Formerly | Naisten I-divisioona |
---|---|
Sport | Ice hockey |
Founded | 1985 |
Founder | Finnish Ice Hockey Association |
Inaugural season | as Naisten I-divisoona, 1985–86 as Naisten Mestis, 2012–13 |
Administrator | Jesse Nuutinen |
No. of teams | 18 in Qualifiers 10 in Regular season |
Country | Finland |
Most recent champion(s) | HIFK Akatemia (2021) |
TV partner(s) | Leijonat.tv |
Promotion to | Naisten Liiga |
Relegation to | Naisten Suomi-sarja |
Official website | leijonat.fi |
Naisten Mestis (lit. 'Women's Championship Series'; from Mestaruussarja meaning 'Championship series') is the second-highest women's ice hockey league in Finland. The league was founded as Naisten I-divisioona (Women's First Division) in 1985 by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association when the number of teams playing in the Naisten SM-sarja (now 'Naisten Liiga') was limited. It was renamed Naisten Mestis prior to the 2012-13 season.
Series format
The Mestis season format has changed many times since the founding of the league in 1985. The current format was introduced for the 2019–20 season.
Qualifiers
With the exception of the Naisten SM-liiga teams, all club representative teams start the season in the Mestis Qualifiers (Finnish: Karsinta). Each team is grouped into a division (Finnish: lohko) of five to eight teams; the number of divisions is determined by the total number of teams competing and each division is loosely defined by geographic location, with proximate teams being grouped. Each team plays a total of fifteen or sixteen matches within their division. The points earned in the games determine the team's ranking within their division; victories earn three points, overtime victories earn two points, and overtime losses earn one point. Teams that rank forth or lower in each division at the end of the qualifiers do not qualify to play in the Mestis and continue the season in the Naisten Suomi-sarja. The qualifying round runs from the beginning of the season in September to late November or early December.
Cross qualifiers
The team with the highest point total from each division of the qualifiers moves on the cross qualifying round (Finnish: ristiinkarsinta). If there are an odd number of divisions, the team with the highest point total of all remaining teams also moves on. The cross qualifiers are a round-robin tournament, each team faces all other participating teams once. The two teams earning the highest point totals at the end of the tournament continue their seasons in the Lower Division (Finnish: Alempi jatkosarja) of the Naisten Liiga and have the opportunity to gain promotion to the Naisten Liiga for the following season. The teams ranked third and lower in the cross qualifiers continue the season in the Naisten Mestis regular season. The cross qualifying round is played in late November and/or early December.
Regular season
The teams ranked third and lower in the cross qualifiers and the teams that finished second or third in each division of the qualifiers fill the ranks of the Mestis regular season. If the number of divisions is odd, the third ranked team from the qualifiers with smallest point total does not qualify and moves to the Naisten Suomi-sarja so that an even number of teams is maintained in the Mestis. Each team in the regular season plays an equal number of games against each of the other teams. The regular season runs from January to March.
Teams participating in the 2022–2023 season
Qualifiers
Teams listed by ranking at the conclusion of the qualifiers.
Lohko 1
- Saimaan Pallo (SaiPa), Lappeenranta
- Kiekko-Espoo Akatemia (K-Espoo Ak), Espoo
- KJT Haukat, Tuusula
- Pelicans, Lahti[1]
- HIFK U18, Helsinki
Lohko 2
- HIFK Akatemia (HIFK Ak), Helsinki
- HPK Akatemia, Hämeenlinna
- TPS Akatemia, Turku
- Panelian Raikas (PaRa), Eura
- Salo HT, Salo
- Turku HC, Turku
Lohko 3
- Alavuden Peli-Veikot (APV), Alavus
- KalPa Akatemia (KalPa Ak), Kuopio
- Kärpät Akatemia (Kärpät Ak), Oulu
- Kiilat, Haapajärvi
- Jyvässeudun Kiekko (JyKi), Jyväskylä
- S-Kiekko, Seinäjoki
- LL-89 Red Lights, Lapinlahti
Regular season
The top two teams from each group proceeded directly to the Naisten Mestis regular season, while the teams that finished third in each group – KJT Haukat, TPS Akatemia, and Kärpät Akatemia – played a single round-robin cross-qualification (Finnish: ristiinkarsinta) to determine the final two teams that would participate in the regular season.[2] TPS Akatemia and all teams ranked fourth and lower in the qualifiers went on to populate the Naisten Suomi-sarja regular season.[3]
Team | Location | Home venue(s) | Head coach | Captain |
---|---|---|---|---|
APV | Alavus | Alavus Areena | Michael Ojala | Pinja Niemistö |
HIFK Akatemia | Helsinki | Pirkkolan jäähalli | Antti Borgenström | Anniina Koskinen |
HPK Akatemia | Hämeenlinna | Hämeenlinnan harjoitushalli | Marko Peltoniemi | Viivi Simola |
Kiekko-Espoo Akatemia | Espoo | Leppävaaran jäähalli, Matinkylän jäähalli |
Casimir Öhman | Linda Österlund |
KalPa Akatemia | Kuopio | Lippumäen jäähalli, Niirala |
Jarno Harrarainen | Petra Keromaa |
KJT Haukat | Kerava | Kerava 2 | Aada Käppi & Mia Ristolainen |
Jeannette Andersson |
Kärpät Akatemia | Oulu | Raksila 2 | Lilli Antinmäki & Satu Kiipeli |
Alene Sankala |
SaiPa | Lappeenranta | Kisapuisto 2 | Silja Schemeikka | Eevi Ilvonen |
Teams in previous seasons
The teams that qualified for the Naisten Mestis regular season, listed by overall rank at the end of the regular season.
