2023–24 Liiga season

2023–24 SM-liiga
League	Liiga
Sport	Ice hockey
Defending champions	Tappara (2022–23)
Duration	September 2023 – April 2024
Number of games	60
Number of teams	15
TV partner(s)	Telia C More
Regular season
Season champions	Tappara
Runners-up	Ilves
Season MVP	Jerry Turkulainen (JYP)
Top scorer	Oula Palve (Ilves)
Playoffs
Playoffs MVP	Christian Heljanko
Finals champions	Tappara
Runners-up	Pelicans

The 2023–24 Liiga season was the 49th season of the Liiga, the top level of ice hockey in Finland, since its formation in 1975.

Format

The regular season started on Tuesday, 12 September 2023, with a match between Rauman Lukko and Hämeenlinnan Pallokerho in Rauma. The match was the only one of the day. As in previous seasons, 450 matches will be played in the regular season, 60 for each team. There are 25 full rounds of seven matches played, 16 of which are on Saturdays. A little more than half of the regular season, 262 matches, are played on Fridays and Saturdays. Most weekday games are played on Wednesdays (98). There were a total of 106 game days in the regular season, i.e. eight less than in the previous season.^[1]

As usual, the series is on break in November for a week and a half while the national teams play in the Euro Hockey Tour. The Christmas break lasts 5–7 days, depending on the team, with the exception of KalPa, which participates on the 26th–31st of December in the Spengler Cup in Switzerland.^[2] For other teams, the Christmas break ends on Saint Stephen's day, 26 December. The regular season ends on Tuesday, 12 March 2024.^[1]

Teams

Jukurit

HIFK

HPK

Ilves
Tappara

JYP

KalPa

KooKoo

Kärpät

Lukko

Pelicans

SaiPa

Ässät

Sport

TPS

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Location of teams in 2023–24 SM-liiga

Team	City	Head coach	Arena	Capacity	Captain
HIFK	Helsinki	Ville Peltonen	Helsingin jäähalli	8,200	Jori Lehterä
HPK	Hämeenlinna	Maso Lehtonen	Pohjantähti Areena	5,360	Juuso Hietanen
Ilves	Tampere	Antti Pennanen	Nokia Arena	12,700	Niklas Friman
Jukurit	Mikkeli	Olli Jokinen	Ikioma Areena	4,200	Pekka Jormakka
JYP	Jyväskylä	Jukka Rautakorpi 20 Dec 2023[3] Mikko Heiskanen	LähiTapiola Areena	4,437	Teemu Eronen
KalPa	Kuopio	Petri Karjalainen	Olvi Areena	5,300	Tuomas Kiiskinen
KooKoo	Kouvola	Olli Salo	Lumon Areena	5,950	Otto Paajanen
Kärpät	Oulu	Lauri Marjamäki 18 Dec 2023[4] Ville Mäntymaa	Oulun Energia Areena	6,300	Atte Ohtamaa
Lukko	Rauma	Tomi Lämsä	Kivikylän Areena	4,500	Julius Mattila
Pelicans	Lahti	Tommi Niemelä	Isku Areena	4,403	Miika Roine
SaiPa	Lappeenranta	Ville Hämäläinen	Lappeenrannan jäähalli	4,820	Miska Siikonen
Sport	Vaasa	Risto Dufva	Vaasan Sähkö Areena	5,185	Sebastian Stålberg
Tappara	Tampere	Rikard Grönborg	Nokia Arena	12,700	Otto Rauhala
TPS	Turku	Tommi Miettinen	Gatorade Center	10,500	Juhani Jasu
Ässät	Pori	Jere Härkälä	Enersense Areena	6,150	Jesse Joensuu

