2023–24 Liiga season

	2023–24 SM-liiga
League	Liiga
Sport	Ice hockey
Defending champions	Tappara (2022–23)
Duration	September 2023 – April 2024
Number of games	60
Number of teams	15
TV partner(s)	Telia; C More
Regular season
Season champions	Tappara
Runners-up	Ilves
Season MVP	Jerry Turkulainen (JYP)
Top scorer	Oula Palve (Ilves)
Playoffs

The 2023–24 Liiga season is the 49th season of the Liiga, the top level of ice hockey in Finland, since its formation in 1975.

Format[]

The regular season started on Tuesday, 12 September 2023, with a match between Rauman Lukko and Hämeenlinnan Pallokerho in Rauma. The match was the only one of the day. As in previous seasons, 450 matches will be played in the regular season, 60 for each team. There are 25 full rounds of seven matches played, 16 of which are on Saturdays. A little more than half of the regular season, 262 matches, are played on Fridays and Saturdays. Most weekday games are played on Wednesdays (98). There were a total of 106 game days in the regular season, i.e. eight less than in the previous season.^[1]

As usual, the series is on break in November for a week and a half while the national teams play in the Euro Hockey Tour. The Christmas break lasts 5–7 days, depending on the team, with the exception of KalPa, which participates on the 26th–31st of December in the Spengler Cup in Switzerland.^[2] For other teams, the Christmas break ends on Saint Stephen's day, 26 December. The regular season ends on Tuesday, 12 March 2024.^[1]

Teams[]

Team	City	Head coach	Arena	Capacity	Captain
HIFK	Helsinki	Ville Peltonen	Helsingin jäähalli	&0000000000008200.0000008,200	Jori Lehterä
HPK	Hämeenlinna	Maso Lehtonen	Pohjantähti Areena	&0000000000005360.0000005,360	Juuso Hietanen
Ilves	Tampere	Antti Pennanen	Nokia Arena	&0000000000012700.00000012,700	Niklas Friman
Jukurit	Mikkeli	Olli Jokinen	Ikioma Areena	&0000000000004200.0000004,200	Pekka Jormakka
JYP	Jyvaskyla Jyväskylä	~~Jukka Rautakorpi~~ 20 Dec 2023^[3] Mikko Heiskanen	LähiTapiola Areena	&0000000000004437.0000004,437	Teemu Eronen
KalPa	Kuopio	Petri Karjalainen	Olvi Areena	&0000000000005300.0000005,300	Tuomas Kiiskinen
KooKoo	Kouvola	Olli Salo	Lumon Areena	&0000000000005950.0000005,950	Otto Paajanen
Kärpät	Oulu	~~Lauri Marjamäki~~ 18 Dec 2023^[4] Ville Mäntymaa	Oulun Energia Areena	&0000000000006300.0000006,300	Atte Ohtamaa
Lukko	Rauma	Tomi Lämsä	Kivikylän Areena	&0000000000004500.0000004,500	Julius Mattila
Pelicans	Lahti	Tommi Niemelä	Isku Areena	&0000000000004403.0000004,403	Miika Roine
SaiPa	Lappeenranta	Ville Hämäläinen	Lappeenrannan jäähalli	&0000000000004820.0000004,820	Miska Siikonen
Sport	Vaasa	Risto Dufva	Vaasan Sähkö Areena	&0000000000005185.0000005,185	Sebastian Stålberg
Tappara	Tampere	Rikard Grönborg	Nokia Arena	&0000000000012700.00000012,700	Otto Rauhala
TPS	Turku	Tommi Miettinen	Gatorade Center	&0000000000010500.00000010,500	Juhani Jasu
Ässät	Pori	Jere Härkälä	Enersense Areena	&0000000000006150.0000006,150	Jesse Joensuu

Regular season standings[]

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

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Final Result
1	Tappara	60	34	8	5	13	200	141	+59	123	Advance to Quarterfinals
2	Ilves	60	33	7	7	13	197	144	+53	120
3	Pelicans	60	31	4	8	17	177	147	+30	109
4	Kärpät	60	28	8	6	18	174	147	+27	106
5	Jukurit	60	30	3	7	20	197	147	+50	103
6	HIFK	60	26	7	11	16	179	139	+40	103
7	KalPa	60	25	6	7	22	169	156	+13	94	Advance to Wild-card round
8	Lukko	60	22	10	6	22	157	160	−3	92
9	TPS	60	17	14	5	24	150	166	−16	84
10	Sport	60	21	5	10	24	155	174	−19	83
11	Ässät	60	19	7	10	24	136	144	−8	81
12	KooKoo	60	17	11	6	26	175	178	−3	79
13	JYP	60	16	7	7	30	152	196	−44	69
14	HPK	60	15	4	6	35	111	184	−73	59
15	SaiPa	60	5	10	10	35	125	231	−106	45

