2020–21 Mestis season

2020–21 Mestis
2020–21 Mestis
League	Mestis
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	September 2020 – April 2021
Number of teams	14
Regular season
Best record	K-Espoo
Runners-up	JoKP
Top scorer	Joonas Larinmaa (KeuPa HT)
Playoffs
Playoffs MVP	Marlo Koponen (Ketterä)
Finals champions	Ketterä
Runners-up	Hermes
Mestis seasons
	← 2019–20 2021–22 →

The 2020–21 Mestis season was the 21st season of Mestis, the second highest level of ice hockey in Finland after Liiga. Due to promotion/relegation games being cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic in the last season both semi-finalists from last seasons Suomi-sarja (K-Espoo and FPS) were promoted to Mestis. Therefore, this seasons consisted of 14 teams.^[1]

Clubs

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	Jere Härkälä
Hokki	Kajaani	Kajaanin jäähalli, 2,372	1968	Niko Eronen
IPK	Iisalmi	Kankaan jäähalli, 1,358	1966	Niko Härkönen
JoKP	Joensuu	PKS Areena, 4,800	1953	~~Joni Petrell~~ 19.1.2021 Benjamin Laurinkari
Ketterä	Imatra	Imatra Spa Areena, 1,200	1957	Maso Lehtonen
KeuPa HT	Keuruu	Keuruun Jäähalli, 1,100	1995	Tomas Westerlund
K-Espoo	Espoo	Espoo Metro Areena, 6,982	2018	Janne Tuunanen
K-Vantaa	Vantaa	Trio Areena, 2,004	1994	Mika Niskanen
KOOVEE	Tampere	Tampere Ice Stadium, 7,300	1929	Juuso Hahl
Peliitat	Heinola	Versowood Areena, 2,686	1984	Vesa Petäjä
RoKi	Rovaniemi	Lappi Areena, 3,500	1979	Santeri Immonen
SaPKo	Savonlinna	Talvisalo ice rink, 2,833	1929	Pasi Räsänen
TUTO Hockey	Turku	Kupittaan jäähalli, 3,000	1929	Antti Virtanen

Regular season

Initially the plan was to have each team play 50 games in total but due to the season being on hold from 2 December 2020 to 10 February 2021 the teams were unable to play the full season.^[2]^[3] Due to this points-per-game determines the order of the teams. SaPKo and RoKi decided not to continue the season when it resumed in February 2021.^[4]

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. Since the highest series of Finnish hockey is a closed series no team will be promoted to Liiga.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W+	Pts	PPG	Final Result
1	K-Espoo	31	17	6	8	108	84	24	3	60	1.94	Advance to Quarterfinals
2	JoKP	31	17	5	9	107	89	18	3	59	1.90
3	Ketterä	31	17	5	9	130	92	38	1	57	1.84
4	KeuPa HT	31	17	4	10	112	102	10	2	57	1.84
5	IPK	30	14	6	10	108	94	14	5	53	1.77
6	KOOVEE	28	13	3	12	89	93	−4	2	44	1.57
7	K-Vantaa	29	11	7	11	89	85	4	2	42	1.45	Advance to Wild-card round
8	TUTO Hockey	30	11	6	13	98	104	−6	3	42	1.40
9	Hermes	30	8	9	13	86	96	−10	4	37	1.23
10	Peliitat	31	9	5	17	92	113	−21	4	36	1.16
11	FPS	30	10	1	19	77	103	−26	1	32	1.07
12	Hokki	30	6	7	17	79	107	−28	2	27	0.90
13	SaPKo	18	6	5	7	62	68	−6	4	27	1.50	Did not finish the season
14	RoKi	18	7	3	8	57	64	−7	0	24	1.33	Did not finish the season

Source: Liiga

Rules for classification: 1) Points-per-game; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Penalty minutes.^[5]

Playoffs

Playoffs are being played in four stages. Each stage before the final is a best-of-3 series, with the final being a best-of-5 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

Wild-card round (best-of-3)			Quarter-finals (best-of-3)			Semi-finals (best-of-3)			Finals (best-of-5)

