2024–25 Liiga season
| 2024–25 SM-liiga | |
|---|---|
 Liiga's 50th anniversary logo | |
| League | Liiga |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Defending champions | Tappara (2023–24) |
| Duration | September 2024 – April 2025 |
| Number of games | 60 |
| Number of teams | 16 |
| TV partner(s) | Telia C More |
| Regular season | |
| Playoffs | |
The 2024–25 Liiga season is the 50th season of the Liiga, the top level of Finnish ice hockey since 1975.
The Liiga expanded to 16 teams for the season with the addition of Kiekko-Espoo. The league also brought back the relegation to the Mestis and a reformed playoff system and new divisions that decide the number of games teams play against each other.[1][2]
Format
[edit]The regular season starts in September 2024. As in previous seasons, 450 matches will be played in the regular season, 60 for each team and all teams are divided into four groups.[1][2]
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 Kärpät, which participates on the 26th–31 December in the Spengler Cup in Switzerland.[3] For other teams, the Christmas break ends on Saint Stephen's day, 26 December. The regular season ends in April 2025.
Two outdoor games will be played in Pori between the rivals Porin Ässät and Rauman Lukko in January 2025. The games go by the name Satakunnan Talviklassikko or The Satakunta Winter Classic. The games are counted as normal regular season game. They will be played in the Amiko-areena, which is normally used by the bandy club Narukerä. Temporary stands with a capacity of 9,000 spectators will be built for the two games.[4][5][6]
Teams
[edit]
| Team | City | Head coach | Arena | Capacity | Captain |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HIFK | Helsinki | Ville Peltonen | Helsingin jäähalli | 8,200 | |
| HPK | Hämeenlinna | Mikko Manner |
Pohjantähti Areena | 5,360 | |
| Ilves | Tampere | Tommi Niemelä | Nokia Arena | 12,700 | |
| Jukurit | Mikkeli | Marko Tuomainen | Ikioma Areena | 4,200 | |
| JYP | Jyväskylä | Johan Pennerborn | LähiTapiola Areena | 4,437 | |
| KalPa | Kuopio | Petri Karjalainen | Olvi Areena | 5,300 | |
| Kiekko-Espoo | Espoo | Jyrki Aho | Espoo Metro Areena | 6,982 | |
| KooKoo | Kouvola | Jouko Myrrä | Lumon Areena | 5,950 | |
| Kärpät | Oulu | Ville Mäntymaa | Oulun Energia Areena | 6,300 | |
| Lukko | Rauma | Tomi Lämsä | Kivikylän Areena and Amiko-areena | 4,500 and 9,000 | |
| Pelicans | Lahti | Juhamatti Yli-Junnila | Isku Areena | 4,403 | |
| SaiPa | Lappeenranta | Raimo Helminen | Lappeenrannan jäähalli | 4,820 | |
| Sport | Vaasa | Juuso Hahl | Vaasan Sähkö Areena | 5,185 | |
| Tappara | Tampere | Rikard Grönborg | Nokia Arena | 12,700 | |
| TPS | Turku | Tommi Miettinen | Gatorade Center | 10,500 | |
| Ässät | Pori | Jarno Pikkarainen | Enersense Areena and Amiko-areena | 6,150 and 9,000 | Jan-Mikael Järvinen |
Regular season standings
[edit]Top four advance straight to the quarter-finals, while teams between 5th and 12th positions play a wild card round for the final four spots. The 15th and 16th placed teams play against each other to decide which team will play against the Mestis champion for a spot in the SM-liiga.[a]
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Final Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | HIFK | 19 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 71 | 55 | +16 | 41 | Advance to Quarterfinals |
| 2 | Tappara | 17 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 60 | 37 | +23 | 36 | |
| 3 | Kiekko-Espoo | 18 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 53 | 49 | +4 | 33 | |
| 4 | SaiPa | 19 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 59 | 55 | +4 | 31 | |
| 5 | KalPa | 16 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 45 | 37 | +8 | 30 | Advance to Wild-card round |
| 6 | Ässät | 17 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 52 | 46 | +6 | 30 | |
| 7 | Ilves | 16 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 50 | 43 | +7 | 29 | |
| 8 | Lukko | 18 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 57 | 43 | +14 | 29 | |
| 9 | TPS | 18 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 55 | 59 | −4 | 25 | |
| 10 | Kärpät | 17 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 57 | 64 | −7 | 25 | |
| 11 | KooKoo | 19 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 47 | 52 | −5 | 22 | |
| 12 | Sport | 17 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 47 | 51 | −4 | 21 | |
| 13 | HPK | 18 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 44 | 63 | −19 | 20 | |
| 14 | Pelicans | 16 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 44 | 53 | −9 | 18 | |
| 15 | JYP | 16 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 41 | 57 | −16 | 18 | Advance to Playout round |
| 16 | Jukurit | 19 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 48 | 66 | −18 | 12 |
Broadcast rights
[edit]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.[8] 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.[9]
Notes
[edit]- ^ If a Mestis team wins the qualification round, it can still be denied promotion if the team doesn't match SM-liiga's qualification criteria
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Kommentti: SM-liiga poisti nyt ison murheenkryynin – kolikolla on kääntöpuolensa". mtvuutiset.fi (in Finnish). 2024-05-02. Retrieved 2024-05-04.
- ^ a b Suvinen, Teemu (2024-05-02). "Raivo repesi SM-liigan jättimuutoksista – näin pomo vastaa". Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 2024-05-05.
- ^ "Kärpät osallistuu tämän vuoden Spengler Cupiin". Jatkoaika.com - Kaikki jääkiekosta (in Finnish). 2024-05-01. Retrieved 2024-05-05.
- ^ "Talviklassikko | Ässien ja Lukon miljoonaprojektin ensimmäiset liput myynnissä – Tällaiset ovat hinnat". Satakunnan Kansa (in Finnish). 2024-04-03. Retrieved 2024-05-05.
- ^ "Liigan veriviholliset ryhtyivät yhteistyöhön: "Mittaluokka on historiallinen"". www.iltalehti.fi (in Finnish). Retrieved 2024-05-05.
- ^ "Satakunnan talviklassikko | Ässät ja Lukko jysäyttävät yhdessä yli miljoonan euron jättiprojektin – Uutinen paransi Vellu Ketolankin päivää". Satakunnan Kansa (in Finnish). 2024-03-06. Retrieved 2024-05-05.
- ^ "HPK vapautti Lehtosen tehtävästään – Manner HPK:n päävalmentajaksi" (in Finnish). HPK. 2024-09-23. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Katso, mistä näet jääkiekon Liigaa halvimmalla – samalla lähetyksellä eri suoratoistopalveluissa täysin eri hinta". Yle Urheilu (in Finnish). 2023-09-13. Retrieved 2024-05-04.
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