Regular season standings

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

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Final Result
1	Tappara	60	34	8	5	13	200	141	+59	123	Advance to Quarterfinals
2	Ilves	60	33	7	7	13	197	144	+53	120
3	Pelicans	60	31	4	8	17	177	147	+30	109
4	Kärpät	60	28	8	6	18	174	147	+27	106
5	Jukurit	60	30	3	7	20	197	147	+50	103
6	HIFK	60	26	7	11	16	179	139	+40	103
7	KalPa	60	25	6	7	22	169	156	+13	94	Advance to Wild-card round
8	Lukko	60	22	10	6	22	157	160	−3	92
9	TPS	60	17	14	5	24	150	166	−16	84
10	Sport	60	21	5	10	24	155	174	−19	83
11	Ässät	60	19	7	10	24	136	144	−8	81
12	KooKoo	60	17	11	6	26	175	178	−3	79
13	JYP	60	16	7	7	30	152	196	−44	69
14	HPK	60	15	4	6	35	111	184	−73	59
15	SaiPa	60	5	10	10	35	125	231	−106	45

Source: [1]

^[5]

Statistics

Scoring leaders

The following shows the top ten players leading the league in points.^[6]

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	+/–	PIM
Oula Palve	Ilves	60	20	44	64	+19	63
Jerry Turkulainen	JYP	60	21	42	63	+4	18
Eemeli Suomi	Ilves	58	21	38	59	+17	22
Teemu Turunen	Kärpät	60	30	27	57	+3	20
Anton Levtchi	Tappara	55	19	38	57	+11	22
Ville Koivunen	Kärpät	59	22	34	56	+7	26
Jori Lehterä	HIFK	57	6	50	56	+10	36
Ryan Lasch	Pelicans	55	9	45	54	+14	14
Nathan Schnarr	Pelicans	51	18	32	50	+23	28
Ben Tardif	KooKoo	57	15	35	50	+10	74

Playoffs

Bracket

	Wild-card round (best-of-3)					Quarter-finals (best-of-7)					Semi-finals (best-of-7)					Finals (best-of-7)
						1	Tappara	4
	7	KalPa	2			9	TPS	2
	10	Sport	0								1	Tappara	4
											7	KalPa	1
						2	Ilves	1			(Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round)
						7	KalPa	4
																1	Tappara	4
																3	Pelicans	1
						3	Pelicans	4
	8	Lukko	1			6	HIFK	3
	9	TPS	2								3	Pelicans	4			Bronze medal game
											4	Kärpät	1
						4	Kärpät	4								4	Kärpät	3
						5	Jukurit	2								7	KalPa	2

Wild-card round

KalPa – Sport 2-0 15.3.2024 KalPa Sport 4-1 ref 17.3.2024 Sport KalPa 2-4 ref KalPa wins the series 2-0.

Lukko – TPS 1-2 15.3.2024 Lukko TPS 3-2 OT1 ref 16.3.2024 TPS Lukko 2-1 ref 18.3.2024 Lukko TPS 3-5 ref TPS wins the series 2-1.

Quarter-finals

Tappara – TPS 4-2 20.3.2024 Tappara TPS 4-1 ref 22.3.2024 TPS Tappara 4-2 ref 23.3.2024 Tappara TPS 4-0 ref 26.3.2024 TPS Tappara 2-1 OT1 ref 28.3.2024 Tappara TPS 5-2 ref 30.3.2024 TPS Tappara 4-5 OT1 ref Tappara wins the series 4-2. Pelicans – HIFK 4-3 20.3.2024 Pelicans HIFK 4-2 ref 22.3.2024 HIFK Pelicans 1-4 ref 23.3.2024 Pelicans HIFK 3-2 OT1 ref 26.3.2024 HIFK Pelicans 2-1 OT3 ref 28.3.2024 Pelicans HIFK 0-3 ref 30.3.2024 HIFK Pelicans 2-1 OT1 ref 2.4.2024 Pelicans HIFK 4-3 ref Pelicans wins the series 4-3.

