Liiga 2017/18

	Liiga
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Master:	Oulun Kärpät
• Liiga |  Mestis ↓ |  Suomi-sarja ↓↓

The 2017/18 season was the 43rd season of the Finnish professional ice hockey league and the fifth since it was renamed Liiga . It is the top Finnish league in ice hockey . The championship was won by Oulun Kärpät , who defeated Tappara Tampere 4-2 in the play-off final and thus won the eighth championship title in the club's history.

Attendees

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

Map of all club locations for the 2017/18 season

team	place	Hall	capacity
HIFK	Helsinki	Helsingin Jäähalli	8,200
HPK	Hämeenlinna	Ritari-areena	5,500
Ilves	Tampere	Tampereen jäähalli	7,300
Jukurit	Mikkeli	Kalevankankaan jäähalli	4,500
JYP	Jyväskylä	LähiTapiola Areena	4,812
KooKoo	Kouvola	Lumon Areena	6,800
KalPa	Kuopio	Kuopion jäähalli	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	Gatorade Center	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

Pl.		Sp	S.	N	OTS	OTN	Gates	TVH	Points
1.	Kärpät	60	33	11	8th	8th	195: 134	+61	123
2.	TPS	60	30th	15th	7th	8th	187: 147	+40	112
3.	Tappara	60	25th	14th	14th	7th	165: 130	+35	110
4th	JYP	60	32	20th	4th	4th	187: 145	+42	108
5.	HIFK	60	26th	17th	8th	9	163: 128	+35	103
6th	KalPa	60	26th	20th	7th	7th	144: 136	+8	99
7th	SaiPa	60	21st	20th	11	8th	153: 163	−10	93
8th.	Ässät	60	23	25th	7th	5	163: 177	−14	88
9.	Lukko	60	21st	25th	8th	6th	141: 142	−1	85
10.	Pelicans	60	20th	24	7th	9	165: 175	−10	83
11.	Ilves	60	21st	26th	5	8th	162: 190	−28	81
12.	HPK	60	20th	29	7th	4th	145: 157	−12	78
13.	Jukurit	60	16	30th	5	9	133: 170	−37	67
14th	KooKoo	60	14th	31	5	10	142: 198	−56	62
15th	Sports	60	12	33	7th	8th	153: 206	−53	58

Abbreviations: Pl. = Place, Sp = games, S = victories, OTS = victories after extra time ( overtime ), OTN = defeats after extra time, N = defeats, TVH = goal difference, M = previous year's champions
Explanations: Play-off quarter-finals , Pre -Play-offs , season ended

Best scorer

Source : eliteprospects.com; Abbreviations: Sp = games, T = goals, V = assists , pts = points, +/- = plus / minus , SM = penalty minutes; Fat: best value

player	team	Sp	T	V	Pt	+/-	SM
Antti Suomela	JYP	59	21st	39	60	+28	6th
Tomi Kallio	TPS	58	15th	40	55	+7	49
Jani Tuppurainen	JYP	57	21st	33	54	+22	36
Julius Junttila	Kärpät	53	13	39	52	+26	18th
Charles Bertrand	Kärpät	60	32	19th	51	+31	10
Juuso Puustinen	JYP	53	30th	21st	51	+15	44
Oula Palve	HPK / TPS	55	14th	36	50	−12	67
Jarkko Immonen	JYP	59	13	37	50	+13	14th
Mikael Ruohomaa	Kärpät	56	20th	29	49	+26	63
Sami Sandell	Ilves	53	16	32	48	+3	22nd
Ben Blood 1	Ässät	57	3	7th	10	+5	207

¹ For comparison: players with the most penalty minutes

Best goalkeeper

Source: Liiga; Abbreviations: Sp = games, Min = ice age (in minutes), GT = goals conceded, SO = shutouts , Sv% = shots saved (in%) , GTS = goals conceded ; Fat: best value

player	team	Sp	Min	S.	U	N	GT	GTS	SVS	Sv%	SO
Niko Hovinen	KalPa	22nd	1318: 32	12	3	7th	37	1.68	546	93.65	5
Veini Vehviläinen	Kärpät	35	2030: 02	20th	8th	5	64	1.89	786	92.47	4th
Dominik Hrachovina	Tappara	48	2932: 37	19th	17th	12	98	2.01	1194	92.41	5
Atte Engren	HIFK	41	2404: 47	14th	13	12	86	2.15	911	91.37	3
Kaapo Kähkönen	Lukko	56	3275: 27	20th	12	23	120	2.20	1418	92.20	6th
Jussi Rynnäs	Kärpät	28	1558: 37	13	8th	5	58	2.23	613	91.36	3
Denis Godla	KalPa	34	2074: 29	14th	11	9	78	2.26	819	91.30	3
Frans Tuohimaa	SaiPa	51	2949: 43	19th	16	14th	111	2.26	1304	92.16	4th
Emil Larmi	HPK	46	2623: 07	18th	9	16	100	2.29	1126	91.84	5
Rasmus Tirronen	TPS	23	1309: 13	11	3	8th	50	2.29	540	91.53	4th

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.

