The 2020–21 season was the thirty-eighth season of the , Finland's elite women's ice hockey 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 league qualification series () had not been completed. At the time of cancellation, Lukko Naiset 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 but it was still possible for either RoKi Naiset or TPS Naiset to qualify. Recognizing that it would be unfair to relegate either RoKi or TPS, the Finnish Ice Hockey Association 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 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 +Team2019–202020–21 DetailsOff–seasonHPK KiekkonaisetKatja PasanenMari SaarinenPasanen was fired by GM Jorma Hassinen after HPK lost in the 2019–20 Naisten Liiga quarterfinals, despite having what Hassinen believed to be the fourth-best roster in team history. Saarinen was promoted from assistant coach to head coach shortly thereafter. Saarinen retired from playing in 2012 and previously served as head coach of Ilves Naiset during the 2016–17 and 2017–18 seasons.Tampereen Ilves NaisetVille TolvanenLinda Välimäki LeppänenIn February 2020, Ilves announced Välimäki Leppänen had signed as head coach of Ilves Naiset for the 2020–21 season. Välimäki Leppänen retired from playing in 2019 and served as director of Ilves' girls' hockey department for several years prior to her appointment as head coach of the women's team.Mid-seasonLukko NaisetMarko ToivonenSami PiilikangasToivonen resigned in late November and assistant coach Piilikangas assumed head coaching duties on 24 November.Vaasan Sport NaisetMarko HaapalaSusanne UppgårdHealth issues prompted Haapala to step away from his role as head coach and assistant coach Uppgård took his place on 1 December 2020.TPS NaisetMatti TähkäpääKai OrtioTähkäpää was relieved and replaced by assistant coach Kai Ortio on 11 February 2021. At the time of the coaching change, TPS had five remaining games in the regular season and were guaranteed a playoff berth. Ortio previously served as head coach to men's junior teams of TUTO Hockey in the U18 Mestis and U20 Mestis.
Teams
Team Location Home venue Head coach Captain Stadin Gimmator HIFK Naiset Helsinki Helsingin jäähalli Saara Niemi Karoliina Rantamäki HPK Kiekkonaiset Hämeenlinna Metritriski Areena Mari Saarinen Riikka Noronen Ilves Naiset Tampere Tesoman jäähalli Linda Leppänen Anna Kilponen KalPa Naiset Kuopio Olvi Areena Marjo Voutilainen Emma Ritari Kiekko-Espoo Naiset Espoo Tapiolan harjoitussareena Sami Haapanen Annina Rajahuhta Kärpät Naiset Oulu Oulun Energia Areena Janne Salmela Suvi Käyhkö Lukko Naiset Rauma Kivikylän Areena Sami Piilikangas Maija Koski RoKi Naiset Rovaniemi Lappi Areena Tuomas Liitola Jenna Pirttijärvi Sport Naiset Vaasa Vaasan Sähkö Arena Susanne Uppgård Pauliina Suoniemi Team Kuortane Kuortane Kuortaneen jäähalli Mira Kuisma Anna-Lotta Räsänen TPS Naiset Turku Marli Areena Kai Ortio Elina HeikkinenTeam promoted from the Naisten Mestis to the lower division JYP Naiset Jyväskylä Jyväskylän harjoitusjäähall Joni Aho Zaida Holmström
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 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
Team 1 K-Espoo 2.50 2KalPa 2.44 3HIFK 2.16 4TPS 1.89 5Ilves 1.79 6HPK 1.79
Team 7 Kuortane 1.29 8Kärpät 1.21 9RoKi 1.05 10Lukko 0.18 11Sport 0.00
Statistics Scoring leaders
The following players led the league in points at the conclusion of the preliminaries on 29 November 2020.
PlayerTeam1KalPa1832225442TPS18182240513HIFK1915203544KalPa1511203165K-Espoo16111930106Ilves19171128207HPK199182768TPS1715112669HIFK191015252210K-Espoo171212241611HIFK141014240
Leading goaltenders
The following goaltenders lead the league in save percentage at the conclusion of the preliminaries on 29 November 2020, while starting at least one third of matches.
Player Team 1K-Espoo 6 4 2 108 5 3 .956 0.952Ilves 14 8 4 450 27 2 .943 1.913KalPa 9 7 1 226 16 2 .934 1.774HPK 8 5 3 245 18 0 .932 2.255Kuortane 10 5 4 368 29 1 .927 3.066KalPa 7 5 2 172 14 2 .925 2.007Kuortane 8 2 6 271 23 1 .922 3.068RoKi 8 4 4 253 22 0 .920 3.239HIFK 10 7 3 302 27 1 .918 2.6610Kärpät 12 4 8 355 32 1 .917 2.6610HPK 8 3 4 244 22 0 .917 2.72
Regular season The ten-game Naisten Liiga regular season, 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 + Team 1 K-Espoo 2.41 2KalPa2.24 3HIFK2.11 4Ilves1.68 5HPK1.59 6TPS1.44
Statistics Scoring leaders
The following players led the league in points at the conclusion of the regular season on 28 February 2021.
PlayerTeam1HIFK 8 7 6 13 02KalPa 7 3 10 13 03KalPa 7 8 4 12 44K-Espoo 8 7 4 11 25HIFK 8 3 8 11 06KalPa 7 7 3 10 67Ilves 9 3 6 9 08Ilves 9 5 3 8 89HPK 7 4 4 8 210Ilves 9 5 2 7 811K-Espoo 9 4 3 7 2
Leading goaltenders
The following goaltenders lead the league in save percentage at the conclusion of the regular season on 27 February 2021, while starting at least one third of matches.
Player Team 1KalPa 5 3 2 156 10 1 .940 2.022Ilves 8 3 3 293 19 0 .939 2.353HPK 5 1 3 218 16 0 .932 3.154HIFK 5 3 2 133 10 1 .930 2.015HPK 5 2 2 168 13 0 .928 2.566TPS 6 0 3 190 19 0 .909 3.387K-Espoo 8 5 1 151 16 1 .904 2.188TPS 5 1 4 104 23 0 .819 6.72
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, 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 + Team 1 Kärpät 2.40 2 Kuortane 2.30 3 RoKi 2.20 4 Lukko 0.90 5 Sport 0.80 6 JYP 0.40 Statistics Scoring leaders
The following players led the lower division in points at the conclusion of the series on 28 February 2021.
PlayerTeam1Kuortane10881622Sport 10 9 6 15 23Kuortane 10 6 9 15 44Kärpät 7 7 6 13 05RoKi 10 5 8 13 26Kuortane 9 9 3 12 147Kärpät 10 4 8 12 08Kärpät 9 4 7 11 89Sport104711410Kärpät 10 3 8 11 411Lukko1073100
Leading goaltenders
The following goaltenders lead the lower division in save percentage at the conclusion of the series on 28 February 2021, while starting at least one third of matches.
Player Team 1Kärpät 6 5 1 132 5 3 .964 0.842Kuortane 5 3 1 151 8 0 .950 1.613Kuortane 4 3 1 94 6 1 .940 1.524RoKi 9 6 3 248 18 1 .932 2.055Kärpät 4 3 1 71 7 1 .910 1.756Lukko 7 2 5 203 22 0 .902 3.497Lukko 4 1 2 127 14 0 .901 3.828JYP 6 1 5 211 25 0 .894 4.689JYP 4 0 4 160 21 0 .884 5.3410Sport 9 3 6 269 39 1 .873 4.36
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.