2020–21 Naisten Liiga season

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2020–21 Naisten Liiga season
League Naisten Liiga
Sport Ice hockey
Duration Preliminaries
5 September – 29 November
Regular season
8 January – 28 February
Playoffs
3 March – 25 March
Number of games 25–29
Number of teams 11 in Preliminary series
6 in Regular season, 6 in Lower division series
TV partner(s) Ruutu+
Regular Season
' Kiekko-Espoo
Runners-up KalPa Kuopio
Season MVP Elisa Holopainen (KalPa)
Top scorer Michaela Pejzlová (HIFK)
Promoted from Lower division series JYP Jyväskylä
Relegated to 2021–22 Naisten Mestis JYP Jyväskylä
Lukko Rauma
Aurora Borealis Cup Playoffs
Aurora Borealis Cup Playoffs MVP Tiia Pajarinen
Finals champions Kiekko-Espoo
  Runners-up KalPa Kuopio

The 2020–21 Naisten Liiga season was the thirty-eighth season of the Naisten Liiga, 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 to return to play for the 2020–21 season.

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.[1][2]

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.[3] 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.[4]

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.

Pos Team Pld W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Placement
1 Kiekko-Espoo 18 15 0 0 3 88 24 +64 45 Regular season
2 KalPa 18 14 1 0 3 94 34 +60 44
3 HIFK 19 11 4 0 4 77 42 +35 41
4 TPS 18 10 1 2 5 75 55 +20 34
5 Ilves 19 9 2 3 5 60 42 +18 34
6 HPK 19 10 1 2 6 62 48 +14 34
7 Team Kuortane 17 7 0 1 9 50 52 −2 22 Lower division
8 Kärpät 19 7 0 2 10 65 56 +9 23
9 RoKi 19 6 1 0 12 34 82 −48 20
10 Lukko 17 1 0 0 16 26 108 −82 3
11 Sport 17 0 0 0 17 16 104 −88 0

Official ranking

Pos Team PpG
1 K-Espoo 2.50
2 KalPa 2.44
3 HIFK 2.16
4 TPS 1.89
5 Ilves 1.79
6 HPK 1.79

Pos Team PpG
7 Kuortane 1.29
8 Kärpät 1.21
9 RoKi 1.05
10 Lukko 0.18
11 Sport 0.00

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.

Pos Team Pld W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Postseason placement
1 Kiekko-Espoo 27 21 1 0 5 124 46 +78 65 Playoff quarterfinals
2 KalPa 25 18 1 0 6 121 51 +70 56
3 HIFK 27 16 4 1 6 104 59 +45 57
4 Ilves 28 12 3 5 8 83 66 +17 47
5 HPK 29 13 2 3 11 85 78 +7 46
6 TPS 27 11 2 2 12 91 97 −6 39

Standings

Official ranking

Pos Team PpG
1 K-Espoo 2.41
2 KalPa 2.24
3 HIFK 2.11
4 Ilves 1.68
5 HPK 1.59
6 TPS 1.44

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.[1]

Standings

Pos Team Pld W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Postseason placement
1 Kärpät 10 8 0 0 2 47 12 +35 24 Playoff quarterfinals
2 Team Kuortane 10 7 1 0 2 33 17 +16 23
3 RoKi 10 7 0 1 2 31 21 +10 22 Qualifiers
4 Lukko 10 3 0 0 7 21 37 −16 9
5 Sport 10 2 1 0 7 28 44 −16 8
6 JYP 10 1 0 1 8 23 52 −29 4

Official ranking

Pos Team PpG
1 Kärpät 2.40
2 Kuortane 2.30
3 RoKi 2.20
4 Lukko 0.90
5 Sport 0.80
6 JYP 0.40


Playoffs

  Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
                           
  1  Kiekko-Espoo 2  
8  Team Kuortane 0  
  1  Kiekko-Espoo 3  
  4  Ilves Tampere 1  
4  Ilves Tampere 2
  5  HPK Hämeenlinna 0  
    1  Kiekko-Espoo 3
  1  KalPa Kuopio 1
  2  KalPa Kuopio 2  
7  Kärpät Oulu 0  
2  KalPa Kuopio 3
  3  HIFK Helsinki 2  
3  HIFK Helsinki 2
  6  TPS Turku 0  

Quarterfinals

The best-of-three quarterfinals began on 3 March 2021 and were scheduled to be continued on 6 March with a third 7 March, if necessary. Home ice advantage was granted to the higher seeded teams for the first and potential third games. Each of the four quarterfinal series concluded in two game sweeps in favor of the higher seeded teams.

