Representing Tampere Classic Suvi Hämäläinen has been one of the hottest names in the women’s F-League this season. He has basked in the headlines above all phenomenal thanks to his goal streak: in the first nine matches, the net swung no less than 27 times. On average, Hämäläinen scored a hat-trick in every match.
Now, after 15 matches, there are 34 goals. It is possible for her to break even the women’s F-League goalscoring record.
– I haven’t thought about such things at all. I don’t even know how it would break, but if it does, it’s okay, Hämäläinen acknowledges.
Current, Eliisa Alangon the record in the name is from the 2012–2013 season, when Alanko, who also represented Classic, scored 56 goals.
A child star
Hämäläinen is not basking in the headlines for the first time. She made her debut in the ranks of Pirkkala’s Pirkko women’s representative team when she was only 13 years old, and three years later she was already playing in the women’s floorball league – reaching all the way to the A national team and the adult World Cup, although she hadn’t even played in the girls’ World Cup yet.
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The then 16-year-old forward finally had a bronze medal to bring home from the first adult World Championships of his career.
How the hell did the head keep up?
– It didn’t always stay that way, Hämäläinen admits, although he assures that he didn’t think about it when he was terribly young.
At first, there was no pressure: he had been included in the summer camp due to injuries.
– I thought that I can just come and play and see how long it takes. I didn’t think it would lead to anything. Maybe I had a little pressure all along, but I didn’t want to admit it to myself. Maybe you recognized it after the Games.
Almost immediately after the Games, Hämäläinen injured his knee. A knee injury kept the attacker from Tampere on the sidelines for almost a year.
After a bit of a coughing start, the rehabilitation went well in the end.
Motivational problems as a nuisance
In the spring of 2022, however, Hämäläinen’s desire to play was lost. There were playoffs, the best time for a floorball player, but even the real games didn’t ignite Hämäläi.
– We were swimming in pretty deep waters. The level of training might not have been such that the motivation would have been maintained. I put pros and cons on paper, which one will take the win. That’s where the pluses come in and we’re still here, Hämäläinen smiles.
On the plus side, he listed the guys that the sport has brought to life in abundance. From floor bandy, Hämäläinen feels that he also gets such emotions that he doesn’t get anywhere else. Gaming is a way of life for him.
On the negative side, he listed the events that will be missed. There are exercises at least four times a week, on top of which there are sometimes morning exercises and self-paced exercises. The series starts in September, and the champion is decided around mid-April.
Relatives’ birthdays have often been missed due to game trips, and Hämäläi, who is studying construction technology in his first year at the University of Tampere, has hardly been seen on study trips.
Today, however, life is balanced: gaming, school and loved ones get approximately the same amount of time.
– I often think that this is just floorball after all. That this shouldn’t take away from life other than maybe sometimes those birthdays.
The spark returned
Hämäläinen’s motivation to play returned at the latest when a former assistant coach became the head coach of Classic Juho Syvänen. Hämäläinen was impressed by Syvänen’s enthusiasm, and today’s training sessions are challenging enough for the demanding forward.
However, the familiar spark had rekindled already last winter.
– When I watched the Singapore Women’s Games a little over a year ago in December, I got the feeling that I do want to be there again someday.
Hämäläinen returned to the national team in the summer, when the Swede appointed as the women’s new head coach last spring Andreas Harnesk invited Hämäläinen after a break of four and a half years.
– It was quite exciting to return.
Hämäläinen is still young at 21 years old, but experienced a lot for his age. The talent from Tampere has scored points at a steady pace in previous seasons, but this season the pace has been downright phenomenal. He currently leads the points market with 34+12=46.
– We trained quite hard in the summer. But probably the biggest reason is the teammates, they make amazing passes, Hämäläinen praises.
Natalia Pitkäkankaan Hämäläinen already played in the juniors with Hämäläinen, and skillful passes have found Hämäläinen time and time again in the goal. Pitkäkangas is sixth in the point exchange (9+20).
The third reason for his record-breaking scoring pace is that Hämäläinen raises the level of the series.
– I think it has decreased. Häntäpää’s team is a little weaker than last year.
10–1, 1–11, 1–12, 14–0, 14–0.. This is how Classic has crushed the teams at the tail end this season. Of course, the league has seen even wilder readings, when SaiPa upset 02-Jyväskylä 15–0 before Christmas.
Hämäläinen is not the only one who has raised the level of the women’s series. For example, a student exchange student from Sweden returned to Turku’s FBC Loisto jersey for the spring season Ulla Valtola raised by floorball media in Pääkallo’s interview That the Swedish league is much tougher than the Finnish league.
– I think this is a big problem. Although we may be encouraged to move and of course the players themselves know that Sweden or even Switzerland would have a better level, it will not solve our problem here in Finland if all Finns go abroad, Hämäläinen sighs.
Level differences in women’s ball leagues are of course nothing new. In floorball, they have been tried to deal with them in different ways: for example, for a few seasons, the division of the league into two eight-team leagues (NLA and NLB), however, was abandoned for the last season and switched to a 12-team league.
In Hämäläinen’s opinion, eight teams would be an appropriate number in the league.
– When there are clearly fewer teams, it brings more tough games. If some of the players from the relegated teams really wanted to contribute, they could move to these eight teams remaining in the league. I think it would definitely improve this.
Hämäläinen has clear goals for floorball. Too many springs have ended in defeat.
SM silver is now meant to be brightened.
– Yes, I want that Finnish championship there finally. A lot of work has been done for it.