Liiga The Liiga , known as SM - liiga from 1975 to 2013 , and colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English , is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland . As of March 2008 , it is ranked by the IIHF as the second strongest league in Europe . It was created in 1975 to replace the SM - sarja , which was fundamentally an amateur league . The SM - liiga is not directly overseen by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association , but the league and association have an agreement of cooperation . SM is a common abbreviation for " Suomen mestaruus " , " Finnish championship " . On 9 August 2013 , the league dropped the SM , and simply became Liiga . In the 2011 – 12 season there were 14 teams . JYP became the champion . The SM - liiga formerly had a system of automatic promotion and relegation in place between itself and the Mestis , the second highest level of competition in Finland , but the automatic system was ended in 2000 . The league was opened in 2005 and allowed KalPa to get a promotion . In 2009 a new system was introduced and it includes the last placed SM - liiga team facing the Mestis champion in a best of seven playout series . History . The SM - liiga was constituted in 1975 to concentrate the development of top level Finnish ice hockey , and pave the way towards professionalism . Its predecessor , the SM - sarja , being an amateur competition , had its disadvantages , which were perceived as impeding Finland ' s rise to the highest ranks of ice hockey . One of the main problems was that the governing of the SM - sarja was based on the annual meeting of the Finnish Ice Hockey Association , where all important issues were decided by vote . Since all clubs registered under the Finnish Ice Hockey Association had the right to vote , the many amateur clubs prevailed over the few business - like clubs . Therefore , the concentrated development of top - level Finnish ice hockey by the motivated and financially capable clubs proved arduous . The new SM - liiga was to be run by a board consisting of its participating clubs only and to have an agreement of cooperation with the Finnish Ice Hockey Association . The SM - sarja was also outdated on its own , as it was run according to amateur principles . Clubs were not supposed to pay their players beyond compensation for lost wages . However , by the 1970s many clubs were already run like businesses and recruited players through a contract of employment , paying their wages secretly and often evading taxes . However , in 1974 , accounting reform in Finland extended book - keeping standards to cover sports clubs , and shortfalls were exposed in audit raids . The SM - liiga was to allow wages for players , and clubs were also put under a tighter supervision . They were to establish their own association for SM - liiga ice hockey only , separating their commitments from junior activities and other sports . Copies of all player contracts were to be sent to the SM - liiga to provide players with adequate security , such as insurance and pensions . The SM - sarja had other limits for players . According to amateur ideals , no player could represent more than one club within one season . Personal sponsorship was also forbidden . To discourage trading , a system of quarantine was in force . The SM - liiga stripped the limitations for players , replaced quarantine with a then - modest transfer payment , and introduced the transfer list . Players wanting a transfer were to sign up , and the SM - liiga would distribute the right of negotiations to clubs . In practice the list was not successful , as both parties often worked their way around the formalities . These changes led to a transition towards professional ice hockey as the league became semi - professional . Only a few players would make a livelihood out of ice hockey in Finland in the 1970s , and many players , especially the young , would settle for a contract in the SM - liiga without a wage . A major financial development for professional ice hockey in Finland was the introduction of playoffs . Gate receipts and other income from playoffs were pooled and distributed as a placement bonus . Although play - offs were the standard way of determining the champions in North American professional sports , at the time they were not common in Europe . The SM - liiga was established rather hastily . The required changes were initiated in the 1974 annual meeting , and the SM - liiga was launched for the 1975 – 76 season . It was the first Finnish professional sports league , and its solutions were untried . However , there had been a mounting demand for these changes , as the popularity of ice hockey had been rising in the previous decade . The SM - liiga picked up where the SM - sarja left off with its 10 clubs . The four best of the regular season were to proceed to the play - offs . The system of promotion and relegation from the SM - sarja remained in force : last - placed teams of the regular season had to qualify for their position in the SM - liiga against the best teams of the second - highest series . The combined attendance for the first eleven regular seasons hovered around 900 , 000 . In 1986 – 87 , the number of games for each team was increased from 36 to 44 , reaching its current level of 56 games in 2000 – 01 , and the SM - liiga was expanded to 12 clubs for the 1988 – 89 season . The general popularity of ice hockey strengthened through international success of the Finland men ' s national ice hockey team , and the combined attendance climbed through the 1990s to about 1 . 