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 Jääkiekkoliitto. SM is a common abbreviation for suomenmestaruus, "Finnish championship".

Current format of competition

Regular season: all teams play 56 matches, a quadruple round robin with extra local double rounds (every team plays four matches against every other team, plus two or four extra matches against defined local opponents). Each match consists of a 60-minute regulation time, and in the event of a tie winner is decided by sudden death by a 5-minute overtime which is succeeded by penalty shots pair at a time.

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Scoring: A win by regulation time is worth three points, a win by sudden death two points and loss by sudden death one point. Teams will be ranked by points, and teams tieing by points are ranked by goal differential - teams tieing by goal differential as well are ranked by goals scored for.

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Play-offs: Six best teams at the conclusion of regular season proceed directly to quarter-finals. Teams placing between seventh and tenth (inclusive) will play preliminary play-offs best-out-of-three - the two winners take the last two slots to quarter-finals. Quarter-finals are best-out-of-seven, semi-finals and finals best-out-of-five. Losers of semi-finals play a bronze medal match. Teams are coupled up for each round according to regular season results, so that the highest-ranking team will play against the lowest-ranking, second highest against the second lowest, etc. Higher-ranking team play first match at home, then by turns away, home, away, etc. Each playoff match consists of a 60-minute regulation time which in the event of a tie is followed by extra 20-minute periods up to a win by sudden death.

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Scheduling: Regular season starts around mid-September. It takes a two-week break around the change of October to November, when Team Finland plays in a European competition. Christmas break is two weeks. During Olympic winters a break is reserved for the Games. Regular season is completed around mid-March and preliminary play-offs ensue almost instantly. Play-offs are completed by mid-April, so that all players are available for World Championships.

Related Topics:
Team Finland - Games - World Championships

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