Liiga 2015/16

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Master:	Tappara Tampere
• Liiga |  Mestis ↓   |  Suomi-sarja ↓↓

The 2015/16 season was the 41st season in the Finnish professional ice hockey league and the third after the name was changed to Liiga . It is the top Finnish league in ice hockey . The champions became the team of Tappara , which prevailed in the play-off final with 4-2 wins against HIFK . For the club from Tampere it was the first title since 2003 and the 16th overall, after failing in the final in each of the previous three years.

Attendees

KooKoo , who was last represented in the Finnish elite class in the 1989/90 season , was added to the league . This was the first time that 15 teams competed.

blues HPK HIFK Ilves Sports JYP KalPa KooKoo Kärpät Lukko Pelicans SaiPa Tappara TPS Ässät

Map of all club locations for the 2015/16 season

team	place	Hall	capacity
blues	Espoo	Barona Areena	6,914
HPK	Hämeenlinna	Ritari-areena	5,500
HIFK	Helsinki	Helsingin Jäähalli	8,200
Ilves	Tampere	Tampereen jäähalli	7,300
JYP	Jyväskylä	Synergia areena	4,812
KooKoo	Kouvola	Lumon Areena	6,800
KalPa	Kuopio	Niiralan Monttu	5,225
Kärpät	Oulu	Oulun Energia Areena	6,614
Lukko	Rauma	Kivikylan Areena	5,400
Pelicans	Lahti	Isku Areena	5,098
SaiPa	Lappeenranta	Kisapuisto	5,200
Sports	Vaasa	Vaasa Areena	4,300
Tappara	Tampere	Tampereen jäähalli	7,300
TPS	Turku	Turkuhalli	11,820
Ässät	Pori	Porin jäähalli	6,500

Main round

mode

Each of the 15 teams plays 60 games in the main round. Each game consists of 3 times 20 minutes. If there is a tie after the regular time, five minutes of extra time will be played. The first goal in extra time decides the game for the team that scores the goal. In the event that a winner is still not found after extra time, the game will be decided by a shootout .

A team wins 3 points in regular time. A win and a defeat after extra time will be rewarded with 2 or 1 point. There are no points for a loss in regular time. The 14th of the SM-liiga played in a best-of-7 series against the master of the Mestis to stay or rise to the SM-liiga.

table

Scene from the encounter between Kärpät and KalPa on matchday 31

Pl.		Sp	S.	OTS	OTN	N	Gates	TVH	Points
1.	HIFK	60	37	6th	4th	13	186: 131	+55	127
2.	Kärpät (M)	60	33	6th	8th	13	178: 126	+52	119
3.	Tappara	60	26th	12	8th	14th	177: 136	+41	110
4th	JYP	60	29	7th	5	19th	156: 139	+17	106
5.	SaiPa	60	27	5	8th	20th	178: 146	+32	99
6th	Lukko	60	24	9	4th	23	154: 132	+22	94
7th	TPS	60	23	6th	9	22nd	150: 152	-2	90
8th.	KalPa	60	21st	10	7th	22nd	129: 127	+2	90
9.	Pelicans	60	24	4th	7th	25th	145: 171	-26	87
10.	Sports	60	20th	7th	9	24	153: 156	-3	83
11.	KooKoo (A)	60	16	10	10	24	129: 159	-30	78
12.	Ässät	60	20th	5	7th	28	143: 162	-19	77
13.	HPK	60	18th	5	4th	33	125: 168	-43	68
14th	Ilves	60	16	5	5	34	124: 163	-39	63
15th	blues	60	13	6th	8th	33	108: 168	-60	59

Abbreviations: Pl. = Place, Sp = games, S = victories, OTS = victories after overtime , OTN = defeats after overtime , N = defeats, TVH = goal difference, M = previous year's champions , A = promoted from Mestis
Explanations: Play-off quarter-finals , pre-play-offs , season over

Best scorer

Abbreviations: Sp = games, T = goals, V = assists , pts = points, +/- = plus / minus , SM = penalty minutes; Bold: Season best