Tournament tree

qualification

Quarter finals

Semifinals

final

1.

Kärpät

4th

8th.

Ässät

1

7th

SaiPa

2

1.

Kärpät

4th

10.

Pelicans

1

5.

HIFK

3

2.

TPS

4th

7th

SaiPa

2

(The teams are reset after the first two rounds.)

1.

Kärpät

4th

3.

Tappara

2

3.

Tappara

4th

6th

KalPa

2

8th.

Ässät

2

2.

TPS

0

9.

Lukko

0

3.

Tappara

4th

4th

JYP

2

5.

HIFK

4th

Pre-play-offs

The games in best-of-three mode took place from March 12 to March 17, 2018.

	series	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3
SaiPa - Pelicans	2: 1	4: 2 (1: 1, 2: 0, 1: 1)	0: 3 (0: 1, 0: 0, 0: 2)	3: 2 n.V. (0: 1, 0: 1, 2: 0, 1: 0)
Ässät - Lukko	2-0	2: 1 (2: 0, 0: 0, 0: 1)	3: 2 n.V. (1: 1, 0: 0, 1: 1, 1: 0)

Quarter finals

	series	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Game 5	Game 6	Game 7
Kärpät - Ässät	4: 1	4: 1 game report	3-2 game report	3: 1 game report	1: 3 game report	5: 1 game report	-	-
Tappara - KalPa	4: 2	3-2 game report	4: 3 game report	4: 3 by agreement. Match report	0: 3 game report	1: 3 game report	3: 4 game report	-
TPS - SaiPa	4: 2	4: 3 by agreement. Match report	5: 6 game report	7-0 game report	3: 1 game report	0: 2 game report	1: 2 by agreement. Match report	-
JYP - HIFK	2: 4	1: 2 game report	1: 2 by agreement. Match report	4: 3 by agreement. Match report	4: 1 game report	6: 7 n.v. game report	2: 1 game report	-

Semifinals

	series	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Game 5	Game 6	Game 7
Kärpät - HIFK	4: 3	1: 4 game report	3: 4 n.V. Match report	3-0 game report	4: 1 game report	2: 1 n.v. game report	4: 3 by agreement. Match report	2: 1 game report
TPS - Tappara	0: 4	2: 3 n.V. Match report	3-0 game report	1: 2 game report	6: 5 by agreement. Match report	-	-	-

3rd place match

April 20, 2018 6:30 p.m.

TPS Turku O. Palve (34:13) O. Palve (39:18)

2: 3 a.d. (0: 1, 2: 1, 0: 0, 0: 1) game report

HIFK Helsinki T. Tallberg (15:19) T. Eronen (38:14) L. Petrell (61:35)

Gatorade Center , Turku Spectators: 7,021

final

April 17, 2018 6:30 p.m.

Kärpät Oulu J. Junttila (24:08) C. Bertrand (57:59) J. Hakanpää (59:27)

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

Tappara Tampere

Oulun Energia Areena , Oulu Spectators: 5,021

April 19, 2018 6:30 p.m.

Tappara Tampere J. Jasu (7:02) A. Salonen (15:27)

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

Kärpät Oulu S. Mänenalanen (3:52) C. Bertrand (23:13) J. Ikonen (34:08) S. Heshka (43:46)

Tampereen jäähalli , Tampere spectators: 6,701

April 21, 2018 5:00 p.m.

Kärpät Oulu J. Junttila (46:18) J. Koivisto (78:34)

2: 1 n.V. (0: 0, 0: 1, 1: 0, 1: 0) game report

Tappara Tampere M. Järvinen (31:00)

Oulun Energia Areena, Oulu Spectators: 6,485

April 23, 2018 6:30 p.m.

Tappara Tampere J. Karjalainen (26:32) J. Jasu (37:22)

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

Kärpät Oulu

Tampereen jäähalli, Tampere spectators: 7,300

April 24, 2018 6:30 p.m.

Kärpät Oulu J. Junttila (38:56) M. Koivisto (40:56) C. Bertrand (47:51) L. Kukkonen (50:09)

4: 5 (0: 3, 1: 1, 3: 1) game report

Tappara Tampere N. Ojamäki (1:25) J. Peltola (16:12) N. Ojamäki (16:27) O. Rantakari (31:06) J. Peltola (57:08)

Oulun Energia Areena, Oulu Spectators: 6,550

April 26, 2018 6:30 p.m.

