HIFK were the reigning Aurora Borealis Cup champions after winning the 2023 Naisten Liiga playoffs.
At the conclusion of the 2023–24 regular season, Kiekko-Espoo and HIFK were favorites for the 2024 Aurora Borealis Cup finals.
The penalty was incurred after it was identified that necessary international transfer documents had not been submitted ahead of the 2022–23 Naisten Liiga season for Michaela Pejzlová.
The team achieved their best end-of-season rank in eight seasons as the result of excellent goaltending and quality depth scoring.
An additional three HPK players – right winger Ines Lukkarila, center Ella Välikangas, and defenseman Heta Seikkula – exceeded the twenty-point mark and another two players – Czech winger Barbora Juříčková and defenseman Oona Koukkula – earned 19 points on the season.
Both parts of HPK's goaltender tandem, Eline Gabriele and Janika Järvikari, ranked in the league's top-five of net minders playing at least one-third of their team's minutes for both save percentage and goals against average.
[6] Canadian goaltender Kassidy Sauvé, who had masterfully backstopped the team during the 2022 Aurora Borealis Cup playoffs, signed with HPK in December 2023 and played in six regular season games during January and February, amassing a shaky 88.0 save percentage during that time.
KalPa Kuopio finished the regular season ranked fourth in the league, with 60 points and a goal difference of +38.
Star left winger Elisa Holopainen tallied 57 points despite missing all of September and most of October while rehabilitating from a major leg injury.
Emilia Kyrkkö, the 2022–23 Naisten Liiga Goaltender of the Year, was limited to six games of the 2023–24 season due to injury, leaving the starting net-minder position vacant.
Early in the season, goalie Venla Varis suffered a season-ending injury and Kuortane's other two backup goaltenders – Lilia Huovinen and Kerttu Kuja-Halkola – scrambled to perform on a consistent basis.
Goaltender Kassidy Sauvé was excellent, posting a 97.7 save percentage and 0.60 GAA while playing all 200 minutes in net.
Emilia Kyrkkö was steady in net, allowing just seven goals on 75 shots against, but her 90.7 save percentage through nearly 195 minutes of play could not negate the lack of offense generated by Kuortane.
The teams last met in the postseason during the quarterfinals of the 2020 Aurora Borealis Cup playoffs, which KalPa won in three games.
The following skaters were the top point scorers of teams not represented in the scoring leader table at the conclusion of the quarterfinals on 2 March 2024, noted with their overall scoring rank: The following goaltenders had played at least two periods in net at the conclusion of the quarterfinals on 2 March 2024, sorted by save percentage.
KalPa went on to win Finnish Championship bronze against HPK and Kiekko-Espoo took home silver after being swept in the finals by HIFK.