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. The league comprises 16 teams from all around Finland with relegation and promotion between the Mestis. The winner of the Liiga playoffs is awarded the Kanada-malja at the end of each season.
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.
Kari Makkonen is a Finnish retired professional ice hockey player and coach. He played in the Finnish Elite League with Ässät for 16 seasons. Makkonen played one National Hockey League season with the Edmonton Oilers.
Savonlinnan Pallokerho (SaPKo) is an ice hockey team from Savonlinna, Finland, they currently play in the Suomi-sarja. It plays its home matches at the Talvisalo ice rink.
SM-Sarja was the top level of ice hockey in Finland from 1928 to 1975. SM-sarja is a common abbreviation for Suomen mestaruussarja, "Finnish Championship Series".
The 1999–2000 I-Divisioona season was the 26th and final season of the I-Divisioona, the second level of Finnish ice hockey. The second-level Finnish league became the Mestis for the 2000–01 season. 12 teams participated in the league, and Kärpät Oulu, Vaasan Sport, and Diskos Jyväskylä qualified for the promotion/relegation round of the SM-liiga.
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.
Jan-Mikael Järvinen is a Finnish professional ice hockey forward who is currently playing with the Porin Ässät in the Liiga.
The 2016–17 SM-liiga season was the 42nd season of the SM-liiga, the top level of ice hockey in Finland, since the league's formation in 1975.
The 2017–18 SM-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 SM-liiga season was the 44th season of the SM-liiga, the top level of ice hockey in Finland, since the league's formation in 1975.
The 2019–20 SM-liiga season was the 45th season of the SM-liiga, the top level of ice hockey in Finland, since the league's formation in 1975. The last two game days of the regular season were scheduled to be played in front of an empty arena due to the Finnish government advising that all public events with more than 500 attendees would be cancelled or postponed. On 13 March, the rest of the season, which included the final round of the regular season and all of playoffs, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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.
The Auroraliiga is the national premier league for women's ice hockey in Finland. Founded by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association as the Naisten SM-sarja in 1982, it was known as the Naisten Liiga from 2017 until being rebranded as Auroraliiga in 2024. The league comprises approximately 225 players across nine teams.
Naisten Mestis is the second-highest women's national ice hockey league in Finland. Founded as the Naisten I-divisioona in 1985 by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association, when the number of teams playing in the top-tier national league was limited, the league was renamed Naisten Mestis prior to the 2012–13 season.
Alavuden Peli-Veikotry or APV is a sports club in Alavus, Finland. APV was founded in 1953 as a speciality football club – tradition holds that it was the first specialty football club to be founded in rural Finland – but expanded to include other sports over time. The club now offers programs in football, futsal, ice hockey, and pesäpallo and is best known for its youth and junior teams. APV's representative ice hockey teams play in the men's fourth-tier II-divisioona and in the women's second-tier Naisten Mestis. The club's representative men's pesäpallo team plays in the Suomensarja, the third-tier league below the Superpesis and Ykköspesis.
The 2019–20 Naisten Liiga season was the thirty-seventh season of the Naisten Liiga, the premier level of women's ice hockey in Finland, since the league’s establishment in 1982.
The 2020–21 SM-liiga season was the 46th season of the SM-liiga, the top level of ice hockey in Finland, since the league's formation in 1975. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic all the games had to be played to a very limited audience or no audience at all. Two teams have temporarily let go of their coaches due to financial reasons: JYP and SaiPa. The season was Hakametsä's last full season.
The 2021–22 SM-liiga season was the 47th season of the SM-liiga, the top level of ice hockey in Finland, since the league's formation in 1975.
The 2024–25 Liiga season is the 50th season of the Liiga, the top level of Finnish ice hockey since 1975.
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