# 2018–19 Mestis season

The 2018–19 Mestis season is the 19th season of Mestis, the second highest level of ice hockey in Finland after Liiga. KOOVEE was promoted from Suomi-sarja due to Espoo United declaring bankruptcy at the end of last season.

## Clubs

| Team | City | Home arena, capacity | Founded | Head coach |
| Hermes | Kokkola | Kokkolan jäähalli, 4,200 | 1953 | Janne Tuunanen |
| IPK | Iisalmi | Kankaan jäähalli, 1,326 | 1966 | Janne Sinkkonen 3.1.2019 Tommi Miettinen |
| Jokipojat | Joensuu | Mehtimäki Ice Hall, 4,800 | 1953 | Jouni Varis |
| Ketterä | Imatra | Imatra Spa Areena, 1,200 | 1957 | Maso Lehtonen |
| KeuPa HT | Keuruu | Keuruun Jäähalli, 1,100 | 1995 | Niko Härkönen |
| K-Vantaa | Vantaa | Trio Areena, 2,004 | 1994 | Simo Mälkiä 28.1.2019 Reijo Ruotsalainen |
| KOOVEE | Tampere | Hakametsä 2, 1050 | 1929 | Juha Pajuoja |
| LeKi | Lempäälä | Masku Areena, 800 | 1904 | Miikka Kuusela |
| Peliitat | Heinola | Versowood Areena, 2,975 | 1984 | Jani Keinänen 9.2.2019 Vesa Petäjä |
| RoKi | Rovaniemi | Lappi Areena, 3,500 | 1979 | Santeri Immonen |
| SaPKo | Savonlinna | Talvisalo ice rink, 2,833 | 1929 | Pasi Räsänen |
| TUTO Hockey | 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 | Hermes | 50 | 29 | 3 | 2 | 16 | 180 | 133 | +47 | 95 | Advance to playoffs |
| 2 | LeKi | 50 | 26 | 7 | 3 | 14 | 194 | 155 | +39 | 95 | Advance to playoffs |
| 3 | Ketterä | 50 | 22 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 163 | 141 | +22 | 87 | Advance to playoffs |
| 4 | SaPKo | 50 | 22 | 5 | 5 | 18 | 177 | 159 | +18 | 81 | Advance to playoffs |
| 5 | TUTO Hockey | 50 | 20 | 8 | 4 | 18 | 151 | 130 | +21 | 80 | Advance to playoffs |
| 6 | Jokipojat | 50 | 19 | 6 | 8 | 17 | 151 | 151 | 0 | 77 | Advance to playoffs |
| 7 | RoKi | 50 | 18 | 5 | 7 | 20 | 138 | 164 | −26 | 71 | Advance to playoffs |
| 8 | KeuPa HT | 50 | 18 | 5 | 5 | 22 | 151 | 139 | +12 | 69 | Advance to playoffs |
| 9 | IPK | 50 | 20 | 3 | 2 | 25 | 160 | 180 | −20 | 68 | |
| 10 | K-Vantaa | 50 | 17 | 4 | 6 | 23 | 138 | 158 | −20 | 65 | |
| 11 | Peliitat | 50 | 14 | 6 | 9 | 21 | 134 | 158 | −24 | 63 | Qualification to the relegation playoffs |
| 12 | KOOVEE | 50 | 13 | 3 | 4 | 30 | 141 | 210 | −69 | 49 | 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 | Hermes | 2 | | | | | | |
| 8 | KeuPa HT | 4 | | | | | | |
| 8 | KeuPa HT | 4 | 2 | LeKi | 2 | | | |
| | | | 8 | KeuPa HT | 4 | | | |
| 2 | LeKi | 4 | 8 | KeuPa HT | 4 | | | |
| 7 | RoKi | 2 | | | | | | |
| 7 | RoKi | 2 | | | | 3 | Ketterä | 4 |
| | | | | | | 8 | KeuPa HT | 1 |
| 3 | Ketterä | 4 | | | | | | | 8 | KeuPa HT | 1 |
| 6 | Jokipojat | 1 | | | |
| 6 | Jokipojat | 1 | 3 | Ketterä | 4 | Third place | Third place | Third place |
| | | | 5 | TUTO Hockey | 0 |
| 4 | SaPKo | 2 | 5 | TUTO Hockey | 0 | 2 | LeKi | 0 |
| 5 | TUTO Hockey | 4 | | | | 5 | TUTO Hockey | 1 |

