Liiga

Liiga
2023–24 Liiga season
Sport	Ice hockey
Founded	1975
CEO	Jukka-Pekka Vuorinen
Motto	Se on totta (It's true)
Inaugural season	1975–76
No. of teams	15
Country(ies)	Finland
Most recent champion(s)	Tappara
Most championship(s)	Tappara (13)
TV partner(s)	Nelonen Pro 1, Nelonen Pro 2, Nelonen
Official website	www.liiga.fi (Finnish)
Related competitions	Mestis, Suomi-sarja

The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding leagues of the Champions Hockey League and currently allocated five spots - the maximum number - based on success in previous editions. It was created in 1975 to replace the SM-sarja, which was fundamentally an amateur league. The SM-liiga is not directly overseen by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association, but the league and association have an agreement of cooperation. SM is a common abbreviation for Suomen mestaruus, "Finnish championship".

The SM-liiga formerly had a system of automatic promotion and relegation in place between itself and the Mestis, the second highest level of competition in Finland, but the automatic system was ended in 2000. The league was opened in 2005 and allowed KalPa to get a promotion. In 2009, a new system was introduced and it includes the last placed SM-liiga team facing the Mestis champion in a best of seven playout series. In 2013, the relegation system was abandoned again and replaced by a procedure in which successful clubs of Mestis may apply for a promotion if they fulfill definite financial criteria. Since 2013, Jokerit joined the KHL and Espoo Blues went bankrupt, but Sport, KooKoo and Jukurit were promoted. Therefore Liiga is a competition of 15 teams in the 2016–17 and 2017–18 seasons.

History

The SM-liiga was constituted in 1975 to concentrate the development of top level Finnish ice hockey, and pave the way towards professionalism. Its predecessor, the SM-sarja, being an amateur competition, had its disadvantages, which were perceived as impeding Finland's rise to the highest ranks of ice hockey.

One of the main problems was that the governing of the SM-sarja was based on the annual meeting of the Finnish Ice Hockey Association, where all important issues were decided by vote. Since all clubs registered under the Finnish Ice Hockey Association had the right to vote, the many amateur clubs prevailed over the few business-like clubs. Therefore, the concentrated development of top-level Finnish ice hockey by the motivated and financially capable clubs proved arduous. The new SM-liiga was to be run by a board consisting of its participating clubs only and to have an agreement of cooperation with the Finnish Ice Hockey Association.

The SM-sarja was also outdated on its own, as it was run according to amateur principles. Clubs were not supposed to pay their players beyond compensation for lost wages. However, by the 1970s many clubs were already run like businesses and recruited players through a contract of employment, paying their wages secretly and often evading taxes. However, in 1974, accounting reform in Finland extended book-keeping standards to cover sports clubs, and shortfalls were exposed in audit raids. The SM-liiga was to allow wages for players, and clubs were also put under a tighter supervision. They were to establish their own association for SM-liiga ice hockey only, separating their commitments from junior activities and other sports. Copies of all player contracts were to be sent to the SM-liiga to provide players with adequate security, such as insurance and pensions.

The SM-sarja had other limits for players. According to amateur ideals, no player could represent more than one club within one season. Personal sponsorship was also forbidden. To discourage trading, a system of quarantine was in force. The SM-liiga stripped the limitations for players, replaced quarantine with a then-modest transfer payment, and introduced the transfer list. Players wanting a transfer were to sign up, and the SM-liiga would distribute the right of negotiations to clubs. In practice the list was not successful, as both parties often worked their way around the formalities.

These changes led to a transition towards professional ice hockey as the league became semi-professional. Only a few players would make a livelihood out of ice hockey in Finland in the 1970s, and many players, especially the young, would settle for a contract in the SM-liiga without a wage.

A major financial development for professional ice hockey in Finland was the introduction of playoffs. Gate receipts and other income from playoffs were pooled and distributed as a placement bonus. Although play-offs were the standard way of determining the champions in North American professional sports, at the time they were not common in Europe.

The SM-liiga was established rather hastily. The required changes were initiated in the 1974 annual meeting, and the SM-liiga was launched for the 1975–76 season. It was the first Finnish professional sports league, and its solutions were untried. However, there had been a mounting demand for these changes, as the popularity of ice hockey had been rising in the previous decade.

