2020-21 Liiga season

The 2020–21 SM-liiga season was the 46th season of the SM-liiga, the top level of ice hockey in Finland, since the league's formation in 1975. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic all the games had to be played to a very limited audience or no audience at all. Two teams have temporarily let go of their coaches due to financial reasons: JYP and SaiPa. The season was Hakametsä's last full season.
==Teams==
Team 	City 	Head coach 	Arena 	Capacity	Captain
HIFK 	Helsinki 	Jarno Pikkarainen 	Helsingin jäähalli 	 	Jere Sallinen
HPK 	Hämeenlinna 	Matti Tiilikainen 	Pohjantähti Areena 	 	Markus Nenonen
Ilves 	Tampere 	Jouko Myrrä 	Tampereen jäähalli 	 	Eemeli Suomi
Jukurit 	Mikkeli 	Marko Kauppinen12.3.2021Jari Kauppila 	Ikioma Areena 	 	Jesper Piitulainen
JYP 	 	Mikko Viitanen (27.12.2020–) Jussi Tupamäki (21.10.2020–27.12.2020) Pekka Tirkkonen (furloughed 21.10.2020–31.3.2021)	LähiTapiola Areena 	 	Jani Tuppurainen
KalPa 	Kuopio 	Tommi Miettinen 	Olvi Areena 	 	Tommi Jokinen
KooKoo 	Kouvola 	Jussi Ahokas 	Lumon Areena 	 	Alexander Bonsaksen
Kärpät 	Oulu 	Mikko Manner 	Oulun Energia Areena 	 	Mika Pyörälä
Lukko 	Rauma 	Pekka Virta 	Kivikylän Areena 	 	Heikki Liedes
Pelicans	Lahti 	Tommi Niemelä 	Isku Areena 	 	Hannes Björninen
SaiPa 	Lappeenranta	Ville Hämäläinen (8.11.2020–27.3.2021)Tero Lehterä (furloughed 8.11.2020–27.3.2021) 	Lappeenrannan jäähalli	 	Jarno Koskiranta
Sport 	Vaasa 	Risto Dufva 	Vaasan Sähkö Areena 	 	Erik Riska
Tappara 	Tampere 	Jussi Tapola 	Tampereen jäähalli 	 	Jukka Peltola
TPS 	Turku 	Raimo Helminen 	Gatorade Center 	 	Lauri Korpikoski
 	Pori 	Ari-Pekka Selin 	Isomäki Areena 	 	Niklas Appelgren
==Regular season==
Top six advanced straight to the quarter-finals, while teams between 7th and 10th positions played a wild card round for the final two spots. The SM-liiga is a closed series and thus there is no relegation. Due to several games having been cancelled due to COVID-19 cases in various teams in March 2021, not all teams got an even number of games, therefore SM-liiga decided that the rankings of the regular season will be determined by points per game average.
Rules for classification: 1) Points per game; 2) 3-point wins 3) Goal difference; 4) Goals scored; 5) Head-to-head points.
==Playoffs==
Contrary to the best of three format used in the past seasons, the wild-card round will take place in two games and the aggregate score decides the team which advances. The remaining rounds will be played in the best-of-5 format instead of the typical best-of-7 format
=== Bracket ===
===Wild-card round===
The worse ranked team will play the first game at home. The aggregate score of the two games decides the winner of the round. There will be no over-time or penalty shoot-outs in the first game even if the score is tied. If the aggregate score is tied after the second game, overtime will be played in 20 minute periods until a goal is scored.
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===Quarter-finals===
===Semi-finals===
===Bronze medal game===
===Finals===
Lukko wins the finals 3-1.
==Final rankings==
align=center	Lukko
align=center	TPS
align=center	HIFK
4 	Tappara
5 	KalPa
6 	Pelicans
7 	Kärpät
8 	Ilves
9 	KooKoo
10 	Sport
11 	HPK
12 	Ässät
13 	SaiPa
14 	Jukurit
15 	JYP
==See also==
* 2020–21 Mestis season
==References==
== External links ==
*Official site 
Category:Liiga seasons
Liiga
Liiga