Ice hockey | HIFK and HPK are an exception to the rule – women do not have to pay to play

Ice hockey the domestic women’s main series has been played under different names since 1982, but the problems of the series, which was branded as the Aurora League last summer, are familiar: there are not enough spectators at the matches, the players have to pay for their hobby, and the best domestic players play in places other than Finland.

The last-mentioned phenomenon is of course also familiar on the men’s side, when the money troughs of North America or Europe invite national team men.

For women, the domestic main league was for a long time the best option alongside the North American university route, but since then the Swedish women’s main league SDHL, the North American professional league PWHL and also the Swiss main league have attracted a strong bunch of Finnish national team women to their teams.

“The PWHL is the best thing that has happened to women’s hockey. SDHL is ten years ahead of us in development. We’ll learn from what they’ve done,” Aurora League manager Henni Laaksonen told STT at a media event held in Helsinki on Monday.

Laaksonen does not dispute the position of the domestic women’s main league in international development.

“We are aware of our role as a breeder series, but we want to do it as well as possible. This level is not enough.”

“The brand and the name only frame the work we set out to do.”

Last only four players from the top ten of the regular season points market continue in Finland. The reigning champion HIFK reformed most drastically.

“Four players got a professional contract and two got a university scholarship. We have done a good job in how we have been able to develop players. We were now able to bring seven of our own juniors with us”, HIFK’s head coach Saara Niemi told.

“It would be great to keep all the best players here, but the reality is we can’t pay. You can’t play professionally here. It has to be accepted, but our players don’t have to pay,” Niemi reminded.

In addition to HIFK, only HPK is free to puck.

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“Development work really requires a lot of passionate sports people. I hope that the entire Finnish hockey team will join us.”

In addition to Niemi, also the head coach of TPS Terhi Mertanen already knows the realities from his playing career. The problems are familiar, but Mertanen sees development as well.

“When I played by myself, we trained really late, and there were no full-time head coaches,” he said.

Better practice times enable development as a player. Recovery before the next school day, work day and new practice is better when you don’t have to stay up late at the ice rink.

Still, some facts don’t change.

“We have to accept that we are a breeder’s series, but we can be the best breeder’s series in the world,” said Mertanen.

“Development work really requires a lot of passionate sports people. I hope that the entire Finnish hockey team will join. I hope for structural and attitudinal changes in Finnish ice hockey, that women are really properly included. It has also happened in Sweden and Switzerland.”

Niemi has visited Switzerland and knows the local patterns.

“In the Swiss series, a principle decision was made already last season that the women’s teams are in the same organization as the men’s teams. All players are professionals or semi-professionals.”

in Finland the situation is still far from the men’s league organizations accepting the women’s teams as well.

Auroraliiga leader Laaksonen underlines that the Finnish Ice Hockey Association has taken steps to develop women’s and girls’ ice hockey, but does not deny one missed opportunity. In the spring of 2019, the Espoo arena swelled with the crowd when Finland played for the world championship. The drug created by the female lions wore off quickly.

“It could be that the best point towards that point was not utilized. Corona also got in the way,” Laaksonen reminded.

There will be no big rush in the season that starts on Friday, either, when the teams go to cover Finland’s roads.

After the elimination of HIFK, the silver team Kiekko-Espoo is the biggest favorite. The seven other teams operating outside the capital region will have the role of bully, but in a series of narrow player materials, acquiring one or two players can swing the balance of power greatly.

“It is gratifying that Anni Keisala (HPK) and Matilda Nilsson (Ilves) came back from Sweden”, Mertanen mentioned the returnees national team goalkeeper Keisala and power forward Nilsson.