2023–24 Liiga season explained

2023–24 SM-liiga
League:Liiga
Sport:Ice hockey
Defending Champs:Tappara
Prevseason Year:2022–23
Duration:September 2023 – April 2024
No Of Games:60
No Of Teams:15
Tv:Telia
C More
Season:Regular season
Season Champs:Tappara
Second Place:Ilves
Mvp Link:Lasse Oksanen trophy
Mvp:Jerry Turkulainen (JYP)
Top Scorer Link:Veli-Pekka Ketola trophy
Top Scorer:Oula Palve (Ilves)
Playoffs Link:Jari Kurri trophy
Playoffs:Playoffs
Playoffs Mvp Link:Jari Kurri trophy
Playoffs Mvp:Christian Heljanko
Finals Champ:Tappara
Finals Runner-Up:Pelicans
Seasonslist:List of SM-liiga seasons
Seasonslistnames:Liiga
Prevseason Link:2022–23 Liiga season

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.

Teams

TeamCityHead coachArenaCapacityCaptain
HIFKHelsinkiVille PeltonenHelsingin jäähalliJori Lehterä
HPKHämeenlinnaMaso LehtonenPohjantähti AreenaJuuso Hietanen
IlvesTampereAntti PennanenNokia ArenaNiklas Friman
JukuritMikkeliOlli JokinenIkioma AreenaPekka Jormakka
JYPJukka Rautakorpi 20 Dec 2023[3]
Mikko Heiskanen
LähiTapiola AreenaTeemu Eronen
KalPaKuopioPetri KarjalainenOlvi AreenaTuomas Kiiskinen
KooKooKouvolaOlli SaloLumon AreenaOtto Paajanen
KärpätOuluLauri Marjamäki 18 Dec 2023[4]
Ville Mäntymaa
Oulun Energia AreenaAtte Ohtamaa
LukkoRaumaTomi LämsäKivikylän AreenaJulius Mattila
PelicansLahtiTommi NiemeläIsku AreenaMiika Roine
SaiPaLappeenrantaVille HämäläinenLappeenrannan jäähalliMiska Siikonen
SportVaasaRisto DufvaVaasan Sähkö AreenaSebastian Stålberg
TapparaTampereRikard GrönborgNokia ArenaOtto Rauhala
TPSTurkuTommi MiettinenGatorade CenterJuhani Jasu
ÄssätPoriJere HärkäläEnersense AreenaJesse 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.

[5]

Statistics

Scoring leaders

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

PlayerTeam
Ilves60204464+1963
JYP60214263+418
Ilves58213859+1722
Kärpät60302757+320
Tappara55193857+1122
Kärpät59223456+726
HIFK5765056+1036
Pelicans5594554+1414
Pelicans51183250+2328
KooKoo57153550+1074

Playoffs

Finals

Tappara wins the finals 4-1.

Final rankings

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

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]

Notes and References

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