Related Research Articles
The SM-liiga, colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding leagues of the Champions Hockey League and currently allocated five spots - the maximum number - based on success in previous editions. 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".
Sport, known by its full name as Hockey Team Vaasan Sport OY, 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.
Ville Juhani Nieminen is a Finnish former professional ice hockey forward who played over 400 games in the National 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. It had initially been the highest hockey league in Finland that could be reached through playing merits alone; the SM-liiga was closed in 2000. After the 2004–05 season, KalPa was promoted to the SM-liiga, and the Liiga was re-opened in the 2008–09 season. Vaasan Sport was promoted in 2014–15, KooKoo was promoted in 2015–16, and Jukurit was promoted in 2016–17. Mestis, however, is an open league, with promotion and relegation between it and Suomi-sarja. However there will be no relegation during the 2020-21 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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.
Jani Virtanen is a Finnish former 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.
KooKoo is a Finnish ice hockey team playing in the first level of Finnish ice hockey league Liiga. KooKoo plays in the Lumon arena, in Kouvola. The team was established in 1965 and the previous name of the club is Kouvolan Kiekko-65.
Jonathan Iilahti is a Finnish ice hockey goaltender and coach, currently serving as the goaltending coach of Vaasan Sport Naiset in the Naisten Liiga and as the Vaasan Sportin Juniorit director of coaching for the under-15 to under-19 age group.
Michal Krištof is a Slovak professional ice hockey center playing for HC Kometa Brno of the Czech Extraliga (ELH).
Mikko Virtanen is a Finnish professional ice hockey player. He is currently playing for KalPa of the Finnish Liiga.
The 2016–17 Mestis season was the 17th season of Mestis, the second highest level of ice hockey in Finland after Liiga. Previous seasons champion Jukurit got a place in the Liiga. IPK got promoted from Suomi-sarja at the end of last season. Espoo United got a place in Mestis after Espoo Blues suffered bankruptcy and the league was exceptionally played with 13 teams.
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.
Turun Palloseura Naiset or TPS Naiset are an ice hockey team in the Finnish Naisten Liiga. They are the representative women's ice hockey team of Turun Palloseura (TPS), a multi-sport club based in Turku, Southwest Finland and they play at the Kupittaan jäähalli and the Impivaara Ice Rink. The team has played in the Naisten Liiga, Finland’s premier women's ice hockey league, since gaining promotion in the 2018–19 season.
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.
Tatu Kokkola is a Finnish professional ice hockey player currently playing for Jokipojat in Mestis.
Waltteri Ruuskanen is a Finnish professional ice hockey defenceman who is currently a free agent having last played for SaPKo of Mestis.
Ilkka Vaarasuo is a Finnish former professional ice hockey defenceman.
Rasmus Hämäläinen is a Finnish former professional ice hockey right winger. He played in the Liiga with KooKoo and SaiPa.
The 2020–21 Mestis season was the 21st season of Mestis, the second highest level of ice hockey in Finland after Liiga. Due to promotion/relegation games being cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic in the last season both semi-finalists from last seasons Suomi-sarja were promoted to Mestis. Therefore this seasons consisted of 14 teams.
