2018–19 Liiga season

2018–19 SM-liiga
League	SM-liiga
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	September 2018 – April 2019
Number of teams	15
TV partner(s)	Telia
Regular season
Best record	Kärpät
Runners-up	Tappara
Season MVP	Oliwer Kaski (Pelicans)
Top scorer	Malte Strömwall (KooKoo)
Playoffs
Playoffs MVP	Otto Paajanen (HPK)
Finals champions	HPK
Runners-up	Kärpät

The 2018–19 SM-liiga season was the 44th season of the SM-liiga, the top level of ice hockey in Finland, since the league's formation in 1975.

Teams

Jukurit

HIFK

HPK

Ilves
Tappara

JYP

KalPa

KooKoo

Kärpät

Lukko

Pelicans

SaiPa

Ässät

Sport

TPS

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Location of teams in 2018–2019 SM-liiga

Team	City	Head coach	Arena	Capacity	Captain
HIFK	Helsinki	Ari-Pekka Selin25 Jan 2019 Jarno Pikkarainen	Helsingin jäähalli	8,200	Lennart Petrell
HPK	Hämeenlinna	Antti Pennanen	Patria-areena	5,360	Otto Paajanen
Ilves	Tampere	Karri Kivi	Tampereen jäähalli	7,300	Eemeli Suomi
Jukurit	Mikkeli	Pekka Kangasalusta	Kalevankankaan jäähalli	4,200	Miika Roine
JYP	Jyväskylä	Lauri Merikivi14 Jan 2019 Risto Dufva	Synergia-areena	4,437	Juha-Pekka Hytönen
KalPa	Kuopio	Sami Kapanen	Niiralan monttu	5,300	Tommi Jokinen
KooKoo	Kouvola	Tuomas Tuokkola8 Jan 2019 Mikko Heiskanen	Lumon arena	6,000	Toni Kähkönen
Kärpät	Oulu	Mikko Manner	Oulun Energia Areena	6,614	Atte Ohtamaa
Lukko	Rauma	Pekka Virta	Äijänsuo Arena	5,000	Janne Niskala
Pelicans	Lahti	Ville Nieminen	Isku Areena	5,371	Hannes Björninen
SaiPa	Lappeenranta	Tero Lehterä	Kisapuisto	4,820	Ville Koho
Sport	Vaasa	Ari-Pekka Pajuluoma	Vaasa Arena	4,164	Erik Riska
Tappara	Tampere	Jukka Rautakorpi	Tampereen jäähalli	7,300	Kristian Kuusela
TPS	Turku	Kalle Kaskinen	HK Arena	11,820	Lauri Korpikoski
Ässät	Pori	Mikael Kotkaniemi 9 Nov 2018 Pasi Kaukoranta	Porin jäähalli	6,350	Tommi Taimi

Regular season

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

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Final Result
1	Kärpät	60	41	6	2	11	207	101	+106	137	Advance to Quarterfinals
2	Tappara	60	32	3	6	19	177	150	+27	108
3	Pelicans	60	30	3	8	19	199	154	+45	104
4	TPS	60	29	5	6	20	164	152	+12	103
5	HPK (C)	60	25	8	8	19	168	147	+21	99
6	HIFK	60	24	8	10	18	182	169	+13	98
7	Lukko	60	26	5	8	21	170	165	+5	96	Advance to Wild-card round
8	Ilves	60	23	8	6	23	169	170	−1	91
9	SaiPa	60	21	10	5	24	156	162	−6	88
10	JYP	60	17	12	7	24	145	155	−10	82
11	Sport	60	17	11	8	24	182	205	−23	81
12	KalPa	60	18	7	8	27	153	186	−33	76
13	KooKoo	60	18	6	7	29	157	197	−40	73
14	Jukurit	60	13	8	12	27	145	179	−34	67
15	Ässät	60	9	7	6	38	117	199	−82	47

Source: Liiga
(C) Champion

Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) 3-point wins 3) Goal difference; 4) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points.

Playoffs

Bracket

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

Wild card round

Lukko – JYP 2-1
16.3.2019	Lukko	JYP	5-1 ref
17.3.2019	JYP	Lukko	4-1 ref
19.3.2019	Lukko	JYP	4-1 ref
Lukko wins the series 2-1.

