Current season, competition or edition: 2023–24 Mestis season | |
 | |
| Formerly | I-Divisioona |
|---|---|
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Founded | 2000 |
| Founder | Finnish Ice Hockey Association |
| Inaugural season | 2000–01 |
| Motto | Suomen viihdyttävintä lätkää (Finland’s most entertaining hockey) |
| No. of teams | 13 |
| Country |  Finland |
| Most recent champion(s) | Kiekko-Espoo (2022–23) |
| Most titles | Jukurit (7) |
| TV partner(s) | C More |
| Level on pyramid | Level 2 |
| Promotion to | SM-liiga (closed until 2025) |
| Relegation to | Suomi-sarja |
| Domestic cup(s) | Finnish Cup |
| Related competitions | SM-liiga, Suomi-sarja |
| Official website | Mestis.fi |
Mestis (from Finnish: Mestaruussarja, meaning 'Championship series') is the second-highest men's ice hockey league in Finland. The league was established by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association in 2000 to replace the I-divisioona ('First Division').
Mestis is the highest league that can be reached through playing merits alone. Being promoted to SM-liiga is only possible if a team's Liiga license application is accepted. Mestis, however, is an open league where relegation and promotion are possible with the 3rd league, Suomi-sarja.
Mestis is also the highest league governed by the FIHA.
History
In the years 2000–2008, it was not practically possible for Mestis teams to get promoted to the SM-liiga, which was closed in 2000, but it was possible to drop down to the Suomi-sarja instead. However, KalPa was promoted to the SM-liiga in the spring of 2005, when the number of teams in the league was increased from 13 to 14 teams. For the 2008–2009 season, the SM-liiga qualifiers were brought back for a few seasons, but in the 2013–2014 season, the qualifiers were removed again. After the elimination of the qualifiers, Sport, KooKoo and Jukurit have been promoted to the SM-liiga through the license system.[1]
Mestis got a new team, HK Zemgale/LLU, from Latvia for the 2022–23 season.[1] HK Zemgale had never played in a Finnish league before and was added to Mestis to bring more entertainment and internationalization to Finnish ice hockey.[2]
According to Mestis themselves, they are talking with other international clubs about joining the Mestis league.[2][3]
Clubs
| Team | City | Home arena, capacity | Founded | Head coach |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KOOVEE |  Tampere |
Tampere Ice Stadium, 7,300 | 1929 | Miikka Kuusela |
| Hermes |  Kokkola |
Kokkolan jäähalli, 4,200 | 1953 | Tuukka Poikonen |
| Hokki |  Kajaani |
Kajaanin jäähalli, 2,372 | 1968 | Pasi Räsänen |
| IPK |  Iisalmi |
Kankaan jäähalli, - | 1966 | Niko Härkönen |
| Jokerit |  Helsinki |
Keravan jäähalli, 2,000
Helsinki Ice Hall, 8,200 |
1967 | Tero Määttä |
| JoKP |  Joensuu |
Mehtimäki Ice Hall, 4,800 | 1953 | Kari Martikainen |
| Ketterä |  Imatra |
Imatra Spa Areena, 1,300 | 1957 | Tuomo Ropo |
| Kiekko-Espoo |  Espoo |
Espoo Metro Areena, 6,900 | 2018 | Tomas Westerlund |
| Kiekko-Vantaa |  Vantaa |
Trio Areena, 3,700 | 1994 | Jani Manninen |
| KeuPa HT |  Keuruu |
Keuruun Jäähalli, 1,100 | 1995 | Sami Ryhänen |
| FPS |  Forssa |
Forssa Ice Hall, 3,000 | 1931 | Asko Rantanen |
| RoKi |  Rovaniemi |
Lappi Areena, 3,500 | 1979 | Maso Lehtonen |
| TUTO Hockey |  Turku |
Rajupaja Areena, 3,000 | 1929 | Hermanni Vidman |
Past participants
- Jää-Kotkat, relegated to the Suomi-sarja in 2003.
- Hyvinkään Ahmat, relegated to the Suomi-sarja in 2004.
- KalPa, promoted to the SM-liiga in 2005.[4]
- Haukat, resigned in 2006.
- HC Salamat relegated to the Suomi-sarja in 2008.
- Kotkan Titaanit relegated to the Suomi-sarja in 2009.
- Kiekko-Laser went bankrupt in 2011.
- Vaasan Sport, promoted to the SM-liiga in 2014.[5]
- HC Keski-Uusimaa was abandoned serial place in 2014.
- KooKoo, promoted to the SM-liiga in 2015.[6]
- Jukurit, promoted to the SM-liiga in 2016.[7]
- JYP-Akatemia, relegated to the Suomi-sarja and folded in 2017.
- Espoo United, went bankrupt in 2018.
- LeKi, did not receive a license in 2019.
- SaPKo, went bankrupt in 2022.
