Finland: 1 + 11 in the women´s league

While Salibandyliiga has two candidates for the title, women’s Salibandyliiga only has one. That is Classic Tampere who, having already the strongest squad, signed Katri Luomaniemi back from Switzerland and the country’s number one goalie Laura Loisa fresh from Sweden.

Finland's largest floorball website Paakallo.fi predicted Classic to win the women’s title with 29 straight victories without losing a point in the regular season or a game in the play-offs. Playing without Ella Alanko and Alisa Pöllänen who were out injured, Classic lost the Champions Cup final against Swedish Pixbo but back home they have met expectations collecting a straight set of victories.

Led by eight-time Finnish champion Katriina Saarinen now as their head coach, Classic’s destruction of some of their opponents keep implying a league of 12 teams may still be too many in Finland.

_{Mia Karjalainen had to undergo a back surgery. (Photo Erwin Keller)}

Mia Karjalainen out with back injury
With Tiia Ukkonen and many leading players retiring or leaving, Finnish Champions NST realistically gave up their place in the Champions Cup and also in the national league they have become mere mortals again. PSS Porvoo’s hopes of challenging Classic took a severe hit right away as they lost their big signing Mia Karjalainen to a back injury. Karjalainen hurt her back mid-game but valiantly kept playing even when she was not able to sit down on the bench. After the final buzzer, she also had trouble walking and was duly operated to take care of a herniated disc.

_{Team Finland was close to a WFC title at World Cup 2015. Are its good years over now? (Photo floorball.org)}

Not enough good players
Finland’s women’s national team was taken over by NST Lappeenranta coach Lasse Kurronen after last year’s WFC in Tampere. The new staff was able to raise eyebrows by only nominating two goalies and 17 players for the EFT in Schaffhausen. The head coach’s laconic comment was that he only chose players who meet the team’s high standards and no full 20-player squad that good could not be found.