8 million . This prompted an increase in the profitability of the ice hockey business and the completion of the transition to full professionalism . By the mid - 1990s , all players were full - time , and by 2000 , most clubs had reformed into limited companies . Since the 2000 – 01 season , the SM - liiga has been closed , meaning that relegations and promotions take place only by the judgment of the board of the SM - liiga . The only such promotion took place instantly in 2000 . Without the threat of relegation , the weaker clubs were supposed to be able to recuperate and improve . This had , however , a side effect : clubs with a losing record that had lost their hopes of reaching the playoffs often disposed of high - salary star players , letting down their supporters . To counteract this , the playoffs were expanded to the best 10 clubs each season from among the 13 total in the league . The league changed its name to just Liiga for the 2013 – 14 season , and introduced a new logo to match . Clubs . The team names are usually the traditional name of the club . All clubs are commonly known by the name of their team . " Oy " and " Ab " are short for limited company , " Oyj " public limited company and " Ry " association respectively . Past participants . Relegated prior to 2000 . Teams relegated were relegated to second - tier Mestis in the year shown , and are there today unless noted otherwise . Format . Regular season : all teams play 60 matches , a quadruple round robin with extra local double rounds ( every team plays four matches against every other team , plus two or four extra matches against defined local opponents ) . Each match consists of 60 minutes regulation time , and in the event of a tie , winner is decided by a four - on - four sudden death , 5 - minute overtime . Ties after overtime are decided by a shootout , where each team has three shooters in the beginning . If the game is tied after three shooters , the shootout will be decided by individual shooters against one another until one scores and the other does not . For the 2010 – 11 season , a new scheduling feature was introduced that each team would play 2 games ( 1 home , 1 away ) against the same opponent . The matchups would be decided by a system where the bottom ( 14th ) placed team at that time chooses its opponent 1st , followed by the 13 , 12th and so on . The 7th placed team is the last one to choose an opponent . The system has been criticized by many , for reasons such as " awarding " a bad position in the table and the way the match - ups are decided , since there are worries that teams will choose their opponents from the higher profile teams and their biggest rivals to achieve maximum attendance and more income through ticket sales . The 2010 – 11 season also saw the inaugural " Talviklassikko " outdoor game at Helsinki ' s Olympic Stadium . In the Helsinki derby , HIFK defeated Jokerit 4 – 3 . " Scoring : " A win in regulation time is worth three points , a win by sudden death overtime two points and loss by sudden death overtime one point . Teams will be ranked by points , and teams tied by points are ranked by the greater number of wins in regulation . Play - offs : The six best teams at the conclusion of regular season proceed directly to quarter - finals . Teams placing between seventh and tenth ( inclusive ) will play preliminary play - offs best - out - of - three – the two winners take the last two slots to quarter - finals . Starting from the season 2007 – 2008 all series since then are best - of - seven . Losers of the semi - finals play a bronze medal match . Teams are paired up for each round according to regular season results , so that the highest - ranking team will play against the lowest - ranking , second highest against the second lowest , and so on . Higher - ranking teams play the first match at home , then by turns away , home , away , etc . Each play - off match consists of a 60 - minute regulation time which in the event of a tie is followed by extra 20 - minute periods of sudden death overtime , in which the first team to score wins . " Scheduling : " The regular season begins around mid - September . It takes a two - week break around the end of October to the beginning of November , when Team Finland plays in a European competition . There is a two - week Christmas break . During Winter Olympic years a break is reserved for the Winter Olympic Games . The regular season is completed around mid - March and preliminary play - offs ensue almost immediately . The play - offs are completed by mid - April , so that all players are available for the World Championships . Winner . The winners of the playoffs receive gold medals and the " Kanada - malja " , the championship trophy of the Liiga . The winners of the regular season receive a trophy ( " Harry Lindbladin muistopalkinto " ) as well , though it is considered less prestigious than the bronze medals of the playoffs , similar to the difference in the National Hockey League between the status of the Stanley Cup and the Presidents ' Trophy . Trophies . The following trophies are awarded by the Liiga : In 1995 , the trophies were named after Finnish hockey legends . Before that , trophies were named after sponsors .