2020–21 Naisten Liiga Season
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The 2020–21 season was the thirty-eighth season of the , Finland's elite 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 ...
league, since the league's creation in 1982. The season began, as scheduled, on 5 September 2020, making the Naisten Liiga the first women's national ice hockey league in Europe and, quite likely, in the world to return to play for the 2020–21 season.


League business


Number of teams

When the 2019–20 Naisten Liiga season was cancelled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, the league qualification series () had not been completed. At the time of cancellation,
Lukko Naiset Lukko/PaRa is an ice hockey team in the Naisten Mestis. They are based in Rauma, Finland, Rauma, a port city on the southwestern coast of Finland, and play at the Eurajoen jäähalli in Eurajoki. The team was formed in May 2024 via a cooperation ...
had amassed an unreachable points advantage and secured their place in the Naisten Liiga and APV Naiset had been mathematically relegated to the
Naisten Mestis Naisten Mestis (; from , 'Championship series') is the second-highest women's national ice hockey league in Finland. Founded as the Naisten I-divisioona () in 1985 by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association, when the number of teams playing in the Au ...
but it was still possible for either RoKi Naiset or
TPS Naiset Turun Palloseura Naiset (), abbreviated TPS Naiset, are an ice hockey team in the Finnish Auroraliiga. They play in Turku, Southwest Finland at the Kupittaan jäähalli and . The team has played in the Auroraliiga, the Finnish Champion, Finnish ...
to qualify. Recognizing that it would be unfair to relegate either RoKi or TPS, the
Finnish Ice Hockey Association The Finnish Ice Hockey Association (, ) is the sport governing body, governing body of ice hockey in Finland. Since the late 1980s, Finland has enjoyed a period of success on the international stage and, , the Finland men's national ice hockey t ...
announced that both teams would participate in the 2020–21 Naisten Liiga season, increasing the number of teams in the preliminary round from ten to eleven.


League placement rankings

In an effort to account for expected cancellations of some matches due to COVID-19 safety protocols, the Finnish Ice Hockey Association announced league rankings would be determined by the average
points per game Points per game, often abbreviated PPG, is the average number of points scored by a player or team per game played in a sport, over the course of a series of games, a whole season, or a career. It is calculated by dividing the total number of poi ...
of each team rather than the absolute point total traditionally used. For example, a team with two wins in two games played (6 points total, average 3.0) ranks higher in the league table than a team with four wins, one overtime loss, and one regulation loss (13 points total, average 2.17).


Coaching changes


Teams


Preliminary series

The addition of another team necessitated slight modification of the season format introduced for the 2019–20 season. With eleven participating teams, the twenty-game preliminary series () was played strictly as a double round-robin without the addition of the two extra Opening Weekend Tournament games typically needed. The preliminaries were scheduled to be played during 5 September to 13 December 2020. The season began as scheduled on 5 September 2020, making the Naisten Liiga the first women's national ice hockey league in Europe – and, quite possibly, in the world – to return to play for the 2020–21 season. The first game of the season saw Ilves Tampere beat TPS Turku 4–3 in
overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...
at Tesoman jäähalli. On 1 December 2020, an emergency meeting of the Finnish Ice Hockey Association was held in response to a significant rise in cases and hospitalizations related to the COVID-19 pandemic in Finland during the preceding weeks. It was ultimately determined that all leagues under the Association's administration would suspend play from 2 to 31 December 2020, including the Naisten Liiga. The Naisten Liiga was expected to begin the regular season and lower division series in January, as outlined in the original season schedule, though the Finnish Ice Hockey Association expressed a desire to stage the games postponed during the period of suspended activity when play resumed. Later in December, it was decided that Naisten Liiga teams would not attempt to play the games missed during the pause and would instead proceed directly to the regular season. With this determination, 29 November 2020 retroactively became the last day of the preliminary series, as it was the last day in which Naisten Liiga games were contested before the suspension.