			1	K-Espoo	0
7	K-Vantaa	2	9	Hermes	2
10	Peliitat	0				2	JoKP	0
						9	Hermes	2
			2	JoKP	2	(Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round)
			7	K-Vantaa	1
									3	Ketterä	3
									9	Hermes	2
			3	Ketterä	2
8	TUTO Hockey	1	6	KOOVEE	0
9	Hermes	2				3	Ketterä	2	Bronze medal game
						5	IPK	0
			4	KeuPa HT	1				2	JoKP	0
			5	IPK	2				5	IPK	4

Wild-card round

K-Vantaa – Peliitat 2-0
30.3.2021	K-Vantaa	Peliitat	6-2 ref
1.4.2021	Peliitat	K-Vantaa	1-3 ref
K-Vantaa wins the series 2-0.

TUTO Hockey – Hermes 1-2
30.3.2021	TUTO Hockey	Hermes	5-6 ref
1.4.2021	Hermes	TUTO Hockey	1-3 OT2 ref
3.4.2021	TUTO Hockey	Hermes	3-4 OT1 ref
Hermes wins the series 2-1.

Quarter-finals

K-Espoo – Hermes 0-2
6.4.2021	K-Espoo	Hermes	4-5 OT1 ref
8.4.2021	Hermes	K-Espoo	2-1 OT1 ref
Hermes wins the series 2-0.

JoKP – K-Vantaa 2-1
6.4.2021	JoKP	K-Vantaa	6-3 ref
8.4.2021	K-Vantaa	JoKP	5-4 ref
10.4.2021	JoKP	K-Vantaa	4-2 ref
JoKP wins the series 2-1.

Ketterä – KOOVEE 2-0
6.4.2021	Ketterä	KOOVEE	5-3 ref
8.4.2021	KOOVEE	Ketterä	1-4 ref
Ketterä wins the series 2-0.

KeuPa HT – IPK 1-2
6.4.2021	KeuPa HT	IPK	2-3 ref
8.4.2021	IPK	KeuPa HT	0-4 ref
10.4.2021	KeuPa HT	IPK	3-4 OT1 ref
IPK wins the series 2-1.

Semi-finals

JoKP – Hermes 0-2
13.4.2021	JoKP	Hermes	2-3 ref
15.4.2021	Hermes	JoKP	3-1 ref
Hermes wins the series 2-0.

Ketterä – IPK 2-0
13.4.2021	Ketterä	IPK	4-3 ref
15.4.2021	IPK	Ketterä	5-6 OT1 ref
Ketterä wins the series 2-0.

Bronze medal game

21 April 2021
18:30

JoKP

0–4
(0–1, 0–1, 0–2)

IPK

PKS Areena, Joensuu
Attendance: 20

Game reference

Leevi Nikkinen

Goalies

Samu Pakarinen

Referees:
Jani Pesonen
Ville-Veikko Väkeväinen
Linesmen:
Joonas Hurskainen
Markus Peltola

	0–1	03:33 – A. Ahola (B. Maia, J. Hämäläinen)
	0–2	33:17 – M. Juusola (T. Kokkola, V. Järvinen)
	0–3	46:19 – J. Hämäläinen (J. Nevalainen)
	0–4	56:36 – N. Koskinen (J. Nevalainen) (ENG)

14 min

Penalties

4 min

16

Shots

30

Finals

20 April 2021
18:30

Ketterä

2–3
(1–1, 1–0, 0–2)

Hermes

Imatra Spa Areena, Imatra
Attendance: 6

Game reference

Santeri Lipiäinen

Goalies

Joel Blomqvist

Referees:
Antti Hölli
Pasi Nieminen
Linesmen:
Marko Aalto
Janne Laukkala

	0–1	11:50 – J. Ketola (A. Lausniemi, J. Ahlgren)
A. Rämö (N. Ahoniemi) – 13:22	1–1
N. Ahoniemi (R. Mäkitalo, S. Forsblom) (PP1) – 20:28	2–1
	2–2	49:05 – A. Karjalainen (E. Ahopelto, E. Paasovaara)
	2–3	57:07 – O. Uomala (A. Lausniemi, J. Reini) (PP1)