Ilves – KalPa 1-4 21.3.2024 Ilves KalPa 3-4 OT1 ref 23.3.2024 KalPa Ilves 1-0 OT1 ref 25.3.2024 Ilves KalPa 3-2 OT1 ref 27.3.2024 KalPa Ilves 4-2 ref 29.3.2024 Ilves KalPa 2-4 ref KalPa wins the series 4-1. Kärpät – Jukurit 4-2 20.3.2024 Kärpät Jukurit 4-1 ref 22.3.2024 Jukurit Kärpät 1-2 OT1 ref 23.3.2024 Kärpät Jukurit 5-2 ref 26.3.2024 Jukurit Kärpät 5-2 ref 28.3.2024 Kärpät Jukurit 2-3 ref 30.3.2024 Jukurit Kärpät 3-4 OT1 ref Kärpät wins the series 4-2.

Semi-finals

Tappara – KalPa 4-1 5.4.2024 Tappara KalPa 3-2 OT1 ref 6.4.2024 KalPa Tappara 4-5 ref 9.4.2024 Tappara KalPa 1-2 ref 12.4.2024 KalPa Tappara 0-4 ref 13.4.2024 Tappara KalPa 3-1 ref Tappara wins the series 4-1.

Pelicans – Kärpät 4-1 5.4.2024 Pelicans Kärpät 2-1 ref 6.4.2024 Kärpät Pelicans 3-5 ref 9.4.2024 Pelicans Kärpät 1-0 ref 12.4.2024 Kärpät Pelicans 1-0 ref 13.4.2024 Pelicans Kärpät 2-1 OT1 ref Pelicans wins the series 4-1.

Bronze medal game

19 April 2024 18:30

Kärpät

3–2 OT1 (1–0, 0–2, 1–0, 1–0)

KalPa

Oulun Energia Areena, Oulu Attendance: 4,528

Game reference
	Tomi Karhunen	Goalies	Stefanos Lekkas	Referees: Kristian Vikman Riku Brander Linesmen: Luka Mäkinen Juho-Pekka Inkinen
	Björkqvist (Antonen, Junttila) – 17:50 1–0 1–1 28:19 – Simontaival (Elorinne, Räsänen) (DP) 1–2 28:44 – Räsänen (Simontaival, Gallet) Berglund (Koivisto, Turunen) – 47:58 2–2 Turunen (Koivunen, Koivisto) (PP1) – 71:08 3–2
	4 min	Penalties	8 min
	25	Shots	28

Finals

20 April 2024 17:00

Tappara

3–1 (2–0, 0–0, 1–1)

Pelicans

Nokia Arena, Tampere Attendance: 12,144

Game reference
	Christian Heljanko	Goalies	Niklas Kokko	Referees: Joonas Kova Antti Boman Linesmen: Samuli Niskanen Lauri Nikulainen
	Puhakka (Halloran, Keskinen) – 02:04 1–0 Leskinen (Halloran, Keskinen) – 19:02 2–0 Savinainen (Kontiola, Juolevi) – 49:29 3–0 3–1 59:54 – Horký (Bryggman, Lasch)
	2 min	Penalties	8 min
	25	Shots	24

22 April 2024 18:30

Pelicans

2–3 (0–1, 1–2, 1–0)

Tappara

Isku Areena, Lahti Attendance: 4,403

Game reference
	Niklas Kokko	Goalies	Christian Heljanko	Referees: Aleksi Rantala Stefan Fonselius Linesmen: Hannu Sormunen Joni Pekkala
	0–1 14:52 – Liedes (Rauhala, Ekberg) 0–2 28:02 – Savinainen (Camper, Kontiola) 0–3 34:21 – Tuulola (Savinainen, Granath) Horký (Schnarr) – 37:53 1–3 Utunen (Jordán, Lasch) – 55:23 2–3
	6 min	Penalties	6 min
	52	Shots	48

24 April 2024 18:30

Tappara

1–2 OT2 (0–1, 1–0, 0–0, 0–0, 0–1)