(1) Kiekko-Espoo vs. (8) Team Kuortane

Kiekko-Espoo earned the first seed after winning the regular season title with 2.41 points per game, marking the team's third consecutive regular season victory, and finished with 65 points in 27 games.[1] Team Kuortane defeated RoKi Rovaniemi in the last game on the last day of the season to claim second place in the lower division series and secure the eighth seed.[5] The teams last met in the 2019–20 Aurora Borealis Cup semifinals, which Kiekko-Espoo won in three games.[2] They faced one another only once during the 2020–21 season, a 5–3 victory for Kiekko-Espoo on 14 November 2020. Game times in Eastern European Time (UTC+02:00)

3 March 2021
19:05 		Kiekko-Espoo 4–2
(2–2, 2–0, 0–0) 		Team Kuortane Tapiolan harjoitusareena, Espoo
6 March 2021
15:30 		Team Kuortane 0–6
 Kiekko-Espoo Kuortaneen jäähalli, Kuortane

(2) KalPa vs. (7) Kärpät

KalPa Kuopio secured the second seed after completing the regular season with 2.24 points per game (56 points in 25 games), propelled by the elite production of forwards Elisa Holopainen, who scored 32 goals and 22 assists (54 points) in 18 games of the qualifiers to rank first in every scoring metric of the series, and Matilda Nilsson, the regular season goal scoring champio], who tallied 8 goals in 7 regular season (upper division) games.[1] Kärpät Oulu topped the lower division standings to secure the seventh seed with 24 points in 10 games. The teams last met in the 2019–20 Aurora Borealis Cup semifinals, which Kiekko-Espoo won in three games.[2] KalPa won both games in this season's series during the Naisten Liiga qualifiers. Game times in Eastern European Time (UTC+02:00)

3 March 2021
18:30 		KalPa Kuopio 3–2
(2–1, 1–0, 0–1) 		Kärpät Oulu Niiralan Monttu, Kuopio
6  2021 (2021-03-06)
12:30 		Kärpät Oulu 4–5
(0-2, 1-1, 3-1, 0-1) 		KalPa Kuopio Raksilan jäähalli, Oulu

(3) HIFK vs. (6) TPS

Having gained promotion to the Naisten Liiga just two seasons prior, HIFK Helsinki continued their meteoric rise to finish third in the regular season with 2.11 points per game (57 points in 27 games). TPS Turku concluded the season with 1.44 points per game (39 points in 27 games) to finish sixth in the regular season and secure the team's first appearance in the playoffs – an impressive return after narrowly avoiding relegation in the previous season.[6] HIFK won three of four matchups during the 2020–21 season. HIFK forward Michaela Pejzlová, the regular season scoring champion, scored 9 points in the season series with TPS. Game times in Eastern European Time (UTC+02:00)

3  2021 (2021-03-03)
19:00 		HIFK Helsinki 3–0
(2-0, 1-0, 0-0) 		TPS Turku Malmin jäähalli, Helsinki
6 March 2021
13:20 		TPS Turku 2–4
(0-1, 0-1, 2-2) 		HIFK Helsinki Kupittaan jäähalli, Turku

(4) Ilves vs. (5) HPK

Ilves Tampere earned the fourth seed after finishing the season with 47 points in 28 games for a 1.68 points percentage and HPK Hämeenlinna earned the fifth seed after finishing the season with 46 points in 29 games for a 1.59 points percentage. This was the first quarterfinal match-up between the two teams since 2015 and their fourth playoff match-up in ten seasons. HPK won two of the three previous series, including defeating Ilves in the 2011 Aurora Borealis Cup final. HPK won three of four games in this year's season series.[7][8][9][10]

Game times in Eastern European Time (UTC+02:00)

3  2021 (2021-03-03)
19:15 		Ilves Tampere 1–0
(1-0, 0-0, 0-0) 		HPK Hämeenlinna Tesoman jäähalli, Tampere
6 March 2021
14:00 		HPK Hämeenlinna 0–2
(0-0, 0-0, 0-2) 		Ilves Tampere Jääliikuntakeskus Hakio, Hämeenlinna

Semifinals

(1) Kiekko-Espoo vs. (4) Ilves

Game times in Eastern European Time (UTC+02:00)

9 March 2021
19:05 		Kiekko-Espoo 2–0
(0-0, 1-0, 1-0) 		Ilves Tampere Tapiolan harjoitusareena, Espoo
11 March 2021
19:15 		Ilves Tampere 0–2
(0-2, 0-0, 0-0) 		Kiekko-Espoo Tesoman jäähalli, Tampere
13 March 2021
17:45 		Kiekko-Espoo 2–3 SO
(1-0, 1-2, 0-0, 0-0, 1-0) 		Ilves Tampere Tapiolan harjoitusareena, Espoo
14 March 2021
12:15 		Ilves Tampere 1–2
(1-0, 0-1, 0-1) 		Kiekko-Espoo Tesoman jäähalli, Tampere

