SM-liiga

SM-liiga is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It was constituted in 1975 to replace SM-sarja, which was fundementally an amateur league. SM-liiga has an agreement of cooperation with Finnish ice hockey federation Suomen J??kiekkoliitto. SM is a common abbreviation for suomenmestaruus, "Finnish championship".

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At the moment, there are 14 teams. SM-liiga was closed in 2000 so that no team can be relegated to or promoted from the lower leagues without approval of the board of SM-liiga. The board have committed themselves to promote the first winner of Mestis (the second highest competition) that meets certain standards.

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In 2004, all of the SM-Liiga's 13 teams were put into an American-based ice hockey video game, NHL 2004, along with Sweden's Elitserien and Germany's DEL.

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• Chairman of the board: Timo Rajala
• Managing director: Urpo Helkovaara
SM-liiga: Currently participating clubs ►



 

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Ice hockey: Ice hockey, known simply as hockey in Canada and the United States, is a team sport played on ice. It is one of the world's fastest sports, with players on skates capable of going high speeds on natural or artificial ice surfaces. The most prominent ice hockey nations are Canada, United States, Rus...

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SM-liiga related Images and Photos (experimental)

S.M. Grosse Kreuzer "Furst Bismarck" circa 1899