2019–20 Naisten Liiga season

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.

2019–20 Naisten Liiga season
LeagueNaisten Liiga
SportIce hockey
Duration7 September 2019 – 12 March 2020
Number of games30
Number of teams10 in Preliminary series
12 in Divisional series
Regular Season
Season championsKiekko-Espoo
Runners-upOulun Kärpät
Top scorer Saila Saari (Oulun Kärpät)
Aurora Borealis Cup
Championsnot awarded

The season was cancelled by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association on 12 March 2020 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. With the cancellation of the remainder of the season, the 2019–2020 season became the first and only Naisten Liiga season in which the Finnish Championship was not awarded.[1]

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. In order 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.[2]

Preliminary series

The preliminary series (Finnish: Alkusarja) is 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, regulation wins earn three points, overtime wins earn 2 points, overtime losses earn 1 point, and no points are awarded for regulation losses. The points earned in the opening series determine which division a team will be sorted for the continuation of the season.

Divisional series

In the divisional series, the teams are grouped into two divisions of six teams. Each division is played as a double round-robin, each team plays a total of ten games. The top six ranked teams in the preliminary series qualify for the Upper Division (Finnish: Ylempi jatkosarja). Upper Division teams are guaranteed placement in the playoffs; the points earned in the ten divisional series games are added to the points totals from the preliminary series and used to establish the teams' playoff berths, from first to sixth.

The bottom four teams in the opening series move on to the Lower Division (Finnish: Alempi jatkosarja), where they are joined by the top two teams from the Cross-Qualifiers (Finnish: Ristiinkarsinta) of the Naisten Mestis, the league directly below Naisten Liiga. The Lower Division teams compete for the seventh and eighth seed positions in the playoffs; only the top two ranked teams from the Lower Division earn places in the playoffs. Unlike the in Upper Division, all Lower Division teams start the divisional series with zero points, only points earned in the series are considered when the teams are ranked.

Qualifying series

The Lower Division teams ranked third through sixth continue on to the qualifying series (Finnish: Karsintasarja). The points earned in the six qualifying series games are added to the points totals from the Lower Division divisional series. The two teams with the highest point totals qualify for the 2020–21 Naisten Liiga season, the two lower ranked teams are relegated to the Naisten Mestis for the following season.

Teams
Location of teams in Naisten Liiga 2019–20
Team name Full team name Location Head coach Home venue Captain
HIFK Stadin Gimmat or HIFK Naiset Helsinki Saara Niemi Malmin jäähalli Karoliina Rantamäki
HPK Hämeenlinnan Pallokerho Kiekkonaiset Hämeenlinna Katja Pasanen Metritriski Areena Riikka Noronen
Ilves Tampereen Ilves Naiset Tampere Ville Tolvanen Tesoman jäähalli Johanna Juutilainen
KalPa Kalevan Pallo Naiset Kuopio Marjo Voutilainen Olvi Areena Emma Ritari
Kiekko-Espoo Kiekko-Espoo Naiset Espoo Sami Haapanen Tapiolan harjoitussaree Minttu Tuominen
Kärpät Oulun Kärpät Naiset Oulu Janne Salmela Oulun Energia Areena Saila Saari
Lukko Rauman Lukko Naiset Rauma Marko Toivonen Kivikylän Areena Maija Koski
Sport Vaasan Sport Naiset Vaasa Marko Haapala Vaasan Sähkö Areena Elina Ojala
Team Kuortane Team Kuortane Kuortane Mira Kuisma Kuortaneen jäähalli Emilia Vesa
TPS Turun Palloseura Naiset Turku Matti Tähkäpää Marli Areena Minni Lehtopelto

Teams promoted from the Naisten Mestis to the Lower Division

Team name Full team name Location Head coach Home venue Captain
APV Alavuden Peli-Veikot Naiset Alavus Noora Mäkiranta Alavus Areena Pirjetta Turunen
RoKi Rovaniemen Kiekko Naiset Rovaniemi Tuomas Liitola Lappi Areena Ella Lahtela

Regular season

Preliminaries

Series was played from 7 September to 24 November 2019. Top six teams advanced to the Upper Division (Finnish: Ylempi jatkosarja), while teams ranking sixth through tenth progressed to the Lower Division (Finnish: Alempi jatkosarja).

