2022–23 Liiga season

The 2022–23 SM-liiga season was the 48th season of the Liiga, the top level of ice hockey in Finland, since the league's formation in 1975.

2022–23 SM-liiga
LeagueSM-liiga
SportIce hockey
Defending championsTappara (2021–22)
DurationSeptember 2022 – April 2023
Number of games60
Number of teams15
TV partner(s)Telia
C More
Regular season
Best recordTappara
  Runners-upIlves
Season MVPMichael Joly (HPK)
Top scorerMichael Joly (HPK)
Playoffs
Playoffs MVPVeli-Matti Savinainen (Tappara)
Finals championsTappara
  Runners-upPelicans
SM-liiga seasons

Teams

TeamCityHead coachArenaCapacityCaptain
HIFKHelsinkiVille PeltonenHelsingin jäähalli8,200Teemu Tallberg
HPKHämeenlinnaJarno PikkarainenPohjantähti Areena5,360Juuso Hietanen
IlvesTampereJouko Myrrä 5 Oct 2022[1]
Antti Pennanen
Nokia Arena13,000Eemeli Suomi
JukuritMikkeliOlli JokinenIkioma Areena4,200Juhamatti Aaltonen
JYP JyväskyläJukka RautakorpiLähiTapiola Areena4,437Robert Rooba
KalPaKuopioTommi MiettinenOlvi Areena5,300Tuomas Kiiskinen
KooKooKouvolaOlli SaloLumon Areena5,950Heikki Liedes
KärpätOuluLauri MarjamäkiOulun Energia Areena6,400Atte Ohtamaa
LukkoRaumaMarko VirtanenKivikylän Areena4,700Anrei Hakulinen
PelicansLahtiTommi NiemeläIsku Areena5,371Miika Roine
SaiPaLappeenrantaPekka Virta 14 Oct 2022[2]
Ville Hämäläinen
Lappeenrannan jäähalli4,820Jarno Koskiranta
SportVaasaRisto DufvaVaasan Sähkö Areena5,185Sebastian Stålberg
TapparaTampereJussi TapolaNokia Arena13,000Otto Rauhala
TPSTurkuJussi AhokasGatorade Center11,820Juhani Jasu
ÄssätPoriKarri KiviWest Areena6,150Jesse Joensuu

Regular season

Ässät celebrating a regular season victory against Jukurit on 15 October 2022

Top six advanced straight to the quarter-finals, while teams between 7th and 10th positions played a wild card round for the final two spots. The SM-liiga is a closed series and thus there is no relegation.

PosTeamPldWOTWOTLLGFGAGDPtsFinal Result
1Tappara60336516187140+47116Advance to Quarterfinals
2Ilves60327417185126+59114
3Lukko60288519155122+33105
4Pelicans60304521166136+30103
5KalPa60285819169145+24102
6HIFK60248919155150+597
7Kärpät602471019158143+1596Advance to Wild-card round
8Ässät60255624129150−2191
9TPS602110821141140+191
10KooKoo601911525155167−1284
11Jukurit60245130155165−1083
12HPK601791420153162−983
13JYP60179529159172−1374
14Sport60163932126177−5163
15SaiPa60871035124222−9848
Source: Liiga

[3]

Scoring leaders

The following players led the league in regular season points.

PlayerTeamGPGAPts+/–PIM
Michael JolyHPK60253964+918
Jori LehteräTappara57114657+545
Jerry TurkulainenJYP60124254–320
Petri KontiolaIlves58123951040
Jaakko RissanenKalPa57163450+1726
Henrik HaapalaIlves47153247+920
Les LancasterIlves60133447+2022
Joona IkonenIlves54232245+916
Veli-Matti SavinainenTappara54172744+630
Thomas GregoireLukko57133144+2341

Playoffs

Bracket

Wild-card round (best-of-3)Quarter-finals (best-of-7)Semi-finals (best-of-7)Finals (best-of-7)
1Tappara4
7Kärpät110KooKoo0
10KooKoo21Tappara4
6HIFK1
2Ilves4(Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round)
8Ässät1
1Tappara4
4Pelicans1
3Lukko2
8Ässät26HIFK4
9TPS12Ilves2Bronze medal game
4Pelicans4
4Pelicans42Ilves1
5KalPa36HIFK0


Wild-card round

ÄssätTPS 2-1
13.3.2023 Ässät TPS 2-1 ref
14.3.2023 TPS Ässät 2-1 ref
16.3.2023 Ässät TPS 2-1 ref
Ässät wins the series 2-1.

Quarter-finals

LukkoHIFK 2-4
18.3.2023 Lukko HIFK 1-4 ref
20.3.2023 HIFK Lukko 1-0 OT1 ref
22.3.2023 Lukko HIFK 3-5 ref
24.3.2023 HIFK Lukko 1-2 OT1 ref
25.3.2023 Lukko HIFK 2-1 ref
27.3.2023 HIFK Lukko 3-2 OT1 ref
HIFK wins the series 4-2.
IlvesÄssät 4-1
18.3.2023 Ilves Ässät 5-1 ref
20.3.2023 Ässät Ilves 5-2 ref
22.3.2023 Ilves Ässät 4-1 ref
24.3.2023 Ässät Ilves 1-4 ref
26.3.2023 Ilves Ässät 3-2 ref
Ilves wins the series 4-1.
PelicansKalPa 4-3
17.3.2023 Pelicans KalPa 2-1 ref
18.3.2023 KalPa Pelicans 3-0 ref
20.3.2023 Pelicans KalPa 2-1 ref
22.3.2023 KalPa Pelicans 3-2 ref
24.3.2023 Pelicans KalPa 3-1 ref
25.3.2023 KalPa Pelicans 5-1 ref
28.3.2023 Pelicans KalPa 4-2 ref
Pelicans wins the series 4-3.

