The season’s best in Finland were announced on Saturday 25th of April. Due to the premature ending of this season, the best club was not awarded. The season’s best (excluding the best referees) were chosen by the Finnish Floorball Federation Board.
Best players and coach
Male player: Sami Johansson
Classic’s Sami Johansson, 26, seized the first place in the player statistics having the most points and most goals (54+21=75) in the men’s league and he also gathered a positive number of +86 in 23 matches. In November, Johansson touched the record of most points in a single league match when he scored 8+2 in a game against Steelers. Still, even the statistics are not telling everything about how meaningful Sami Johansson is for his team and about his overall strong performance.
Female player: Oona Kauppi
Oona Kauppi, 22, did her final breakthrough in the Women’s WFC, where she was chosen as the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the tournament. In Finland’s bronze team she was one of the players who was able to raise her level and keep it up through the whole event. She ended her current season in the Swedish IKSU that was announced the Swedish champion.
Coach: Samu Kuitunen
Classic was again on top of the sport when they won the Finnish Cup, the regular season in the men’s league and represented Finland at the IFF Champions Cup 2020. Samu Kuitunen got the team to play in an outstanding way at its best due to his high standards. The game confidence, passes, movement and the accuracy of Classic are enjoyable to watch. After the disappointing performance at the Champions Cup, the Classic showed how they got back to their own great level.
Boy junior: Oliver Sillanpää
Sillanpää played a great league season in ÅIF and could carry the team with his player statistics (22+12) regardless of being 17-years-old. His performance in the boys’ national team matches were convincing throughout the season. With his talent, he is a great role model for the floorball youth.
Girl junior: Meri-Helmi Höynälä
Meri-Helmi Höynälä broke into the women’s WFC team already before turning 19 this January and she was also one of the most important players in her team SB-Pro that won the Finnish Cup in January. Regardless of her small size Höynälä is physically strong fighter due to her playing experiences in the boys’ divisions. Höynälä is perhaps not the most visible player of her line but she is the glue that keeps the line together and gives others the chance to shine.
Referees
Men’s Floorball League, Salibandyliiga: Henri Heinola & Manu Marttinen
Women’s Floorball League, Salibandyliiga: Tom Kirjonen & Jyrki Sirkka
The league team captains elected the best referees.
Floorball achievement of the year: World’s first Floorball Museum at Ideapark in Lempäälä
The World’s first Floorball Museum (Salibandymuseo) was opened in February at the Ideapark in Lempäälä. You can read more about the Floorball Museum here.
Pekka’s Trophy (named after Pekka Mukkala, the first President of the Finnish Floorball Federation): Tapio Hämeen-Anttila
Hämeen-Anttila has been involved in many projects creating and improving the possibilities and conditions for playing floorball, on both the local and national level.
Source: Finnish Floorball Federation
