelicans men's professional team in the Liiga. The new team was built on the foundation laid by the Pelicans 2000 Naiset, which had played in the Naisten Suomi-sarja and Naisten Mestis from 2006 until disbanding in 2016 due to player shortages.
The reconstituted team was coached by Martti Rask, who had previously coached the Pelicans 2000 to a silver medal finish in the 2015–16 Naisten Mestis season. The team practiced at SOL Arena in Lahti but their homve venue was (also known as HAT-areena) in neighboring Hollola.
The 2020–21 season was cancelled due to public health concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic after the Pelicans had played (and lost) twelve qualification games. Rask was joined behind the bench by Kari Eloranta in the 2021–22 season as the team did not qualify for the Naisten Mestis regular season after ranking fourth of five teams in ('Group 1') of the Naisten Mestis qualification and continued in the Naisten Suomi-sarja regular season.
In May 2022, Janne Saarinen was announced as the team's new head coach to replace Martti Rask. Mikko Kurkela joined the coaching team and Henri Hänninen was appointed goaltending coach along with Saarinen,
Under Saarinen, the team continued to generate middling results, as they did not earn Naisten Mestis qualification and finished the 2022–23 Naisten Suomi-sarja season in fourth place. They improved to a second place finish in the 2023–24 Naisten Suomi-sarja season before losing the bronze medal match in the league playoffs.
was appointed new head coach in May 2024 on a two season contract. He came to the team with nearly a decade of experience across the 2000s and 2010s as an assistant coach with men's Liiga teams and having served for many years as head coach of Mestis and U20 SM-sarja teams. After stepping away from coaching in 2017, he returned in 2022 as an assistant coach in the Austrian women's national program, working with the national team and under-18 national team.
The first season with Hiirvonen at the helm was an enormous success in which the team won nineteen of their 21 games in the Naisten Suomi-sarja regular season and claimed first place in the league. Pelicans went on to sweep the Naisten Mestis qualification series in the postseason and to earn promotion to the second-tier league.
Pelicans entered the 2025–26 Mestis season with the goal of promotion to the Auroraliiga. After achieving 25 wins in 28 games during the regular season, they beat Lukko in the playoff finals to win the Mestis championship title and earnd placement in the Auroraliiga qualification series. Pelicans then faced RoKi, the last place team from the Auroraliiga regular season, in the best-of-five qualification series and earned promotion to the Auroraliiga in a three game sweep.
Season-by-season results The following table lists all seasons completed by the Pelicans since the team's re-establishment in 2020.
SeasonLeagueQualification series and regular seasonPostseason results Finish GP W OTW T OTL L GF GA Pts Top scorer 2020–21 Naisten Mestis 6th 12 0 1 2 9 14 55 4 E. Ojapalo 7 (2+5) Naisten Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic 2021–22 Naisten Mestis 4th 16 4 1 1 10 33 50 15 K. Koskinen 11 (9+2) Naisten 2nd 12 7 0 5 51 22 14 E. Ojapalo 20 (6+14) Did not qualify for playoffs2022–23 Naisten Mestis 4th 16 5 1 1 9 43 67 18 M. Huvinen 13 (8+5) Naisten 4th 12 7 1 4 55 23 15 J. Saari 19 (15+4) Did not qualify for playoffs 2023–24 Naisten 2nd GP W T L GF GA Pts M. Huvinen 41 (19+22) Did not qualify for playoffs 2024–25 Naisten 1st 21 19 1 1 118 21 39 J. Sten 31 (17+14) align="left" 2025–26Naisten Mestis1st28 23 2 rowspan="2" 1 2 108 38 74 J. Andersson 30 (11+19) Won championship vs Lukko, align="left"
Players and personnel 2026–27 roster
Coaching staff and team personnel Head coach: Assistant coach: Lauri Valkeamäki Assistant coach: Lucia Záborská Goaltending coach: Hanna Mäkinen
Team captaincy history Eliina Ojapalo, 2020–2022 Iida Puttonen, 2023–24 Paula Palmroos, 2024–25 Mia Huvinen, 2025–26
Head coaches Martti Rask, 2020–2022 Janne Saarinen, 2022–2024 Petteri Hirvonen, 2024–
References
External links Team information and statistics from and