- HK Zemgale/LLU, will not play in Mestis for the season 2023-24.[8][9]
- Peliitat, went bankrupt in 2023 and did not receive a license to Mestis[10]
Mestis timeline
| 2000–01 | 2001–02 | 2002–03 | 2003–04 | 2004–05 | 2005–06 | 2006–07 | 2007–08 | 2008–09 | 2009–10 | 2010–11 | 2011–12 | 2012–13 | 2013–14 | 2014–15 | 2015–16 | 2016–17 | 2017–18 | 2018–19 | 2019–20 | 2020–21 | 2021–22 | 2022–23 | 2023-24 |
| K-Vantaa | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| TuTo | TUTO Hockey | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jukurit | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| KooKoo | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| FPS | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hermes | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Haukat | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ahmat | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| UJK | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Diskos | D Team | JYP-Akatemia | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Jokipojat | JoKP | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| KalPa | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hokki | Hokki | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| HCK Salamat | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| HeKi | Peliitat | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| SaPKo | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| KOOVEE | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| LeKi | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Titaanit | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| RoKi | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| K-Laser | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| HCK | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| KeuPa HT | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| IPK | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Espoo United | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ketterä | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| K-Espoo | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| HK Zemgale | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jokerit | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Winners
| Year | Champion | Silver | Bronze | Regular Season Winner |
| 2001 | Jukurit | TuTo | Hermes | TuTo |
| 2002 | Jukurit | KooKoo | KalPa | Jukurit |
| 2003 | Jukurit | K-Vantaa | KooKoo | Jukurit |
| 2004 | KalPa | Jukurit | Hermes | Jukurit |
| 2005 | KalPa | Sport | TuTo | KalPa |
| 2006 | Jukurit | Sport | TuTo | Jukurit |
| 2007 | Hokki | Jukurit | Sport | Sport |
| 2008 | TuTo | Hokki | Jukurit | TuTo |
| 2009 | Sport | Jokipojat | Hokki | Jokipojat |
| 2010 | Jokipojat | D-Team | KooKoo | KooKoo |
| 2011 | Sport | Jukurit | D-Team | Jukurit |
| 2012 | Sport | Jokipojat | KooKoo | Jukurit |
| 2013 | Jukurit | KooKoo | TUTO Hockey | Jukurit |
| 2014 | KooKoo | Jukurit | TUTO Hockey | TUTO Hockey |
| 2015 | Jukurit | KooKoo | Hokki | Jukurit |
| 2016 | Jukurit | Hokki | Jokipojat | Jukurit |
| 2017 | SaPKo | K-Vantaa | Espoo-United | SaPKo |
| 2018 | KeuPa HT | TUTO Hockey | SaPKo | KeuPa HT |
| 2019 | Ketterä | KeuPa HT | TUTO Hockey | Hermes |
| 2020 | Season did not finish due to the COVID-19 pandemic. No medals were awarded. | Ketterä | ||
| 2021 | Ketterä | Hermes | IPK | Kiekko-Espoo |
| 2022 | Ketterä | Kiekko-Espoo | RoKi | Ketterä |
| 2023 | Kiekko-Espoo | Ketterä | RoKi | Kiekko-Espoo |
Medaltable:
| team | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Jukurit | 7 | 4 | 1 |
| Sport | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Ketterä | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| KalPa | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| KooKoo | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| TUTO Hockey | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| Hokki | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Jokipojat | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| KeuPa HT | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| SaPKo | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| K-Vantaa | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Hermes | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| JYP-Akatemia | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Espoo United | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| IPK | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| RoKi | 0 | 0 | 1 |
References
- 1 2 "Jääkiekko | Jääkiekon Mestis levittäytyi jo Latviaan, mutta kustannusten kasvu hirvittää seuroja: "Se huolestuttaa"". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 22 September 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
- 1 2 "Latvian mestari HK Zemgale pelaa ensi kaudella Mestistä". mestis.fi (in Finnish). Retrieved 8 January 2023.
- ↑ "Mestis laajenee ulkomaille: latvialainen seura liittyy sarjaan". mtvuutiset.fi (in Finnish). 12 August 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
- ↑ "Hirmujälkeä tehneestä joukkueesta tuli hetkessä SM-liigan 2000-luvun naurunaihe – hekuma vaihtui helvetilliseksi taipaleeksi: "Ei se ollut herkkua kenellekään"". mtvuutiset.fi (in Finnish). 11 December 2021. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
- ↑ Lempinen, Marko (11 April 2014). "Tässä on liiganousija Sportin ensi kauden joukkue – pelaajabudjetti kasvaa dramaattisesti". Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 8 January 2023.
- ↑ "MTV: Mikkelin Jukurit nousee SM-liigaan!". www.iltalehti.fi (in Finnish). Retrieved 8 January 2023.
- ↑ Pärnänen, Antti (30 September 2014). "Nyt se on varmaa: SM-liiga laajenee ja KooKoo nousee". Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 8 January 2023.
- ↑ "Zeltiņš: "Zemgale/LBTU" budžets būtiski mazāks nebūs - Hokeja ziņas" (in Latvian). 19 July 2023. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
- ↑ "Mestiksen otteluohjelma kaudelle 2023–24 julkaistu – Kiekko-Espoo ja Jokerit kohtaavat avausottelussa". mestis.fi (in Finnish). Retrieved 26 July 2023.
- ↑ "Käräjäoikeus asetti Peliitat konkurssiin". Itä-Häme (in Finnish). 10 May 2023. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
External links
- Official website (in Finnish)