SM-liiga 2002/03

SM-liiga
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Master:	Tappara Tampere
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The 2002/03 season was the 28th season of the SM-liiga . For the eighth time since the founding of the SM-liiga and for the twelfth time in total, Tappara Tampere became Finnish ice hockey champion .

Regular season

mode

Each team had to play four times against every other team in the league and eight additional times against local teams. Each game consisted of three thirds of 20 minutes each. If there was a tie after regular time, five minutes of extra time were played. The first goal in extra time decided the game for the team that scored the goal. In the event that a winner was still not found after extra time, the game was considered a tie.

A win in regular time or after extra time earned a team 2 points. A tie and a defeat after extra time were rewarded with one point. There were no points for a defeat in regular time.

Closing table

Source: liiga.fi

Abbreviations: Sp = games, S = victories, SnV = victories after extra time, U = draws, NnV = defeats after extra time, N = defeats, T = goals, GT = goals conceded, TD = goal difference P = points

Pl	team	Sp	S.	SnV	U	NnV	N	T	GT	TD	Points
1.	HPK	56	35	4th	7th	2	8th	209	125	+84	87
2.	Jokerite	56	32	3	6th	0	15th	154	108	+46	76
3.	Kärpät	56	27	5	8th	1	15th	186	141	+45	73
4th	blues	56	25th	2	10	4th	15th	168	145	+23	68
5.	Tappara	56	25th	4th	5	2	20th	156	119	+37	65
6th	JYP	56	25th	3	7th	2	19th	151	146	+5	65
7th	HIFK	56	19th	4th	9	2	22nd	177	165	+12	57
8th.	TPS	56	24	0	6th	2	24	138	138	± 0	56
9.	Lukko	56	18th	3	8th	5	22nd	130	153	−23	55
10.	Ässät	56	17th	2	8th	4th	25th	125	154	−29	50
11.	SaiPa	56	17th	2	6th	4th	27	134	171	−37	48
12.	Pelicans	56	13	2	2	4th	35	120	181	−61	36
13.	Ilves	56	7th	3	4th	5	37	111	211	−100	29

Best scorer

Source: sm-liiga.fi

Abbreviations: Sp = games, T = goals, A = assists , P = points, SM = penalty minutes

player	team	Sp	T	A.	Points	+/-	SM
Tomáš Kucharčík	HPK	52	28	27	55	32	48
Jan Čaloun	blues	46	22nd	33	55	17th	6th
Tommi Santala	HPK	50	13	38	51	28	92
Antti Miettinen	HPK	53	25th	25th	50	27	54
Timo Pärssinen	HIFK	55	16	31	47	−1	41
Marek Židlický	HIFK	54	10	37	47	13	79
Eric Perrin	JYP	56	18th	28	46	−3	36
Eero Somervuori	HPK	56	21st	24	45	25th	42
Ján Pardavý	HPK	52	17th	27	44	25th	69
Brett Lievers	Kärpät	56	18th	25th	43	18th	24

Best goalkeeper

Source: sm-liiga.fi

Abbreviations: SP = games, min = playing time (min: sec), S = victories; N = defeats, GT = goals conceded, GS = shots saved, SO = shutouts , GTS = goals against goals, Sv% = shots saved (in%)

player	team	Sp	Min	S.	N	GT	GS	SO	GTS	Sv%
Markus Helanen	Jokerite	15th	711: 51	8th	1	18th	304	3	1.52	94.41
Teemu Lassila	TPS	21st	1190: 17	12	6th	38	497	6th	1.92	92.9
Jarmo Myllys	blues	19th	1113: 21	8th	5	38	496	3	2.05	92.88
Niklas Bäckström	Kärpät	36	2135: 54	16	8th	77	1003	4th	2.17	92.87
Kari Lehtonen	Jokerite	45	2634: 48	23	14th	87	1121	5	1.98	92.8

Play-offs

Source: liiga.fi

mode

Places 1-8 were automatically qualified for the play-offs. The teams that had won the most of seven games in the quarter-finals against their opponents qualified for the semi-finals. In the semifinals only five games were played against the opponent. The winners of the semi-finals made it to the final while the losers played for third place in the small final. Five games were also played in the final. Whoever won the most games was the winner of the season. Only one game was played in the round for third place. 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 a total of 60 minutes. After the regular time, extensions of 20 minutes each were played until a winner was found through a decisive goal.