Standings

Kiekko-Espoo and KalPa, the two teams from the cancelled 2020 Aurora Borealis Cup final, continued to dominate the league in the preliminaries, ranking first and second at the conclusion of the series. Less expected were the third and fourth ranked teams, HIFK and TPS, which had both played in the lower division during the previous season and TPS had very nearly been eliminated in the 2020 qualifiers. Both teams were bolstered in the 2020–21 season by an influx of international talent. Kiekko-Espoo were the regular season champions for the third consecutive season. Official ranking


Statistics

Scoring leaders The following players led the league in points at the conclusion of the preliminaries on 29 November 2020. Leading 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 (sports), goal-scoring sports that track Save (goaltender), saves as a statistic. In ice hockey and lacrosse and association football, it is a sta ...
at the conclusion of the preliminaries on 29 November 2020, while starting at least one third of matches.


Regular season

The ten-game Naisten Liiga
regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...
, also called the upper division series (), is played by the six top-ranked teams from the preliminary series. Following the December stoppage, play resumed on 8 January 2021. The decision was made to begin the regular season (upper and lower divisional series) rather than attempt to makeup the games missed during the pause, resulting in teams with seventeen to nineteen games played at the conclusion of the preliminaries. As the league had already adopted the use of points per game for league rankings, the impact of dropping the missed games on the remainder of the season was negligible.


Standings

Official ranking


Statistics

Scoring leaders The following players led the league in points at the conclusion of the regular season on 28 February 2021. Leading 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 (sports), goal-scoring sports that track Save (goaltender), saves as a statistic. In ice hockey and lacrosse and association football, it is a sta ...
at the conclusion of the regular season on 27 February 2021, while starting at least one third of matches.


Lower division series

The lower division series () was modified to be played by the five lowest-ranked teams from the preliminary series, rather than the standard four, and the top team from the cross-qualifiers () of the
Naisten Mestis Naisten Mestis (; from , 'Championship series') is the second-highest women's national ice hockey league in Finland. Founded as the Naisten I-divisioona () in 1985 by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association, when the number of teams playing in the Au ...
, rather than the top-two from the cross-qualifiers, to account for the additional Naisten Liiga team. The series was originally scheduled to be played during 16 January to 21 February 2021 but was ultimately played during 9 January to 28 February 2021.


Standings

Official ranking


Statistics

Scoring leaders The following players led the lower division in points at the conclusion of the series on 28 February 2021. Leading goaltenders The following goaltenders lead the lower division in
save percentage Save percentage (often known by such symbols as SV%, SVS%, SVP, PCT) is a statistic in various Goal (sports), goal-scoring sports that track Save (goaltender), saves as a statistic. In ice hockey and lacrosse and association football, it is a sta ...
at the conclusion of the series on 28 February 2021, while starting at least one third of matches.


Playoffs


Qualification series

Two teams from the 2020 qualification series, RoKi and Lukko, returned to the relegation tournament in 2021, joined by Vaasan Sport, the eighth seed of the 2020 playoffs, and JYP, the team promoted mid-season to the lower division series. After amassing 22 points and a 2.20 points average in the lower division series, RoKi needed just one three-point (regulation) victory in the qualification series to amass an unbeatable point advantage and retain their place in the Naisten Liiga. They earned the necessary three points in the first match of the series, against JYP. Skaters Moona Keskisarja and Jenna Pirttijärvi both ranked in the top ten of the series for point totals and their goaltender with the best save percentage was Olivia Last, at .910, and best goals against average was Janita Haapasaari, with 2.50. JYP had very little hope of qualifying for the 2021–22 Naisten Liiga season, after concluding the lower division series with just four points in ten games. Over the six games of the qualification series, they were able to collect points only in one overtime victory and two overtime losses and were conclusively relegated to the Naisten Mestis. Their top point scorer was Anna Vanhala, one of four remaining players from 2015–16 JYP roster that won the Finnish Championship, and their best goaltender was Juuli Kivimäki. The second qualifying position was hotly contested by Lukko and Sport, as the teams came out of the lower division series with only one point separating them.


Standings

Official ranking


Results


Statistics

Scoring leaders The following players led scoring in the qualification series at the conclusion of the series on 21 March 2021. Leading goaltenders The following goaltenders played at least one match in the qualification series, sorted by
save percentage Save percentage (often known by such symbols as SV%, SVS%, SVP, PCT) is a statistic in various Goal (sports), goal-scoring sports that track Save (goaltender), saves as a statistic. In ice hockey and lacrosse and association football, it is a sta ...
.


