Naisten Liiga (ice hockey)

Naisten Liiga (Women's League), also called the Naisten SM-liiga (NSML) or Jääkiekon naisten SM-liiga (Women’s Ice Hockey Finnish Championship League), is the elite league for Finnish women's ice hockey. Until 2017, it was called the Naisten SM-sarja (Women’s Finnish Championship Series). The league has 12 total teams between two divisions and is organized by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association.

Kiekko-Espoo (previously “Espoo Blues” and “Espoo United”) has dominated Naisten Liiga in the 21st century, winning 14 Finnish Championships from 1999 to 2019. Ilves is the second most successful club, with 10 championship titles, and are the only organization to have iced a team in every season since the league’s inception.

The majority of teams in Naisten Liiga share their names with men's Liiga teams (HIFK, HPK, Ilves, KalPa, Kärpät, Lukko, TPS, and Sport) but the women's teams have historically received few resources and limited promotion from the affiliated men's clubs. In recent years progress has been made in building better relationships between the men’s and women’s teams; most men’s clubs now provide some support to their women’s counterparts by advertising games together or helping secure sponsorships.

1980s

 * Ässät (Pori), 1982–1995
 * EVU (Vantaa), 1982–1990
 * Haukat (Järvenpää), 1982–83
 * HJK (Helsinki), 1982–1986
 * Jäähonka (Espoo), 1982–1984
 * SaiPa (Lappeenranta), 1982–1992
 * Shakers (Kerava), 1982–1985 & 1986–1996
 * Tiikerit (Hämeenlinna), 1982–1984, 1987–88 & 1989–90
 * Kiekko-Vesa (Raahe), 1983–1985
 * Teräs-Kiekko (Raahe), 1983–1985
 * Ilves-Kiekko (Tampere), 1984–1987 & 1988–1990
 * Ketterä (Imatra), 1984–85 & 1991–1993
 * StU (Savitaipale), 1984–85

1990s

 * Karhut (Joensuu)
 * JoKP, 1992–1994
 * Kiekko-Karhut, 1994–1997
 * Karhut, 1997–98
 * Tappara (Tampere), 1993–94 & 1997–2008
 * JYP (Jyväskylä)
 * JyP HT, 1995–1997
 * JYP, 1997–2000
 * IHK (Helsinki), 1998–2009
 * K-Kissat (Helsinki), 1999–2002

2000s

 * JYP (continued from 1990s)
 * JyHC, 2000–2004
 * Cats, 2004–2009
 * JYP, 2009–2016
 * KS Noux (Espoo), 2002–03
 * Y-Ilves (Ylöjärvi), 2002–2004
 * Team China, 2005–2007
 * LoKV (Lohja), 2008–2012
 * Salo HT (Salo), 2008–2013
 * APV (Alavus), 2009–10 & 2019–20
 * KJT (Kerava)
 * KJT, 2013–2018
 * KJT Haukat, 2018–19

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Season format
The season format of the Naisten Liiga has changed many times over the league’s history. The format described here was introduced for the 2019–20 season.

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 awarded by match outcome: three points for a regulation win, two points for an overtime win, one point for an overtime loss, and no points/zero points for a regulation loss. 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 from the preliminary series qualify for the Upper Division (Ylempi jatkosarja). Upper Division teams are guaranteed placement in the playoffs; the points earned in the ten divisional series games are added to the point totals from the preliminary series and used to establish the teams' playoff berths, from first to sixth. Only points earned in the Upper Division series are considered when determining the recipients of the Marianne Ihalainen Award, for most regular season points earned, and the Tiia Reima Award, for most regular season goals scored.

The bottom four teams from the preliminary series move on to the Lower Division (Alempi jatkosarja), where they are joined by the top two teams from the Cross-Qualifiers (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 placement in the playoffs. Unlike in the 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 series. The two teams with the highest point totals qualify for the following Naisten Liiga season, the two lower ranked teams are relegated to the Naisten Mestis for the following season.

Game format
A regulation game is sixty minutes in length, played over three 20-minute periods. In the event of a tie at the end of regulation time the winner is decided by a five-minute-length, three-skaters-per-side overtime period. If the game remains tied after the overtime period, the teams proceed to a shootout, in which each team designates three skaters to take penalty shots, one at a time, against the opposing goaltender. Teams alternate shots and each team takes one shot per round. The winner is the team with more goals after three rounds or the team that amasses an unreachable advantage before the third round. If the shootout is tied after three rounds, tie-breaker rounds are played one at a time until there is a winner.

All-time medal count
– team currently in league Notes:

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Women's Finnish Champions by season
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