Pos Team Pld W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Final Result
1 Kiekko-Espoo 20 18 1 1 0 120 36 +84 57 Advance to Upper Division
2 KalPa 20 13 1 2 4 96 41 +55 43
3 HPK 20 13 0 3 4 85 67 +18 42
4 Team Kuortane 20 11 3 1 5 85 52 +33 40
5 Kärpät 20 11 3 0 6 54 35 +19 39
6 Ilves 20 8 2 2 8 56 54 +2 30
7 HIFK 20 6 2 3 9 65 61 +4 25 Advance to Lower Division
8 TPS 20 3 1 1 15 40 82 −42 12
9 Lukko 20 2 0 0 18 28 98 −70 6
10 Sport 20 2 0 0 18 35 139 −104 6
Updated to match(es) played on 30 November 2019. Source: Leijonat

Divisional series

Upper Division

Pos Team Pld W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Final Result
1 Kiekko-Espoo 30 20 3 2 5 145 60 +85 68 Advance to Quarterfinals
2 Kärpät 30 19 3 1 7 90 53 +37 64
3 KalPa 30 17 4 2 7 124 60 +64 61
4 HPK 30 18 1 4 7 109 71 +38 60
5 Team Kuortane 30 14 4 2 10 106 100 +6 52
6 Ilves 30 9 2 5 14 77 95 −18 36
Updated to match(es) played on 2 February 2020. Source: Leijonat

Lower Division

Pos Team Pld W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Final Result
1 HIFK 10 9 0 0 1 59 13 +46 27 Advance to Quarterfinals
2 Sport 10 5 2 1 2 38 30 +8 20
3 Lukko 10 3 2 1 4 29 30 −1 14 Proceed to Qualification series
4 RoKi 10 3 1 2 4 35 37 −2 13
5 TPS 10 2 3 1 4 21 28 −7 13
6 APV 10 0 0 3 7 11 55 −44 3
Updated to match(es) played on 2 February 2020. Source: Leijonat

Playoffs

The Naisten Liiga 2019–2020 Playoffs began 22 February 2020.

Bracket
  Quarterfinal                    
  1 Kiekko-Espoo 3  
  8 Sport 0   Semifinal
      1 Kiekko-Espoo 3  
  Quarterfinal   5 Team Kuortane 0  
  4 HPK 2
  5 Team Kuortane 3         Finals
              SF1 Kiekko-Espoo  
  Quarterfinal             SF2 KalPa  
  3 KalPa 3      
  6 Ilves 0   Semifinal   Bronze medal series
      3 KalPa 3   SF3 Kärpät  
  Quarterfinal   2 Kärpät 2     SF4 Team Kuortane  
  2 Kärpät 3
  7 HIFK 0  

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.[3]

Player Team GP G A Pts
Elisa Holopainen KalPa 20 26 22 48
Matilda Nilsson KalPa 19 19 24 43
Viivi Vainikka Team Kuortane 20 21 18 39
Emmi Rakkolainen Kiekko-Espoo 20 10 26 36
Minttu Tuominen Kiekko-Espoo 20 18 16 34
Annina Rajahuhta Kiekko-Espoo 20 17 17 34
Kiira Yrjänen Team Kuortane 20 18 14 32
Tanja Niskanen KalPa 16 14 18 32
Riikka Noronen HPK 20 16 19 31
Anniina Kaitala HPK 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.[4]

Player Team GP G A Pts
Saila Saari Kärpät 10 6 10 16
Elisa Holopainen KalPa 10 11 3 14
Tanja Niskanen KalPa 10 9 5 14
Viivi Vainikka Team Kuortane 10 7 6 13
Nelli Salomäki Kärpät 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.[5]

Player Team GP G A Pts
Emmanuelle Passard HIFK 10 11 11 22
Karoliina Rantamäki HIFK 9 8 11 19
Susanna Viitala Sport 8 9 8 17
Noora Mylläri Sport 10 9 8 17
Caroline Shaunessy HIFK 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.[6]

Player Team GP TOI W L GA SO SV% GA60
Tiina Ranne KalPa 12 721:41 10 2 24 2 .939 2.00
Anni Keisala Ilves 15 828:13 5 5 30 3 .939 2.17
Johanna Oksman Kärpät 10 605:51 5 3 18 2 .939 1.78
Susanna Airaksinen Kärpät 10 599:39 5 3 14 4 .936 1.40
Isabella Portnoj TPS 16 958:49 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.[7]