Awards and honours


Finnish Ice Hockey Association awards

* Riikka Nieminen Award (Player of the Year): Elisa Holopainen, KalPa * Tuula Puputti Award (Best goaltender): Anni Keisala, Ilves * Päivi Halonen Award (Best defenceman): Nelli Laitinen, Kiekko-Espoo * Katja Riipi Award (Best forward): Elisa Holopainen, KalPa *
Noora Räty Award The Noora Räty Award () is an ice hockey trophy awarded to the Rookie of the Year of the Naisten Liiga (ice hockey), Naisten Liiga (previously the Naisten SM-sarja), as selected by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association. Rookie of the Year was first ...
(Rookie of the Year): Anna-Kaisa Antti-Roiko, Kärpät *
Marianne Ihalainen Award The Marianne Ihalainen Award () an ice hockey trophy seasonally awarded by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association to the regular season top point scorer of the Auroraliiga, known as the Naisten Liiga during 2017 to 2024, and as the Naisten SM-sarja ...
(Top point scorer): Michaela Pejzlová, HIFK * Tiia Reima Award (Top goal scorer): Matilda Nilsson, KalPa * Sari Fisk Award (Best plus/minus): Emilia Vesa, Kiekko-Espoo * Emma Laaksonen Award (Fair-play player): Johanna Juutilainen, KalPa * Student Athlete Award: Anni Hietaharju, HIFK * U18 Student Athlete Award: Nea Tervonen, Kuortane * Hannu Saintula Award (Coach of the Year): Saara Niemi, HIFK * Karoliina Rantamäki Award (MVP of the Playoffs): Tiia Pajarinen, Kiekko-Espoo * Anu Hirvonen Award (Best referee): Anniina Nurmi * Johanna Suban Award (Best linesman): Tiina Saarimäki Source: Finnish Ice Hockey Association, ''Jääkiekkokirja 2022'' Czech forward Michaela Pejzlová of HIFK Naiset claimed the
Marianne Ihalainen Award The Marianne Ihalainen Award () an ice hockey trophy seasonally awarded by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association to the regular season top point scorer of the Auroraliiga, known as the Naisten Liiga during 2017 to 2024, and as the Naisten SM-sarja ...
as regular season scoring champion, the first international player to ever win a league award. KalPa Naiset winger Matilda Nilsson was the top goalscorer of the regular season and became the second KalPa player to receive the Tiia Reima Award.


All-Star Teams

All-Star Team * Goaltender: Anni Keisala, Ilves * Defenceman: Nelli Laitinen, Kiekko-Espoo * Defenceman: Anna Kilponen, Ilves * Winger: Elisa Holopainen, KalPa * Center:
Estelle Duvin Estelle Duvin (born 1 February 1997) is a French ice hockey centre and alternate captain of the French national team, currently playing in the Swiss Women's League (SWHL A) with SC Bern Frauen. Playing career Duvin attended the University o ...
, TPS * Winger: Matilda Nilsson, KalPa All-Star Team II * Goaltender: Tiina Ranne, KalPa * Defenceman: Athéna Locatelli, HIFK * Defenceman: Krista Parkkonen, HIFK * Winger: Emilia Vesa, Kiekko-Espoo * Center: Michaela Pejzlová, HIFK * Winger: Jenna Suokko, Ilves Source: Finnish Ice Hockey Association, ''Jääkiekkokirja 2022''


Player of the Month

* September 2020: Elisa Holopainen ( F), KalPa Kuopio * October 2020: Nelli Laitinen ( D), Kiekko-Espoo * November 2020: Estelle Duvin (F), TPS Turku * December 2020: ''not awarded (no games played)'' * January 2021: Anni Keisala ( G), Ilves Tampere * February 2021: Emilia Vesa (F), Kiekko-Espoo


Milestones

* On 19 September 2020, HPK forward and captain Riikka Noronen played her 600th game in the Naisten Liiga, becoming the first player in league history to reach the milestone. * On 17 January 2021, Ilves forward Emilia Varpula and KalPa defenceman Eveliina Nurmi played their 200th games in the Naisten Liiga.


References


External links


Naisten Liiga official website
(in Finnish) {{DEFAULTSORT:2020-21 Naisten Liiga season Naisten Liiga (ice hockey) seasons Naisten Liiga season, 2020–21 Naisten Liiga season, 2020–21 Naisten Liiga season, 2020–21 2020–21 in women's ice hockey leagues