Ice hockey in Finland

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Ice hockey in Finland
Blues-Karpat playoff.jpg
Esa Pirnes (Blues) and Michal Bros (Kärpät) in the faceoff circle during a decisive SM-liiga playoff game on 1 April 2006.
Country Finland
Governing body Finnish Ice Hockey Association
National team(s)
Nickname(s)
  • Leijonat (men)
  • Naisleijonat (women)
  • Nuoret Leijonat (junior men)
  • Pikkuleijonat (U18 men)
  • Tyttöleijonat (U18 women)
Registered players71,063 [1]
National competitions

Ice hockey is the most popular sport in Finland in terms of television viewership and game attendance figures. [2] [3] [4] It is third most popular sport in participation amongst children. [5] 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 [lower-alpha 1] and the highest percentage of any country outside of North America. [1]

Contents

History

Ice hockey leagues were first established in Finland in the 1920s. [6] SM-sarja was established as the first national men's ice hockey league in 1928. Viipurin Reipas were champions in the inaugural year and remain one of the oldest ice hockey teams in Finland, still competing today under the name Lahti Pelicans.

Finland's first ice hockey rink, Hakametsä, was founded in January 1965 in Tampere. [7]

Governing body

The Finnish Ice Hockey Association (Finnish : Suomen Jääkiekkoliitto) is the national board for ice hockey in the country and has been instrumental in producing many world class ice hockey players. [8] [9] [10]

Since 2011, the association has operated a financial support system for minor and junior ice hockey players from low-income families. In 2021, 975 players qualified for grants ranging from 700 to 1,300 euros, determined by player age level. In total, the program has distributed approximately 6.7 million euros to youth hockey players since 2011. [11]

National teams

As of May 2022, Finland is the first in the IIHF World Rankings for men's and third for women's national team programs. [12]

Finland men's national ice hockey team is one of the major powers in world hockey; they won their third World Championship in 2019. [13] The men's national team is a member of the so-called "Big Six" an unofficial group of the top men's national teams in world hockey. At the 2022 Winter Olympics, the Finnish hockey team won at the Men's tournament Olympic gold for the first time. [14] [15] [16]

Finland women's national ice hockey team is recognized as one of the few national teams able to challenge American and Canadian dominance in the highest levels of women's international hockey. The team took silver at the World Championship in 2019 after a controversial loss to the United States in the finals. [17] Though they did not claim gold, multiple Finnish players received awards in the 2019 tournament; team captain Jenni Hiirikoski was awarded MVP and Best Defenceman, Noora Räty was awarded Best Goaltender, and forward Michelle Karvinen was named to the All-Star Team along with Hiirikoski and Räty.

Domestic leagues

Men's leagues

TierLeagues/Divisions
1 SM-liiga
15 teams
2 Mestis
13 teams
3 Suomi-sarja
12 teams
4+All divisions after Suomi-sarja are organized regionally
Kanada-malja is Finland's main ice hockey club championship trophy Kanada-malja (Liiga) 2023.jpg
Kanada-malja is Finland's main ice hockey club championship trophy
Lukko - Assat Satakunnan derby, local match in November 2019 in Rauma. Lukko-Assat 30-11-19 9.jpg
Lukko - Ässät Satakunnan derby, local match in November 2019 in Rauma.

Finland has five men's and three women's high-level leagues. The SM-liiga is the elite league for men's ice hockey in Finland. It was created 1975 as the first domestic professional ice hockey league and replaced the SM-sarja as the top national division. [5] [18] The Liiga is a closed league and is run by the independent Jääkiekkon SM-liiga Oy, making it the only Finnish league not operated by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association. The SM-liiga is a closed league; teams are fixed and promotion and relegation are not used. The second- and third-highest men's ice hockey leagues in Finland are the Mestis and the Suomi-sarja; many Mestis and Suomi-sarja teams serve as farm teams to Liiga clubs. Promotion and relegation between the Mestis and Suomi-sarja is possible each season. The lower-level men's leagues play within regional divisions and are the fourth-tier II-divisioona or 2. divisioona, the fifth-tier III-divisioona or 3. divisioona, and the sixth-tier IV-divisioona or 4. divisioona.