Ilves – SaiPa 2-1
16.3.2019	Ilves	SaiPa	3-2 OT1 ref
17.3.2019	SaiPa	Ilves	3-2 OT1 ref
19.3.2019	Ilves	SaiPa	4-2 ref
Ilves wins the series 2-1.

Quarterfinals

Kärpät – Ilves 4-0
22.3.2019	Kärpät	Ilves	4-3 OT1 ref
23.3.2019	Ilves	Kärpät	0-4 ref
25.3.2019	Kärpät	Ilves	2-1 ref
27.3.2019	Ilves	Kärpät	2-3 OT1 ref
Kärpät wins the series 4-0.

Pelicans – HIFK 2-4
21.3.2019	Pelicans	HIFK	6-0 ref
23.3.2019	HIFK	Pelicans	3-2 ref
25.3.2019	Pelicans	HIFK	1-2 OT1 ref
27.3.2019	HIFK	Pelicans	3-1 ref
29.3.2019	Pelicans	HIFK	5-1 ref
30.3.2019	HIFK	Pelicans	2-1 ref
HIFK wins the series 4-2

Tappara – Lukko 4-0
22.3.2019	Tappara	Lukko	3-2 ref
23.3.2019	Lukko	Tappara	2-3 ref
25.3.2019	Tappara	Lukko	3-2 ref
27.3.2019	Lukko	Tappara	1-2 ref
Tappara wins the series 4-0.

TPS – HPK 1-4
21.3.2019	TPS	HPK	2-3 ref
23.3.2019	HPK	TPS	5-3 ref
25.3.2019	TPS	HPK	3-2 OT1 ref
27.3.2019	HPK	TPS	2-1 ref
29.3.2019	TPS	HPK	2-3 OT1 ref
HPK wins the series 4-1.

Semifinals

Kärpät – HIFK 4-2
3.4.2019	Kärpät	HIFK	3-2 OT1 ref
5.4.2019	HIFK	Kärpät	3-2 ref
6.4.2019	Kärpät	HIFK	3-0 ref
8.4.2019	HIFK	Kärpät	2-0 ref
12.4.2019	Kärpät	HIFK	2-1 OT1 ref
15.4.2019	HIFK	Kärpät	0-3 ref
Kärpät wins the series 4-2.

Tappara – HPK 2-4
4.4.2019	Tappara	HPK	1-0 ref
6.4.2019	HPK	Tappara	4-1 ref
9.4.2019	Tappara	HPK	3-2 OT1 ref
11.4.2019	HPK	Tappara	2-1 OT1 ref
13.4.2019	Tappara	HPK	2-3 ref
15.4.2019	HPK	Tappara	4-3 ref
HPK wins the series 4-2.

Bronze medal game

19 April 2019 18:30

Tappara

3–2 OT1 (0–0, 2–0, 0–2, 1–0)

HIFK

Tampere Ice Stadium, Tampere Attendance: 5,002

Game reference
	Christian Heljanko	Goalies	Atte Engren	Referees: Jukka-Pekka Koistinen Jari Levonen Linesmen: Pasi Nieminen Teemu Riikonen
	Ojamäki (Järvinen, Záborský) – 21:09 1–0 Rauhala (Karjalainen, Kemiläinen) – 28:03 2–0 2–1 42:39 – Eronen (Salminen, Tyrväinen) 2–2 56:32 – Tyrväinen (Varakas) Záborský (Malinen, Suhonen) PP1 – 75:11 3–2
	6 min	Penalties	14 min
	28	Shots	28

Finals

20 April 2019 17:00

Kärpät

4–1 (1–1, 0–0, 3–0)

HPK

Oulun Energia Areena, Oulu Attendance: 6,200

Game reference
	Veini Vehviläinen	Goalies	Emil Larmi	Referees: Antti Boman Mikko Kaukokari Linesmen: Henri Neva Hannu Sormunen
	0–1 07:18 – Turunen (Innala, Nikkilä) PP1 Hakanpää (Kupari) – 18:49 1–1 Krištof (Lasu, Kupari) – 49:42 2–1 Kukkonen (Leskinen, Lasu) EN – 57:47 3–1 Leskinen (Vehviläinen) EN – 58:21 4–1
	8 min	Penalties	31 min
	21	Shots	16

