The 1982–83 Naisten SM-sarja season was the first season of the

Naisten SM-sarja The is the national premier league for women's ice hockey in Finland. Founded by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association as the Naisten Suomen mestaruus, SM-sarja (NSMs; ) in 1982, it was known as the Naisten Liiga (NSML;) from 2017 until being rebr ...

, the premier league of women's

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. The inaugural

Finnish Champion In Finland, the (SM; ) is the winner of the highest level of national competition in a particular sport. (), abbreviated , is the competition in which the winning athlete, team, or club is named Finnish Champion. is commonly used when discuss ...

s in women's ice hockey were

HJK Helsinki Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (), commonly known as HJK Helsinki (), or simply as HJK (), is a Finnish football club based in Helsinki. The club competes in Veikkausliiga, the top division of the Finnish football league system. Founded in 1907, the ...

, winners of the 1983 Naisten SM-sarja final tournament. Finnish Championship silver was won by

Ilves Tampere Tampereen Ilves, commonly known as Ilves, (; Finnish for "Lynx") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Nokia Arena. The colors of Ilves, green, yellow, and black, were taken from what was the ...

and bronze by EVU Vantaa.

Season format

The ten teams were divided into two groups of five, called Lohko A () and Lohko B (). The groups were closed in the regular season and played as

double round-robin A round-robin tournament or all-play-all tournament is a competition format in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn.''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1971, G. & ...

s. Every team played against the other four teams in their group twice for a total of eight games. Two points were awarded for a win and one point for a tie. The top two teams from the groups qualified for the final tournament.

Teams

Lohko A comprised the four teams located outside of the

Uusimaa Uusimaa (; , ; both lit. 'new land') is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme), and Kymenlaakso. Finland's capital and largest city, Helsinki, alo ...

region –

Ilves Tampereen Ilves, commonly known as Ilves, (; Finnish language, Finnish for "Eurasian lynx, Lynx") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Nokia Arena (Tampere), Nokia Arena. The colors of Ilves, ...

Tampere Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . It is the most populous mu ...

, SaiPa in

Lappeenranta Lappeenranta (; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of South Karelia. It is located in the southeastern interior of the country and in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Lappeenranta is approximately , while the Lappeenranta sub-r ...

, Tiikerit in

Hämeenlinna Hämeenlinna (; ; ; or ''Croneburgum'') is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Kanta-Häme. It is located in the southern interior of the country and on the shores of Vanajavesi, Lake Vanajavesi. The population of Hämeenlinna is appr ...

, and

Ässät Ässät or Ässä may refer to: *HC Ässät Pori Oy, Finnish sports club **Porin Ässät (men's ice hockey) **Porin Ässät (women's ice hockey) **Porin Ässät (men's football) **PATA (esports) *, Finnish band from Oulu *S Group, Finnish Consumer ...

Pori Pori (; ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Satakunta. It is located on the west coast of the country, on the Gulf of Bothnia. The population of Pori is approximately , while the Pori sub-region, sub-region has a population of a ...

– and the northern-most team in Uusimaa,

Haukat The Jääurheiluseura Hawks, commonly known as the Haukat ('Hawks'), is a men's ice hockey team in the Suomi-sarja, the third-tier professional ice hockey league in Finland. The team is based in Järvenpää, in the Uusimaa region of southern F ...

Järvenpää Järvenpää (; , ; ) is a town in Finland, located in the southern interior of the country. Järvenpää is situated in the centre of the Uusimaa region in the immediate vicinity of Lake Tuusula. The population of Järvenpää is approximately ...

, The five teams of Lohko B were situated across four municipalities of the

Greater Helsinki Helsinki metropolitan area (, ) or Greater Helsinki (, ) is the metropolitan area around Helsinki, the capital city of Finland. It also includes the smaller Helsinki capital region, capital region. The terms Helsinki metropolitan area, Greater H ...

metropolitan area: Jäähonka in

Espoo Espoo (, ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located to the west of the capital, Helsinki, in southern Uusimaa. The population is approximately . It is the most populous Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. Espoo is part of the Helsi ...

Shakers The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, more commonly known as the Shakers, are a Millenarianism, millenarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian sect founded in England and then organized in the Unit ...

