| Mestis | |
| Current Season: | 2023–24 Mestis season |
| Pixels: | 195px |
| Formerly: | I-Divisioona |
| Sport: | Ice hockey |
| Motto: | Suomen viihdyttävintä lätkää (Finland’s most entertaining hockey) |
| Inaugural: | 2000–01 |
| Teams: | 10 |
| Level: | Level 2 |
| Champion: | IPK |
| Champ Season: | 2023–24 |
| Most Successful Club: | Jukurit (7) |
| Promotion: | SM-liiga |
| Relegation: | Suomi-sarja |
| Domestic Cup: | Finnish Cup |
| Tv: | C More |
| Related Comps: | Naisten Mestis |
| Founder: | Finnish Ice Hockey Association |
Mestis (from Finnish: Mestaruussarja, meaning 'Championship series', stylized as MEST1S) 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').
Being promoted to SM-liiga is possible if a Mestis team beats a SM-liiga club in the qualification series and matches all the criteria set by the SM-liiga. 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.
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] The promotion and relegation between the SM-liiga was brought back for the 2024–25 season.
Mestis got a new team, HK Zemgale/LLU, from Latvia for the 2022–23 season. 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.[3]
The team names are usually the traditional name of the club. All clubs are commonly known by the name of their team. Oy and Ab are the abbreviations for limited company in Finnish and Swedish respectively.
| Team name | Club's registered name | Location | Home venue,capacity | Titles Mestis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hermes | Kokkolan Hermes Oy | Kokkola | Kokkola Ice Hall,4,200 | 0 |
| Hokki | Hokki Kainuu Oy | Kajaani | Kajaani Ice Hall,2,372 | 1 |
| IPK | IPK Hockey Oy | Iisalmi | Kankaan jäähalli,1,358 | 1 |
| Jokerit | Jokerit Helsinki Oy | Helsinki | Helsinki Ice Hall,8,200 | 0 |
| JoKP | Joensuun Kiekko-Pojat Oy | Joensuu | Turula Engineering Areena700 | 0 |
| Ketterä | Imatran Ketterä Oy | Imatra | OmaSp Areena,1,200 | 3 |
| KeuPa HT | KeuPa Hockey Oy | Keuruu | Keuruu Ice Hall,1,100 | 1 |
| Kiekko-Vantaa | Kiekko-Vantaa Hockey Oy | Vantaa | Tikkurila Ice Hall,2,004 | 0 |
| RoKi | RoKi Hockey Oy | Rovaniemi | Lappi Areena,3,500 | 0 |
| TUTO Hockey | TUTO Hockey Oy | Turku | Kupittaa multipurpose hall,3,000 | 1 |
| 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 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 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 | |
| 2024 | IPK | Ketterä | Kiekko-Espoo | IPK | |
Medaltable:
| team | Gold | Silver | Bronze | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jukurit | 7 | 4 | 1 | |
| Sport | 3 | 2 | 1 | |
| Ketterä | 3 | 2 | 0 | |
| KalPa | 2 | 0 | 1 | |
| KooKoo | 1 | 3 | 3 | |
| TUTO Hockey | 1 | 2 | 5 | |
| Hokki | 1 | 2 | 2 | |
| Jokipojat | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
| K-Espoo | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| KeuPa HT | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| IPK | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| SaPKo | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| K-Vantaa | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Hermes | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| JYP-Akatemia | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| RoKi | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Espoo United | 0 | 0 | 1 |