# 2010–11 SM-liiga season

The 2010–11 SM-liiga season was the 36th season of the SM-liiga, the top level of ice hockey in Finland, since the league's formation in 1975. The title was won by HIFK who defeated Espoo Blues in the finals. The title was 7th in team history.

## Teams

| Team | City | Head coach | Arena | Capacity | Captain |
| Ässät | Pori | Pekka Rautakallio | Porin jäähalli | 6,481 | Matti Kuparinen |
| Blues | Espoo | Petri Matikainen | Barona Areena | 6,798 | Toni Kähkönen |
| HIFK | Helsinki | Kari Jalonen | Helsingin jäähalli | 8,200 | Ville Peltonen |
| HPK | Hämeenlinna | Harri Rindell | Patria-areena | 5,360 | Marko Tuulola |
| Ilves | Tampere | Juha Pajuoja | Tampereen jäähalli | 7,600 | Pasi Määttänen |
| Jokerit | Helsinki | Erkka Westerlund* | Hartwall Areena | 13,506 | Ossi Väänänen |
| JYP | Jyväskylä | Risto Dufva | Jyväskylän jäähalli | 4,618 | Juha-Pekka Hytönen |
| KalPa | Kuopio | Pekka Virta | Niiralan monttu | 5,224 | Tommi Miettinen |
| Kärpät | Oulu | Hannu Aravirta* | Oulun Energia Areena | 6,768 | Ilkka Mikkola |
| Lukko | Rauma | Rauli Urama | Äijänsuo Arena | 5,400 | Tomi Pettinen |
| Pelicans | Lahti | Pari Räsänen* | Isku Areena | 5,530 | Jan Latvala |
| SaiPa | Lappeenranta | Ari-Pekka Selin | Kisapuisto | 4,825 | Ville Koho |
| Tappara | Tampere | Sami Hirvonen | Tampereen jäähalli | 7,600 | Pekka Saravo |
| TPS | Turku | Jukka Koivu* | Turkuhalli | 11,820 | Ville Vahalahti |
* Head coaches listed with asterisk (*) were mid-season replacements.

## Regular season

Each team played four times against every other team (twice home and twice away), getting to 52 games. Additionally, the teams were divided to two groups, where teams would play one extra game. One group included Blues, HIFK, Jokerit, JYP, KalPa, Pelicans and SaiPa, while other had HPK, Ilves, Kärpät, Lukko, Tappara, TPS and Ässät.
New addition to schedule was two games where teams could choose the opponents. These were played back-to-back in late January and the choices were made in December, with team with lowest point total to that date was able to choose first. These pairs were: TPS-Ilves, Pelicans-KalPa, SaiPa-Tappara, Kärpät-Blues, Jokerit-HIFK, Lukko-Ässät and HPK-JYP.
| Team | GP | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | +/− | P |
| JYP | 60 | 39 | 4 | 4 | 13 | 186 | 97 | +89 | 129 |
| Ässät | 60 | 30 | 11 | 7 | 12 | 176 | 132 | +44 | 119 |
| HIFK | 60 | 31 | 6 | 12 | 11 | 199 | 140 | +59 | 117 |
| Lukko | 60 | 27 | 6 | 5 | 22 | 175 | 157 | +18 | 98 |
| KalPa | 60 | 26 | 9 | 2 | 23 | 150 | 141 | +9 | 98 |
| Jokerit | 60 | 25 | 6 | 9 | 20 | 165 | 150 | +15 | 96 |
| HPK | 60 | 25 | 4 | 9 | 22 | 154 | 151 | +3 | 92 |
| Kärpät | 60 | 23 | 8 | 4 | 25 | 151 | 161 | −10 | 89 |
| Blues | 60 | 21 | 8 | 7 | 24 | 142 | 151 | −9 | 86 |
| Ilves | 60 | 21 | 7 | 4 | 28 | 161 | 192 | −31 | 81 |
| Tappara | 60 | 17 | 7 | 6 | 30 | 142 | 181 | −39 | 71 |
| SaiPa | 60 | 16 | 4 | 9 | 31 | 137 | 186 | −49 | 69 |
| TPS | 60 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 32 | 134 | 186 | −52 | 60 |
| Pelicans | 60 | 17 | 2 | 4 | 37 | 133 | 180 | −47 | 59 |

## Playoffs
### Wild card round (best-of-three)

HPK – Ilves 0–2
    HPK-Ilves 3–5
    Ilves-HPK 5–2
Kärpät – Blues 1–2
    Kärpät-Blues 2–3 (OT)
    Blues-Kärpät 3–5
    Kärpät-Blues 1–2 (OT)

### Quarterfinals (best-of-seven)

JYP – Ilves 4–0
    JYP-Ilves 7–3
    Ilves-JYP 1–2
    JYP-Ilves 4–3
    Ilves-JYP 2–3
Ässät – Blues 2–4
    Ässät-Blues 3–4 (OT)
    Blues-Ässät 3–0
    Ässät-Blues 1–2
    Blues-Ässät 1–5
    Ässät-Blues 2–0
    Blues-Ässät 3–0
HIFK – Jokerit 4–3
    HIFK-Jokerit 0–1
    Jokerit-HIFK 4–2
    HIFK-Jokerit 2–1
    Jokerit-HIFK 2–3 (OT)
    HIFK-Jokerit 1–3
    Jokerit-HIFK 1–2 (OT)
    HIFK-Jokerit 5–1
Lukko – KalPa 4–3
    Lukko-KalPa 2–3
    KalPa-Lukko 3–0
    Lukko-KalPa 2–1
    KalPa-Lukko 2–5
    Lukko-KalPa 5–0
    KalPa-Lukko 3–2 (2OT)
    Lukko-KalPa 5–1

### Semifinals (best-of-seven)

JYP – Blues 1–4
    JYP-Blues 1–3
    Blues-JYP 4–3
    JYP-Blues 4–2
    Blues-JYP 2–0
    JYP-Blues 1–3
HIFK – Lukko 4–1
    HIFK-Lukko 2–3 (3OT)
    Lukko-HIFK 1–3
    HIFK-Lukko 5–2
    Lukko-HIFK 0–3
    HIFK-Lukko 7–1

### Bronze medal game

JYP-Lukko 2–4

### Finals (best-of-seven)

HIFK-Blues 4–0
    HIFK-Blues 3–2
    Blues-HIFK 1–5
    HIFK-Blues 5–3
    Blues-HIFK 2–4