The 2021–22 Naisten Liiga season is the thirty-ninth season of the Naisten Liiga, the premier level of women's

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, since the league's establishment as the Naisten SM-sarja in 1982. The season began on 11 September 2021.

League business

Offseason

HPK Kiekkonaiset team transfer

In June 2021, it was announced that the HPK Kiekkonaiset team would be transferred to HPK Liiga Oy, owner of the Liiga team

HPK Hämeenlinnan Pallokerho (HPK) is a professional ice hockey team in the Liiga, the top men's ice hockey league in Finland. Their home ice is the Ritari-areena in Hämeenlinna. HPK was established in 1929. The parent club of the team is HPK Edu ...

and the

U20 SM-sarja The U20 SM-sarja ('Under-20 Finnish Championship Series') is the premier junior men’s ice hockey league in Finland. It was previously known as the A-nuorten SM-sarja ('Junior A Finnish Championship Series') during 1945 to 1991 and the Nuorten ...

team HPK U20. HPK Kiekkonaiset had previously been a part of the HPK-affiliated

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

club HPK Edustusjääkiekko Ry, a non-profit association. According to Antti Toivanen, CEO of HPK Liiga Oy and general manager of the HPK men's team, the move was motivated by an interest in capitalizing on the growing women's ice hockey market, which was highlighted by the record crowds that attended the 2019 IIHF Women's World Championship in

Espoo Espoo (, ; sv, Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärvi ...

. Jorma Hassinen, general manager of HPK Kiekkonaiset, expressed hope that the transfer would allow female players to develop with the same opportunities as their male counterparts.

Coaching changes

Player signings of note

Incoming Intra-league transfers League departures

Teams

Preliminary series

The preliminary series began on 11 September and concluded on 12 December 2021. The Finnish Ice Hockey Association opted to use the points per game ranking system first implemented in the 2020–21 season to allow for the potential of cancelled matches due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. Some games in the preliminary series were rescheduled, however, each team was able to play all twenty matches. The top six ranked teams will advance to the regular season, also called the upper division series (), while teams ranking seventh through tenth will progress to the lower division series ().

Standings

Official ranking Teams were officially ranked by average points per game with ties broken by greater number of games played, followed by best goal difference, then greater number of goals.

Schedule

Player statistics

Scoring leaders The following players led the league in points at the conclusion of games played on 12 December 2021. The following skaters were the top point scorers of teams not represented in the scoring leader table at the conclusion of the preliminary series, noted with their overall league scoring rank: *22. Johanna Juutilainen ( F),

KalPa Kalevan Pallo (KalPa) is a professional ice hockey team which competes in the Finnish Liiga. They play in Kuopio, Finland at the Olvi Areena. Team history Established in 1929 as ''Sortavalan Palloseura'' in Sortavala, the club relocated to Kuop ...

: 18 GP, 6 G, 13 A, 19 Pts, 4 PIM *25. Jenna Heitala ( F), RoKi: 19 GP, 11 G, 6 A, 17 Pts, 6 PIM *27. Susanna Viitala ( F),

Sport Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

: 16 GP, 10 G, 6 A, 16 Pts, 2 PIM * 49. Riikka Noronen ( F),

: 19 GP, 2 G, 10 A, 12 Pts, 40 PIM Goaltenders The following goaltenders lead the league in

save percentage Save percentage (often known by such symbols as SV%, SVS%, SVP, PCT) is a statistic in various goal-scoring sports that track saves as a statistic. In ice hockey and lacrosse, it is a statistic that represents the percentage of shots on goal ...

at the conclusion of the preliminary series on 12 December 2021, while starting at least one third of matches. Vaasan Sport was the only team not represented in the top goaltenders table at the conclusion of the preliminary series. Sport’s best goaltender was Oona Mäki, who played in thirteen games and recorded a .860 save percentage and 7.38 goals against average.

References

External links

Naisten Liiga official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Naisten Liiga season 2021-22 2021–22 2021–22 in women's ice hockey Liiga Naiset 2021–22 in European ice hockey leagues Current ice hockey seasons