Naisten Mestis

Naisten Mestis (lit. 'Women's Championship Series'; from Mestaruussarja meaning 'Championship series') is the second-highest women's ice hockey league in Finland. The league was founded as Naisten I-divisioona (Women's First Division) in 1985 by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association when the number of teams playing in the Naisten SM-sarja (now 'Naisten Liiga') was limited. It was renamed Naisten Mestis prior to the 2012-13 season.

For the Finnish men's second-tier ice hockey league, see Mestis.

Naisten Mestis
FormerlyNaisten I-divisioona
SportIce hockey
Founded1985
FounderFinnish Ice Hockey Association
Inaugural seasonas Naisten I-divisoona, 1985–86
as Naisten Mestis, 2012–13
AdministratorJesse Nuutinen
No. of teams18 in Qualifiers
10 in Regular season
CountryFinland
Most recent
champion(s)		HIFK Akatemia
(2021)
TV partner(s)Leijonat.tv
Promotion toNaisten Liiga
Relegation toNaisten Suomi-sarja
Official websiteleijonat.fi

Series format

The Mestis season format has changed many times since the founding of the league in 1985. The current format was introduced for the 2019–20 season.

Qualifiers

With the exception of the Naisten SM-liiga teams, all club representative teams start the season in the Mestis Qualifiers (Finnish: Karsinta). Each team is grouped into a division (Finnish: lohko) of five to eight teams; the number of divisions is determined by the total number of teams competing and each division is loosely defined by geographic location, with proximate teams being grouped. Each team plays a total of fifteen or sixteen matches within their division. The points earned in the games determine the team's ranking within their division; victories earn three points, overtime victories earn two points, and overtime losses earn one point. Teams that rank forth or lower in each division at the end of the qualifiers do not qualify to play in the Mestis and continue the season in the Naisten Suomi-sarja. The qualifying round runs from the beginning of the season in September to late November or early December.

Cross qualifiers

The team with the highest point total from each division of the qualifiers moves on the cross qualifying round (Finnish: ristiinkarsinta). If there are an odd number of divisions, the team with the highest point total of all remaining teams also moves on. The cross qualifiers are a round-robin tournament, each team faces all other participating teams once. The two teams earning the highest point totals at the end of the tournament continue their seasons in the Lower Division (Finnish: Alempi jatkosarja) of the Naisten Liiga and have the opportunity to gain promotion to the Naisten Liiga for the following season. The teams ranked third and lower in the cross qualifiers continue the season in the Naisten Mestis regular season. The cross qualifying round is played in late November and/or early December.

Regular season

The teams ranked third and lower in the cross qualifiers and the teams that finished second or third in each division of the qualifiers fill the ranks of the Mestis regular season. If the number of divisions is odd, the third ranked team from the qualifiers with smallest point total does not qualify and moves to the Naisten Suomi-sarja so that an even number of teams is maintained in the Mestis. Each team in the regular season plays an equal number of games against each of the other teams. The regular season runs from January to March.

Teams participating in the 2022–2023 season
Naisten Mestis is located in Finland
Naisten Mestis
Naisten Mestis
Naisten Mestis
Pelicans
SaiPa
SaiPa
HIFK Ak
HPK Ak
Salo HT
Salo HT
PaRa
PaRa
TPS Ak /Turku HC
TPS Ak /
Turku HC
APV
JyKi
JyKi
KalPa Ak
Kiilat
Kiilat
Kärpät Ak
LL-89
LL-89
S-Kiekko
S-Kiekko
Location in Finland of teams participating in Lohko 1 (see map below for detailed locations of teams in Uusimaa), Lohko 2, and Lohko 3 of the Naisten Mestis qualification series.
Location in Uusimaa of teams participating in Lohko 1 of the Naisten Mestis qualification series.

Qualifiers

Teams listed by ranking at the conclusion of the qualifiers.

Lohko 1

  1. Saimaan Pallo (SaiPa), Lappeenranta
  2. Kiekko-Espoo Akatemia (K-Espoo Ak), Espoo
  3. KJT Haukat, Tuusula
  4. Pelicans, Lahti[1]
  5. HIFK U18, Helsinki

Lohko 2

  1. HIFK Akatemia (HIFK Ak), Helsinki
  2. HPK Akatemia, Hämeenlinna
  3. TPS Akatemia, Turku
  4. Panelian Raikas (PaRa), Eura
  5. Salo HT, Salo
  6. Turku HC, Turku

Lohko 3

  1. Alavuden Peli-Veikot (APV), Alavus
  2. KalPa Akatemia (KalPa Ak), Kuopio
  3. Kärpät Akatemia (Kärpät Ak), Oulu
  4. Kiilat, Haapajärvi
  5. Jyvässeudun Kiekko (JyKi), Jyväskylä
  6. S-Kiekko, Seinäjoki
  7. LL-89 Red Lights, Lapinlahti

Regular season
Location in Finland of teams participating in the Naisten Mestis regular season.