Tournament tree

	Quarter finals				Semifinals				final
	March 12-18, 2003
	Jokerite	4th
					25.3. - 1.4.2003
	HIFK	0
					Jokerite	2
	March 12-23, 2003
					Kärpät	3
	Kärpät	4th
									3. - 6.4.2003
	JYP	3
									Kärpät	0
	March 12-23, 2003
									Tappara	3
	HPK	4th
					25.3. - 1.4.2003
	TPS	3
					HPK	2			Game for third place
	March 11-23, 2003
					Tappara	3
	blues	3							HPK	1
	Tappara	4th							Jokerite	0
									04/04/2003

Quarter finals

Jokerite - HIFK March 12th Jokerite HIFK 2-1 the 14th of March HIFK Jokerite 2-4 March, 15 Jokerite HIFK 5-2 March 18th HIFK Jokerite 1-4 Jokerit wins the round 4-0.

Kärpät - JYP March 12th Kärpät JYP 2-5 the 14th of March JYP Kärpät 1-4 March, 15 Kärpät JYP 2-3 a.d. March 18th JYP Kärpät 4-2 March, 20th Kärpät JYP 6-2 March 22 JYP Kärpät 1-4 March 23 Kärpät JYP 3-1 Kärpät wins the round 4: 3.

HPK - TPS March 12th HPK TPS 1-2 the 14th of March TPS HPK 1-3 March, 15 HPK TPS 2-3 a.d. March 18th TPS HPK 4-0 March, 20th HPK TPS 3-1 March 22 TPS HPK 0-7 March 23 HPK TPS 6-1 HPK wins the round 4: 3.

Blues - Tappara March 11 blues Tappara 4-1 the 14th of March Tappara blues 2-4 March 16 blues Tappara 2-3 a.d. 17. March Tappara blues 4-1 19th March blues Tappara 4-3 March 21st Tappara blues 2-0 March 23 blues Tappara 1-2 n.V. Tappara wins the round 4: 3.

Semifinals

Jokerit - Kärpät 25th March Jokerite Kärpät 1-0 27th of March Kärpät Jokerite 4-2 28th March Jokerite Kärpät 3-0 March 30 Kärpät Jokerite 2-1 April 1st Jokerite Kärpät 0-2 Kärpät wins the round 3-2.

HPK - Tappara 25th March HPK Tappara 3-2 a.d. 27th of March Tappara HPK 2-1 28th March HPK Tappara 3-2 a.d. March 30 Tappara HPK 2-1 a.d. April 1st HPK Tappara 2-4 Tappara wins the round 3-2.

third place

HPK - jokerite
4. April	HPK	Jokerite	3-0
HPK wins bronze.

final

Kärpät - Tappara
April 6th	Kärpät	Tappara	2-3 a.d.
April 8th	Tappara	Kärpät	3-0
9th April	Kärpät	Tappara	3-4 a.d.
Tappara wins the championship 3-0. Kärpät receives silver.

