2020–21 Liiga season

The 2020–21 Liiga season was the 46th season of the Liiga (formerly SM-liiga), the top level of ice hockey in Finland, since the league's formation in 1975. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic all the games had to be played to a very limited audience or no audience at all.[1] Two teams have temporarily let go of their coaches due to financial reasons: JYP and SaiPa.[2] The season was Hakametsä's last full season.

2020–21 Liiga
LeagueLiiga
SportIce hockey
DurationOctober 2020 – May 2021
Number of teams15
TV partner(s)Telia
C More
Regular season
Best recordLukko
  Runners-upHIFK
Season MVPRobin Press (Lukko)
Top scorerPetri Kontiola (HPK)
Playoffs
Playoffs MVPEetu Koivistoinen (Lukko)
Finals championsLukko
  Runners-upTPS

Teams
Location of teams in 2020–2021 Liiga
TeamCityHead coachArenaCapacityCaptain
HIFKHelsinkiJarno PikkarainenHelsingin jäähalli8,200Jere Sallinen
HPKHämeenlinnaMatti TiilikainenPohjantähti Areena5,360Markus Nenonen
IlvesTampereJouko MyrräTampereen jäähalli7,300Eemeli Suomi
JukuritMikkeliMarko Kauppinen12.3.2021[3]
Jari Kauppila		Ikioma Areena4,200Jesper Piitulainen
JYP JyväskyläMikko Viitanen (27.12.2020–)
Jussi Tupamäki (21.10.2020–27.12.2020)
Pekka Tirkkonen (furloughed 21.10.2020–31.3.2021)		LähiTapiola Areena4,437Jani Tuppurainen
KalPaKuopioTommi MiettinenOlvi Areena5,300Tommi Jokinen
KooKooKouvolaJussi AhokasLumon Areena5,950Alexander Bonsaksen
KärpätOuluMikko MannerOulun Energia Areena6,400Mika Pyörälä
LukkoRaumaPekka VirtaKivikylän Areena4,700Heikki Liedes
PelicansLahtiTommi NiemeläIsku Areena5,371Hannes Björninen
SaiPaLappeenrantaVille Hämäläinen (8.11.2020–27.3.2021)
Tero Lehterä (furloughed 8.11.2020–27.3.2021)		Lappeenrannan jäähalli4,820Jarno Koskiranta
SportVaasaRisto DufvaVaasan Sähkö Areena4,164Erik Riska
TapparaTampereJussi TapolaTampereen jäähalli7,300Jukka Peltola
TPSTurkuRaimo HelminenGatorade Center11,820Lauri Korpikoski
ÄssätPoriAri-Pekka SelinIsomäki Areena6,350Niklas Appelgren

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 Liiga is a closed series and thus there is no relegation. Due to several games having been cancelled due to COVID-19 cases in various teams in March 2021, not all teams got an even number of games, therefore Liiga decided that the rankings of the regular season will be determined by points per game average.[4]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD W+ Pts PPG Final Result
1 Lukko 60 38 7 15 204 114 90 6 127 2.12 Advance to Quarterfinals
2 HIFK 50 26 11 13 153 113 40 7 96 1.92
3 TPS 59 27 18 14 165 140 25 7 106 1.80
4 Tappara 59 26 13 20 171 151 20 8 99 1.68
5 KalPa 58 25 15 18 152 125 27 7 97 1.67
6 Pelicans 58 25 12 21 169 147 22 10 97 1.67
7 Kärpät 58 25 12 21 143 134 9 10 97 1.67 Advance to Wild-card round
8 Ilves 53 25 10 18 161 142 19 3 88 1.66
9 KooKoo 55 25 11 19 165 125 40 5 91 1.65
10 Sport 54 19 12 23 123 140 −17 6 75 1.39
11 HPK 57 16 19 22 143 172 −29 6 73 1.28
12 Ässät 58 15 15 28 150 193 −43 6 66 1.14
13 SaiPa 53 13 9 31 95 147 −52 3 51 0.96
14 Jukurit 57 13 10 34 120 199 −79 5 54 0.95
15 JYP 59 13 12 34 139 211 −72 4 55 0.93
Source: Liiga

Rules for classification: 1) Points per game; 2) 3-point wins 3) Goal difference; 4) Goals scored; 5) Head-to-head points.[5]

Playoffs

Contrary to the best of three format used in the past seasons, the wild-card round will take place in two games and the aggregate score decides the team which advances.[6] The remaining rounds will be played in the best-of-5 format instead of the typical best-of-7 format[7]

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

Wild-card round

The worse ranked team will play the first game at home. The aggregate score of the two games decides the winner of the round. There will be no over-time or penalty shoot-outs in the first game even if the score is tied. If the aggregate score is tied after the second game, overtime will be played in 20 minute periods until a goal is scored.[7]

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Sport 3–7 Kärpät 2–4 1–3
KooKoo 4–6 Ilves 1–4 3–2