Kristian Kuusela was the league's top scorer

Nat.	player	team	Sp	T	V	Pt	+/-	SM
	Kristian Kuusela	Tappara	56	20th	39	59	+25	14th
	David McIntyre	SaiPa	58	16	40	56	+19	67
	Teemu Ramstedt	HIFK	60	8th	44	52	+14	14th
	Tomáš Záborský	HIFK	55	27	21st	48	+17	45
	Aaron Gagnon	Lukko	60	25th	23	48	+11	36
	Ville Vahalahti	Lukko	55	14th	33	47	+7	16
	Chad Rau	SaiPa	60	28	18th	46	+4	0
	Toni Koivisto	Lukko	58	17th	29	46	+3	12
	Sebastian Aho	Kärpät	45	20th	25th	45	+26	2
	Tomi Kallio	TPS	60	18th	26th	44	-5	58
	Ben Blood 1	Pelicans	32	1	7th	8th	-2	160

¹ For comparison: players with the most penalty minutes

Best goalkeeper

Ville Husso had the lowest goals against goals against and the highest catch rate

Abbreviations: Sp = games, Min = ice age (in minutes), Sv% = shots saved (in%) , GTS = goals against goals , SO = shutouts ; Bold: Season best

Nat.	player	society	Sp	Min	SO	Sv%	GTS
	Ville Husso	HIFK	39	2328: 20	5	92.74	1.91
	Sami Rajaniemi	Pelicans / Kärpät	33	1774: 36	4th	92.63	1.93
	Ryan Zapolski	Lukko	55	3226: 50	10	92.70	1.95
	Juusi Markkanen	SaiPa	35	2082: 02	3	92.12	1.96
	Sami Aittokallio	Kärpät	22nd	1921: 36	2	91.97	1.97
	Eero Kilpeläinen	KalPa	56	3378: 28	6th	92.66	2.02

Play-offs

mode

Places 1-6 were automatically qualified for the play-offs. Places 7-10 had to prevail in an additional best-of-3 round, with 7th place against 10th place and 8th place against 9th place. The teams that had won the most of seven games in the quarter-finals or semi-finals against their opponents qualified for the semi-finals or final. Seven games were also played in the final. Whoever won the most games was the winner of the season. The losers in the semi-finals played in just one game for third place in the small final. The respective opponents were put together so that the top ranked team plays against the worst, the second best, against the second worst, and so on. As in the main season, a game lasted 3 times 20 minutes. After the regular time, extensions of 20 minutes each were played until a winner was found through a decisive goal.

Pre-play-offs

The games in best-of-three mode took place from March 12 to March 15, 2015.

	series	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3
TPS - sport	2-0	4: 2	5: 2	-
KalPa - Pelicans	1: 2	3: 2 a.d.	1: 4	1: 2

Tournament tree

Quarter finals

Semifinals

final

1

HIFK

4th

9

Pelicans

2

1

HIFK

4th

4th

JYP

2

4th

JYP

4th

5

SaiPa

2

1

HIFK

2

3

Tappara

4th

2

Kärpät

4th

7th

TPS

2

2

Kärpät

3

3rd place match

3

Tappara

4th

3

Tappara

4th

2

Kärpät

3

6th

Lukko

1

4th

JYP

2

Quarter finals

The quarter-finals took place from March 18-28, 2016.

			series	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
HIFK	-	Pelicans	4: 2	5: 1	3-0	2: 4	2: 3 a.d.	2: 1	2: 1	-
JYP	-	SaiPa	4: 2	4: 1	4: 2	1: 2	4: 1	2: 3	3: 1	-
Kärpät	-	TPS	4: 2	1: 2 a.d.	6: 1	3-0	1: 2	5: 2	3: 2 a.d.	-
Tappara	-	Lukko	4: 1	3-0	0: 5	1-0	3: 1	5: 3	-	-

Semifinals

The semi-final series took place from April 1 to April 12, 2014.

			series	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
HIFK	-	JYP	4: 2	4: 2	2: 5	7: 1	2: 3	5: 3	4-0	-
Kärpät	-	Tappara	3: 4	1: 3	1: 4	4: 1	3: 2 a.d.	3: 4 a.d.	3: 2 a.d.	0: 2

3rd place match

Apr. 15, 2016 6:30 p.m.

