2022–23 Liiga season
Ice hockey season
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The 2022–23 Liiga season was the 48th season of the Liiga, the top level of ice hockey in Finland, since the league's formation in 1975.
| 2022–23 Liiga | |
|---|---|
| League | Liiga |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Defending champions | Tappara (2021–22) |
| Duration | September 2022 – April 2023 |
| Games | 60 |
| 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 |
Teams
| 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 | 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 | 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
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
Quarter-finals
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Semi-finals
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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 | ||||||||||||||
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| 14 min | Penalties | 10 min | |||||||||||||||
| 24 | Shots | 25 | |||||||||||||||
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 | |||||||||||||||||
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| 4 min | Penalties | 6 min | ||||||||||||||||||
| 24 | Shots | 19 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 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 | |||||
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| 2 min | Penalties | 31 min | ||||||
| 47 | Shots | 48 | ||||||
| 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 | ||||||||||||||
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| 10 min | Penalties | 6 min | |||||||||||||||
| 51 | Shots | 37 | |||||||||||||||
| 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 | |||||||||||
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| 4 min | Penalties | 6 min | ||||||||||||
| 39 | Shots | 43 | ||||||||||||
| 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 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 8 min | Penalties | 10 min | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 43 | Shots | 21 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tappara wins the finals 4-1.