Source: [1]

^[5]

Statistics[]

Scoring leaders[]

The following shows the top ten players leading the league in points.^[6]

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	+/–	PIM
Palve, OulaOula Palve	Ilves	60	20	44	64	+19	63
Turkulainen, JerryJerry Turkulainen	JYP	60	21	42	63	+4	18
Suomi, EemeliEemeli Suomi	Ilves	58	21	38	59	+17	22
Turunen, TeemuTeemu Turunen	Kärpät	60	30	27	57	+3	20
Levtchi, AntonAnton Levtchi	Tappara	55	19	38	57	+11	22
Koivunen, VilleVille Koivunen	Kärpät	59	22	34	56	+7	26
Lehterä, JoriJori Lehterä	HIFK	57	6	50	56	+10	36
Lasch, RyanRyan Lasch	Pelicans	55	9	45	54	+14	14
Schnarr, NathanNathan Schnarr	Pelicans	51	18	32	50	+23	28
Tardif, BenBen Tardif	KooKoo	57	15	35	50	+10	74

Playoffs[]

Bracket[]

Wild-card round (best-of-3)			Quarter-finals (best-of-7)			Semi-finals (best-of-7)			Finals (best-of-7)

			1	Tappara	4
7	KalPa	2	9	TPS	2
						1	Tappara	4
10	Sport	0
						7	KalPa	1
			2	Ilves	1

			7	KalPa	4
									1	Tappara	4
									3	Pelicans	1
			3	Pelicans	4
			6	HIFK	3
						3	Pelicans	4
8	Lukko	1
						4	Kärpät	1
9	TPS	2	4	Kärpät	4

			5	Jukurit	2

Wild-card round[]

KalPa – Sport 2-0
15.3.2024	KalPa	Sport	4-1 ref
17.3.2024	Sport	KalPa	2-4 ref
KalPa wins the series 2-0.

Lukko – TPS 1-2
15.3.2024	Lukko	TPS	3-2 OT1 ref
16.3.2024	TPS	Lukko	2-1 ref
18.3.2024	Lukko	TPS	3-5 ref
TPS wins the series 2-1.

Quarter-finals[]

Tappara – TPS 4-2
20.3.2024	Tappara	TPS	4-1 ref
22.3.2024	TPS	Tappara	4-2 ref
23.3.2024	Tappara	TPS	4-0 ref
26.3.2024	TPS	Tappara	2-1 OT1 ref
28.3.2024	Tappara	TPS	5-2 ref
30.3.2024	TPS	Tappara	4-5 OT1 ref
Tappara wins the series 4-2.

Pelicans – HIFK 4-3
20.3.2024	Pelicans	HIFK	4-2 ref
22.3.2024	HIFK	Pelicans	1-4 ref
23.3.2024	Pelicans	HIFK	3-2 OT1 ref
26.3.2024	HIFK	Pelicans	2-1 OT3 ref
28.3.2024	Pelicans	HIFK	0-3 ref
30.3.2024	HIFK	Pelicans	2-1 OT1 ref
2.4.2024	Pelicans	HIFK	4-3 ref
Pelicans wins the series 4-3.

Ilves – KalPa 1-4
21.3.2024	Ilves	KalPa	3-4 OT1 ref
23.3.2024	KalPa	Ilves	1-0 OT1 ref
25.3.2024	Ilves	KalPa	3-2 OT1 ref
27.3.2024	KalPa	Ilves	4-2 ref
29.3.2024	Ilves	KalPa	2-4 ref
KalPa wins the series 4-1.

Kärpät – Jukurit 4-2
20.3.2024	Kärpät	Jukurit	4-1 ref
22.3.2024	Jukurit	Kärpät	1-2 OT1 ref
23.3.2024	Kärpät	Jukurit	5-2 ref
26.3.2024	Jukurit	Kärpät	5-2 ref
28.3.2024	Kärpät	Jukurit	2-3 ref
30.3.2024	Jukurit	Kärpät	3-4 OT1 ref
Kärpät wins the series 4-2.

Semi-finals[]

Tappara – KalPa 4-1
5.4.2024	Tappara	KalPa	3-2 OT1 ref
6.4.2024	KalPa	Tappara	4-5 ref
9.4.2024	Tappara	KalPa	1-2 ref
12.4.2024	KalPa	Tappara	0-4 ref
13.4.2024	Tappara	KalPa	3-1 ref
Tappara wins the series 4-1.

