2022–23 Liiga season

Ice hockey season

Sports season

2022–23 SM-liiga
League	SM-liiga
Sport	Ice hockey
Defending champions	Tappara (2021–22)
Duration	September 2022 – April 2023
Number of games	60
Number of teams	15
TV partner(s)	Telia C More
Regular season
Best record	Tappara
Runners-up	Ilves
Season MVP	Michael Joly (HPK)
Top scorer	Michael Joly (HPK)
Playoffs
Playoffs MVP	Veli-Matti Savinainen (Tappara)
Finals champions	Tappara
Runners-up	Pelicans
SM-liiga seasons
← 2021–22 2023–24 →

The 2022–23 SM-liiga season was the 48th season of the Liiga, the top level of ice hockey in Finland, since the league's formation in 1975.

Teams

KooKoo

Ässät

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Location of teams in 2022–23 SM-liiga

Team	City	Head coach	Arena	Capacity	Captain
HIFK	Helsinki	Ville Peltonen	Helsingin jäähalli	8,200	Teemu Tallberg
HPK	Hämeenlinna	Jarno Pikkarainen	Pohjantähti Areena	5,360	Juuso Hietanen
Ilves	Tampere	~~Jouko Myrrä~~ 5 Oct 2022^[1] Antti Pennanen	Nokia Arena	13,000	Eemeli Suomi
Jukurit	Mikkeli	Olli Jokinen	Ikioma Areena	4,200	Juhamatti Aaltonen
JYP	Jyväskylä	Jukka Rautakorpi	LähiTapiola Areena	4,437	Robert Rooba
KalPa	Kuopio	Tommi Miettinen	Olvi Areena	5,300	Tuomas Kiiskinen
KooKoo	Kouvola	Olli Salo	Lumon Areena	5,950	Heikki Liedes
Kärpät	Oulu	Lauri Marjamäki	Oulun Energia Areena	6,400	Atte Ohtamaa
Lukko	Rauma	Marko Virtanen	Kivikylän Areena	4,700	Anrei Hakulinen
Pelicans	Lahti	Tommi Niemelä	Isku Areena	5,371	Miika Roine
SaiPa	Lappeenranta	~~Pekka Virta~~ 14 Oct 2022^[2] Ville Hämäläinen	Lappeenrannan jäähalli	4,820	Jarno Koskiranta
Sport	Vaasa	Risto Dufva	Vaasan Sähkö Areena	5,185	Sebastian Stålberg
Tappara	Tampere	Jussi Tapola	Nokia Arena	13,000	Otto Rauhala
TPS	Turku	Jussi Ahokas	Gatorade Center	11,820	Juhani Jasu
Ässät	Pori	Karri Kivi	West Areena	6,150	Jesse Joensuu

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	Tappara	60	33	6	5	16	187	140	+47	116	Advance to Quarterfinals
2	Ilves	60	32	7	4	17	185	126	+59	114
3	Lukko	60	28	8	5	19	155	122	+33	105
4	Pelicans	60	30	4	5	21	166	136	+30	103
5	KalPa	60	28	5	8	19	169	145	+24	102
6	HIFK	60	24	8	9	19	155	150	+5	97
7	Kärpät	60	24	7	10	19	158	143	+15	96	Advance to Wild-card round
8	Ässät	60	25	5	6	24	129	150	−21	91
9	TPS	60	21	10	8	21	141	140	+1	91
10	KooKoo	60	19	11	5	25	155	167	−12	84
11	Jukurit	60	24	5	1	30	155	165	−10	83
12	HPK	60	17	9	14	20	153	162	−9	83
13	JYP	60	17	9	5	29	159	172	−13	74
14	Sport	60	16	3	9	32	126	177	−51	63
15	SaiPa	60	8	7	10	35	124	222	−98	48

Source: Liiga

^[3]

Scoring leaders

The following players led the league in regular season points.

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	+/–	PIM
Michael Joly	HPK	60	25	39	64	+9	18
Jori Lehterä	Tappara	57	11	46	57	+5	45
Jerry Turkulainen	JYP	60	12	42	54	–3	20
Petri Kontiola	Ilves	58	12	39	51	0	40
Jaakko Rissanen	KalPa	57	16	34	50	+17	26
Henrik Haapala	Ilves	47	15	32	47	+9	20
Les Lancaster	Ilves	60	13	34	47	+20	22
Joona Ikonen	Ilves	54	23	22	45	+9	16
Veli-Matti Savinainen	Tappara	54	17	27	44	+6	30
Thomas Gregoire	Lukko	57	13	31	44	+23	41

Playoffs

Bracket

Wild-card round (best-of-3)			Quarter-finals (best-of-7)			Semi-finals (best-of-7)			Finals (best-of-7)

			1	Tappara	4
7	Kärpät	1	10	KooKoo	0
10	KooKoo	2				1	Tappara	4
						6	HIFK	1
			2	Ilves	4	(Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round)
			8	Ässät	1
									1	Tappara	4
									4	Pelicans	1
			3	Lukko	2
8	Ässät	2	6	HIFK	4
9	TPS	1				2	Ilves	2	Bronze medal game
						4	Pelicans	4
			4	Pelicans	4				2	Ilves	1
			5	KalPa	3				6	HIFK	0

Wild-card round

Kärpät – KooKoo 1-2
13.3.2023	Kärpät	KooKoo	4-2 ref
14.3.2023	KooKoo	Kärpät	4-1 ref
16.3.2023	Kärpät	KooKoo	0-5 ref
KooKoo wins the series 2-1.

