2023–24 Liiga season

2023–24 SM-liiga
League	Liiga
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	September 2023 – April 2024
Number of games	60
Number of teams	15
Regular season
Season champions	Tappara
Runners-up	Ilves
Season MVP	Jerry Turkulainen (JYP)
Top scorer	Oula Palve (Ilves)
Playoffs
Playoffs MVP	Christian Heljanko
Finals champions	Tappara
Runners-up	Pelicans
Liiga seasons
← 2022–23

The 2023–24 Liiga season is the 49th season of the Liiga, the top level of ice hockey in Finland, since its formation in 1975.

Format

The regular season started on Tuesday, 12 September 2023, with a match between Rauman Lukko and Hämeenlinnan Pallokerho in Rauma. The match was the only one of the day. As in previous seasons, 450 matches will be played in the regular season, 60 for each team. There are 25 full rounds of seven matches played, 16 of which are on Saturdays. A little more than half of the regular season, 262 matches, are played on Fridays and Saturdays. Most weekday games are played on Wednesdays (98). There were a total of 106 game days in the regular season, i.e. eight less than in the previous season.

As usual, the series is on break in November for a week and a half while the national teams play in the Euro Hockey Tour. The Christmas break lasts 5–7 days, depending on the team, with the exception of KalPa, which participates on the 26th–31st of December in the Spengler Cup in Switzerland. For other teams, the Christmas break ends on Saint Stephen's day, 26 December. The regular season ends on Tuesday, 12 March 2024.

Regular season standings

Top six advanced straight to the quarter-finals, while teams between 7th and 10th positions play a wild card round for the final two spots. The SM-liiga is a closed series and thus there is no relegation to the Mestis.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Final Result
1	Tappara	60	34	8	5	13	200	141	+59	123	Advance to Quarterfinals
2	Ilves	60	33	7	7	13	197	144	+53	120
3	Pelicans	60	31	4	8	17	177	147	+30	109
4	Kärpät	60	28	8	6	18	174	147	+27	106
5	Jukurit	60	30	3	7	20	197	147	+50	103
6	HIFK	60	26	7	11	16	179	139	+40	103
7	KalPa	60	25	6	7	22	169	156	+13	94	Advance to Wild-card round
8	Lukko	60	22	10	6	22	157	160	−3	92
9	TPS	60	17	14	5	24	150	166	−16	84
10	Sport	60	21	5	10	24	155	174	−19	83
11	Ässät	60	19	7	10	24	136	144	−8	81
12	KooKoo	60	17	11	6	26	175	178	−3	79
13	JYP	60	16	7	7	30	152	196	−44	69
14	HPK	60	15	4	6	35	111	184	−73	59
15	SaiPa	60	5	10	10	35	125	231	−106	45

Playoffs

Bracket

	Wild-card round (best-of-3)					Quarter-finals (best-of-7)					Semi-finals (best-of-7)					Finals (best-of-7)
						1	Tappara	4
	7	KalPa	2			9	TPS	2
											1	Tappara	4
	10	Sport	0
											7	KalPa	1
						2	Ilves	1
						7	KalPa	4
																1	Tappara	4
																3	Pelicans	1
						3	Pelicans	4
						6	HIFK	3
											3	Pelicans	4
	8	Lukko	1
											4	Kärpät	1
	9	TPS	2			4	Kärpät	4
						5	Jukurit	2

Wild-card round

KalPa – Sport 2-0 15.3.2024 KalPa Sport 4-1 ref 17.3.2024 Sport KalPa 2-4 ref KalPa wins the series 2-0.

Lukko – TPS 1-2 15.3.2024 Lukko TPS 3-2 OT1 ref 16.3.2024 TPS Lukko 2-1 ref 18.3.2024 Lukko TPS 3-5 ref TPS wins the series 2-1.