Women's leagues

Aurora Borealis Cup is Finnish women's ice hockey club championship trophy Aurora Borealis Malja.jpg
Aurora Borealis Cup is Finnish women's ice hockey club championship trophy
Kiekko-Espoo Naiset Kiekko-Espoo Naiset.jpg
Kiekko-Espoo Naiset

The national women's leagues in Finland are the Naisten Liiga (called Jääkiekon naisten SM-sarja or Naisten SM-sarja before 2017), the second-tier Naisten Mestis, and the third-tier Naisten Suomi-sarja. The Naisten Liiga is the elite league for women's ice hockey in Finland; established in 1982 and has been in continuous operation since the 1982–83 season. [19]

The Naisten Liiga season begins with ten teams in a 20-game preliminary series to determine rank, followed by an upper-divisional series played by the top six ranked teams and a lower-divisional series played by the four lowest ranked teams and the two best teams from the Naisten Mestis cross-qualifiers. At the end of the season, the four teams with the lowest point totals in the lower division of the Naisten Liiga play a promotion/relegation series for placement in the league for the following season; only two teams will remain in the Naisten Liiga, the other teams begin the following season in the Naisten Mestis.

Every women's team, with the exception of the ten teams in the Naisten Liiga, begins the season in the Naisten Mestis qualifiers. The teams are sorted into groups and play a fifteen or sixteen-game series intra-group series. The top team or teams from each group proceed to the Naisten Mestis cross-qualifiers for a chance to gain mid-season promotion to the Naisten Liiga and all other teams continue in the Naisten Suomi-sarja regular season. After the Naisten Mestis cross-qualifiers, the teams that did not gain promotion to the Naisten Liiga proceed to the Naisten Mestis regular season. It is possible for a newly created team to gain promotion to the Naisten Liiga in the span of their inaugural season, as Stadin Gimmat (HIFK Naiset) did in 2018–19.

Junior leagues

The Legacy Bowl is the men's U20 SM-sarja Championship trophy Legacy Bowl.jpg
The Legacy Bowl is the men's U20 SM-sarja Championship trophy
Ilves vs JYP in 2008 Ilves vs JYP Junior A 2008.jpg
Ilves vs JYP in 2008

National men's junior ice hockey leagues exists at the under-16 (U16, previously C-nuoret), under-18 (U18, previously B-nuoret), and under-20 (U20, previously A-nuoret) age groups. Each age group has the same three-tier structure as the senior leagues, i.e. there is a top-level SM-sarja, a second-tier Mestis, and a third-tier Suomi-sarja for U16, U18, and U20. The teams of the U20 SM-sarja differ from those in the other junior leagues because nearly all of them are managed directly by the SM-liiga club, rather than by the affiliated junior club. For example, TPS U20 is operated by HC TPS Turku Oy, the limited company which owns the SM-liiga team HC TPS, but all other TPS junior and minor team are organized by TPS Juniorijääkiekko ry, an affiliated but distinct non-profit organization.

It is common for a club to have multiple teams in each age group and, though less common, a single club may have more than one team competing in the same league. For example, during the 2019–20 season, Kärpät U18 competed in the U18 SM-sarja while both Kärpät U18 Akatemia and Kärpät U18 Team played in the U20 Mestis. 'Team' or akatemia, meaning 'academy,' are often used to denote a given team is not the club's top-tier team of its age group, as are the number 2 or the numerals II. Some clubs use novel nomenclature to distinguish their teams, like Kiekko-Espoo U18 Blues and Kiekko-Espoo U18 Challenger, both of which played in the 2019–20 U18 Mestis season.

College ice hockey

Several Finnish college ice hockey teams have participated in the lower divisions of men's ice hockey before, but in 2023 a college ice hockey league of 17 teams called the FCAA Hockey was established. The first games were followed by over 1 400 spectators. [20] [21]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liiga</span> Ice hockey league in Finland

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".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mestis</span> Finnish ice hockey league

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marli Areena</span> Sports arena in Turku, Finland

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juhani Tamminen</span> Finnish ice hockey player

Manu Juhani Tamminen is a Finnish retired professional ice hockey player who played in the SM-liiga and World Hockey Association. He played for TPS, HJK, HIFK, Cleveland Crusaders, and Phoenix Roadrunners. He represented Finland at the 1976 Canada Cup. He was inducted into the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meeri Räisänen</span> Finnish ice hockey goaltender

Meeri Räisänen is a Finnish ice hockey goaltender and member of the Finnish national team, currently playing with Gladiators HT in the II-divisioona (2-div.), the fourth-tier men's national league in Finland. With the Finnish national team, she has won two Olympic bronze medals, two World Championship bronze medals, and has twice been named to the World Championship All-Star Team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">U20 SM-sarja</span> Junior ice hockey league in Finland

The U20 SM-sarja is the premier junior men’s ice hockey league in Finland. It was previously known as the A-nuorten SM-sarja during 1945 to 1991 and the Nuorten SM-liiga during 1991 to 2020. The league was founded by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association in 1945 and a Finnish Champion in men’s under-20 ice hockey has been named annually since the league’s inaugural season – with the exception of the 2019–20 season, in which the playoffs were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Eighteen to twenty teams compete in the U20 SM-sarja regular season, which is played in a preliminary ranking stage followed by a divisional or group stage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anni Keisala</span> Finnish ice hockey goaltender

Anni Keisala is a Finnish ice hockey goaltender and member of the Finnish national team, currently playing in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) with HV71 for the 2023–24 season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kokkolan Hermes</span> Finnish ice hockey club in Kokkola

Kokkolan Hermes is a Finnish semi-professional ice hockey club based in Kokkola that plays in the Mestis, the second-tier men's league in Finland after Liiga. The club was founded in 1953 and plays their home games at the Kokkolan jäähalli, which has a capacity of 4,200 spectators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naisten Liiga (ice hockey)</span> Finnish womens ice hockey league

Naisten Liiga, also called the Naisten SM-liiga (NSML) and Jääkiekon naisten SM-liiga, is the elite league for women's ice hockey in Finland. Founded by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association as the Naisten SM-sarja in 1982, it was so known until being rebranded as the Naisten Liiga in 2017. The league comprises approximately 250 players across ten teams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HIFK Naiset</span> Naisten Liiga ice hockey team in Helsinki, Finland

HIFK Naiset, also known as Stadin Gimmat, are an ice hockey team in the Finnish Naisten Liiga. They play in the Pirkkola district of Helsinki at the Pirkkolan jäähalli. The team is operated by Oy HIFK-Hockey Ab, the same organization that owns the HIFK men's ice hockey team of the Liiga – HIFK Naiset are one of only two Naisten Liiga teams owned directly by a Liiga team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HPK Kiekkonaiset</span> Naisten Liiga ice hockey team in Finland

HPK Kiekkonaiset or HPK Naiset are an ice hockey team in the Naisten Liiga (NSML), the premier women's ice hockey league in Finland. They play in Hämeenlinna, a city in the Finnish south-central province of Kanta-Häme, at the Hämeenlinnan harjoitushalli, a secondary ice rink at Ritari-areena. HPK were the first team to be awarded the Aurora Borealis Cup as the winners of the Finnish Championship in 2011 and also won bronze in the 2011–12 IIHF European Women's Champions Cup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naisten Mestis</span> Finnish second-tier ice hockey league

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vaasan Sport Naiset</span> Former ice hockey team in Vaasa, Finland

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.

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.

Matilda Nilsson is a Finnish ice hockey player, currently playing in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) with Frölunda HC Dam. As a member of the Finnish national ice hockey team, she won a bronze medal at the 2021 IIHF Women's World Championship.

The 2020–21 Naisten Liiga season was the thirty-eighth season of the Naisten Liiga, Finland's elite women's ice hockey league, since the league's creation in 1982. The season began, as scheduled, on 5 September 2020, making the Naisten Liiga the first women's national ice hockey league in Europe and, quite likely, in the world to return to play for the 2020–21 season.

Aino Karppinen is a Finnish ice hockey player and member of the Finnish national team, currently playing in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) with Leksands IF.