### Quarterfinals

Hermes – KeuPa HT 2-4 :
| 19.3.2019 | Hermes | KeuPa HT | 5-0 ref |
| 21.3.2019 | KeuPa HT | Hermes | 3-4 OT2 ref |
| 23.3.2019 | Hermes | KeuPa HT | 1-3 ref |
| 25.3.2019 | KeuPa HT | Hermes | 6-3 ref |
| 27.3.2019 | Hermes | KeuPa HT | 2-3 OT1 ref |
| 29.3.2019 | KeuPa HT | Hermes | 6-3 ref |
| KeuPa HT wins the series 4-2. ||||
Ketterä – Jokipojat 4-1 :
| 19.3.2019 | Ketterä | Jokipojat | 2-4 ref |
| 21.3.2019 | Jokipojat | Ketterä | 2-3 OT1 ref |
| 23.3.2019 | Ketterä | Jokipojat | 2-1 ref |
| 25.3.2019 | Jokipojat | Ketterä | 3-7 ref |
| 27.3.2019 | Ketterä | Jokipojat | 7-0 ref |
| Ketterä wins the series 4-1. ||||
LeKi – RoKi 4-2 :
| 19.3.2019 | LeKi | RoKi | 2-1 ref |
| 20.3.2019 | LeKi | RoKi | 4-2 ref |
| 23.3.2019 | RoKi | LeKi | 2-5 ref |
| 24.3.2019 | RoKi | LeKi | 8-6 ref |
| 26.3.2019 | LeKi | RoKi | 2-3 OT1 ref |
| 28.3.2019 | RoKi | LeKi | 2-6 ref |
| LeKi wins the series 4-2. ||||
SaPKo – TUTO Hockey 2-4 :
| 19.3.2019 | SaPKo | TUTO Hockey | 1-5 ref |
| 20.3.2019 | TUTO Hockey | SaPKo | 0-1 ref |
| 22.3.2019 | SaPKo | TUTO Hockey | 1-3 ref |
| 24.3.2019 | TUTO Hockey | SaPKo | 5-0 ref |
| 27.3.2019 | SaPKo | TUTO Hockey | 9-2 ref |
| 28.3.2019 | TUTO Hockey | SaPKo | 3-2 OT1 ref |
| TUTO Hockey wins the series 4-2. ||||

### Semifinals

LeKi – KeuPa HT 2-4 :
| 2.4.2019 | LeKi | KeuPa HT | 2-4 ref |
| 4.4.2019 | KeuPa HT | LeKi | 3-2 ref |
| 6.4.2019 | LeKi | KeuPa HT | 3-2 ref |
| 8.4.2019 | KeuPa HT | LeKi | 3-6 ref |
| 10.4.2019 | LeKi | KeuPa HT | 5-8 ref |
| 12.4.2019 | KeuPa HT | LeKi | 4-2 ref |
| KeuPa HT wins the series 4-2. ||||
Ketterä – TUTO Hockey 4-0 :
| 2.4.2019 | Ketterä | TUTO Hockey | 5-3 ref |
| 4.4.2019 | TUTO Hockey | Ketterä | 1-2 ref |
| 6.4.2019 | Ketterä | TUTO Hockey | 5-2 ref |
| 8.4.2019 | TUTO Hockey | Ketterä | 2-3 ref |
| Ketterä wins the series 4-0. ||||

### Finals

Ketterä wins the finals 4-1.

## Relegation playoffs

The bottom two teams faced the top two teams from Suomi-sarja for a best-of-7 series were the winners got a place in Mestis for the next season. Peliitat and KOOVEE both won their series and thus avoided relegation.
Peliitat – Hunters 4-0 :
| 23.3.2019 | Peliitat | Hunters | 4-0 ref |
| 26.3.2019 | Hunters | Peliitat | 2-4 ref |
| 28.3.2019 | Peliitat | Hunters | 6-0 ref |
| 30.3.2019 | Hunters | Peliitat | 2-5 ref |
| Peliitat wins the series 4-0 and avoids relegation. ||||
KOOVEE – Hokki 4-0 :
| 24.3.2019 | KOOVEE | Hokki | 4-2 ref |
| 26.3.2019 | Hokki | KOOVEE | 1-5 ref |
| 28.3.2019 | KOOVEE | Hokki | 3-2 ref |
| 30.3.2019 | Hokki | KOOVEE | 2-3 ref |
| KOOVEE wins the series 4-0 and avoids relegation. ||||