Pelicans

Nokia Arena, Tampere Attendance: 12,313

Game reference
	Christian Heljanko	Goalies	Niklas Kokko	Referees: Joonas Kova Antti Boman Linesmen: Samuli Niskanen Lauri Nikulainen
	0–1 16:47 – Horký Rauhala (Vittasmäki) – 20:27 1–1 1–2 84:40 – Carlsson (Lasch, Bryggman)
	6 min	Penalties	27 min
	58	Shots	61

26 April 2024 18:30

Pelicans

3–4 OT1 (2–0, 0–0, 1–3, 0–1)

Tappara

Isku Areena, Lahti Attendance: 4,403

Game reference
	Niklas Kokko	Goalies	Christian Heljanko	Referees: Aleksi Rantala Stefan Fonselius Linesmen: Hannu Sormunen Joni Pekkala
	Haatanen (Král, Aaltonen) – 0:49 1–0 Utunen (Král, Schnarr) – 15:26 2–0 2–1 44:19 – Levtchi (Savinainen, Somppi) 2–2 50:35 – Levtchi (Tanus, Kontiola) (PP) 2–3 55:42 – Levtchi (Somppi, Savinainen) Haatanen (Král, Horký) (PG-VR) – 59:20 3–3 3–4 60:48 – Baptiste (Savinainen, Kemiläinen)
	6 min	Penalties	4 min
	29	Shots	55

28 April 2024 17:00

Tappara

3–0 (0–0, 1–0, 2–0)

Pelicans

Nokia Arena, Tampere Attendance: 12,700

Game reference
	Christian Heljanko	Goalies	Niklas Kokko	Referees: Antti Boman Joonas Kova Linesmen: Samuli Niskanen Lauri Nikulainen
	Liedes (Rauhala, Baptiste) – 31:30 1–0 Levtchi (Kontiola, Kemiläinen) (PP) – 41:29 2–0 Granath (ENG - PP) – 58:13 3–0
	4 min	Penalties	6 min
	48	Shots	34

Tappara wins the finals 4-1.

Final rankings

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

Broadcast rights

For the 2023–2024 season, Telia had transferred the television rights of the SM-liiga to MTV, which it owns. Telia had acquired the broadcast rights starting from the 2018–2019 season, and with the new agreement MTV has the rights until the end of the 2026–2027 season. MTV pays more than 90 million euros for television rights over four seasons, and the company has admitted that the operation is loss-making.^[7] The broadcasts are produced by MTV and during the season games can be seen live from C More, Discovery+, DNA, Elisa Viihde, MTV and Telia.^[8]

References

1. "Kauden 2023–24 otteluohjelma tarjoaa huippuhetkiä koko runkosarjan ajalle". liiga.fi. Retrieved 2023-11-06.
2. "KalPa mukaan Spengler Cupiin!". kalpa.fi. Retrieved 2023-11-06.
3. "Jukka Rautakorpi sai potkut Jypistä - Liiga - Aamulehti" (in Finnish). Aamulehti. 2023-12-20. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
4. "SM-liiga: Lauri Marjamäelle potkut Kärpistä - SM-liiga - Ilta-Sanomat" (in Finnish). Ilta-Sanomat. 2023-12-18. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
5. "Joukkuetilastot | Runkosarja 2022-2023 | Tilastot | Liiga". Liiga.fi. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
6. "Player stats". Retrieved 14 October 2023.
7. "Telia siirsi kaikessa hiljaisuudessa kymmenien miljoonien eurojen tappiolliset Liiga-oikeudet MTV:lle – pian MTV aloitti muutosneuvottelut". Yle Urheilu (in Finnish). 2023-09-14. Retrieved 2023-11-06.
8. "Katso, mistä näet jääkiekon Liigaa halvimmalla – samalla lähetyksellä eri suoratoistopalveluissa täysin eri hinta". Yle Urheilu (in Finnish). 2023-09-13. Retrieved 2023-11-06.