2017–18 Liiga season

The 2017–18 Liiga season was the 43rd season of the SM-liiga (branded simply as "Liiga"), the top level of ice hockey in Finland, since the league's formation in 1975. Tappara was the season as a defending champion. This season included a record number of matches played on Fridays and Saturdays. In autumn, there was a national team break from 5 November until 13 November.

2017–18 Liiga
LeagueLiiga
SportIce hockey
DurationSeptember 2017 – April 2018
Number of teams15
TV partner(s)Nelonen
Regular season
Best recordOulun Kärpät
Runners-upTPS
Season MVPJulius Junttila (Kärpät)
Top scorerAntti Suomela (JYP)
Playoffs
Playoffs MVPJulius Junttila (Kärpät)
Finals championsOulun Kärpät
  Runners-upTappara

The specialties of the season included, for the first time in Liiga history, double games between KooKoo and Vaasan Sport. Teams met twice in October in consecutive evenings in Kouvola and in February twice in succession in Vaasa. In December, HIFK and Kärpät met in the hockey outdoor show at Kaisaniemi, Helsinki.

In 2018, the Liiga continued on Wednesday, 3 January. Ice hockey at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea's Pyeongchang start with the Finland men's national ice hockey team on February 14, 2018. In Liiga, a full round was played on Saturday 17 February, after which the Olympic Games started. Liiga games resumed on Tuesday, February 27.

Kärpät won the championship by winning Tappara in the final series 4-2.

Teams
Location of teams in 2017–2018 Liiga
TeamCityHead coachArenaCapacityCaptain
HIFKHelsinkiAri-Pekka SelinHelsingin jäähalli8,200Lennart Petrell
HPKHämeenlinnaAntti PennanenPatria-areena5,360Otto Paajanen
IlvesTampereKarri KiviTampereen jäähalli7,300Tapio Laakso
JukuritMikkeliRisto DufvaKalevankankaan jäähalli4,200Miika Roine
JYP JyväskyläMarko VirtanenSynergia-areena4,437Juha-Pekka Hytönen
KalPaKuopioSami KapanenNiiralan monttu5,064Tommi Jokinen
KooKooKouvolaTuomas TuokkolaLumon arena6,000Toni Kähkönen
KärpätOuluMikko MannerOulun Energia Areena6,614Lasse Kukkonen
LukkoRaumaPekka VirtaÄijänsuo Arena5,400Janne Niskala
PelicansLahtiPetri MatikainenIsku Areena5,530Stefan Lassen
SaiPaLappeenrantaTero LehteräKisapuisto4,820Ville Koho
SportVaasaTomek ValtonenVaasa Arena4,512Markus Kankaanperä
TapparaTampereJukka RautakorpiTampereen jäähalli7,300Jukka Peltola
TPSTurkuKalle KaskinenHK Arena11,820Tomi Kallio
ÄssätPoriJyrki Aho14 Jan 2018
Mikael Kotkaniemi		Porin jäähalli6,280Matti Kuparinen

Regular season

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

Pos Team Pld W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Final Result
1 Kärpät (C) 60 33 8 8 11 195 134 +61 123 Advance to Quarterfinals
2 TPS 60 30 7 8 15 187 147 +40 112
3 Tappara 60 25 14 7 14 165 130 +35 110
4 JYP 60 32 4 4 20 187 145 +42 108
5 HIFK 60 26 8 9 17 163 128 +35 103
6 KalPa 60 26 7 7 20 144 136 +8 99
7 SaiPa 60 21 11 8 20 153 163 −10 93 Advance to Wild-card round
8 Ässät 60 23 7 5 25 163 177 −14 88
9 Lukko 60 21 8 6 25 141 142 −1 85
10 Pelicans 60 20 7 9 24 165 175 −10 83
11 Ilves 60 21 5 8 26 162 190 −28 81
12 HPK 60 20 7 4 29 145 157 −12 78
13 Jukurit 60 16 5 9 30 133 170 −37 67
14 KooKoo 60 14 5 10 31 142 198 −56 62
15 Sport 60 12 7 8 33 153 206 −53 58
Source: Liiga
(C) Champion.

Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) 3-point wins 3) Goal difference; 4) Goals scored; 5) Head-to-head points.[1]

Playoffs

Bracket
  Wild-card round (best-of-3) Quarter-finals (best-of-7) Semi-finals (best-of-7) Finals (best-of-7)
                                     
  7 SaiPa 2  
  10 Pelicans 1     1 Kärpät 4  
        8 Ässät 1    
      1 Kärpät 4  
      5 HIFK 3  
        2 TPS 4    
        7 SaiPa 2  
    1 Kärpät 4
  3 Tappara 2
    3 Tappara 4  
    6 KalPa 2    
      2 TPS 0
      3 Tappara 4   Bronze medal game
    4 JYP 2    
  8 Ässät 2     5 HIFK 4   2 TPS 0
9 Lukko 0     5 HIFK 1

Wild card round

Quarterfinals

Semifinals


Bronze medal game
20 April 2018
18:30		TPS2–3 OT1
(0–1, 2–1, 0–0, 0–1)		HIFKGatorade Center, Turku
Attendance: 7,021

Finals
17 April 2018
18:30		Kärpät3–0
(0–0, 1–0, 2–0)		TapparaOulun Energia Areena, Oulu
Attendance: 5,021
19 April 2018
18:30		Tappara2–4
(2–1, 0–2, 0–1)		KärpätTampere Ice Stadium, Tampere
Attendance: 6,701
21 April 2018
17:00		Kärpät2–1 OT1
(0–0, 0–1, 1–0, 1–0)		TapparaOulun Energia Areena, Oulu
Attendance: 6,485
23 April 2018
18:30		Tappara2–0
(0–0, 2–0, 0–0)		KärpätTampere Ice Stadium, Tampere
Attendance: 7,300
24 April 2018
18:30		Kärpät4–5
(0–3, 1–1, 3–1)		TapparaOulun Energia Areena, Oulu
Attendance: 6,550
26 April 2018
18:30		Tappara0–1
(0–0, 0–0, 0–1)		KärpätTampere Ice Stadium, Tampere
Attendance: 7,279

Kärpät wins the series 4-2 and wins the championship.

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

References
  1. "Joukkuetilastot | Runkosarja 2017-2018 | Tilastot | Liiga". Liiga.fi. Retrieved 2018-02-28.
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