# 2016–17 Mestis season

The 2016–17 Mestis season was the 17th season of Mestis, the second highest level of ice hockey in Finland after Liiga. Previous season's champion Jukurit got a place in the Liiga. IPK got promoted from Suomi-sarja at the end of last season. Espoo United got a place in Mestis after Espoo Blues suffered bankruptcy and the league was exceptionally played with 13 teams.
At the end of the season SaPKo won both the regular season and the playoffs. Hokki and IPK retained their place in Mestis, while JYP-Akatemia was relegated. Hokki faced bankruptcy during the off-season and thus Imatran Ketterä were awarded a place in Mestis for the next season.

## Clubs

| Team | City | Home arena, capacity | Founded | Head coach |
| Espoo United | Espoo | Espoo Metro Areena, 6,982 | 2016 | Timo Hirvonen |
| Hermes | Kokkola | Kokkolan jäähalli, 4,200 | 1953 | Antti Karhula |
| Hokki | Kajaani | Kajaanin Jäähalli, - | 1968 | Jari Laukkanen |
| Iisalmen Peli-Karhut | Iisalmi | Kankaan jäähalli, - | 1966 | Jukka Niiranen17.1.2017 Janne Sinkkonen |
| Jokipojat | Joensuu | Mehtimäki Ice Hall, 4,800 | 1953 | Ari Aaltonen20.2.2017 Jouni |
| JYP-Akatemia | Jyväskylä | Synergia Areena, 4,618 | 2008 | Jukka Ahvenjärvi |
| KeuPa HT | Keuruu | Keuruun Jäähalli, 1,100 | 1995 | Mikko Heiskanen |
| Kiekko-Vantaa | Vantaa | Trio Areena, 3,700 | 1994 | Simo Mälkiä |
| LeKi | Lempäälä | Masku Areena, 800 | 1904 | Miikka Kuusela |
| Peliitat | Heinola | Versowood Areena, 2,975 | 1984 | Marko Tuomainen |
| Rovaniemen Kiekko | Rovaniemi | Lappi Areena, 3,500 | 1979 | Petteri Hirvonen13.2.2017 Juha Juujärvi |
| SaPKo | Savonlinna | Talvisalo ice rink, 2,833 | 1929 | Pasi Räsänen |
| Tuto | Turku | Marli Areena, 3,000 | 1929 | Miika Elomo |

## 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 | SaPKo | 50 | 32 | 5 | 2 | 11 | 181 | 110 | +71 | 108 | Advance to playoffs |
| 2 | Tuto | 50 | 28 | 3 | 2 | 17 | 167 | 114 | +53 | 92 | Advance to playoffs |
| 3 | Kiekko-Vantaa | 50 | 22 | 4 | 9 | 15 | 148 | 139 | +9 | 83 | Advance to playoffs |
| 4 | Hermes | 50 | 22 | 5 | 4 | 19 | 160 | 139 | +21 | 80 | Advance to playoffs |
| 5 | Espoo United | 50 | 20 | 5 | 7 | 18 | 132 | 138 | −6 | 77 | Advance to playoffs |
| 6 | Jokipojat | 50 | 18 | 5 | 8 | 19 | 136 | 143 | −7 | 72 | Advance to playoffs |
| 7 | Peliitat | 50 | 19 | 5 | 5 | 21 | 152 | 164 | −12 | 72 | Advance to playoffs |
| 8 | KeuPa HT | 50 | 19 | 6 | 3 | 22 | 144 | 156 | −12 | 72 | Advance to playoffs |
| 9 | LeKi | 50 | 20 | 3 | 2 | 25 | 143 | 155 | −12 | 68 | |
| 10 | RoKi | 50 | 16 | 7 | 3 | 24 | 148 | 154 | −6 | 65 | |
| 11 | Hokki | 50 | 15 | 6 | 8 | 21 | 116 | 135 | −19 | 65 | Qualification to the relegation playoffs |
| 12 | JYP-Akatemia | 50 | 18 | 4 | 3 | 25 | 129 | 161 | −32 | 65 | Qualification to the relegation playoffs |
| 13 | Iisalmen Peli-Karhut | 50 | 16 | 2 | 4 | 28 | 114 | 162 | −48 | 56 | Qualification to the relegation playoffs |
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Penalty minutes.

## 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 | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Finals | Finals | Finals |
| 1 | SaPKo | 4 | | | | | | |
| 8 | KeuPa HT | 0 | | | | | | |
| 8 | KeuPa HT | 0 | 1 | SaPKo | 4 | | | |
| | | | 5 | Espoo United | 0 | | | |
| 4 | Hermes | 2 | 5 | Espoo United | 0 | | | |
| 5 | Espoo United | 4 | | | | | | |
| 5 | Espoo United | 4 | | | | 1 | SaPKo | 4 |
| | | | | | | 3 | Kiekko-Vantaa | 0 |
| 2 | Kiekko-Vantaa | 4 | | | | | | | 3 | Kiekko-Vantaa | 0 |
| 7 | Jokipojat | 0 | | | |
| 7 | Jokipojat | 0 | 2 | TuTo | 2 | Third place | Third place | Third place |
| | | | 3 | Kiekko-Vantaa | 4 |
| 3 | Tuto | 4 | 3 | Kiekko-Vantaa | 4 | 2 | TuTo | 0 |
| 6 | Peliitat | 0 | | | | 5 | Espoo United | 1 |

## Relegation qualification

Bottom three teams of Mestis face the top two teams of Suomi-Sarja in a relegation qualification, where two top teams will get a place in Mestis for the next season. Each team will play against each other twice.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Final Result |
| 1 | Hokki | 8 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 33 | 15 | +18 | 18 | Play in Mestis for 2017–18 season |
| 2 | Iisalmen Peli-Karhut | 11 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 26 | 16 | +10 | 18 | Play in Mestis for 2017–18 season |
| 3 | Ketterä | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 28 | 24 | +4 | 12 | Play in Suomi-sarja for 2017–18 season |
| 4 | JYP-Akatemia | 8 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 19 | 22 | −3 | 10 | Play in Suomi-sarja for 2017–18 season |
| 5 | JHT | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 14 | 43 | −29 | 2 | Play in Suomi-sarja for 2017–18 season |
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Penalty minutes.