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".
JYP is an ice hockey team playing in the Finnish top division Liiga. They play in Jyväskylä, Finland, at the LähiTapiola Areena.
Porin Ässät, officially named Hockey Club Ässät Pori and colloquially known as Pata, is a professional ice hockey club based in Pori, Finland. It competes in the SM-liiga, the highest-ranking league of ice hockey in Finland. Since 1971, Ässät has played its games in the Isomäki Ice Hall.
Kalevan Pallo (KalPa) is a professional ice hockey team which competes in the Finnish Liiga. They play in Kuopio, Finland at the Olvi Areena.
Ville Sakari Peltonen is a Finnish ice hockey coach and a former professional ice hockey forward. Peltonen was drafted by the San Jose Sharks as their third round pick, 58th overall, in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft. During his professional career, he has played 382 NHL games for Sharks, Nashville Predators and Florida Panthers. Internationally, he represented the Finland men's national ice hockey team, and was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2016.
Pekka Päiviö Rinne is a Finnish former professional hockey goaltender. Drafted by the Nashville Predators in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, Rinne became their starting goaltender during the 2008–09 season and quickly established himself as one of the NHL's best goaltenders. He won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's best goaltender in the 2017–18 season, and was a finalist for the award four times. Rinne led the Predators to their first Stanley Cup Finals appearance in franchise history in 2017, losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games.
Pekka Olavi "Rocky" Rautakallio is a Finnish former professional ice hockey defenceman and coach. He played 14 seasons in Finland's SM-sarja and SM-liiga between 1968 and 1987 for Ässät and HIFK Helsinki, during which he was a five-time Finnish All-Star. Rautakallio was a member of Ässät's championship team that won the Kanada-malja in 1978. He was named the best defenceman of the SM-liiga in 1978, 1979 and 1986; the league later named the award the Pekka Rautakallio trophy in his honour. Internationally, Rautakallio played with the Finnish national team in seven World Championships and two Canada Cup tournaments.
Kim Michael Hirschovits-Gerz is a Finnish former professional ice hockey forward and current sports manager of Kiekko-Espoo in the Mestis. During his playing career, he skated in the Finnish Liiga with HIFK, Jokerit, the Espoo Blues, and Oulun Kärpät; in the Swedish Elitserien with Timrå IK and Luleå HF; and in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) with Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod and Dinamo Minsk. Hirschovits was drafted by the New York Rangers as their sixth-round pick, 194th overall, in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft.
Marko Tuulola is a retired Finnish professional ice hockey defenceman.
Simo Olavi Saarinen is a retired professional ice hockey defenceman
Mikkelin Jukurit is a professional ice hockey team in Liiga, the top tier Finnish ice hockey league. They play in Mikkeli, Finland, at the Kalevankankaan jäähalli. The team has won 7 Mestis championships.
Siim Liivik is an Estonian-Finnish professional ice hockey winger who is currently an unrestricted free agent.
Mikael Antero Granlund is a Finnish professional ice hockey centre for the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League (NHL). He previously played professionally in Finland with Oulun Kärpät and HIFK of the SM-liiga and the Minnesota Wild of the NHL. He was selected by the Wild as the ninth overall pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.
Simo Mälkiä is a Finnish former ice hockey defenceman. He played in the Finnish SM-liiga for SaiPa and Jokerit. He retired on February 20, 2012 due to injury.
Kristian Kuusela is a Finnish former professional ice hockey right wing. Kuusela announced his retirement on 27 April 2023 after winning the Liiga championship with Tappara. Kuusela played a total of 1107 regular season games with 738 points. During his Liiga career Kuusela represented Ässät, Kärpät, Blues and Tappara. Foreign clubs Kuusela reprecented were MODO Hockey from Sweden and Amur Khabarovsk from Russia.
Juuso Riikola is a Finnish professional ice hockey defenseman currently playing with SCL Tigers of the National League (NL). His brother, Simo-Pekka also played professionally.
Pekka Tirkkonen is a Finnish ice hockey coach and former professional ice hockey player. He most recently served as head coach of EHC Kloten of the National League (NL). Tirkkonen was selected by the Boston Bruins in the 2nd round of the 1986 NHL Entry Draft.
Jukka-Pekka Seppo is a Finnish former professional ice hockey player who primarily played in the Finnish Liiga and German Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). Seppo was drafted in the second round of the 1986 NHL Entry Draft by the Philadelphia Flyers, but he never played professionally in North America. He spent most of his professional career in Finland, playing ten seasons in the Liiga including six seasons with HIFK.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is a Finnish professional ice hockey goaltender for the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL).
Riikola is a Finnish surname. Notable people with the surname include:
