2017–18 Liiga season

2017–18 SM-liiga
LeagueSM-Liiga
SportIce hockey
DurationSeptember 2017 – April 2018
Number of teams15
TV partner(s)Nelonen
Regular season
Best recordOulun Kärpät
  Runners-upTPS
Season MVPJulius Junttila (Kärpät)
Top scorerAntti Suomela (JYP)
Playoffs
Playoffs MVPJulius Junttila (Kärpät)
Finals championsOulun Kärpät
  Runners-upTappara
SM-liiga seasons

The 2017–18 SM-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 SM-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 SM-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 SM-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 8,200 Lennart Petrell
HPK Hämeenlinna Antti Pennanen Patria-areena 5,360 Otto Paajanen
Ilves Tampere Karri Kivi Tampereen jäähalli 7,300 Tapio Laakso
Jukurit Mikkeli Risto Dufva Kalevankankaan jäähalli 4,200 Miika Roine
JYP Jyväskylä Marko Virtanen Synergia-areena 4,437 Juha-Pekka Hytönen
KalPa Kuopio Sami Kapanen Niiralan monttu 5,064 Tommi Jokinen
KooKoo Kouvola Tuomas Tuokkola Lumon arena 6,000 Toni Kähkönen
Kärpät Oulu Mikko Manner Oulun Energia Areena 6,614 Lasse Kukkonen
Lukko Rauma Pekka Virta Äijänsuo Arena 5,400 Janne Niskala
Pelicans Lahti Petri Matikainen Isku Areena 5,530 Stefan Lassen
SaiPa Lappeenranta Tero Lehterä Kisapuisto 4,820 Ville Koho
Sport Vaasa Tomek Valtonen Vaasa Arena 4,512 Markus Kankaanperä
Tappara Tampere Jukka Rautakorpi Tampereen jäähalli 7,300 Jukka Peltola
TPS Turku Kalle Kaskinen HK Arena 11,820 Tomi Kallio
Ässät Pori Jyrki Aho14 Jan 2018
Mikael Kotkaniemi
Porin jäähalli 6,280 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 SM-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)
1 Kärpät 4
7 SaiPa 2 8 Ässät 1
10 Pelicans 1 1 Kärpät 4
5 HIFK 3
2 TPS 4 (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round)
7 SaiPa 2
1 Kärpät 4
3 Tappara 2
3 Tappara 4
8 Ässät 2 6 KalPa 2
9 Lukko 0 2 TPS 0 Bronze medal game
3 Tappara 4
4 JYP 2 2 TPS 0
5 HIFK 4 5 HIFK 1


Wild card round

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Bronze medal game

20 April 2018
18:30
TPS2–3 OT1
(0–1, 2–1, 0–0, 0–1)
HIFKGatorade Center, Turku
Attendance: 7,021
Game reference
6 minPenalties6 min
23Shots36

Finals

17 April 2018
18:30
Kärpät3–0
(0–0, 1–0, 2–0)
TapparaOulun Energia Areena, Oulu
Attendance: 5,021
Game reference
2 minPenalties16 min
27Shots19
19 April 2018
18:30
Tappara2–4
(2–1, 0–2, 0–1)
KärpätTampere Ice Stadium, Tampere
Attendance: 6,701
Game reference
2 minPenalties8 min
22Shots17
21 April 2018
17:00
Kärpät2–1 OT1
(0–0, 0–1, 1–0, 1–0)
TapparaOulun Energia Areena, Oulu
Attendance: 6,485
Game reference
6 minPenalties6 min
28Shots24
23 April 2018
18:30
Tappara2–0
(0–0, 2–0, 0–0)
KärpätTampere Ice Stadium, Tampere
Attendance: 7,300
Game reference
18 minPenalties18 min
36Shots21
24 April 2018
18:30
Kärpät4–5
(0–3, 1–1, 3–1)
TapparaOulun Energia Areena, Oulu
Attendance: 6,550
Game reference
14 minPenalties6 min
29Shots19
26 April 2018
18:30
Tappara0–1
(0–0, 0–0, 0–1)
KärpätTampere Ice Stadium, Tampere
Attendance: 7,279
Game reference
4 minPenalties4 min
28Shots24

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

Final rankings

Kärpät
Tappara
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

  1. ^ "Joukkuetilastot | Runkosarja 2017-2018 | Tilastot | Liiga". Liiga.fi. Retrieved 2018-02-28.