The SM-liiga picked up where the SM-sarja left off with its 10 clubs. The four best of the regular season were to proceed to the play-offs. The system of promotion and relegation from the SM-sarja remained in force: last-placed teams of the regular season had to qualify for their position in the SM-liiga against the best teams of the second-highest series.

The combined attendance for the first eleven regular seasons hovered around 900,000. In 1986–87, the number of games for each team was increased from 36 to 44, reaching its current level of 56 games in 2000–01, and the SM-liiga was expanded to 12 clubs for the 1988–89 season. The general popularity of ice hockey strengthened through international success of the Finland men's national ice hockey team, and the combined attendance climbed through the 1990s to about 1.8 million. This prompted an increase in the profitability of the ice hockey business and the completion of the transition to full professionalism. By the mid-1990s, all players were full-time, and by 2000, most clubs had reformed into limited companies.

Since the 2000–01 season, the SM-liiga has been closed, meaning that relegations and promotions take place only by the judgment of the board of the SM-liiga. The only such promotion took place instantly in 2000. Without the threat of relegation, the weaker clubs were supposed to be able to recuperate and improve. This had, however, a side effect: clubs with a losing record that had lost their hopes of reaching the playoffs often disposed of high-salary star players, letting down their supporters. To counteract this, the playoffs were expanded to the best 10 clubs each season from among the 13 total in the league.

The league changed its name to just Liiga for the 2013–14 season, and introduced a new logo to match.

Clubs

The team names are usually the traditional name of the club. All clubs are commonly known by the name of their team. Oy and Ab are short for limited company, Oyj public limited company and Ry association respectively.

Team name	Club's registered name	Location	Home venue capacity	2016–17 season standing (playoffs)	Titles 1976-	Titles overall
HIFK	Oy HIFK Hockey Ab	Helsinki	Helsinki Ice Hall, 8,200	9th (4th)	4	7
HPK	HPK Liiga Oy	Hämeenlinna	Patria-areena, 5,360	5th (6th)	1	1
Ilves	Ilves-Hockey Oy	Tampere	Tampereen jäähalli, 7,300	10th (8th)	1	16
Jukurit	Jukurit HC Oy	Mikkeli	Ikioma Areena, 4,200	11th (did not qualify)	0	0
JYP	JYP Jyväskylä Oy	Jyväskylä	Synergia-areena, 4,437	4th (3rd)	2	2
KalPa	KalPa Hockey Oy	Kuopio	Niiralan monttu, 5,064	3rd (2nd)	0	0
KooKoo	KooKoo Hockey Oy	Kouvola	Lumon arena, 6,200	13th (did not qualify)	0	0
Kärpät	Oulun Kärpät Oy	Oulu	Oulun Energia Areena, 6,768	8th (10th)	8	8
Lukko	Rauman Lukko Oy	Rauma	Kivikylän Areena, 5,400	12th (did not qualify)	0	1
Pelicans	Lahden Pelicans Oy	Lahti	Isku Areena, 5,371	6th (7th)	0	0
SaiPa	Liiga-SaiPa Oy	Lappeenranta	Kisapuisto, 4,820	15th (did not qualify)	0	0
Sport	Hockey-Team Vaasan Sport Oy	Vaasa	Vaasa Arena, 4,512	14th (did not qualify)	0	0
Tappara	Tamhockey Oy	Tampere	Tampereen jäähalli, 7,300	1st (1st)	10	17
TPS	HC TPS Turku Oy	Turku	Gatorade Center, 11,820	2nd (5th)	10	11
Ässät	HC Ässät Pori Oy	Pori	Porin jäähalli, 6,300	7th (9th)	2	3

Past participants

Renamed, still in Liiga

• JyP HT and Jyp (now JYP)
• Kiekkoreipas, Hockey-Reipas, and Reipas Lahti (now Pelicans)

Relegated prior to 2000

Teams relegated were relegated to second-tier Mestis in the year shown, and are there today unless noted otherwise.