The 2021–22 Naisten Liiga season was the thirty-ninth season of the Naisten Liiga, the premier level of women's ice hockey in Finland, since the league's establishment as the Naisten SM-sarja in 1982. The season began on 11 September 2021 and concluded on 20 March 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kiekko-Espoo</span> Ice hockey team in Espoo, Finland

Kiekko-Espoo is a Finnish professional ice hockey club founded in 2018 as a continuation of the Kiekko-Espoo team originally founded in 1984. Kiekko-Espoo men's team plays in the Mestis, where they have won one championship (2022–23), and the women's team plays in the Naisten Liiga. Kiekko-Espoo's junior teams play at national league levels in U16, U18 and U20 juniors. The junior teams of Espoo Blues and Kiekko-Espoo played under Kiekko-Espoo Juniorit ry until 2014. Kiekko-Espoo will participate in the SM-liiga for the 2024–25 season.

The Naisten Suomi-sarja, distinguished as the Jääkiekon naisten Suomi-sarja, is the third-tier women's ice hockey league in Finland. It was established by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association in 2003 and is the lowest tier of national ice hockey competition, below the premier Naisten Liiga and secondary Naisten Mestis, but above regional leagues.

References

  1. ↑ The country with the highest percentage of participation is Canada at 1.6%.
  1. 1 2 "IIHF Member National Associations: Finland". International Ice Hockey Federation . 24 April 2020. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  2. ↑ "SM-liigan katsojat 2010-2011". SM-liiga. 2011. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  3. ↑ "Retailing Opportunities for the National Hockey League in Finland" (PDF). core.ac.uk. 2013. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  4. ↑ Suominen, Seppo. "The Geography of Sport in Finland" (PDF). www.athensjournals.gr. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 May 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  5. 1 2 Andersen, Svein S.; Ronglan, Lars Tore (29 May 2019). Nordic Elite Sport: Same Ambitions, Different Tracks. Copenhagen Business School Press DK. ISBN   9788763002455 – via Google Books.
  6. ↑ CHIN. "The history of hockey in Finland: a passion that caught on". virtualmuseum.ca.
  7. ↑ Matson-Mäkelä, Kirsi (29 January 2015). "Suomen ensimmäinen jäähalli täyttää 50 vuotta – "Hakamettä" on monelle kiekkoilijalle toinen koti". Yle . Retrieved 7 April 2024.
  8. ↑ Bexell, Patrik (26 June 2016). "How Finland has emerged as a hockey superpower". Eyes On The Prize.
  9. ↑ Koentges, Chris (1 March 2014). "The Oracle of Ice Hockey" – via The Atlantic.
  10. ↑ Knoll, Andrew (13 February 2019). "In the N.H.L., Finland Is Now Here, There and Everywhere" – via NYTimes.com.
  11. ↑ Uusitupa, Ismo (14 May 2021). "Jääkiekkoliitto tukee lähes tuhatta junioria yhteensä lähes miljoonalla eurolla, hakijoiden määrä laski yllättäen". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  12. ↑ "IIHF - World Ranking". International Ice Hockey Federation . Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  13. ↑ "Ice Hockey World Championship: Finland beat Canada to claim third title". 26 May 2019 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  14. ↑ Blinder, Alan (19 February 2022). "Finland beats Russia, 2-1, for the gold in men's hockey". The New York Times . Retrieved 20 February 2022.
  15. ↑ Ellis, Steven (20 February 2022). "Finland Defeats ROC to Win Men's Olympic Hockey Gold". The Hockey News . Retrieved 20 February 2022.
  16. ↑ "Finland claims first-ever hockey gold at Beijing Olympics". Yle News . 20 February 2022. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
  17. ↑ Spencer, Donna (14 April 2019). "U.S. wins women's world hockey title with controversial shootout victory over Finland". CBC Sports. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  18. ↑ Hard, Petri (2017). "FANS ON THE ROAD–TRAVEL PREFERENCES OF FINNISH ICE HOCKEY SUPPORTERS" (PDF). helda.helsinki.fi. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  19. ↑ "Leijonat - Naisten Liiga". leijonat.fi (in Finnish). Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  20. ↑ "Suomeen perustettiin kaikessa hiljaisuudessa 17 joukkueen yliopistosarja, jonka suosio enteilee vahvaa kehitystä". Jatkoaika.com - Kaikki jääkiekosta (in Finnish). 9 November 2023. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  21. ↑ Lappalainen, Roope (19 October 2023). "Korkeakoulujen jääkiekkoliigan takana on vaasalainen opiskelijaporukka – Sarja alkaa karnevaalitunnelmissa Vaasassa". www.vaasalehti.fi (in Finnish). Retrieved 9 November 2023.
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