Semi-finals

IlvesPelicans 2-4
31.3.2023 Pelicans Ilves 2-3 OT1 ref
1.4.2023 Pelicans Ilves 3-2 ref
6.4.2023 Ilves Pelicans 2-3 ref
8.4.2023 Ilves Pelicans 3-2 ref
11.4.2023 Ilves Pelicans 0-2 ref
13.4.2023 Pelicans Ilves 3-1 ref
Pelicans wins the series 4-2.

Bronze medal game

20 April 2023
18:30
Ilves3–2
(1–1, 1–0, 1–1)
HIFKNokia Arena, Tampere
Attendance: 8,044
Game reference
Marek LanghamerGoaliesRoope TaponenReferees:
Jukka-Pekka Koistinen
Mikko Kaukokari
Linesmen:
Jussi Thomann
Juho-Pekka Inkinen
0–106:05 – Pakarinen (Jääskä, Luhanka)
Mäntykivi (Tikka) – 12:071–1
Tikka (Mäntykivi, Nyman) – 26:392–1
2–241:26 – Teissala (Melart, Rantakari)
Virtanen (Koskiranta) – 48:233–2
14 minPenalties10 min
24Shots25

Finals

19 April 2023
18:30
Tappara5–1
(1–0, 3–1, 1–0)
PelicansNokia Arena, Tampere
Attendance: 11,904
Game reference
Christian HeljankoGoaliesPatrik Bartošák
Jasper Patrikainen
Referees:
Mikko Kaukokari
Lassi Heikkinen
Linesmen:
Hannu Sormunen
Onni Hautamäki
Tanus (Savinainen, Seppälä) – 07:291–0
1–121:46 – Vilén (Killinen, Kangasniemi)
Savinainen (Kemiläinen) (PP) – 36:552–1
Vittasmäki (Levtchi, Tuulola) – 39:143–1
M. Davidsson (Jürgens, Ojamäki) – 39:454–1
Rauhala (Puhakka, Merelä) – 40:555–1
4 minPenalties6 min
24Shots19
21 April 2023
18:30
Pelicans0–2
(0–1, 0–0, 0–1)
TapparaIsku Areena, Lahti
Attendance: 4,403
Game reference
Patrik BartošákGoaliesChristian HeljankoReferees:
Antti Boman
Joonas Kova
Linesmen:
Tommi Niittylä
Joni Pekkala
0–101:04 – Rauhala (Matushkin, Seppälä)
0–259:04 – Merelä (Lehterä, Savinainen) (EN)
2 minPenalties31 min
47Shots48
22 April 2023
17:00
Tappara1–4
(0–1, 0–1, 1–2)
PelicansNokia Arena, Tampere
Attendance: 12,354
Game reference
Christian HeljankoGoaliesPatrik BartošákReferees:
Joonas Kova
Mikko Kaukokari
Linesmen:
Hannu Sormunen
Onni Hautamäki
0–119:36 – Utunen (Kangasniemi, Ikonen)
0–233:08 – Hirvonen (Jämsen, Utunen)
Savinainen (Tanus) – 47:221–2
1–358:24 – Kangasniemi (Killinen)
1–459:27 – Jasek (Bryggman) (EN)
10 minPenalties6 min
51Shots37
25 April 2023
18:30
Pelicans1–3
(0–1, 0–1, 1–1)
TapparaIsku Areena, Lahti
Attendance: 4,403
Game reference
Patrik BartošákGoaliesChristian HeljankoReferees:
Antti Boman
Jukka-Pekka Koistinen
Linesmen:
Tommi Niittylä
Joni Pekkala
0–105:04 – Thomas (Tuulola, Granath)
Kelleher (Vilén, Mylläri) – 58:431–1
1–229:29 – Savinainen (Lehterä, Ojamäki) (PP)
1–344:29 – Merelä (Puhakka, Matushkin)
4 minPenalties6 min
39Shots43
27 April 2023
18:30
Tappara5–4 OT1
(3–2, 0–1, 1–1, 1–0)
PelicansNokia Arena, Tampere
Attendance: 12,700
Game reference
Christian HeljankoGoaliesPatrik Bartošák
Jasper Patrikainen
Referees:
Mikko Kaukokari
Lassi Heikkinen
Linesmen:
Hannu Sormunen
Onni Hautamäki
Levtchi (Merelä, Matushkin) – 01:111–0
Tanus (Lehterä, Matushkin) – 07:032–0
Jurgens (Merelä, Levtchi) – 07:293–0
3–112:04 – Vilen (Ikonen, Vilen) (PP1)
3–214:41 – Blood (Vilen)
3–339:01 – Kangasniemi (Roine, Jašek) (PP1)
3–444:14 – Jämsen (Hirvonen, Vilen)
Savinainen (Kemiläinen, Merelä) – 59:594–4
Davidsson (Jurgens, Puhakka) – 68:575–4
8 minPenalties10 min
43Shots21

Tappara wins the finals 4-1.

Final rankings

Tappara
Pelicans
Ilves
4HIFK
5Lukko
6KalPa
7Ässät
8KooKoo
9Kärpät
10TPS
11Jukurit
12HPK
13JYP
14Sport
15SaiPa

See also

References