Player Team GP TOI W L GA SO SV% GA60
Salla Sivula HPK 5 297.58 4 1 5 1 .970 1.01
Iina Kuusela KalPa 3 177.12 2 1 5 0 .955 1.69
Tiina Ranne KalPa 5 302:32 3 1 9 0 .951 1.78
Susanna Airaksinen Kärpät 3 179:05 2 1 4 1 .949 1.34
Johanna Oksman Kärpät 5 300:00 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.[8]

Player Team GP TOI W L GA SO SV% GA60
Sanni Ahola HIFK 4 240:00 3 0 4 1 .961 1.00
Johanna Niemi Lukko 6 334:46 2 1 7 0 .957 1.25
Lumi Jääskeläinen HIFK 5 278:37 3 1 4 3 .953 0.86
Riikka Oinonen TPS 7 417:24 2 2 18 0 .929 2.59
Melisa Mörönen Sport 8 489:26 3 1 20 3 .927 2.45

Awards

Finnish Ice Hockey Association awards

Source: Finnish Ice Hockey Association[9]

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

Source: Finnish Ice Hockey Association[9]

Naisten Liiga Player of the Month

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
  1. Mennander, Pasi (March 12, 2020). "Koronavirus lopettaa Jääkiekkoliiton alaisten sarjojen kauden". leijonat.fi (in Finnish). Finnish Ice Hockey Association. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  2. "Sarjatoiminta: Sarjojen pelaamistavat miehet, naiset ja A–C nuoret: Kaavio Naisten Sarjat 19-20" (in Finnish). Finnish Ice Hockey Association. June 2019. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
  3. "2019–2020 Naisten Liiga Pistepörssi". tilastopalvelu.fi (in Finnish). Finnish Ice Hockey Association. Retrieved January 24, 2020.
  4. "2019–2020 Naisten Liiga Ylempi Jatkosarja Pistepörssi". tilastopalvelu.fi (in Finnish). Finnish Ice Hockey Association. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
  5. "2019–2020 Naisten Liiga Alempi Jatkosarja Pistepörssi". tilastopalvelu.fi (in Finnish). Finnish Ice Hockey Association. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
  6. "2019–2020 Naisten Liiga: Naisten Liiga: Maalivahtitilastot". tilastopalvelu.fi. Finnish Ice Hockey Association. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
  7. "2019–2020 Naisten Liiga: Ylempi jatkosarja: Maalivahtitilastot". tilastopalvelu.fi. Finnish Ice Hockey Association. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
  8. "2019–2020 Naisten Liiga: Alempi jatkosarja: Maalivahtitilastot". tilastopalvelu.fi. Finnish Ice Hockey Association. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
  9. Mennander, Pasi (March 23, 2020). "Naisten Liigan kauden 2019–20 palkitut pelaajat ja tähtikentät". leijonat.fi (in Finnish). Finnish Ice Hockey Association. Retrieved March 23, 2020.
  10. Mennander, Pasi (October 2, 2019). "KalPan Matilda Nilsson Naisten Liigan syyskuun pelaaja". leijonat.fi (in Finnish). Finnish Ice Hockey Association. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
  11. Mennander, Pasi (November 1, 2019). "Team Kuortaneen Kiira Yrjänen Naisten Liigan lokakuun pelaaja". leijonat.fi (in Finnish). Finnish Ice Hockey Association. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
  12. Mennander, Pasi (December 3, 2019). "Kiekko-Espoon Emmi Rakkolainen Naisten Liigan marraskuun pelaaja". leijonat.fi (in Finnish). Finnish Ice Hockey Association. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
  13. Mennander, Pasi (January 8, 2020). "HIFK:n Emmanuelle Passard Naisten Liigan joulukuun pelaaja". leijonat.fi (in Finnish). Finnish Ice Hockey Association. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
  14. Mennander, Pasi (February 4, 2020). "Team Kuortaneen Viivi Vainikka Naisten Liigan tammikuun pelaaja". leijonat.fi (in Finnish). Finnish Ice Hockey Association. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
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