Ässät – TPS 2-1
13.3.2023	Ässät	TPS	2-1 ref
14.3.2023	TPS	Ässät	2-1 ref
16.3.2023	Ässät	TPS	2-1 ref
Ässät wins the series 2-1.

Quarter-finals

Tappara – KooKoo 4-0
17.3.2023	Tappara	KooKoo	4-0 ref
20.3.2023	KooKoo	Tappara	1-6 ref
21.3.2023	Tappara	KooKoo	2-1 OT1 ref
24.3.2023	KooKoo	Tappara	0-3 ref
Tappara wins the series 4-0.

Lukko – HIFK 2-4
18.3.2023	Lukko	HIFK	1-4 ref
20.3.2023	HIFK	Lukko	1-0 OT1 ref
22.3.2023	Lukko	HIFK	3-5 ref
24.3.2023	HIFK	Lukko	1-2 OT1 ref
25.3.2023	Lukko	HIFK	2-1 ref
27.3.2023	HIFK	Lukko	3-2 OT1 ref
HIFK wins the series 4-2.

Ilves – Ässät 4-1
18.3.2023	Ilves	Ässät	5-1 ref
20.3.2023	Ässät	Ilves	5-2 ref
22.3.2023	Ilves	Ässät	4-1 ref
24.3.2023	Ässät	Ilves	1-4 ref
26.3.2023	Ilves	Ässät	3-2 ref
Ilves wins the series 4-1.

Pelicans – KalPa 4-3
17.3.2023	Pelicans	KalPa	2-1 ref
18.3.2023	KalPa	Pelicans	3-0 ref
20.3.2023	Pelicans	KalPa	2-1 ref
22.3.2023	KalPa	Pelicans	3-2 ref
24.3.2023	Pelicans	KalPa	3-1 ref
25.3.2023	KalPa	Pelicans	5-1 ref
28.3.2023	Pelicans	KalPa	4-2 ref
Pelicans wins the series 4-3.

Semi-finals

Tappara – HIFK 4-1
31.3.2023	HIFK	Tappara	2-3 OT2 ref
1.4.2023	HIFK	Tappara	4-2 ref
5.4.2023	Tappara	HIFK	5-2 ref
7.4.2023	Tappara	HIFK	5-2 ref
10.4.2023	Tappara	HIFK	2-1 ref
Tappara wins the series 4-1.

Ilves – Pelicans 2-4
31.3.2023	Pelicans	Ilves	2-3 OT1 ref
1.4.2023	Pelicans	Ilves	3-2 ref
6.4.2023	Ilves	Pelicans	2-3 ref
8.4.2023	Ilves	Pelicans	3-2 ref
11.4.2023	Ilves	Pelicans	0-2 ref
13.4.2023	Pelicans	Ilves	3-1 ref
Pelicans wins the series 4-2.

Bronze medal game

20 April 2023
18:30

Ilves

3–2
(1–1, 1–0, 1–1)

HIFK

Nokia Arena, Tampere
Attendance: 8,044

Game reference

Marek Langhamer

Goalies

Roope Taponen

Referees:
Jukka-Pekka Koistinen
Mikko Kaukokari
Linesmen:
Jussi Thomann
Juho-Pekka Inkinen

	0–1	06:05 – Pakarinen (Jääskä, Luhanka)
Mäntykivi (Tikka) – 12:07	1–1
Tikka (Mäntykivi, Nyman) – 26:39	2–1
	2–2	41:26 – Teissala (Melart, Rantakari)
Virtanen (Koskiranta) – 48:23	3–2

14 min

Penalties

10 min

Shots

Finals

19 April 2023
18:30

Tappara

5–1
(1–0, 3–1, 1–0)

Pelicans

Nokia Arena, Tampere
Attendance: 11,904

Game reference

Christian Heljanko

Goalies

Patrik Bartošák
Jasper Patrikainen

Referees:
Mikko Kaukokari
Lassi Heikkinen
Linesmen:
Hannu Sormunen
Onni Hautamäki

Tanus (Savinainen, Seppälä) – 07:29	1–0
	1–1	21:46 – Vilén (Killinen, Kangasniemi)
Savinainen (Kemiläinen) (PP) – 36:55	2–1
Vittasmäki (Levtchi, Tuulola) – 39:14	3–1
M. Davidsson (Jürgens, Ojamäki) – 39:45	4–1
Rauhala (Puhakka, Merelä) – 40:55	5–1