Pelicans – Kärpät 4-1
5.4.2024	Pelicans	Kärpät	2-1 ref
6.4.2024	Kärpät	Pelicans	3-5 ref
9.4.2024	Pelicans	Kärpät	1-0 ref
12.4.2024	Kärpät	Pelicans	1-0 ref
13.4.2024	Pelicans	Kärpät	2-1 OT1 ref
Pelicans wins the series 4-1.

Bronze medal game[]

19 April 2024
18:30

Kärpät

3–2 OT1
(1–0, 0–2, 1–0, 1–0)

KalPa

Oulun Energia Areena, Oulu
Attendance: 4,528


Tomi Karhunen	Goalies	Stefanos Lekkas	Referees: Kristian Vikman Riku Brander
Björkqvist (Antonen, Junttila) – 17:50 Berglund (Koivisto, Turunen) – 47:58 Turunen (Koivunen, Koivisto) (PP1) – 71:08	1–0 1–1 1–2 2–2 3–2	28:19 – Simontaival (Elorinne, Räsänen) (DP) 28:44 – Räsänen (Simontaival, Gallet)
4 min	Penalties	8 min
25	Shots	28

Finals[]

20 April 2024
17:00

Tappara

3–1
(2–0, 0–0, 1–1)

Pelicans

Nokia Arena, Tampere
Attendance: 12,144


Christian Heljanko	Goalies	Niklas Kokko	Referees: Joonas Kova Antti Boman
Puhakka (Halloran, Keskinen) – 02:04 Leskinen (Halloran, Keskinen) – 19:02 Savinainen (Kontiola, Juolevi) – 49:29	1–0 2–0 3–0 3–1	59:54 – Horký (Bryggman, Lasch)
2 min	Penalties	8 min
25	Shots	24

22 April 2024
18:30

Pelicans

2–3
(0–1, 1–2, 1–0)

Tappara

Isku Areena, Lahti
Attendance: 4,403


Niklas Kokko	Goalies	Christian Heljanko	Referees: Aleksi Rantala Stefan Fonselius
Horký (Schnarr) – 37:53 Utunen (Jordán, Lasch) – 55:23	0–1 0–2 0–3 1–3 2–3	14:52 – Liedes (Rauhala, Ekberg) 28:02 – Savinainen (Camper, Kontiola) 34:21 – Tuulola (Savinainen, Granath)
6 min	Penalties	6 min
52	Shots	48

24 April 2024
18:30

Tappara

1–2 OT2
(0–1, 1–0, 0–0, 0–0, 0–1)

Pelicans

Nokia Arena, Tampere
Attendance: 12,313


Christian Heljanko	Goalies	Niklas Kokko	Referees: Joonas Kova Antti Boman
Rauhala (Vittasmäki) – 20:27	0–1 1–1 1–2	16:47 – Horký 84:40 – Carlsson (Lasch, Bryggman)
6 min	Penalties	27 min
58	Shots	61

26 April 2024
18:30

Pelicans

3–4 OT1
(2–0, 0–0, 1–3, 0–1)

Tappara

Isku Areena, Lahti
Attendance: 4,403


Niklas Kokko	Goalies	Christian Heljanko	Referees: Aleksi Rantala Stefan Fonselius
Haatanen (Král, Aaltonen) – 0:49 Utunen (Král, Schnarr) – 15:26 Haatanen (Král, Horký) (PG-VR) – 59:20	1–0 2–0 2–1 2–2 2–3 3–3 3–4	44:19 – Levtchi (Savinainen, Somppi) 50:35 – Levtchi (Tanus, Kontiola) (PP) 55:42 – Levtchi (Somppi, Savinainen) 60:48 – Baptiste (Savinainen, Kemiläinen)
6 min	Penalties	4 min
29	Shots	55

28 April 2024
17:00

Tappara

3–0
(0–0, 1–0, 2–0)

Pelicans

Nokia Arena, Tampere
Attendance: 12,700


Christian Heljanko	Goalies	Niklas Kokko	Referees: Antti Boman Joonas Kova
Liedes (Rauhala, Baptiste) – 31:30 Levtchi (Kontiola, Kemiläinen) (PP) – 41:29 Granath (ENG - PP) – 58:13	1–0 2–0 3–0
4 min	Penalties	6 min
48	Shots	34

Tappara wins the finals 4-1.

