2018–19 Mestis season
The 2018–19 Mestis season is the 19th season of Mestis, the second highest level of ice hockey in Finland after Liiga. KOOVEE was promoted from Suomi-sarja due to Espoo United declaring bankruptcy at the end of last season.
| 2018–19 Mestis | |
|---|---|
| League | Mestis |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Duration | September 2018 – April 2019 |
| Number of teams | 12 |
| Regular season | |
| Best record | Hermes |
| Runners-up | LeKi |
| Top scorer | Miro-Pekka Saarelainen (K-Vantaa) |
| Playoffs | |
| Playoffs MVP | Sameli Ventelä (Ketterä) |
| Finals champions | Ketterä |
| Runners-up | KeuPa HT |
Clubs
| Team | City | Home arena, capacity | Founded | Head coach |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hermes | Kokkola | Kokkolan jäähalli, 4,200 | 1953 | |
| IPK | Iisalmi | Kankaan jäähalli, 1,326 | 1966 | |
| Jokipojat | Joensuu | Mehtimäki Ice Hall, 4,800 | 1953 | |
| Ketterä | Imatra | Imatra Spa Areena, 1,200 | 1957 | |
| KeuPa HT | Keuruu | Keuruun Jäähalli, 1,100 | 1995 | |
| K-Vantaa | Vantaa | Trio Areena, 2,004 | 1994 | |
| KOOVEE | Tampere | Hakametsä 2, 1050 | 1929 | |
| LeKi | Lempäälä | Masku Areena, 800 | 1904 | |
| Peliitat | Heinola | Versowood Areena, 2,975 | 1984 | |
| RoKi | Rovaniemi | Lappi Areena, 3,500 | 1979 | |
| SaPKo | Savonlinna | Talvisalo ice rink, 2,833 | 1929 | |
| TUTO Hockey | Turku | Marli Areena, 3,000 | 1929 |
Regular season
Top eight advance to the Mestis playoffs while the bottom two face the top two teams from Suomi-sarja for a relegation playoff. Since the highest series of Finnish hockey is a closed series no team will be promoted to Liiga.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Final Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hermes | 50 | 29 | 3 | 2 | 16 | 180 | 133 | +47 | 95 | Advance to playoffs |
| 2 | LeKi | 50 | 26 | 7 | 3 | 14 | 194 | 155 | +39 | 95 | |
| 3 | Ketterä | 50 | 22 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 163 | 141 | +22 | 87 | |
| 4 | SaPKo | 50 | 22 | 5 | 5 | 18 | 177 | 159 | +18 | 81 | |
| 5 | TUTO Hockey | 50 | 20 | 8 | 4 | 18 | 151 | 130 | +21 | 80 | |
| 6 | Jokipojat | 50 | 19 | 6 | 8 | 17 | 151 | 151 | 0 | 77 | |
| 7 | RoKi | 50 | 18 | 5 | 7 | 20 | 138 | 164 | −26 | 71 | |
| 8 | KeuPa HT | 50 | 18 | 5 | 5 | 22 | 151 | 139 | +12 | 69 | |
| 9 | IPK | 50 | 20 | 3 | 2 | 25 | 160 | 180 | −20 | 68 | |
| 10 | K-Vantaa | 50 | 17 | 4 | 6 | 23 | 138 | 158 | −20 | 65 | |
| 11 | Peliitat | 50 | 14 | 6 | 9 | 21 | 134 | 158 | −24 | 63 | Qualification to the relegation playoffs |
| 12 | KOOVEE | 50 | 13 | 3 | 4 | 30 | 141 | 210 | −69 | 49 |
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Penalty minutes.[4]
Playoffs
Playoffs are being played in three stages. Each stage is a best-of-7 series. The teams are reseeded after the quarterfinals, so that the best team by regular season performance to make the semifinals faces the worst team in the semifinals.