Kerava Kerava (; ) is a town in Finland, located in the southern interior of the country. Kerava is situated in the centre of the Uusimaa region. The population of Kerava is approximately . It is the most populous Municipalities of Finland, municipality ...

, Etelä-Vantaan Urheilijat (EVU) in

Vantaa Vantaa (; , ) is a city in Finland. It is located to the north of the capital, Helsinki, in southern Uusimaa. The population of Vantaa is approximately . It is the most populous municipality in Finland. Vantaa is part of the Helsinki Metropoli ...

, and both

HIFK HIFK, the Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna, Helsingfors (IFK, Helsingfors) rf (officially abbreviated IFK Helsingfors, colloquially often Helsingfors IFK or Helsingin IFK) is a multi-sport association based in Helsinki, Finland. Formed in 1897 on ...

and

Helsingin Jääkiekkoklubi Helsingin Jääkiekkoklubi () or HJK for short is an ice hockey club located in Helsinki, Finland. The team was formed in 1972 when the ice hockey department of Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi was disestablished, but they are considered as different cl ...

(HJK) in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

. Source:

Regular season

Lohko A

Ilves swept all eight games to claim first place in Lohko A with 16 points. In an unexpected twist, Tiikerit and Ässät were tied in second place at the end of the regular season with ten points, identical win-loss records, and a

goal difference Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches ar ...

of exactly +22 each. As only two teams were able to progress to the final tournament, Tiikerit and Ässät played a sudden death match to qualify for the final tournament, which Tikkerit won 7–6. Both SaiPa and Haukat found no success against the top three teams in Lohko A, splitting their two-game regular season series to win one game each.

Game record

The largest goal difference recorded in a single game during the 1982–83 season was amassed by Ilves in their match against Haukat in Tampere, in which Ilves scored 28 goals in a

shutout In team sports, a shutout (North American English, US) or clean sheet (Commonwealth English, UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketba ...

. Ilves also recorded the second largest single-game goal difference in their match against SaiPa in Lappeenranta, scoring 23 goals in a shutout.

Player statistics

Anne Bäckman of Ässät was the top regular season scorer of Lohko A and the league overall, tallying an astounding 42 points in 7 games at a blistering clip of 6 points per game. Her league-leading 33 goals accounted for over half of the 62 goals scored for Ässät and were 25 goals ahead of the next highest Ässät goal-scorer. With the addition of her 9 assists, she was involved in two-thirds of all goals scored for Ässät. Jaana Rautavuoma of Ilves finished the season ranked second in Lohko A and the league overall with 29 goals and league-leading 13 assists for 42 points in 8 games. As would be expected for the team that swept the season, Ilves dominated the scoring table with six players ranked in the top ten. Ässät and Tiikerit were represented in the top ten by two players each. Source:

Lohko B

EVU were the top team of Lohko B, winning seven of eight games to finish the regular season with 14 points. HJK placed second with 11 points from five wins and one tied game. In general, the teams of Lohko B exhibited greater parity than those of Lohko A; no team in Lohko B achieved a sweep and the goal difference for the top four teams spanned just 28 goals, compared to a 97 goal span across the top three teams of Lohko A. The exception were the Shakers, who did not win a single game in the season and amassed a goal differential of -124, the worst in the league.

Game record

The largest goal differential amassed in a single Lohko B game was amassed by HJK in their home game against the Shakers, in which HJK recorded 18 goals in a shutout.

Player statistics

Jaana Ikonen of Jäähonka was the top point scorer in Lohko B, logging 12 goals and 10 assists for 22 points in 8 games. Sirkka-Liisa Pesonen of HIFK led Lohko B in goals, netting 15 goals in 8 games. Reflecting the greater parity of the group, four of five teams in Lohko B were represented in the top ten scoring chart. With only two goals recorded on the season – scored by Taina Kiljunen and Raija Kallio – the Shakers were the only team not represented in the scoring top ten. Source:

Final tournament

The Finnish Championship final tournament was played during 12 and 13 March 1983 in Tampere.

Game record

Player statistics

Source:

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:1982-83 Naisten SM-sarja season Naisten Liiga (ice hockey) seasons