• FoPS (relegated 1977, now FPS in third-tier Suomi-sarja)
• KOO-VEE (relegated 1980), now in third-tier Suomi-sarja)
• JoKP (relegated 1992, now Jokipojat)
• TuTo (relegated 1996, now TUTO Hockey)

Withdrew from league

• Jokerit (left after the 2013–14 season to join the KHL)
• Blues (originally Kiekko-Espoo (or K-Espoo); went bankrupt at the end of the 2015–16 Liiga season)

Past participants

Renamed, still in SM-liiga

• JyP HT and Jyp (now JYP)
• Kiekko-Espoo (now Blues)
• Kiekkoreipas, Hockey-Reipas, and Reipas Lahti (now Pelicans)

Relegated prior to 2000

Teams relegated were relegated to second-tier Mestis in the year shown, and are there today unless noted otherwise.

• FoPS (relegated 1977, now FPS in third-tier Suomi-sarja)
• KOO-VEE (relegated 1980), now in third-tier Suomi-sarja)
• JoKP (relegated 1992, now Jokipojat)
• TuTo (relegated 1996), now TUTO Hockey

Withdrew from league

• Jokerit (left after the 2013–14 season to join the KHL)
• Blues (originally Kiekko-Espoo (or K-Espoo); went bankrupt at the end of the 2015–16 Liiga season)

SM-liiga/Liiga timeline

1970					1980										1990										2000										2010
75 76	76 77	77 78	78 79	79 80	80 81	81 82	82 83	83 84	84 85	85 86	86 87	87 88	88 89	89 90	90 91	91 92	92 93	93 94	94 95	95 96	96 97	97 98	98 99	99 00	00 01	01 02	02 03	03 04	04 05	05 06	06 07	07 08	08 09	09 10	10 11	11 12	12 13	13 14	14 15	15 16	16 17	17 18	18 19
HIFK
Ilves
Tappara
TPS
Ässät
Jokerit
Lukko
KOO-VEE
Sport
FoPS
	Kiekkoreipas														Hockey-Reipas	Reipas Lahti								Pelicans
		Kärpät
					SaiPa
								HPK
										JyP HT												JYP
											KalPa
												KooKoo
														JoKP
																	K-Espoo						Blues
																			TuTo
																																									Jukurit

Format

Regular season: all teams play 60 matches, a quadruple round robin with extra local double rounds (every team plays four matches against every other team, plus two or four extra matches against defined local opponents). Each match consists of 60 minutes regulation time, and in the event of a tie, winner is decided by a four-on-four sudden death, 5-minute overtime. Ties after overtime are decided by a shootout, where each team has three shooters in the beginning. If the game is tied after three shooters, the shootout will be decided by individual shooters against one another until one scores and the other does not.

For the 2010-11 season, a new scheduling feature was introduced that each team would play 2 games (1 home, 1 away) against the same opponent. The matchups would be decided by a system where the bottom (14th) placed team at that time chooses its opponent 1st, followed by the 13, 12th and so on. The 7th placed team is the last one to choose an opponent. The system has been criticized by many, for reasons such as "awarding" a bad position in the table and the way the match-ups are decided, since there are worries that teams will choose their opponents from the higher profile teams and their biggest rivals to achieve maximum attendance and more income through ticket sales.

Scoring: A win in regulation time is worth three points, a win by sudden death overtime two points and loss by sudden death overtime one point. Teams will be ranked by points, and teams tied by points are ranked by goal differential. Teams tied by goal differential as well are ranked by number of goals scored.

Play-offs: The six best teams at the conclusion of regular season proceed directly to quarter-finals. Teams placing between seventh and tenth (inclusive) will play preliminary play-offs best-out-of-three - the two winners take the last two slots to quarter-finals. Starting from the season 2007-2008 all series since then are best-of-seven. Losers of the semi-finals play a bronze medal match. Teams are paired up for each round according to regular season results, so that the highest-ranking team will play against the lowest-ranking, second highest against the second lowest, and so on. Higher-ranking teams play the first match at home, then by turns away, home, away, etc. Each play-off match consists of a 60-minute regulation time which in the event of a tie is followed by extra 20-minute periods of sudden death overtime, in which the first team to score wins.