Quarter-finals

Tappara – TPS 4-2 20.3.2024 Tappara TPS 4-1 ref 22.3.2024 TPS Tappara 4-2 ref 23.3.2024 Tappara TPS 4-0 ref 26.3.2024 TPS Tappara 2-1 OT1 ref 28.3.2024 Tappara TPS 5-2 ref 30.3.2024 TPS Tappara 4-5 OT1 ref Tappara wins the series 4-2. Pelicans – HIFK 4-3 20.3.2024 Pelicans HIFK 4-2 ref 22.3.2024 HIFK Pelicans 1-4 ref 23.3.2024 Pelicans HIFK 3-2 OT1 ref 26.3.2024 HIFK Pelicans 2-1 OT3 ref 28.3.2024 Pelicans HIFK 0-3 ref 30.3.2024 HIFK Pelicans 2-1 OT1 ref 2.4.2024 Pelicans HIFK 4-3 ref Pelicans wins the series 4-3.

Ilves – KalPa 1-4 21.3.2024 Ilves KalPa 3-4 OT1 ref 23.3.2024 KalPa Ilves 1-0 OT1 ref 25.3.2024 Ilves KalPa 3-2 OT1 ref 27.3.2024 KalPa Ilves 4-2 ref 29.3.2024 Ilves KalPa 2-4 ref KalPa wins the series 4-1. Kärpät – Jukurit 4-2 20.3.2024 Kärpät Jukurit 4-1 ref 22.3.2024 Jukurit Kärpät 1-2 OT1 ref 23.3.2024 Kärpät Jukurit 5-2 ref 26.3.2024 Jukurit Kärpät 5-2 ref 28.3.2024 Kärpät Jukurit 2-3 ref 30.3.2024 Jukurit Kärpät 3-4 OT1 ref Kärpät wins the series 4-2.

Semi-finals

Tappara – KalPa 4-1 5.4.2024 Tappara KalPa 3-2 OT1 ref 6.4.2024 KalPa Tappara 4-5 ref 9.4.2024 Tappara KalPa 1-2 ref 12.4.2024 KalPa Tappara 0-4 ref 13.4.2024 Tappara KalPa 3-1 ref Tappara wins the series 4-1.

Pelicans – Kärpät 4-1 5.4.2024 Pelicans Kärpät 2-1 ref 6.4.2024 Kärpät Pelicans 3-5 ref 9.4.2024 Pelicans Kärpät 1-0 ref 12.4.2024 Kärpät Pelicans 1-0 ref 13.4.2024 Pelicans Kärpät 2-1 OT1 ref Pelicans wins the series 4-1.

Bronze medal game

4/19/24 18:30

Kärpät

3–2 OT (1–0, 0–2, 1–0, 1–0)

KalPa

Oulun Energia Areena, Oulu Attendance: 4,528

Game reference
				Referees: Kristian Vikman Riku Brander
	4 min	Penalties	8 min
	25	Shots	28

Finals

4/20 17:00

Tappara

3–1 (2–0, 0–0, 1–1)

Pelicans

Nokia Arena, Tampere Attendance: 12,144

Game reference
				Referees: Joonas Kova Antti Boman
	2 min	Penalties	8 min
	25	Shots	24

4/22 18:30

Pelicans

2–3 (0–1, 1–2, 1–0)

Tappara

Isku Areena, Lahti Attendance: 4,403

Game reference
				Referees: Aleksi Rantala Stefan Fonselius
	6 min	Penalties	6 min
	52	Shots	48

4/24 18:30

Tappara

1–2 OT2 (0–1, 1–0, 0–0, 0–0, 0–1)

Pelicans

Nokia Arena, Tampere Attendance: 12,313

Game reference
				Referees: Joonas Kova Antti Boman
	6 min	Penalties	27 min
	58	Shots	61

4/26/24 18:30

Pelicans

3–4 OT (2–0, 0–0, 1–3, 0–1)

Tappara

Isku Areena, Lahti Attendance: 4,403

Game reference
				Referees: Aleksi Rantala Stefan Fonselius
	6 min	Penalties	4 min
	29	Shots	55

4/28/24 17:00

Tappara

3–0 (0–0, 1–0, 2–0)

Pelicans

Nokia Arena, Tampere Attendance: 12,700

Game reference
				Referees: Antti Boman Joonas Kova
	4 min	Penalties	6 min
	48	Shots	34

Tappara wins the finals 4-1.

Final rankings

	Tappara
	Pelicans
	Kärpät
4	KalPa
5	Ilves
6	Jukurit
7	HIFK
8	TPS
9	Lukko
10	Sport
11	Ässät
12	KooKoo
13	JYP
14	HPK
15	SaiPa