23 April 2019 18:30

HPK

3–1 (0–1, 2–0, 1–0)

Kärpät

Ritari-areena, Hämeenlinna Attendance: 5,113

Game reference
	Emil Larmi	Goalies	Veini Vehviläinen	Referees: Stefan Fonselius Kristian Vikman Linesmen: Joona Elonen Markus Hägerström
	0–1 13:16 – Niemelä (Kupari, Hakanpää) Tavi (Lucenius, Lindgren) PP1 – 29:13 1–1 Turunen (Paajanen, Puustinen) – 29:27 2–1 Tavi (Tuulola, Nenonen) PP1 – 41:57 3–1
	8 min	Penalties	14 min
	20	Shots	24

25 April 2019 18:30

Kärpät

0–3 (0–1, 0–1, 0–1)

HPK

Oulun Energia Areena, Oulu Attendance: 5,926

Game reference
	Veini Vehviläinen	Goalies	Emil Larmi	Referees: Antti Boman Mikko Kaukokari Linesmen: Pasi Nieminen Tommi Niittylä
	0–1 01:14 – Nenonen (Leino, Innala) 0–2 33:14 – Riska (Kanninen) 0–3 59:04 – Tavi (Paajanen, Lindgren) EN
	18 min	Penalties	20 min
	19	Shots	17

27 April 2019 17:00

HPK

2–4 (1–1, 1–2, 0–0)

Kärpät

Ritari-areena, Hämeenlinna Attendance: 5,360

Game reference
	Emil Larmi	Goalies	Veini Vehviläinen	Referees: Antti Boman Stefan Fonselius Linesmen: Lauri Nikulainen Teemu Riikonen
	Puustinen (Paajanen) – 04:19 1–0 1–1 15:37 – Osala (Karvinen, Kivihalme) SH1 Turunen (Friman) – 20:46 2–1 2–2 23:01 – Lindsten (Koblížek, Lasu) 2–3 32:45 – Lindsten (Lasu, Koblížek) 2–4 58:19 – Leskinen (Kukkonen) EN
	2 min	Penalties	6 min
	28	Shots	27

29 April 2019 18:30

Kärpät

2–0 (1–0, 1–0, 0–0)

HPK

Oulun Energia Areena, Oulu Attendance: 5,805

Game reference
	Veini Vehviläinen	Goalies	Emil Larmi	Referees: Stefan Fonselius Mikko Kaukokari Linesmen: Pasi Nieminen Hannu Sormunen
	Kivihalme (Koblížek, Hakanpää) – 02:48 1–0 Karvinen – 38:21 2–0
	2 min	Penalties	0 min
	18	Shots	29

2 May 2019 18:30

HPK

1–0 (0–0, 1–0, 0–0)

Kärpät

Ritari-areena, Hämeenlinna Attendance: 5,272

Game reference
	Emil Larmi	Goalies	Veini Vehviläinen	Referees: Stefan Fonselius Mikko Kaukokari Linesmen: Joona Elonen Lauri Nikulainen
	Puustinen (Turunen) – 28:57 1–0
	2 min	Penalties	2 min
	18	Shots	27

4 May 2019 17:00

Kärpät

1–2 OT1 (1–0, 0–1, 0–0, 0–1)

HPK

Oulun Energia Areena, Oulu Attendance: 6,200

Game reference
	Veini Vehviläinen	Goalies	Emil Larmi	Referees: Stefan Fonselius Mikko Kaukokari Linesmen: Joona Elonen Lauri Nikulainen
	Lindsten (Heshka, Leskinen) PP1 – 07:41 1–0 1–1 34:16 – Laatikainen (Puustinen, Turunen) 1–2 75:24 – Nenonen (Lucenius, Laatikainen) PP1
	8 min	Penalties	8 min
	33	Shots	18

HPK wins the finals 4-3.

Final rankings

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

See also

• 2018–19 Mestis season

External links

• Official site (in Finnish)