1. TPS |
1. HIFK |
1. JYP |
1. Kärpät Ak |
1. HIFK Ak |
Series champions
The manner in which the Mestis Championship is won has changed many times since the founding of the league in 1985. It has, for example, been awarded to the most successful team in the regular season, the winner of Mestis playoffs (which have repeatedly changed format or not been held), or to the team able to win promotion through the Naisten Liiga qualification/relegation series. The winner of the Naisten Mestis has not been historically guaranteed a place in the Naisten Liiga for the following season.
- 1986: Shakers, Kerava
- 1987: Tiikerit, Hämeenlinna
- 1988: Ilves-Kiekko, Tampere
- 1989: Tiikerit, Hämeenlinna
- 1990: Espoon Kiekkoseura (EKS), Espoo
- 1991: Ketterä, Imatra
... - 2001: Hämeenlinnan Pallokerho, Hämeenlinna
- 2002: Turun Palloseura (TPS), Turku
- 2003: Turun Palloseura (TPS), Turku
- 2004: Lohjan Kisa-Veikot (LoKV), Lohja
- 2005: Turun Palloseura (TPS), Turku
- 2006: Etelä-Vantaan Urheilijat (EVU), Vantaa
- 2007: Alavuden Peli-Veikot (APV), Kuortane
- 2008: Salo Hockey Team (Salo HT), Salo
- 2009: Alavuden Peli-Veikot (APV), Kuortane
- 2010: Kalevan Pallo (KalPa), Kuopio
- 2011: Itä-Helsingin Kiekko (IHT), Helsinki
- 2012: Keski-Uudenmaan Juniorikiekkoilun Tuki (KJT), Kerava
- 2013: Keski-Uudenmaan Juniorikiekkoilun Tuki (KJT), Kerava
- 2014: Rovaniemen Kiekko (RoKi), Rovaniemi
- 2015: Lapinlahden Luistin -89 Red Lights (LL-89), Lapinlahti
Champions, 2016–present
Season | Champions | Runners-up | Third Place |
---|---|---|---|
2015–16 | Blues/EKS (Espoo) | Pelicans 2000 (Lahti) | Hermes (Kokkola) |
2016–17 | Sport (Vaasa) | Rovaniemen Kiekko (Rovaniemi) | Puhti (Kuusankoski) |
2017–18 | Turun Palloseura (Turku) | Sport (Vaasa) | JYP (Jyväskylä) |
2018–19 | JYP (Jyväskylä) | Hermes (Kokkola) | Alavuden Peli-Veikot (Alavus) |
2019–20 | Seasons suspend due to the COVID-19 pandemic | ||
2020–21 | |||
2021–22 | HIFK Akatemia (Helsinki) | Kiekko-Espoo Akatemia (Espoo) | Kärpät Akatemia (Oulu) |
See also
References
Content in this article is translated from the existing Finnish Wikipedia article at fi:Naisten Mestis; see its history for attribution.
- ↑ Urpunen, Janne (12 September 2019). "Miksi Lahti on naisjääkiekon musta aukko?". Etelä-Suomen Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 12 September 2020.
- ↑ "2022-2023 Naisten Mestiksen ristiinkarsinta: Sarjataulukko". Finnish Ice Hockey Association. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
- ↑ "2022-2023 Naisten Mestis: Sarjataulukko". Finnish Ice Hockey Association. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
- ↑ "2017-2018 Naisten Mestis, Sarja: Naisten Mestis – Sarjataulukko". Finnish Ice Hockey Association (in Finnish). 18 March 2018. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
- ↑ "2018-2019 Naisten Mestis, Sarja: Naisten Mestis – Sarjataulukko". Finnish Ice Hockey Association (in Finnish). 10 February 2019. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
- ↑ "2019-2020 Naisten Mestis, Sarja: Naisten Mestis – Sarjataulukko". Finnish Ice Hockey Association (in Finnish). 22 March 2020. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
- ↑ Halme, Kai (4 December 2020). "Naisten Mestiksen ja Suomi-sarjan pelaamistavat". Finnish Ice Hockey Association (in Finnish). Retrieved 29 November 2022.
- ↑ "2020-2021 Naisten Mestis, Sarja: Naisten Mestis – Sarjataulukko". Finnish Ice Hockey Association (in Finnish). 31 May 2021. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
- ↑ "2021-2022 Naisten Mestis, Sarja: Naisten Mestis – Sarjataulukko". Finnish Ice Hockey Association (in Finnish). 13 March 2022. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
External links
- League information and statistics from Eliteprospects.com and Hockeyarchives.info (in French)