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.
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.

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.
Preliminary series
The preliminary series 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. 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, where they are joined by the top two teams from the Cross-Qualifiers 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. 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

Team nameFull team nameLocationHead coachHome venueCaptain
HIFKStadin Gimmat or HIFK Naiset HelsinkiSaara NiemiMalmin jäähalliKaroliina Rantamäki
HPKHämeenlinnan Pallokerho Kiekkonaiset HämeenlinnaKatja PasanenMetritriski AreenaRiikka Noronen
IlvesTampereen Ilves Naiset TampereVille TolvanenTesoman jäähalliJohanna Juutilainen
KalPaKalevan Pallo Naiset KuopioMarjo VoutilainenOlvi AreenaEmma Ritari
Kiekko-EspooKiekko-Espoo Naiset EspooSami HaapanenTapiolan harjoitussareeMinttu Tuominen
KärpätOulun Kärpät Naiset OuluJanne SalmelaOulun Energia AreenaSaila Saari
LukkoRauman Lukko Naiset RaumaMarko ToivonenKivikylän AreenaMaija Koski
SportVaasan Sport Naiset VaasaMarko HaapalaVaasan Sähkö AreenaElina Ojala
Team KuortaneTeam Kuortane KuortaneMira KuismaKuortaneen jäähalliEmilia Vesa
TPSTurun Palloseura Naiset TurkuMatti TähkäpääMarli AreenaMinni Lehtopelto

Teams promoted from the Naisten Mestis to the Lower Division
Team nameFull team nameLocationHead coachHome venueCaptain
APVAlavuden Peli-Veikot Naiset AlavusNoora MäkirantaAlavus AreenaPirjetta Turunen
RoKiRovaniemen Kiekko Naiset RovaniemiTuomas LiitolaLappi AreenaElla Lahtela

Regular season

Preliminaries

Series was played from 7 September to 24 November 2019. Top six teams advanced to the Upper Division, while teams ranking sixth through tenth progressed to the Lower Division.

Divisional series

Upper Division
Lower Division

Playoffs

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

Bracket

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.
PlayerTeam
KalPa20262248
KalPa19192443
Team Kuortane20211839
Kiekko-Espoo20102636
Kiekko-Espoo20181634
Kiekko-Espoo20171734
Team Kuortane20181432
KalPa16141832
HPK20161931
HPK20111829

Divisional series
The following players led the Upper Division in regular season points at the conclusion of the series on 2 February 2020.
PlayerTeam
Kärpät1061016
KalPa1011314
KalPa109514
Team Kuortane107613
Kärpät104913

The following players led the Lower Division in regular season points at the conclusion of the series on 2 February 2020.
PlayerTeam
HIFK10111122
HIFK981119
Sport89817
Sport109817
HIFK1031417

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.
PlayerTeam
KalPa12102242.9392.00
Ilves1555303.9392.17
Kärpät1053182.9391.78
Kärpät1053144.9361.40
TPS1639581.9293.63

Divisional series
The following goaltenders led the Upper Division in regular season save percentage at the conclusion of match on 29 January 2020, while starting at least one third of matches.
PlayerTeam
HPK54151.9701.01
KalPa32150.9551.69
KalPa53190.9511.78
Kärpät32141.9491.34
Kärpät54090.9401.80

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.
PlayerTeam
HIFK43041.9611.00
Lukko62170.9571.25
HIFK53143.9530.86
TPS722180.9292.59
Sport831203.9272.45

Awards

Finnish Ice Hockey Association awards

Source: Finnish Ice Hockey Association

2019–20 Naisten Liiga All-Stars

All-Star Team
All-Star Team II
Source: Finnish Ice Hockey Association

Naisten Liiga Player of the Month