Scheduling: The regular season begins around mid-September. It takes a two-week break around the end of October to the beginning of November, when Team Finland plays in a European competition. There is a two-week Christmas break. During Winter Olympic years a break is reserved for the Winter Olympic Games. The regular season is completed around mid-March and preliminary play-offs ensue almost immediately. The play-offs are completed by mid-April, so that all players are available for the World Championships.

Winner

The winners of the playoffs receive gold medals and the Kanada-malja, the championship trophy of the SM-liiga. The winners of the regular season receive a trophy (Harry Lindbladin muistopalkinto) as well, though it is considered less prestigious than the bronze medals of the playoffs, similar to the difference in the National Hockey League between the status of the Stanley Cup and the Presidents' Trophy.

Previous SM-liiga/Liiga regular season winners

1976 – TPS 1977 – Tappara 1978 – Tappara 1979 – Ässät 1980 – TPS 1981 – Tappara 1982 – TPS 1983 – Jokerit 1984 – Tappara

1985 – TPS 1986 – Tappara 1987 – Kärpät 1988 – Ilves 1989 – TPS 1990 – TPS 1991 – TPS 1992 – JYP 1993 – TPS

1994 – TPS 1995 – Jokerit 1996 – Jokerit 1997 – Jokerit 1998 – TPS 1999 – TPS 2000 – TPS 2001 – Jokerit 2002 – Tappara

2003 – HPK 2004 – TPS 2005 – Kärpät 2006 – Kärpät 2007 – Kärpät 2008 – Kärpät 2009 – JYP 2010 – JYP 2011 – JYP

2012 – KalPa 2013 – Jokerit 2014 – Kärpät 2015 – Kärpät 2016 – Tappara 2017 – Tappara 2018 – Kärpät 2019 – HPK 2020 – (cancelled) 2021 – Lukko 2022 - Tappara 2023 - Tappara 2024 - Tappara

Previous SM-liiga/Liiga playoff winners (Finnish Champions)

1976 – TPS 1977 – Tappara 1978 – Ässät 1979 – Tappara 1980 – HIFK 1981 – Kärpät 1982 – Tappara 1983 – HIFK 1984 – Tappara

1985 – Ilves 1986 – Tappara 1987 – Tappara 1988 – Tappara 1989 – TPS 1990 – TPS 1991 – TPS 1992 – Jokerit 1993 – TPS

1994 – Jokerit 1995 – TPS 1996 – Jokerit 1997 – Jokerit 1998 – HIFK 1999 – TPS 2000 – TPS 2001 – TPS 2002 – Jokerit

2003 – Tappara 2004 – Kärpät 2005 – Kärpät 2006 – HPK 2007 – Kärpät 2008 – Kärpät 2009 – JYP 2010 – TPS 2011 – HIFK

2012 – JYP 2013 – Ässät 2014 – Kärpät 2015 – Kärpät 2016 – Tappara 2017 – Tappara 2018 – Kärpät 2019 – HPK 2020 – (cancelled) 2021 - Lukko 2022 – Tappara 2023 – Tappara 2024 – Tappara

Trophies

The following trophies are awarded by the SM-liiga:

• Kultainen kypärä - best player as voted by SM-liiga players
• Kalevi Numminen trophy - best coach
• Jarmo Wasama memorial trophy - rookie of the year
• Matti Keinonen trophy - most effective player
• Raimo Kilpiö trophy - most gentlemanly player
• Urpo Ylönen trophy - best goaltender
• Pekka Rautakallio trophy - best defenseman
• Aarne Honkavaara trophy - most goals scored in the regular season ("best goal scorer")
• Veli-Pekka Ketola trophy - most points scored during the regular season
• Lasse Oksanen trophy - best player during the regular season
• Jari Kurri trophy - best player during the play-offs

In 1995, the trophies were named after Finnish hockey legends. Before that, trophies were named after sponsors.