6 min

Penalties

4 min

48

Shots

29

22 April 2021
18:30

Hermes

2–7
(1–3, 1–0, 0–4)

Ketterä

Kokkolan jäähalli, Kokkola
Attendance: 20

Game reference

Joel Blomqvist

Goalies

Santeri Lipiäinen

Referees:
Jonne Mäkisalo
Joona Vares
Linesmen:
Petteri Niemelä
Miro Skinnarla

	0–1	01:39 – N. Ahoniemi
J. Rautiainen (J. Reini, E. Ahopelto) – 06:04	1–1
	1–2	11:09 – M. Varttinen
	1–3	16:45 – N. Ahoniemi (R. Mäkitalo, M. Tiihonen) (PP1)
J. Ahlgren (H. Limma, T. Tuupanen) – 35:34	2–3
	2–4	51:15 – E. Luhanka (R. Mäkitalo)
	2–5	56:53 – J. Viskari (J-M Alanen, J. Liuksiala) (ENG)
	2–6	58:14 – R. Mäkitalo (ENG)
	2–7	59:59 – E. Luhanka (J. Hänninen, P. Kiesilä) (PP1)

12 min

Penalties

4 min

26

Shots

32

24 April 2021
17:00

Ketterä

5–9
(4–2, 0–2, 1–5)

Hermes

Imatra Spa Areena, Imatra
Attendance: 6

Game reference

Santeri Lipiäinen
Severi Auvinen

Goalies

Vilho Heikkinen
Joel Blomqvist

Referees:
Pasi Nieminen
Antti Hölli
Linesmen:
Janne Laukkala
Marko Aalto

S. Tanhua – 03:53	1–0
R. Mäkitaloa (A. Rämö, M. Tiihonen) – 05:50	2–0
	2–1	07:06 – E. Ahopelto (E. Paasovaara, E. Takala) (PP1)
H. Karjalainen (V. Paalanen) – 11:10	3–1
J. Viskari (J. Liuksiala, M. Koponen) – 15:50	4–1
	4–2	19:34 – H. Limma (E. Ahopelto)
	4–3	34:08 – S. Vesterinen (V. Heikkala, A. Lausniemi)
	4–4	39:18 – H. Harju (S. Vesterinen, Z. Sedlák)
	4–5	41:46 – E. Takala (E. Paasovaara, E. Ahopelto) (PP1)
	4–6	43:28 – H. Harju (O. Uomala, Z. Sedlák)
	4–7	46:05 – E. Ahopelto (E. Paasovaara, J. Ketola)
	4–8	49:59 – V. Heikkala (J. Reini, A. Lausniemi)
	4–9	51:21 – J. Ahlgren (H. Limma)
S. Tanhua (P. Kiesilä) – 56:28	5–9

35 min

Penalties

8 min

29

Shots

29

27 April 2021
18:30

Hermes

3–4 2OT
(1–2, 1–1, 1–0, 0–0, 0–1)

Ketterä

Kokkolan jäähalli, Kokkola
Attendance: 20

Game reference

Joel Blomqvist

Goalies

Santeri Lipiäinen

Referees:
Jonne Mäkitalo
Joona Vares
Linesmen:
Petteri Niemelä
Miro Skinnarla

Z. Sedlák (H. Harju, V. Meisaari) – 06:44	1–0
	1–1	09:11 – M. Haaparanta (J-M Alanen, N. Ahoniemi)
	1–2	09:59 – J. Viskari (J. Hallikas, J. Liuksiala)
	1–3	21:41 – M. Tiihonen (H. Karjalainen)
Z. Sedlák (O. Uomala, J. Reini) (PP1) – 35:46	2–3
Z. Sedlák (A. Lausniemi, O. Uomala) (PP1) – 41:03	3–3
	3–4	91:15 – R. Mäkitalo (S. Forsblom)