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Bronze medal game
6 May 2021
18:30		HIFK7–1
(4–0, 3–0, 0–1)		TapparaHelsinki Ice Hall, Helsinki
Game reference
Frans TuohimaaGoaliesChristian Heljanko
Dominik Hrachovina		Referees:
Antti Boman
Jani Luoma-aho
Linesmen:
Niko Jusi
Joni Pekkala
J. Saarinen (D. Bernhardt, J. Jääskä) – 04:371–0
J. Sallinen (V. Varakas, V. Leskinen) – 05:482–0
M-M Åsten (E. Teräväinen, J. Motin) (PP1) – 14:563–0
H. Borgström (V. Leskinen, A. Lundell) (PP1) – 15:444–0
J. Sallinen (V. Leskinen, A. Lundell) – 20:325–0
T. Tallberg (S. Dyk, A. Broadhurst) – 21:166–0
V. Varakas (A. Broadhurst, S. Dyk) – 24:267–0
7–145:51 – J. Peltola (A. Levtchi, M. Moravčík)
2 minPenalties27 min
30Shots20

Finals
7 May 2021
18:30		Lukko1–4
(0–1, 1–1, 0–2)		TPSKivikylän Areena, Rauma
Game reference
Lassi LehtinenGoaliesKarri RämöReferees:
Lassi Heikkinen
Kristian Vikman
Linesmen:
Joona Elonen
Markus Hägerström
0–111:55 – H. Larsson (R. Ishakov, J. Kestner) (PP1)
0–223:16 – T. Haapanen (J. Pärssinen, L. Pajuniemi)
R. Press (T. Gregoire, A. Saarela) (PP1) – 33:451–2
1–352:53 – L. Pajuniemi
1–456:24 – L. Pajuniemi (M. Pyyhtiä)
42 minPenalties35 min
36Shots19
8 May 2021
17:00		Lukko4–0
(0–0, 2–0, 2–0)		TPSKivikylän Areena, Rauma
Game reference
Lassi LehtinenGoaliesAndrei KareyevReferees:
Antti Boman
Mikko Kaukokari
Linesmen:
Onni Hautamäki
Jussi Thomann
E. Koivistoinen (V. Saarijärvi, P. Skalický) – 34:351–0
A. Saarela (S. Repo, V. Saarijärvi) – 36:372–0
T. Gregoire (H. Liedes) – 51:183–0
S. Repo (V. Saarijärvi, E. Koivistoinen) (ENG) – 58:194–0
4 minPenalties8 min
41Shots13
10 May 2021
16:00		TPS1–3
(0–1, 0–0, 1–2)		LukkoGatorade Center, Turku
Game reference
Karri RämöGoaliesLassi LehtinenReferees:
Antti Boman
Mikko Kaukokari
Linesmen:
Joona Elonen
Markus Hägerström
0–117:21 – R. Press (PS)
0–258:15 – S. Repo (A. Saarela) (ENG)
0–358:46 – P. Skalický (H. Liedes, E. Koivistoinen) (ENG)
A. Intonen (T. Haapanen, J. Janatuinen) – 59:511–3
10 minPenalties8 min
22Shots29
11 May 2021
16:00		TPS2–6
(0–2, 2–2, 0–2)		LukkoGatorade Center, Turku
Game reference
Karri RämöGoaliesLassi LehtinenReferees:
Antti Boman
Mikko Kaukokari
Linesmen:
Joona Elonen
Markus Hägerström
0–111:01 – T. Koivisto (E. Koivistoinen, R. Press)
0–216:08 – J. Mattila (K. Pospíšil, P. Skalický)
J. Kestner (H. Larsson) – 28:121–2
A. Anttalainen (J. Pärssinen) – 33:232–2
2–334:57 – P. Skalický (K. Pospíšil)
2–436:29 – E. Koivistoinen (A. Hakulinen, J. Tammela)
2–556:05 – H. Liedes (V. Saarijärvi) (SH1, ENG)
2–656:33 – E. Koivistoinen (S. Repo, L. Klok) (SH1, ENG)
8 minPenalties4 min
16Shots24

Lukko wins the finals 3-1.

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

See also

References
  1. "Liiga jatkuu ensi viikolla - joulukuun ottelut pelataan ilman yleisöä | Uutiset | Liiga" (in Finnish). Liiga.fi. 2020-12-12. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  2. "SaiPa joutui koviin ratkaisuihin - valmennus ja urheilujohto lomautettiin | Yle Urheilu | yle.fi" (in Finnish). Yle.fi. 2020-11-08. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  3. "Jukurit vaihtaa päävalmentajaa | Uutiset | Liiga" (in Finnish). Liiga.fi. 2021-03-12. Retrieved 2021-03-16.
  4. "Pistekeskiarvo määrää Liigan runkosarjansijoitukset | Uutiset | Liiga" (in Finnish). Liiga.fi. 2021-03-15. Retrieved 2021-03-16.
  5. "Joukkuetilastot | Runkosarja 2020-2021 | Tilastot | Liiga". Liiga.fi. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
  6. "Liiga avaa kevään playoffs-ohjelmaa – Ensimmäisellä kierroksella pelataan CHL-formaatilla | Uutiset | Liiga" (in Finnish). Liiga.fi. 2021-04-02. Retrieved 2021-04-02.
  7. "Liigan playoffs-ohjelma julkaistu – Näillä askelmerkeillä ratkaisupeleihin | Uutiset | Liiga" (in Finnish). Liiga.fi. 2021-04-12. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
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