# 2023–24 Mestis season

The 2023–24 Mestis season was the 24th season of Mestis, the second level of ice hockey in Finland. 13 teams participated in the league. This season marked the return of Jokerit to Finnish hockey after 10 years in the KHL.

## Clubs

Updated 25 July 2023.
| Team | City | Home arena, capacity | Founded | Head coach |
| FPS | Forssa | Forssa Ice Hall, 3,000 | 1931 | Asko Rantanen |
| Hermes | Kokkola | Kokkolan jäähalli, 4,200 | 1953 | Tuukka Poikonen |
| Hokki | Kajaani | Kajaanin jäähalli, 2,372 | 1968 | Pasi Räsänen |
| IPK | Iisalmi | Kankaan jäähalli, - | 1966 | Niko Härkönen |
| Jokerit | Helsinki | Keravan jäähalli, 2,000 Helsinki Ice Hall, 8,200 | 1967 | Tero Määttä |
| JoKP | Joensuu | Mehtimäki Ice Hall, 4,800 | 1953 | Kari Martikainen |
| Kiekko-Espoo | Espoo | Espoo Metro Areena, 6,900 | 2018 | Tomas Westerlund |
| Ketterä | Imatra | Imatra Spa Areena, 1,300 | 1957 | Tuomo Ropo |
| KeuPa HT | Keuruu | Keuruun Jäähalli, 1,100 | 1995 | Sami Ryhänen |
| KOOVEE | Tampere | Tampere Ice Stadium, 7,300 | 1929 | Miikka Kuusela |
| Kiekko-Vantaa | Vantaa | Trio Areena, 3,700 | 1994 | Jani Manninen |
| RoKi | Rovaniemi | Lappi Areena, 3,500 | 1979 | Maso Lehtonen |
| TUTO Hockey | Turku | Rajupaja Areena, 3,000 | 1929 | Hermanni Vidman |

## Team changes

The following team changes have happened for the 2023–24 season:

### To Mestis

Promoted from Suomi-sarja
* None
Relegated from Liiga
* None as Liiga is closed
Other
* Jokerit from the KHL

### From Mestis

Promoted to Liiga
* None as Liiga is closed
Relegated to Suomi-sarja
* None
Other
* HK Zemgale/LLU did not receive a license
* Peliitat went bankrupt an thus did not receive a license

## Regular season

The regular season consists of 48 matches.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Final Result |
| 1 | IPK | 48 | 32 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 205 | 123 | +82 | 108 | Advance to Quarterfinals |
| 2 | Ketterä | 48 | 29 | 5 | 1 | 13 | 192 | 115 | +77 | 98 | Advance to Quarterfinals |
| 3 | Jokerit | 48 | 23 | 10 | 5 | 10 | 179 | 120 | +59 | 94 | Advance to Quarterfinals |
| 4 | K-Espoo | 48 | 26 | 2 | 5 | 15 | 166 | 130 | +36 | 87 | Advance to Quarterfinals |
| 5 | TUTO Hockey | 48 | 22 | 6 | 7 | 13 | 145 | 142 | +3 | 85 | Advance to Quarterfinals |
| 6 | Hermes | 48 | 22 | 4 | 6 | 16 | 180 | 147 | +33 | 80 | Advance to Quarterfinals |
| 7 | JoKP | 48 | 18 | 5 | 8 | 17 | 146 | 158 | −12 | 72 | Advance to Wild-card round |
| 8 | RoKi | 48 | 18 | 6 | 5 | 19 | 165 | 177 | −12 | 71 | Advance to Wild-card round |
| 9 | K-Vantaa | 48 | 19 | 3 | 7 | 19 | 164 | 158 | +6 | 70 | Advance to Wild-card round |
| 10 | KOOVEE | 48 | 13 | 6 | 3 | 26 | 122 | 174 | −52 | 54 | Advance to Wild-card round |
| 11 | KeuPa HT | 48 | 11 | 7 | 5 | 25 | 122 | 180 | −58 | 52 | |
| 12 | Hokki | 48 | 9 | 4 | 6 | 29 | 112 | 166 | −54 | 41 | Qualification to relegation playoffs |
| 13 | FPS | 48 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 37 | 95 | 203 | −108 | 24 | Qualification to relegation playoffs |
Rules for classification: 1) Total points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Penalty minutes.

## Playoffs

Playoffs are being played in four stages. Wild-card round is a best-of-3 series, with the quarter-finals, the semifinals and the final being best-of-7 series. The teams are reseeded after the first two stages, so that the best team by regular season performance to make the quarter-finals and the semifinals faces the worst team in the corresponding stage.

### Bracket

| Wild-card round (best-of-3) | Wild-card round (best-of-3) | Wild-card round (best-of-3) | Quarter-finals (best-of-7) | Quarter-finals (best-of-7) | Quarter-finals (best-of-7) | Semi-finals (best-of-7) | Semi-finals (best-of-7) | Semi-finals (best-of-7) | Finals (best-of-7) | Finals (best-of-7) | Finals (best-of-7) |
| | | | 1 | IPK | 4 | | | | | | |
| 7 | JoKP | 2 | 8 | RoKi | 2 | | | | | | |
| 10 | KOOVEE | 0 | | | | 1 | IPK | 4 | | | |
| | | | | | | 2 | Hermes | 3 | | | |
| | | | 2 | Ketterä | 4 | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | | | |
| | | | 7 | JoKP | 1 | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | | | |
| | | | | | | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | 1 | IPK | 4 |
| | | | | | | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | 2 | Ketterä | 3 |
| | | | 3 | Jokerit | 2 | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) |
| 8 | K-Vantaa | 0 | 6 | Hermes | 4 | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) |
| 9 | RoKi | 2 | | | | 3 | Ketterä | 4 | Bronze medal game | Bronze medal game | Bronze medal game |
| | | | | | | 4 | K-Espoo | 0 |
| | | | 4 | K-Espoo | 3 | | | | 3 | K-Espoo | 3 |
| | | | 5 | TUTO Hockey | 3 | | | | 4 | Hermes | 1 |

## Promotion and relegation
### Promotion

As the champion of Mestis in season 2022-23, Liiga decided to promote Kiekko-Espoo for the Liiga Season 2024-25.

### Relegation

In the first round of relegation playoffs the 12th and 13th seated teams will play against each other. The loser will be relegated to the Suomi-sarja for next season.
In the second round of relegation playoffs, the winner of the first round will play against the champion of Suomi-sarja. The winner of this round will play next season in Mestis and the loser will be in Suomi-sarja.
Both 1st and 2nd rounds are played as a best-of-7 series.
| 1st round of relegation playoffs | 1st round of relegation playoffs | 1st round of relegation playoffs | 2nd round of relegation playoffs | 2nd round of relegation playoffs | 2nd round of relegation playoffs |
| | | | 1 | Hokki (Stays in Mestis) | 4 |
| 12 | Hokki | 4 | 2 | Pyry (Stays in Suomi-sarja) | 0 |
| 13 | FPS (relegated) | 1 | | | |