Final rankings[]

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

Broadcast rights[]

For the 2023–2024 season, Telia had transferred the television rights of the SM-liiga to MTV, which it owns. Telia had acquired the broadcast rights starting from the 2018–2019 season, and with the new agreement MTV has the rights until the end of the 2026–2027 season. MTV pays more than 90 million euros for television rights over four seasons, and the company has admitted that the operation is loss-making.^[7] The broadcasts are produced by MTV and during the season games can be seen live from C More, Discovery+, DNA, Elisa Viihde, MTV and Telia.^[8]

References[]

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Kauden 2023–24 otteluohjelma tarjoaa huippuhetkiä koko runkosarjan ajalle.
↑ KalPa mukaan Spengler Cupiin! (en).
↑ Jukka Rautakorpi sai potkut Jypistä - Liiga - Aamulehti (fi). Aamulehti (2023-12-20).
↑ SM-liiga: Lauri Marjamäelle potkut Kärpistä - SM-liiga - Ilta-Sanomat (fi). Ilta-Sanomat (2023-12-18).
↑ Joukkuetilastot | Runkosarja 2022-2023 | Tilastot | Liiga. Liiga.fi.
↑ Player stats. Retrieved on 14 October 2023.
↑ Telia siirsi kaikessa hiljaisuudessa kymmenien miljoonien eurojen tappiolliset Liiga-oikeudet MTV:lle – pian MTV aloitti muutosneuvottelut (fi) (2023-09-14).
↑ Katso, mistä näet jääkiekon Liigaa halvimmalla – samalla lähetyksellä eri suoratoistopalveluissa täysin eri hinta (fi) (2023-09-13).

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 2023–24 Liiga season. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA).

[:0-1] 1.0 ^1.1 Kauden 2023–24 otteluohjelma tarjoaa huippuhetkiä koko runkosarjan ajalle.

[2] KalPa mukaan Spengler Cupiin! (en).

[3] Jukka Rautakorpi sai potkut Jypistä - Liiga - Aamulehti (fi). Aamulehti (2023-12-20).

[4] SM-liiga: Lauri Marjamäelle potkut Kärpistä - SM-liiga - Ilta-Sanomat (fi). Ilta-Sanomat (2023-12-18).

[5] Joukkuetilastot | Runkosarja 2022-2023 | Tilastot | Liiga. Liiga.fi.

[6] Player stats. Retrieved on 14 October 2023.

[7] Telia siirsi kaikessa hiljaisuudessa kymmenien miljoonien eurojen tappiolliset Liiga-oikeudet MTV:lle – pian MTV aloitti muutosneuvottelut (fi) (2023-09-14).

[8] Katso, mistä näet jääkiekon Liigaa halvimmalla – samalla lähetyksellä eri suoratoistopalveluissa täysin eri hinta (fi) (2023-09-13).

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Liiga
Seasons	1975–76 - 1976–77 - 1977–78 - 1978–79 - 1979–80 - 1980–81 - 1981–82 - 1982–83 - 1983–84 - 1984–85 - 1985–86 - 1986–87 - 1987–88 - 1988–89 - 1989–90 - 1990–91 - 1991–92 - 1992–93 - 1993–94 - 1994–95 - 1995–96 - 1996–97 - 1997–98 - 1998–99 - 1999–2000 - 2000–01 - 2001–02 - 2002–03 - 2003–04 - 2004–05 - 2005–06 - 2006–07 - 2007–08 - 2008–09 - 2009–10 - 2010–11 - 2011–12 - 2012–13 - 2013–14 - 2014–15 - 2015–16 - 2016–17 - 2017–18 - 2018–19 - 2019–20
Current teams (2018–19)	HIFK - HPK - Ilves - Jukurit - JYP - KalPa - KooKoo - Kärpät - Lukko - Pelicans - SaiPa - Sport - Tappara - TPS - Ässät
Former teams	Blues - FPS - Jokerit - Jokipojat - KOOVEE - TuTo
Trophies and awards	Kanada-malja - Kultainen kypärä - Kalevi Numminen trophy - Jarmo Wasama memorial trophy - Matti Keinonen trophy - Raimo Kilpiö trophy - Urpo Ylönen trophy - Pekka Rautakallio trophy - Aarne Honkavaara trophy - Veli-Pekka Ketola trophy - Lasse Oksanen trophy - Jari Kurri Trophy - Unto Wiitala trophy
Other	Mestis - Suomi-sarja - 2. Divisioona - 3. Divisioona - Naisten Liiga - Naisten Mestis - Finland men's national ice hockey team - Finland women's national ice hockey team - SM-sarja (defunct)
IIHF - IIHF Continental Cup - IIHF European Champions Cup