SM-Liiga
An Ice Hockey Wiki article.
| SM-Liiga | |
|---|---|
| 2008-09 SM-Liiga season | |
| |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Founded | 1975 |
| No. of teams | 14 |
| Country(ies) |  Finland
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| Most recent champion(s) | JYP Jyväskylä (2008-09) |
| Official website | www.sm-liiga.fi |
The SM-liiga is the highest professional league of ice hockey in Finland. Created in 1975 to replace the SM-sarja, that was fundamentally an amateur league, and obtained an agreement with the Finnish Ice Hockey Association, the Suomen Jääkiekkoliitto. SM stands for Suomenmestarus (meaning "Finnish Championship").
At this time, the SM-liiga counts 14 teams and has been closed in 2000 to the normal process of promotion and relegation to avoid having teams promoted or relegated without the agreement of board of the league - this is done to ensure a high level of play in the league. The board however agreed to accept the promotion of the winner of the Mestis, Finland's second highest professional league, as long as this winner meets the standards of quality set by the SM-liiga's board.
In 2005, the board welcomed back KalPa Kuopio via promotion from the Mestis, thus being truthful to their promise of letting in teams meeting their standards of quality. The team had been relegated from the SM-liiga in 1999.
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[edit] Participating teams
Those are the 14 teams competing in the SM-liiga:
- Blues Espoo
- HPK Hämeenlinna
- Jokerit Helsinki
- KalPa Kuopio
- Lukko Rauma
- SaiPa Lappeenranta
- TPS Turku
- HIFK Helsinki
- Ilves Tampere
- JYP Jyväskylä
- Kärpät Oulu
- Pelicans Lahti
- Tappara Tampere
- Ässät Pori
[edit] Past winners
[edit] Trophies
- Kultainen kypärä - best player as voted by SM-liiga players
- Kalevi Numminen trophy - best coach
- Jarmo Wasama memorial trophy - rookie of the year
- Matti Keinonen trophy - most effective player
- Raimo Kilpiö trophy - most gentlemanly player
- Urpo Ylönen trophy - best goaltender
- Pekka Rautakallio trophy - best defenseman
- Aarne Honkavaara trophy - most goals scored in the regular season ("best goal scorer")
- Veli-Pekka Ketola trophy - most points scored during the regular season
- Lasse Oksanen trophy - best player during the regular season
- Jari Kurri trophy - best player during the play-offs
[edit] See also
[edit] External Link
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| 1975-76 • 1976-77 • 1977-78 • 1978-79 • 1979-80 • 1980-81 • 1981-82 • 1982-83 • 1983-84 • 1984-85 • 1985-86 • 1984-85 • 1985-86 • 1986-87 • 1987-88 • 1988-89 • 1990-91 • 1991-92 • 1992-93 • 1993-94 • 1994-95 • 1995-96 • 1994-95 • 1995-96 • 1996-97 • 1997-98 • 1998-99 • 1999-00 • 2000-01 • 2001-02 • 2002-03 • 2003-04 • 2004-05 • 2005-06 • 2006-07 • 2007-08 • 2008-09 • 2009-10 |
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This article is part of the Finnish hockey portal |