See also

• List of Liiga seasons

External links

• Official website - Finnish
• Official website - English

European Hockey Overview

Top-Level Leagues

International Alps Hockey League - BeNe League - Erste Liga - International Hockey League - Kontinental Hockey League National Andorra - Armenia - Austria - Belarus - Belgium - Bosnia and Herzegovina - Bulgaria - Croatia - Cyprus - Czech Republic - Denmark - Estonia - Finland - France - Georgia - Germany - Greece - Hungary - Iceland - Italy - Kazakhstan - Latvia - Lithuania - Luxembourg - Netherlands - Norway - Poland - Romania - Serbia - Slovakia - Slovenia - Spain - Sweden - Switzerland - Turkey - Ukraine - United Kingdom

Second-Level Leagues

Belarus - Belgium - Bulgaria - Czech Republic - Denmark - England - Finland - France - Germany - Hungary - Iceland - Italy - Kazakhstan - Latvia - Lithuania - Netherlands - Norway - Poland - Russia - Slovakia - Spain - Sweden - Switzerland - Turkey - Ukraine

Third-Level Leagues

Austria - Belgium - Czech Republic - Denmark - England - Finland - France - Germany - Hungary - Italy - Netherlands - Norway - Poland - Russia - Scotland - Slovakia - Sweden - Switzerland

Fourth-Level and lower Leagues

Austria - Belgium (4, 5) - Czech Republic (4, 5) - Finland (4, 5, 6, 7) - France - Germany (4, 5) - Hungary - Italy - Netherlands (4, 5, 6, 7) - Norway (4, 5, 6, 7) - Poland - Russia (Night League, Amateur Leagues) - Sweden (4, 5, 6, 7, 8), Switzerland (4, 5, 6, 7)

Cup Competitions

Cups Belarus - Belgium - Bosnia and Herzegovina - Bulgaria - Czech Republic - Denmark - East Germany - Estonia - Finland - France - Germany - Hungary - Iceland - Italy - Kazakhstan - Latvia - Lithuania - Luxembourg - Netherlands (Cup, Ron Berteling Schaal) - Norway - Poland - Romania - Scotland - Serbia - Slovakia - Slovenia - Soviet Union - Spain - Switzerland - Ukraine - Yugoslavia Supercups Belgium - Estonia - Hungary - Italy - Poland - Netherlands - Slovenia - Spain

Defunct Leagues

Soviet Union - Russia - Czechoslovakia - Yugoslavia - West Germany - East Germany - Ireland - Luxembourg - Macedonia - Malta - Portugal - Alpenliga - Interliga - Inter-National League - North Sea Cup - Panonian League - Eastern European - Balkan League (1994-1997) - Baltic League (2001) - Baltic Hockey League (2020) - Carpathian League - Slohokej Liga - Balkan Ice Hockey League - English League - English National League - Scottish National League - British Hockey League - Ice Hockey Superleague - German Championship - Swedish Championship - Klass I - Svenska Serien - Elitserien - Swedish Division I - SM-sarja - Swiss National Championship - Swiss International Championship

Women's Leagues

International leagues European Women's Hockey League - EWHL Super Cup National leagues Austria - Belarus - Belgium - Bulgaria - Croatia - Czech Republic - Denmark - Estonia - Finland (1, 2, 3, U20, U18, U16) - France - Germany (1, 2, 3, Cup) - Great Britain (England U16) - Hungary - Iceland - Italy - Kazakhstan - Latvia - Lithuania - Netherlands - Norway - Poland - Romania - Russia (U18) - Slovakia - Slovenia - Spain - Sweden (1, 2, 3, 4, U20) - Switzerland - Turkey - Ukraine Defunct leagues Czechoslovakia - Interliga - Low Countries Cup

Junior Leagues

Austria - Belarus - Belgium - Bosnia and Herzegovina - Bulgaria - Croatia - Czech Republic (Czechoslovakia) - Denmark - Estonia - Finland - France - Germany (East Germany) - Great Britain - Hungary - Iceland - Italy - Kazakhstan - Latvia - Lithuania - Netherlands - Norway - Poland - Romania - Russia (Soviet Union) - Serbia - Slovakia - Slovenia - Spain - Sweden - Switzerland - Turkey - Ukraine - Yugoslavia

University Leagues

European University Hockey League - Czech Republic - Great Britain - Netherlands - Russia (RSHL, MSHL, SHLC, SHLMO, SibSHL, SPSHL) - Sweden

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