8 min

Penalties

10 min

49

Shots

47

29 April 2021
18:30

Ketterä

8–3
(3–2, 4–0, 1–1)

Hermes

Imatra Spa Areena, Imatra
Attendance: 6

Game reference

Santeri Lipiäinen

Goalies

Joel Blomqvist
Vilho Heikkinen

Referees:
Joona Vares
Jonne Mäkisalo
Linesmen:
Miro Skinnarla
Petteri Niemelä

H. Karjalainen (R. Reini, M. Koponen) – 00:46	1–0
R. Mäkitalo (A. Rämö, M. Tiihonen) – 02:32	2–0
J-M Alanen (M. Haaparanta, N. Ahoniemi) – 03:08	3–0
	3–1	06:26 – J. Ahlgren (E. Ahopelto)
	3–2	18:17 – O. Uomala (H. Harju, Z. Sedlák) (PP1)
R. Mäkitalo (S. Forsblom) (SH1) – 25:46	4–2
R. Mäkitalo (A. Rämö, R. Reini) (PP1) – 27:23	5–2
H. Karjalainen (R. Reini) (PP1) – 28:31	6–2
H. Karjalainen (J-M Alanen, N. Ahoniemi) – 31:11	7–2
	7–3	47:51 – T. Tuupanen (A. Lausniemi, J. Ketola)
M. Haaparanta (J-M Alanen, N. Ahoniemi) – 50:16	8–3

8 min

Penalties

14 min

30

Shots

38

Ketterä wins the finals 3–2.

References

^ "Lisenssikomitean päätöksiä - Forssan Palloseuralle Mestis-lisenssi" (in Finnish). mestis.fi. 2020-05-18. Retrieved 2021-04-15.
^ "Mestis-kausi starttaa torstaina - näin pelataan" (in Finnish). mestis.fi. 2020-09-23. Retrieved 2021-04-15.
^ "Jääkiekkoliiton alaisten sarjojen syyskausi keskeytetään 2.12. alkaen" (in Finnish). finhockey.fi. 2020-12-01. Retrieved 2021-04-15.
^ "Mestiksen runkosarja jatkuu ensi viikolla jo torstaina - näin pelataan" (in Finnish). mestis.fi. 2021-02-05. Retrieved 2021-04-15.
^ "Sarjataulukko". Jatkoaika.com. Retrieved 2019-03-08.

[1] "Lisenssikomitean päätöksiä - Forssan Palloseuralle Mestis-lisenssi" (in Finnish). mestis.fi. 2020-05-18. Retrieved 2021-04-15.

[2] "Mestis-kausi starttaa torstaina - näin pelataan" (in Finnish). mestis.fi. 2020-09-23. Retrieved 2021-04-15.

[3] "Jääkiekkoliiton alaisten sarjojen syyskausi keskeytetään 2.12. alkaen" (in Finnish). finhockey.fi. 2020-12-01. Retrieved 2021-04-15.

[4] "Mestiksen runkosarja jatkuu ensi viikolla jo torstaina - näin pelataan" (in Finnish). mestis.fi. 2021-02-05. Retrieved 2021-04-15.

[5] "Sarjataulukko". Jatkoaika.com. Retrieved 2019-03-08.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

v t e Mestis
Teams (2024–25)	Hermes Hokki IPK Ketterä Jokerit Jokipojat KeuPa HT Kiekko-Vantaa RoKi TUTO Hockey
Former teams	Ahmat FPS Espoo United Haukat HCK Jukurit JYP-Akatemia KalPa Kiekko-Laser Kiekko-Espoo KooKoo KOOVEE Peliitat Salamat Sport Titaanit UJK SaPKo HK Zemgale/LLU
Seasons	2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Related topics	SM-liiga Suomi-sarja 2. Divisioona Naisten Liiga Naisten Mestis Finland men's national ice hockey team Finland women's national ice hockey team SM-sarja (defunct)
See also: IIHF IIHF Continental Cup IIHF European Champions Cup

Clubs

Regular season

Playoffs

Bracket

Wild-card round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Bronze medal game

Finals

See also

References