Bracket
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Hermes | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 8 | KeuPa HT | 4 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | LeKi | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 8 | KeuPa HT | 4 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | LeKi | 4 | ||||||||||||
| 7 | RoKi | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Ketterä | 4 | ||||||||||||
| 8 | KeuPa HT | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Ketterä | 4 | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Jokipojat | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Ketterä | 4 | Third place | |||||||||||
| 5 | TUTO Hockey | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | SaPKo | 2 | 2 | LeKi | 0 | |||||||||
| 5 | TUTO Hockey | 4 | 5 | TUTO Hockey | 1 | |||||||||
Quarterfinals
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Semifinals
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Bronze medal game
| 17 April 2019 18:30 | LeKi | 1–3 (0–0, 0–2, 1–1) | TUTO Hockey | Masku Areena, Lempäälä Attendance: 611 |
| Game reference | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kimmo Rautiainen | Goalies | Julius Pohjanoksa | Referees: Juho Ylä-Rotiala Pekka Virta Linesmen: Niklas Narvanmaa Oskari Isolauri | |||||||||||
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| 4 min | Penalties | 6 min | ||||||||||||
| 29 | Shots | 33 | ||||||||||||
Finals
| 16 April 2019 18:30 | Ketterä | 5–4 (1–1, 2–2, 2–1) | KeuPa HT | Kisapuisto, Lappeenranta[5] Attendance: 4,820 |
| Game reference | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karolus Kaarlehto | Goalies | Samuli Tervo | Referees: Ville Vuohtoniemi Sakari Suominen Linesmen: Miro Skinnarla Joni Pekkala | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 8 min | Penalties | 8 min | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 36 | Shots | 22 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 18 April 2019 18:30 | KeuPa HT | 2–3 (1–1, 0–2, 1–0) | Ketterä | Keuruu Ice Hall, Keuruu Attendance: 900 |
| Game reference | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karolus Kaarlehto | Goalies | Samuli Tervo | Referees: Janne Mäkisalo Mika Levänen Linesmen: Joonas Hurskainen Onni Hautamäki | ||||||||||||||
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| 10 min | Penalties | 8 min | |||||||||||||||
| 20 | Shots | 30 | |||||||||||||||
| 20 April 2019 17:00 | Ketterä | 2–1 OT1 (0–0, 0–1, 1–0, 1–0) | KeuPa HT | Imatra Spa Areena, Imatra Attendance: 1,225 |
| Game reference | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karolus Kaarlehto | Goalies | Samuli Tervo | Referees: Ville Vuohtoniemi Sakari Suominen Linesmen: Miro Skinnarla Joni Pekkala | ||||||||
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| 8 min | Penalties | 6 min | |||||||||
| 35 | Shots | 29 | |||||||||
| 22 April 2019 17:00 | KeuPa HT | 2–1 OT1 (0–0, 1–0, 0–1, 1–0) | Ketterä | Keuruu Ice Hall, Keuruu Attendance: 749 |
| Game reference | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Samuli Tervo | Goalies | Karolus Kaarlehto | Referees: Janne Mäkisalo Mika Levänen Linesmen: Joonas Hurskainen Onni Hautamäki | ||||||||
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| 8 min | Penalties | 4 min | |||||||||
| 20 | Shots | 22 | |||||||||
| 24 April 2019 18:30 | Ketterä | 3–2 (2–2, 1–0, 0–0) | KeuPa HT | Imatra Spa Areena, Imatra Attendance: 1,300 |
| Game reference | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karolus Kaarlehto | Goalies | Samuli Tervo | Referees: Ville Vuohtoniemi Sakari Suominen Linesmen: Miro Skinnarla Joni Pekkala | ||||||||||||||
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| 10 min | Penalties | 10 min | |||||||||||||||
| 38 | Shots | 29 | |||||||||||||||
Ketterä wins the finals 4-1.
Relegation playoffs
The bottom two teams faced the top two teams from Suomi-sarja for a best-of-7 series were the winners got a place in Mestis for the next season. Peliitat and KOOVEE both won their series and thus avoided relegation.
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See also
References
- Kouvalainen, Miska (2019-01-03). "IPK teki vihdoin muutoksia valmennukseensa - Janne Sinkkonen ulos, Tommi Miettinen tilalle" (in Finnish). Jatkoaika.com. Retrieved 2019-01-03.
- "Kiekko-Vantaan päävalmentaja vaihtuu - Reijo Ruotsalainen korvaa Simo Mälkiän" (in Finnish). mestis.fi. 2019-01-28. Archived from the original on 2019-07-10. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
- "Peliittojen ja Jani Keinäsen tiet eroavat - Vesa Petäjä Peliittojen penkin taakse" (in Finnish). mestis.fi. 2019-02-09. Archived from the original on 2019-07-10. Retrieved 2019-02-11.
- "Sarjataulukko". Jatkoaika.com. Retrieved 2019-03-08.
- Due to semi-final matches at Imatra being sold out Ketterä wanted to give as many fans as possible an opportunity to enjoy ice hockey in a bigger stadium in the neighboring town of Lappeenranta for the first game of the finals.
