The SM-liiga, colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. 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".
Oulun Kärpät is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Oulu and playing in the top-tier Finnish Liiga. Kärpät have won the Finnish championship title eight times, and is the most successful Finnish ice hockey team in the 21st century.
Porin Ässät is a professional ice hockey club based in the town of Pori, Finland. They play in the Finnish elite league, Liiga. They play in the Isomäki Areena. The team is also referred to as Pata, The Red Machine of Pori and Pubijoukkue.
Sport, known by its full name as Hockey Team Vaasan Sport OY or simply Vaasan Sport, is a Finnish ice hockey team playing in Liiga, and is based at Vaasa Arena in Vaasa. The team was established in 1939 as IF Sport.
Mestis is the second-highest men's ice hockey league in Finland. The league was established by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association in 2000 to replace the I-divisioona.
Kupittaan monitoimihalli, also known as Rajupaja Areena for sponsorship reasons, is an arena in the Kupittaa district of Turku, Finland. It is primarily used for ice hockey and is the home arena of the Mestis team TUTO Hockey and the Naisten Liiga team TPS Naiset. It was opened on 18 November 2006 on the original site of the Kupittaan jäähalli, which had opened in 1973 and held 5,500 people.
Kari Jalonen is a Finnish professional ice hockey coach and former player. Currently he is the head coach of Czech national team. He is not related to Finnish ice hockey coach Jukka Jalonen.
Sami Aittokallio is a Finnish professional ice hockey goaltender who currently plays for Bietigheim Steelers of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). He has formerly played with the Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League (NHL)
Jasse Ikonen is a Finnish professional ice hockey player. He is currently playing with Färjestad BK in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL).
The 2011–12 SM-liiga season was the 37th season of the SM-liiga, the top level of ice hockey in Finland, since the league's formation in 1975. The title was won by JYP Jyväskylä who defeated Pelicans Lahti in the finals. The title was 2nd in team history.
The 2012–13 SM-liiga season was the 38th season of the SM-liiga, the top level of ice hockey in Finland, since the league's formation in 1975. The title was won by Ässät Pori who defeated Tappara Tampere in the finals.
The 2015–16 Liiga season was the 41st season of the Liiga, the top level of ice hockey in Finland, since the league's formation in 1975.
Simon Suoranta is a Finnish professional ice hockey player currently signed to French Ligue Magnus side Dragons de Rouen. He last played for the Nottingham Panthers of the UK's Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL).
The 2017–18 Liiga season was the 43rd season of the SM-liiga, the top level of ice hockey in Finland, since the league's formation in 1975. Tappara was the season as a defending champion. This season included a record number of matches played on Fridays and Saturdays. In autumn, there was a national team break from 5 November until 13 November.
The 2018–19 Liiga season was the 44th season of the Liiga, the top level of ice hockey in Finland, since the league's formation in 1975.
Ice hockey is the most popular sport in Finland in terms of television viewership and game attendance figures. It is third most popular sport in participation amongst children. As of 2020, approximately 1.3% of the Finnish population was registered with the International Ice Hockey Federation, ranking Finland second in the world for percentage of population participating in ice hockey and the highest percentage of any country outside of North America.
Naisten Mestis is the second-highest women's ice hockey league in Finland. The league was founded as Naisten I-divisioona in 1985 by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association when the number of teams playing in the Naisten SM-sarja was limited. It was renamed Naisten Mestis prior to the 2012-13 season.
Vaasan Sport Naiset were a women's ice hockey team in Finland. They played in Vaasa, on the west coast of Finland, at the Vaasan Sähkö Areena. Founded in 1983, the team most recently played in the Naisten Liiga from the 2018–19 season until being relegated at the conclusion of the 2021–22 season. The team was dissolved following relegation.
Kai Ortio is a Finnish retired ice hockey player and the current head coach of Turun Palloseura (TPS) Akatemia U16, a junior ice hockey team in the U16 Mestis. During his playing career, he played two seasons in the SM-liiga, appearing with HC TPS in 45 games during the 1987–88 and 1988–89 seasons and registering three points and 22 penalty minutes.
eLiiga was a Finnish esports league that was played in the NHL video game series. The teams competing in the tournament were real ice hockey teams that play in the Liiga, the top-tier league of Finland. The league was hosted by Liiga and Telia. Only the top-eight teams could make it into the playoffs. The playoffs were played in a best-of-three series, but the final was played in a best-of-five series.