4 min

Penalties

6 min

Shots

21 April 2023
18:30

Pelicans

0–2
(0–1, 0–0, 0–1)

Tappara

Isku Areena, Lahti
Attendance: 4,403

Game reference

Patrik Bartošák

Goalies

Christian Heljanko

Referees:
Antti Boman
Joonas Kova
Linesmen:
Tommi Niittylä
Joni Pekkala

	0–1	01:04 – Rauhala (Matushkin, Seppälä)
	0–2	59:04 – Merelä (Lehterä, Savinainen) (EN)

2 min

Penalties

31 min

Shots

22 April 2023
17:00

Tappara

1–4
(0–1, 0–1, 1–2)

Pelicans

Nokia Arena, Tampere
Attendance: 12,354

Game reference

Christian Heljanko

Goalies

Patrik Bartošák

Referees:
Joonas Kova
Mikko Kaukokari
Linesmen:
Hannu Sormunen
Onni Hautamäki

	0–1	19:36 – Utunen (Kangasniemi, Ikonen)
	0–2	33:08 – Hirvonen (Jämsen, Utunen)
Savinainen (Tanus) – 47:22	1–2
	1–3	58:24 – Kangasniemi (Killinen)
	1–4	59:27 – Jasek (Bryggman) (EN)

10 min

Penalties

6 min

Shots

25 April 2023
18:30

Pelicans

1–3
(0–1, 0–1, 1–1)

Tappara

Isku Areena, Lahti
Attendance: 4,403

Game reference

Patrik Bartošák

Goalies

Christian Heljanko

Referees:
Antti Boman
Jukka-Pekka Koistinen
Linesmen:
Tommi Niittylä
Joni Pekkala

	0–1	05:04 – Thomas (Tuulola, Granath)
Kelleher (Vilén, Mylläri) – 58:43	1–1
	1–2	29:29 – Savinainen (Lehterä, Ojamäki) (PP)
	1–3	44:29 – Merelä (Puhakka, Matushkin)

4 min

Penalties

6 min

Shots

27 April 2023
18:30

Tappara

5–4 OT1
(3–2, 0–1, 1–1, 1–0)

Pelicans

Nokia Arena, Tampere
Attendance: 12,700

Game reference

Christian Heljanko

Goalies

Patrik Bartošák
Jasper Patrikainen

Referees:
Mikko Kaukokari
Lassi Heikkinen
Linesmen:
Hannu Sormunen
Onni Hautamäki

Levtchi (Merelä, Matushkin) – 01:11	1–0
Tanus (Lehterä, Matushkin) – 07:03	2–0
Jurgens (Merelä, Levtchi) – 07:29	3–0
	3–1	12:04 – Vilen (Ikonen, Vilen) (PP1)
	3–2	14:41 – Blood (Vilen)
	3–3	39:01 – Kangasniemi (Roine, Jašek) (PP1)
	3–4	44:14 – Jämsen (Hirvonen, Vilen)
Savinainen (Kemiläinen, Merelä) – 59:59	4–4
Davidsson (Jurgens, Puhakka) – 68:57	5–4

8 min

Penalties

10 min

Shots

Tappara wins the finals 4-1.

Final rankings

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

References

^ "Ilves vaihtaa päävalmentajaa – Antti Pennanen vetovastuuseen välittömästi" (in Finnish). Liiga.fi. 2022-10-05. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
^ "SaiPa vaihtaa päävalmentajaa – Ville Hämäläinen korvaa Pekka Virran" (in Finnish). Liiga.fi. 2022-10-14. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
^ "Joukkuetilastot | Runkosarja 2022-2023 | Tilastot | Liiga". Liiga.fi. Retrieved 2022-09-10.

Liiga

Seasons

1975–76
1976–77
1977–78
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2021–22
2022–23
2023–24

Current teams (2024–25)

Former teams

Trophies and awards

Other

Mestis
Suomi-sarja
2. Divisioona
3. Divisioona
Finland men's national ice hockey team
SM-sarja (defunct)
Naisten Liiga
Naisten Mestis
Finland women's national ice hockey team
U20 SM-sarja
Finland men's national junior ice hockey team

2022–23 in men's ice hockey

International

Leagues

International	National Hockey League AHL ECHL Kontinental Hockey League Supreme Hockey League Mestis Champions Hockey League Continental Cup Austria League Asia League Erste Liga Alps Hockey League
Domestic	Australia '22 '23 Belarus Bulgaria Czech Republic 2nd tier Denmark Estonia Finland France 2nd tier Germany 2nd tier Italy Kazakhstan Latvia New Zealand '22 '23 Norway 2nd tier Poland Slovakia 2nd tier Spain Sweden 2nd tier Switzerland 2nd tier Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom