HIFK Naiset

HIFK Naiset, also known as Stadin Gimmat, a nickname for Helsinki), is an ice hockey team in the Finnish Naisten Liiga (NSML). They play in the Pirkkola district of Helsinki at the Pirkkolan jäähalli. The team is the representative women's ice hockey team of the multisport club Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna, Helsingfors (abbreviated IFK Helsingfors/IFK Helsinki or HIFK) and is operated by Oy HIFK-Hockey Ab, the same organization that owns the HIFK men's ice hockey team of the Liiga – HIFK Naiset are one of only two Naisten Liiga teams owned directly by a Liiga team.
The original HIFK Naiset was one of the ten founding teams from the inaugural 1982–83 Naisten SM-sarja season but they were financially relegated in 1989 and the club chose not to pursue women's ice hockey for the following several decades. The current team was established in 2018 and gained promotion to the Naisten Liiga from the second-tier Naisten Mestis at the end of their debut season in 2018–19. 
HIFK-Stadin Gimmat has two affiliate teams, HIFK Akatemia and HIFK Challenger (known as HIFK U18 from 2018 to 2023), which are active in the Naisten Mestis and Naisten Suomi-sarja, respectively.
== History ==
=== Original team, 1982–1989 ===
HIFK Naiset was one of the original ten teams to play in the inaugural season, 1982–83, of the Naisten SM-sarja; renamed Naisten Liiga in 2017). The team struggled early on, forced to compete with fellow Helsinki-based team Helsingin Jääkiekkoklubi (HJK) for top talent. HIFK finished in the bottom half of the league in their first five seasons, ranking seventh of ten teams in 1982–83, ninth of twelve in 1983–84, eighth of thirteen in 1984–85, fifth of eight in 1985–86, and sixth of eight in 1986–87. 
The team's fortunes turned in the 1987–88 season and they earned a 7-2-5 (win-tie-loss) record with a +3 goal difference and claimed third place in the Naisten SM-sarja playoffs, earning Finnish Championship bronze. With a 1988–89 roster that included three members of the newly-created Finnish women's national ice hockey team – defensemen Johanna Ikonen and Maria Turki (Novitsky), and forward Ulla Saarikko – HIFK continued their upward trajectory, posting an 8-2-4 record with a +20 goal differential and claiming Finnish Championship bronze for the second consecutive season.
Despite the marked improvement of the team, HIFK was financially relegated after the 1988–89 season and no senior women's representative team or any programs for women and girls existed in the club for the following twenty-five years. 
== Season-by-season results ==
This is a list of all seasons completed by HIFK Naiset, including the original HIFK Naiset (1982–1989) and HIFK Naiset-Stadin Gimmat (2018–present).
 
Season 	League 	Preliminaries and regular season	Preliminaries and regular season	Preliminaries and regular season	Preliminaries and regular season	Preliminaries and regular season	Preliminaries and regular season	Preliminaries and regular season	Preliminaries and regular season	Preliminaries and regular season	Preliminaries and regular season	Preliminaries and regular season	Post season results
Season 	League 	Finish 	GP 	W 	OTW 	T 	OTL 	L 	GF 	GA 	Pts 	Top scorer 	Post season results
1982–83	Naisten SM-sarja	7th 	8 	3 	– 	0 	– 	5 	43 	26 	6 	S-L. Aura 17 (15+2) 	Did not qualify
1983–84	Naisten SM-sarja	9th 	8 	2 	– 	0 	– 	6 	27 	42 	4 	M. Böckelman 10 (5+5) 	Did not qualify
1984–85	Naisten SM-sarja	8th 	9 	3 	– 	0 	– 	6 	26 	29 	6 	A. Kaunola 8 (6+2) 	Did not qualify
1985–86	Naisten SM-sarja	5th 	14 	3 	– 	4 	– 	7 	36 	40 	10 	H. Leppälä 11 (7+4) 	Did not qualify
1986–87	Naisten SM-sarja	6th 	14 	6 	– 	0 	– 	8 	33 	39 	12 	 	Did not qualify
1987–88	Naisten SM-sarja	3rd 	14 	7 	– 	2 	– 	5 	35 	32 	16 	A. Kaunola 13 (11+2) 	Won bronze medal
1988–89	Naisten SM-sarja	3rd 	14 	8 	– 	2 	– 	4 	53 	33 	18 	A. Kaunola 22 (15+7) 	Won bronze medal
 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
2018–19	Naisten Mestis 	1st 	26 	24 	1 	– 	0 	1 	159 	26 	74 	Mi. Klemola 50 (23+27) 	Promoted to Naisten Liiga
2019–20	Naisten Liiga 	7th 	30 	15 	2 	– 	3 	10 	124 	74 	52 	E. Passard 47 (28+19) 	Lost quarterfinals, 0–3 (Kärpät)
2020–21	Naisten Liiga 	3rd 	27 	16 	4 	– 	1 	6 	104 	57 	57 	E. Passard 37 (19+21) 	Won bronze medal, 2–1 (Ilves)
2021–22	Naisten Liiga 	2nd 	29 	26 	0 	– 	0 	3 	137 	41 	78 	M. Nilsson 55 (37+18) 	Lost final, 2–3 (K-Espoo)
2022–23	Naisten Liiga 	1st 	36 	29 	3 	– 	0 	4 	197 	57 	93 	M. Pejzlová 82 (32+50) 	Won Championship, 3–0 (K-Espoo)
2023–24	Naisten Liiga 	2nd 	32 	27 	0 	– 	0 	5 	175 	49 	75 	M. Pejzlová 71 (30+41) 	Won Championship, 3–1 (K-Espoo)
==References==
Category:Ice hockey teams in Finland