(2) KalPa vs. (3) HIFK

Game times in Eastern European Time (UTC+02:00)

9 March 2021
13:00 		KalPa Kuopio 3–7
(1-3, 2-2, 0-2) 		HIFK Helsinki Niiralan Monttu, Kuopio
11 March 2021
19:15 		HIFK Helsinki 5–2
(1-0, 2-0, 2-2) 		KalPa Kuopio Malmin jäähalli, Helsinki
13 March 2021
12:00 		KalPa Kuopio 6–2
(2-2, 1-0, 3-0) 		HIFK Helsinki Niiralan Monttu, Kuopio
14 March 2021
16:00 		HIFK Helsinki 1–3
(0-0, 1-2, 0-1) 		KalPa Kuopio Malmin jäähalli, Helsinki
17 March 2021
18:30 		KalPa Kuopio 3–1
(0-0, 2-0, 1-1) 		HIFK Helsinki Niiralan Monttu, Kuopio

Bronze medal game

[11]

 20, 2021 (2021-03-20)
15:30 		HIFK Helsinki 2–1
(2-1, 0-0, 0-0) 		Ilves Tampere Malmin jäähalli, Helsinki

Finals

Game times in Eastern European Time (UTC+02:00)

20  2021 (2021-03-20)
12:45 		Kiekko-Espoo 2–0
(1-0, 1-0, 0-0) 		KalPa Kuopio Tapiolan harjoitusareena, Espoo
21  2021 (2021-03-21)
13:30 		KalPa Kuopio 0–2
(0-0, 0-1, 0-1) 		Kiekko-Espoo Niiralan Monttu, Kuopio
23  2021 (2021-03-23)
18:45 		Kiekko-Espoo 2–5
(0-4, 2-1, 0-0) 		KalPa Kuopio Tapiolan harjoitusareena, Espoo
25  2021 (2021-03-25)
18:30 		KalPa Kuopio 2–3
(0-1, 0-1, 2-1) 		Kiekko-Espoo Niiralan Monttu, Kuopio

Qualification series

Standings

Pos Team Pld W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Postseason placement
1 RoKi 16 9 1 2 4 55 42 +13 31 Qualify for Naisten Liiga
2 Sport 16 7 2 0 7 53 59 −6 25
3 Lukko 16 3 2 2 9 40 60 −20 15 Relegated to Naisten Mestis
4 JYP 16 1 1 3 11 38 76 −38 8

Official ranking

Pos Team Pld Pts PpG
1 RoKi 16 31 1.94
2 Sport 16 25 1.56
3 Lukko 16 15 0.94
4 JYP 16 8 0.50

Results

6  2021 (2021-03-06)
12:15 		RoKi Rovaniemi 5–1
(0-1, 3-0, 2-0) 		JYP Jyväskylä Lappi Areena, Rovaniemi
6  2021 (2021-03-06)
16:00 		Sport Vaasa 5–4 OT
(1-2, 2-2, 1-0, 1-0) 		Lukko Rauma Vaasa harjoitusjäähalli 2, Vaasa
7  2021 (2021-03-07)
16:15 		Lukko Rauma 2–1 SO
(1-0, 0-1, 0-0, 0-0, 1-0) 		JYP Jyväskylä Äijänsuon jäähalli II, Rauma
10  2021 (2021-03-10)
18:45 		Sport Vaasa 2–1
(2-1, 0-0, 0-0) 		RoKi Rovaniemi Vaasa harjoitusjäähalli 2, Vaasa
11  2021 (2021-03-11)
17:45 		Lukko Rauma 5–4 SO
(1-0, 0-3, 3-1, 0-0, 1-0) 		RoKi Rovaniemi Äijänsuon jäähalli II, Rauma
12  2021 (2021-03-12)
16:30 		JYP Jyväskylä 4–5 OT
(0-2, 2-0, 2-2, 0-1) 		RoKi Rovaniemi Harjoitusjäähalli 2, Jyväskylä
13  2021 (2021-03-13)
14:15 		JYP Jyväskylä 1–4
(0-1, 0-3, 1-0) 		Sport Vaasa Harjoitusjäähalli 2, Jyväskylä
14  2021 (2021-03-14)
17:30 		Lukko Rauma 1–4
(1-2, 0-1, 0-1) 		Sport Vaasa Äijänsuon jäähalli II, Rauma
20  2021 (2021-03-20)
12:15 		RoKi Rovaniemi 6–5
(1-0, 2-4, 3-1) 		Lukko Rauma Lappi Areena, Rovaniemi
20  2021 (2021-03-20)
12:45 		Sport Vaasa 6–5
(2-1, 1-1, 3-3) 		JYP Jyväskylä Vaasa harjoitusjäähalli 2, Vaasa
21  2021 (2021-03-21)
12:15 		RoKi Rovaniemi 3–4
(2-1, 0-1, 1-2) 		Sport Vaasa Lappi Areena, Rovaniemi
21  2021 (2021-03-21)
16:45 		JYP Jyväskylä 3–2 SO
(1-2, 1-0, 0-0, 0-0, 1-0) 		Lukko Rauma Harjoitusjäähalli 2, Jyväskylä