Tappara Tampere

0: 1 (0: 0, 0: 0, 0: 1) Match report as of: 2: 4

Kärpät Oulu A. Mäkelä (55:32)

Tampereen jäähalli, Tampere spectators: 7,279

Finnish champions squad

Finnish champion Kärpät Oulu

Goalkeepers: Jussi Rynnäs , Veini Vehviläinen Defenders: Jani Hakanpää , Shaun Heshka , Joona Huttula , Teemu Kivihalme , Miika Koivisto , Lasse Kukkonen , Aleksi Mäkelä , Mikko Niemelä , Taneli Ronkainen , Taneli Siikaluoma Attackers: Sami Anttila , Charles Bertrand , Miska Humaloja , Jasse icons , Jyri Junnila , Julius Junttila , Otto Karvinen , Radek Koblizek , Juha Koivisto , Jesse Koskenkorva , Rasmus Kupari , Nicklas Lasu , Ville Leskinen , Saku Mäenalanen , Mikael Ruohomaa , Jari Sailio , Kristian Vesalainen Coaching staff: Mikko Manner , Lauri Mikkola , Toni Sihvonen

Best scorer

Source : liiga.fi; Abbreviations: Sp = games, T = goals, V = assists , pts = points, +/- = plus / minus , SM = penalty minutes; Fat: best value

player	team	Sp	T	V	Pt	+/-	SM
Julius Junttila	Kärpät	18th	8th	6th	14th	+6	6th
Jukka Peltola	Tappara	16	6th	7th	13	+7	2
Oula Palve	TPS	11	4th	8th	12	+1	6th
Kristian Kuusela	Tappara	16	4th	7th	11	+3	16
Ville Leskinen	Kärpät	17th	1	10	11	+3	0
Saku Maeenalanen	Kärpät	18th	5	5	10	+4	16
Patrik Carlsson	HIFK	14th	5	5	10	+2	2
Juha-Pekka Haataja	HIFK	14th	4th	6th	10	+9	2
Henrik Haapala	Tappara	14th	4th	6th	10	-1	29

Best goalkeeper

Source: Liiga; Abbreviations: Sp = games, Min = ice age (in minutes), GT = goals conceded, SO = shutouts , Sv% = shots saved (in%) , GTS = goals conceded ; Fat: best value

player	team	Sp	Min	S.	N	GT	GTS	SVS	Sv%	SO
Veini Vehviläinen	Kärpät	17th	994: 53	11	4th	26th	1.57	364	93.33	3
Rasmus Tirronen	TPS	5	232: 10	2	3	7th	1.81	102	93.58	1
Kevin Lankinen	HIFK	13	755: 32	7th	5	25th	1.99	363	93.56	0
Dominik Hrachovina	Tappara	16	1001: 43	10	6th	35	2.10	430	92.47	3
Andreas Bernard	Ässät	7th	423: 35	3	4th	17th	2.41	210	92.51	0
Niko Hovinen	KalPa	6th	334: 32	2	3	14th	2.51	129	90.21	0

Awards

Julius Junttila was the only player to receive three trophies, including the Player of the Season award

Charles Bertrand received two awards - for top scorer and for best plus / minus rating

Award	winner	team
Lasse Oksanen Trophy	Julius Junttila	Kärpät
Jari Kurri Trophy	Julius Junttila	Kärpät
Kultainen kypärä	Julius Junttila	Kärpät
Veikkauksen Kultainen kypärä	Tomi Kallio	TPS
Veli Pekka Ketola Trophy	Antti Suomela	JYP
Aarne Honkavaara Trophy	Charles Bertrand	Kärpät
Juha Rantasila Trophy	Ilkka Heikkinen	TPS
Jarmo Wasama Commemorative Trophy	Petrus Palmu	TPS
Urpo Ylönen Trophy	Veini Vehviläinen	Kärpät
Pekka Rautakallio Trophy	Miro Heiskanen	HIFK
Matti Keinonen Trophy	Charles Bertrand	Kärpät
Raimo Kilpiö Trophy	Jarkko Immonen	JYP
Unto Wiitala Trophy	Aleksi Rantala
Pentti Isotalo Trophy	Sakari Suominen
Kalevi Numminen Trophy	Mikko Manner	Kärpät

Web links

• Official website of the Liiga

Individual evidence

1. ↑ scorer statistics Liiga. Retrieved October 23, 2017 . 
2. ↑ liiga.fi, Perustilastot
3. ↑ scorer statistics Liiga - Playoffs. In: liiga.fi. Retrieved July 23, 2018 . 
4. ↑ liiga.fi, Perustilastot - Playoffs