The top two teams from each group proceeded directly to the Naisten Mestis regular season, while the teams that finished third in each group – KJT Haukat, TPS Akatemia, and Kärpät Akatemia – played a single round-robin cross-qualification (Finnish: ristiinkarsinta) to determine the final two teams that would participate in the regular season.[2] TPS Akatemia and all teams ranked fourth and lower in the qualifiers went on to populate the Naisten Suomi-sarja regular season.[3]

TeamLocationHome venue(s)Head coachCaptain
APV Alavus Alavus Areena Michael Ojala Pinja Niemistö
HIFK Akatemia Helsinki Pirkkolan jäähalli Antti Borgenström Anniina Koskinen
HPK Akatemia Hämeenlinna Hämeenlinnan harjoitushalli Marko Peltoniemi Viivi Simola
Kiekko-Espoo Akatemia Espoo Leppävaaran jäähalli,
Matinkylän jäähalli		 Casimir Öhman Linda Österlund
KalPa Akatemia Kuopio Lippumäen jäähalli,
Niirala		 Jarno Harrarainen Petra Keromaa
KJT Haukat Kerava Kerava 2 Aada Käppi &
Mia Ristolainen		 Jeannette Andersson
Kärpät Akatemia Oulu Raksila 2 Lilli Antinmäki
& Satu Kiipeli		 Alene Sankala
SaiPa Lappeenranta Kisapuisto 2 Silja Schemeikka Eevi Ilvonen

Teams in previous seasons

The teams that qualified for the Naisten Mestis regular season, listed by overall rank at the end of the regular season.

Series champions

The manner in which the Mestis Championship is won has changed many times since the founding of the league in 1985. It has, for example, been awarded to the most successful team in the regular season, the winner of Mestis playoffs (which have repeatedly changed format or not been held), or to the team able to win promotion through the Naisten Liiga qualification/relegation series. The winner of the Naisten Mestis has not been historically guaranteed a place in the Naisten Liiga for the following season.

Champions, 2016–present
Season 1st place, gold medalist(s) Champions 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Runners-up 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Third Place
2015–16 Blues/EKS (Espoo) Pelicans 2000 (Lahti) Hermes (Kokkola)
2016–17 Sport (Vaasa) Rovaniemen Kiekko (Rovaniemi) Puhti (Kuusankoski)
2017–18 Turun Palloseura (Turku) Sport (Vaasa) JYP (Jyväskylä)
2018–19 JYP (Jyväskylä) Hermes (Kokkola) Alavuden Peli-Veikot (Alavus)
2019–20 Seasons suspend due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2020–21
2021–22 HIFK Akatemia (Helsinki) Kiekko-Espoo Akatemia (Espoo) Kärpät Akatemia (Oulu)

See also

References

Content in this article is translated from the existing Finnish Wikipedia article at fi:Naisten Mestis; see its history for attribution.

  1. Urpunen, Janne (12 September 2019). "Miksi Lahti on naisjääkiekon musta aukko?". Etelä-Suomen Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 12 September 2020.
  2. "2022-2023 Naisten Mestiksen ristiinkarsinta: Sarjataulukko". Finnish Ice Hockey Association. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
  3. "2022-2023 Naisten Mestis: Sarjataulukko". Finnish Ice Hockey Association. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
  4. "2017-2018 Naisten Mestis, Sarja: Naisten Mestis – Sarjataulukko". Finnish Ice Hockey Association (in Finnish). 18 March 2018. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  5. "2018-2019 Naisten Mestis, Sarja: Naisten Mestis – Sarjataulukko". Finnish Ice Hockey Association (in Finnish). 10 February 2019. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  6. "2019-2020 Naisten Mestis, Sarja: Naisten Mestis – Sarjataulukko". Finnish Ice Hockey Association (in Finnish). 22 March 2020. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  7. Halme, Kai (4 December 2020). "Naisten Mestiksen ja Suomi-sarjan pelaamistavat". Finnish Ice Hockey Association (in Finnish). Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  8. "2020-2021 Naisten Mestis, Sarja: Naisten Mestis – Sarjataulukko". Finnish Ice Hockey Association (in Finnish). 31 May 2021. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  9. "2021-2022 Naisten Mestis, Sarja: Naisten Mestis – Sarjataulukko". Finnish Ice Hockey Association (in Finnish). 13 March 2022. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
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