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Holma, Joel (2021-02-28). "Kiekko-Espoo Naisten Liigan jatkosarjan ykkönen – nämä joukkueet taistelevat mestaruudesta" (in fi). https://yle.fi/urheilu/3-11814197. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Naisten Sarjajärjestelmät 20-21" (in fi) (PDF). Finnish Ice Hockey Association. May 2020. https://www.dropbox.com/s/xwr2g9nnkm1qy8e/Naisten%20sarjat%2020-21.pdf?dl=0.  Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":1" defined multiple times with different content
  3. ↑ "Jääkiekkoliiton alaisten sarjojen syyskausi keskeytetään 2.12. alkaen" (in fi-fi). Finnish Ice Hockey Association. 2020-12-01. http://www.finhockey.fi/index.php/ajankohtaista/sarjatoiminta/item/5565-jaakiekkoliiton-alaisten-sarjojen-syyskausi-keskeytetaan-2-12-alkaen. 
  4. ↑ Arkko, Simo (2020-12-01). "Jääkiekkoliitolta ratkaisu: Mestis ja Naisten Liiga keskeytetään" (in fi). https://yle.fi/urheilu/3-11676309. 
  5. ↑ Karjalainen, Timo (2021-02-28). "Kuortaneelle pitempi korsi pudotuspelikenraalista – RoKi karsintasarjaan" (in fi). https://www.jatkoaika.com/Naisten-Liiga/Otteluraportti/RoKi-N-Kuortane-N/Kuortaneelle-pitempi-korsi-pudotuspelikenraalista-%E2%80%93-RoKi-karsintasarjaan/228732. 
  6. ↑ Leppäsyrjä, Juusi (2021-03-03). "TPS:n naiset eivät kuvia kumartele kiekkoliigan pudotuspeleissä – "Mitään muuta tavoitetta kuin mestaruus ei voi olla"" (in fi). https://www.ts.fi/urheilu/jaakiekko/5241794/TPSn+naiset+eivat+kuvia+kumartele+kiekkoliigan+pudotuspeleissa++Mitaan+muuta+tavoitetta+kuin+mestaruus+ei+voi+olla. 
  7. ↑ Salo, Tapani (2021-03-02). "Ilves kohtaa HPK:n naisten kiekkoliigan puolivälierissä – Joukkue luottaa omiin vahvuuksiinsa ja Anni Keisalan torjuntoihin" (in fi). https://www.aamulehti.fi/urheilu/art-2000007835554.html. 
  8. ↑ Lainesalo, Joonas (2021-02-28). "HPK viidenneksi naisten Liigassa – Kerho kohtaa puolivälierissä Ilveksen" (in fi). https://www.hameensanomat.fi/urheilu/hpk-viidenneksi-naisten-liigassa-kerho-kohtaa-puolivalierissa-ilveksen-1843898/. 
  9. ↑ Koro, Juuso (2021-03-03). "Ilves avausvoittoon vähämaalisessa pudotuspeliavauksessa" (in fi). https://www.jatkoaika.com/Naisten-Liiga/Kuvakooste/Ilves-N-HPK-N/Ilves-avausvoittoon-v%C3%A4h%C3%A4maalisessa-pudotuspeliavauksessa/228867. 
  10. ↑ Virtanen, Samuli (2021-03-03). "Ilves tarrasi välieräpaikkaan – HPK-kiekkonaisten kausi katkolla viikonloppuna" (in fi). https://www.hameensanomat.fi/urheilu/ilves-tarrasi-valierapaikkaan-hpk-kiekkonaisten-kausi-katkolla-viikonloppuna-1850123/. 
  11. ↑ Ruotsalainen, Annu (2021-03-20). "Helsingissä juhlitaan pronssimitalia 14 vuoden tauon jälkeen – HIFK voitti Ilveksen tiukassa taistossa 2–1" (in fi). https://www.jatkoaika.com/Naisten-Liiga/Otteluraportti/HIFK-N-Ilves-N/Helsingiss%C3%A4-juhlitaan-pronssimitalia-14-vuoden-tauon-j%C3%A4lkeen-%E2%80%93-HIFK-voitti-Ilveksen-tiukassa-taistossa-2%E2%80%931/229381. 

External links


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