Finnish champion

Finnish champion Tappara Tampere

Goalkeepers: Pasi Kuivalainen , Mika Lehto Defenders: Janne Grönvall , Miska Kangasniemi , Mikko Luoma , Tuukka Mäntylä , Ville Mäntymaa , Jiří Marusak , Pasi Puistola , Pekka Saravo , Jyrki Välivaara Attackers: Johannes Alanen , Alexander Barkow , Tom Bissett , Ville Hämäläinen , Lasse Jämsen , Kimmo Koskenkorva , Arto Kuki , Marko Mäkinen , Janne Ojanen , Marko Ojanen , Esa Pirnes , Jussi Tarvainen , Jaakko Uhlbäck , Sami Venäläinen Head coach: Jukka Rautakorpi

Best scorer

Source: liiga.fi Abbreviations: Sp = games, T = goals, A = assists, SM = penalty minutes

player	team	Sp	T	A.	Points	+/-	SM
Esa Pirnes	Tappara	15th	5	9	14th	2	2
Tommi Santala	HPK	13	6th	6th	12	6th	18th
Jari Viuhkola	Kärpät	15th	4th	8th	12	0	10
Ville Peltonen	Jokerite	10	4th	6th	10	4th	0
Eric Perrin	JYP	7th	4th	6th	10	4th	8th
Petr tone	Kärpät	15th	3	7th	10	3	4th
Jussi Tarvainen	Tappara	15th	7th	2	9	−3	4th
Jan Čaloun	blues	7th	5	4th	9	−2	4th
Brett Lievers	Kärpät	15th	4th	5	9	5	4th
Andrei Potaichuk	Kärpät	15th	4th	5	9	0	6th

Best goalkeeper

Source: sm-liiga.fi Abbreviations: Sp = games, min = playing time (min: sec), S = victories; N = defeats, GT = goals conceded, SVS = shots saved, SO = shutouts , GTS = goals against goals, Sv% = shots saved (in%)

player	team	Sp	Min	S.	N	GT	SVS	SO	GTS	Sv%
Mika Lehto	Tappara	14th	927: 43	10	3	23	380	2	1.49	94.29
Kari Lehtonen	Jokerite	10	926: 02	6th	4th	17th	269	2	1.63	94.06
Niklas Bäckström	Kärpät	15th	989: 47	7th	8th	33	506	1	2.00	93.88
Joni Puurula	HPK	11	675: 58	6th	5	19th	258	1	1.69	93.14
Jarmo Myllys	blues	7th	444: 02	3	4th	17th	209	0	2.30	92.48

Awards

Award	winner	team
Aarne Honkavaara Trophy	Tomáš Kucharčík	HPK
Jari Kurri Trophy	Esa Pirnes	Tappara
Jarmo Wasama Commemorative Trophy	Toni Söderholm	HIFK
Kalevi Numminen Trophy	Jukka Rautakorpi	Tappara
Kultainen kypärä	Antti Miettinen	HPK
Lasse Oksanen Trophy	Antti Miettinen	HPK
Matti Keinonen Trophy	Leave Kukkonen	Kärpät
Pekka Rautakallio Trophy	Marko Tuulola	HPK
Raimo Kilpiö Trophy	Ville Peltonen	Jokerite
Urpo Ylönen Trophy	Kari Lehtonen	Jokerite
Veli Pekka Ketola Trophy	Tomáš Kucharčík	HPK

swell

1. ↑ Joukkuetilastot - Runkosarja 2002-2003 - Tilastot - Liiga. In: liiga.fi. Retrieved July 12, 2018 (Finnish). 
2. ↑ sm-liiga.fi, Kausi 2002–2003 runkosarja Pistepörssi. Retrieved July 12, 2018 . 
3. ↑ sm-liiga.fi, Kausi 2002–2003 runkosarja Maalivahdit ( Memento from May 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
4. ↑ Otteluohjelma - Liiga. In: liiga.fi. March 11, 2003, accessed July 12, 2018 (Finnish). 
5. ↑ Pelaajatilastot - Perustilastot - Playoffs 2002-2003 - Tilastot - Liiga. In: liiga.fi. Retrieved July 12, 2018 (Finnish). 
6. ↑ sm-liiga.fi, Kausi 2002–2003 play-offs Maalivahdit ( Memento from May 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive )