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2017–18 Liiga
League Liiga
Sport Ice hockey
Duration September 2017 – April 2018
Number of teams 15
TV partner(s) Nelonen
Regular season
Best record Oulun Kärpät
  Runners-up TPS
Season MVP Julius Junttila (Kärpät)
Top scorer Antti Suomela (JYP)
Playoffs

The 2017–18 Liiga season was the 43rd season of the SM-liiga (branded simply as "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 specialties of the season included, for the first time in Liiga history, double games between KooKoo and Vaasan Sport. Teams met twice in October in consecutive evenings in Kouvola and in February twice in succession in Vaasa. In December, HIFK and Kärpät met in the hockey outdoor show at Kaisaniemi, Helsinki.

In 2018, the Liiga continued on Wednesday, 3 January. Ice hockey at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea's Pyeongchang start with the Finland men's national ice hockey team on February 14, 2018. In Liiga, a full round was played on Saturday 17 February, after which the Olympic Games started. Liiga games resumed on Tuesday, February 27.

Kärpät won the championship by winning Tappara in the final series 4-2.

Teams[]

Team City Head coach Arena Capacity Captain
HIFK Helsinki Ari-Pekka Selin Helsingin jäähalli &0000000000008200.0000008,200 Lennart Petrell
HPK Hämeenlinna Antti Pennanen Patria-areena &0000000000005360.0000005,360 Otto Paajanen
Ilves Tampere Karri Kivi Tampereen jäähalli &0000000000007300.0000007,300 Tapio Laakso
Jukurit Mikkeli Risto Dufva Kalevankankaan jäähalli &0000000000004200.0000004,200 Miika Roine
JYP Jyvaskyla Jyväskylä Marko Virtanen Synergia-areena &0000000000004437.0000004,437 Juha-Pekka Hytönen
KalPa Kuopio Sami Kapanen Niiralan monttu &0000000000005064.0000005,064 Tommi Jokinen
KooKoo Kouvola Tuomas Tuokkola Lumon arena &0000000000006000.0000006,000 Toni Kähkönen
Kärpät Oulu Mikko Manner Oulun Energia Areena &0000000000006614.0000006,614 Lasse Kukkonen
Lukko Rauma Pekka Virta Äijänsuo Arena &0000000000005400.0000005,400 Janne Niskala
Pelicans Lahti Petri Matikainen Isku Areena &0000000000005530.0000005,530 Stefan Lassen
SaiPa Lappeenranta Tero Lehterä Kisapuisto &0000000000004820.0000004,820 Ville Koho
Sport Vaasa Tomek Valtonen Vaasa Arena &0000000000004512.0000004,512 Markus Kankaanperä
Tappara Tampere Jukka Rautakorpi Tampereen jäähalli &0000000000007300.0000007,300 Jukka Peltola
TPS Turku Kalle Kaskinen HK Arena &0000000000011820.00000011,820 Tomi Kallio
Assat Ässät Pori Jyrki Aho14 Jan 2018
Mikael Kotkaniemi
Porin jäähalli &0000000000006280.0000006,280 Matti Kuparinen

Regular season[]

Top six advance straight to quarter-finals, while teams between 7th and 10th positions play wild card round for the final two spots. The Liiga is a closed series and thus there is no relegation.


Pos Team Pld W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Final Result
1 Kärpät (C) 60 33 8 8 11 195 134 +61 123 Advance to Quarterfinals
2 TPS 60 30 7 8 15 187 147 +40 112
3 Tappara 60 25 14 7 14 165 130 +35 110
4 JYP 60 32 4 4 20 187 145 +42 108
5 HIFK 60 26 8 9 17 163 128 +35 103
6 KalPa 60 26 7 7 20 144 136 +8 99
7 SaiPa 60 21 11 8 20 153 163 −10 93 Advance to Wild-card round
8 Ässät 60 23 7 5 25 163 177 −14 88
9 Lukko 60 21 8 6 25 141 142 −1 85
10 Pelicans 60 20 7 9 24 165 175 −10 83
11 Ilves 60 21 5 8 26 162 190 −28 81
12 HPK 60 20 7 4 29 145 157 −12 78
13 Jukurit 60 16 5 9 30 133 170 −37 67
14 KooKoo 60 14 5 10 31 142 198 −56 62
15 Sport 60 12 7 8 33 153 206 −53 58
Source: Liiga
(C) Champion.

Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) 3-point wins 3) Goal difference; 4) Goals scored; 5) Head-to-head points.[1]

Playoffs[]

Bracket[]

  Wild-card round (best-of-3) Quarter-finals (best-of-7) Semi-finals (best-of-7) Finals (best-of-7)
                                     
  7  SaiPa 2  
  10  Pelicans 1     1  Kärpät 4  
        8  Ässät 1    
      1  Kärpät 4  
      5  HIFK 3  
        2  TPS 4    
        7  SaiPa 2  
    1  Kärpät 4
  3  Tappara 2
    3  Tappara 4  
    6  KalPa 2    
      2  TPS 0
      3  Tappara 4   Bronze medal game
    4  JYP 2    
  8  Ässät 2     5  HIFK 4   2  TPS 0
9  Lukko 0     5  HIFK 1

Wild card round[]

SaiPaPelicans 2-1
13.3.2018 SaiPa Pelicans 4-2 ref
15.3.2018 Pelicans SaiPa 3-0 ref
17.3.2018 SaiPa Pelicans 3-2 OT1 ref
SaiPa wins the series 2-1.


ÄssätLukko 2-0
13.3.2018 Ässät Lukko 2-1 ref
15.3.2018 Lukko Ässät 2-3 OT1 ref
Ässät wins the series 2-0.


Quarterfinals[]

KärpätÄssät 4-1
20.3.2018 Kärpät Ässät 4-1 ref
22.3.2018 Ässät Kärpät 3-2 ref
24.3.2018 Kärpät Ässät 3-1 ref
26.3.2018 Ässät Kärpät 1-3 ref
28.3.2018 Kärpät Ässät 5-1 ref
Kärpät wins the series 4-1.



TapparaKalPa 4-2
21.3.2018 Tappara KalPa 3-2 ref
23.3.2018 KalPa Tappara 4-3 ref
24.3.2018 Tappara KalPa 4-3 OT1 ref
26.3.2018 KalPa Tappara 0-3 ref
28.3.2018 Tappara KalPa 1-3 ref
29.3.2018 KalPa Tappara 3-4 ref
Tappara wins the series 4-2.


TPSSaiPa 4-2
20.3.2018 TPS SaiPa 4-3 OT1 ref
22.3.2018 SaiPa TPS 5-6 ref
24.3.2018 TPS SaiPa 7-0 ref
26.3.2018 SaiPa TPS 3-1 ref
28.3.2018 TPS SaiPa 0-2 ref
29.3.2018 SaiPa TPS 1-2 OT1 ref
TPS wins the series 4-2.



JYPHIFK 2-4
21.3.2018 JYP HIFK 1-2 ref
23.3.2018 HIFK JYP 1-2 OT1 ref
24.3.2018 JYP HIFK 4-3 OT1 ref
26.3.2018 HIFK JYP 4-1 ref
28.3.2018 JYP HIFK 6-7 OT1 ref
29.3.2018 HIFK JYP 2-1 ref
HIFK wins the series 4-2.


Semifinals[]

KärpätHIFK 4-3
3.4.2018 Kärpät HIFK 1-4 ref
5.4.2018 HIFK Kärpät 3-4 OT1 ref
7.4.2018 Kärpät HIFK 3-0 ref
9.4.2018 HIFK Kärpät 4-1 ref
11.4.2018 Kärpät HIFK 2-1 OT1 ref
12.4.2018 HIFK Kärpät 4-3 OT1 ref
14.4.2018 Kärpät HIFK 2-1 ref
Kärpät wins the series 4-3.


TPSTappara 0-4
4.4.2018 TPS Tappara 2-3 OT1 ref
6.4.2018 Tappara TPS 3-0 ref
7.4.2018 TPS Tappara 1-2 ref
9.4.2018 Tappara TPS 6-5 OT1 ref
Tappara wins the series 4-0.



Bronze medal game[]

02018-04-20 20 April 2018
18:30
TPS 2–3 OT1
(0–1, 2–1, 0–0, 0–1)
HIFK Gatorade Center, Turku
Attendance: 7,021

Finals[]

02018-04-17 17 April 2018
18:30
Kärpät 3–0
(0–0, 1–0, 2–0)
Tappara Oulun Energia Areena, Oulu
Attendance: 5,021
02018-04-19 19 April 2018
18:30
Tappara 2–4
(2–1, 0–2, 0–1)
Kärpät Tampere Ice Stadium, Tampere
Attendance: 6,701
02018-04-21 21 April 2018
17:00
Kärpät 2–1 OT1
(0–0, 0–1, 1–0, 1–0)
Tappara Oulun Energia Areena, Oulu
Attendance: 6,485
02018-04-23 23 April 2018
18:30
Tappara 2–0
(0–0, 2–0, 0–0)
Kärpät Tampere Ice Stadium, Tampere
Attendance: 7,300
02018-04-24 24 April 2018
18:30
Kärpät 4–5
(0–3, 1–1, 3–1)
Tappara Oulun Energia Areena, Oulu
Attendance: 6,550
02018-04-26 26 April 2018
18:30
Tappara 0–1
(0–0, 0–0, 0–1)
Kärpät Tampere Ice Stadium, Tampere
Attendance: 7,279

Kärpät wins the series 4-2 and wins the championship.

Final rankings[]

Gold medal icon Kärpät
Silver medal icon Tappara
Bronze medal icon HIFK
4 TPS
5 JYP
6 KalPa
7 SaiPa
8 Ässät
9 Lukko
10 Pelicans
11 Ilves
12 HPK
13 Jukurit
14 KooKoo
15 Sport

See also[]

References[]

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