Kärpät J. Puljujärvi (46:43) A. Laatikainen (47:06) T. Ronkainen (50:38)

3: 2 (0: 1, 0: 1, 3: 0) game report

JYP T. Pihlman (18:46) H. Kanninen (27:26)

Oulun Energia Areena , Oulu Spectators: 5,112

final

Apr. 15, 2016 6:30 p.m.

HIFK J. Rask (00:52) J. Ikonen (19:44) Y. Auvitu (23:09) T. Tuomisto (56:51)

4: 0 (2: 0, 1: 0, 1: 0) game report

Tappara

Helsingin Jäähalli , Helsinki spectators: 8,200

April 16, 2016 5:00 p.m.

Tappara K. Kuusela (29:26) J. Jasu (54:24)

2: 1 (0: 0, 1: 0, 1: 1) game report

HIFK T. Záborský (49:08)

Tampereen jäähalli , Tampere spectators: 7,300

April 19, 2016 6:30 p.m.

HIFK A. Luttinen (13:36) C. Elkins (21:03) T. Ramstedt (31:35) C. Elkins (52:10) J. Puustinen (54:59) R. Leino (57:13)

6: 0 (1: 0, 2: 0, 3: 0) game report

Tappara

Helsingin Jäähalli, Helsinki spectators: 8,200

April 22, 2016 6:30 p.m.

Tappara P. Laine (13:51) J. Lajunen (51:34) K. Kuusela (53:12)

3: 0 (1: 0, 0: 0, 2: 0) game report

HIFK

Tampereen jäähalli, Tampere spectators: 7,300

Apr 23, 2016 5:00 p.m.

HIFK L. Taipalus (11:00)

1: 2 (1: 0, 0: 1, 0: 1) game report

Tappara A. Elorinne (35:29) J. Karjalainen (54:45)

Helsingin Jäähalli, Helsinki spectators: 8,200

April 26, 2016 6:30 p.m.

Tappara P. Laine (07:55) H. Haapala (10:58)

2: 1 (2: 1.0: 0.0: 0) Match report as of: 4: 2

HIFK J. Puustinen (03:21)

Tampereen jäähalli, Tampere spectators: 7,300

Finnish champions squad

Finnish champion Tappara Tampere

Goalkeepers: Dominik Hrachovina , Tomi Karhunen Defenders: Teemu Aalto , Alexander Bonsaksen , Aleksi Elorinne , Markus Kankaanperä , Atte Mäkinen , Tuukka Mäntylä , Nick Plastino , Aleksi Salonen , Pekka Saravo Attackers: Stephen Dixon , Henrik Haapala , Miika Heikkilä , Manu Honkanen , Arttu Ilomäki , Juhani Jasu , Jan-Mikael Järvinen , Jere Karjalainen , Kristian Kuusela , Patrik Laine , Jani Lajunen , Jukka Peltola , Otto Rauhala , Veli-Matti Savinainen Coaching staff: Jussi Tapola , Niilo Konttinen , Marko Ojanen , Kimmo Vähä-Ruohola

Awards

Award	winner	team
Aarne Honkavaara Trophy	Chad Rau	SaiPa
Jari Kurri Trophy	Patrik Laine	Tappara
Jarmo Wasama Commemorative Trophy
Kalevi Numminen Trophy
Kultainen kypärä
Lasse Oksanen Trophy
Matti Keinonen Trophy	Sebastian Aho	Kärpät
Pekka Rautakallio Trophy
Pentti Isotalo Trophy		-
Raimo Kilpiö Trophy
Unto Wiitala Trophy		-
Urpo Ylönen Trophy
Veli Pekka Ketola Trophy	Kristian Kuusela	Tappara

Web links

• Official website of the Liiga