The 2012–13 SM-liiga season was the 38th season of the

SM-liiga The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), (Finnish for ''League'') colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding leagu ...

, the top level of

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, since the league's formation in 1975. The title was won by

Ässät Pori Ässät or Ässä may refer to: * HC Ässät Pori Oy, Finnish sports club **Porin Ässät (men's ice hockey) **Porin Ässät (women's ice hockey) **Porin Ässät (men's football) ** PATA (esports) *, Finnish band from Oulu *S Group, Finnish Consum ...

who defeated

Tappara Tampere Tappara (; Finnish for "Battle axe") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team playing in the Liiga. They play at '' Tampere Deck Arena'' in Tampere, Finland. The team has won 18 Finnish league championships (1959, 1961, 1964, 1975, 1977, 1979, ...

in the finals.

Teams

* Head coaches marked with ‡ took their jobs mid-season.

Regular season

Each team played four times against every other team (twice home and twice away), getting to 52 games. Additionally, the teams were divided to two groups, where teams would play one extra game. One group included Ässät, Blues, HIFK, Jokerit, Kärpät, Lukko and TPS, while other had HPK, Ilves, JYP, KalPa, Pelicans, SaiPa and Tappara. Additionally, there were two games where teams could choose the opponents. These were played back-to-back in January and the choices were made in December, with team with lowest point total to that date was able to choose first. These pairs were: Pelicans-Ilves, TPS-Lukko, Ässät-Blues, HIFK-HPK, Tappara-Jokerit, Kärpät-KalPa and SaiPa-JYP. Top six advanced straight to quarter-finals, while teams between 7th and 10th positions played wild card round for the final two spots. The last-placed team Ilves had to play best-of-seven series against

Mestis Mestis (from fi, Mestaruussarja, meaning 'Championship series') is the second-highest men's ice hockey league in Finland. The league was established by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association in 2000 to replace the I-divisioona ('First Division'). ...

winner

Jukurit Mikkelin Jukurit is a professional ice hockey team in Liiga, the top tier Finnish ice hockey league. They play in Mikkeli, Finland, at the Kalevankankaan jäähalli (known since 2016 as Ikioma Areena). The team has won 7 Mestis (2nd highest lev ...

Playoffs

Wild card round (best-of-three)

Kärpät-Lukko 1-2 :Kärpät-Lukko 4-5 :Lukko-Kärpät 2-4 :Kärpät-Lukko 2-3 ( OT) HIFK-SaiPa 2-1 :HIFK-SaiPa 2-3 ( OT) :SaiPa-HIFK 2-3 ( OT) :HIFK-SaiPa 5-2

Quarterfinals (best-of-seven)

Jokerit-Lukko 2-4 :Jokerit-Lukko 3-0 :Lukko-Jokerit 5-2 :Jokerit-Lukko 3-4 ( OT) :Lukko-Jokerit 2-1 :Jokerit-Lukko 5-2 :Lukko-Jokerit 3-1
Tappara-HIFK 4-1 :Tappara-HIFK 3-1 :HIFK-Tappara 1-4 :Tappara-HIFK 3-2 :HIFK-Tappara 3-2 :Tappara-HIFK 3-1
JYP-HPK 4-1 :JYP-HPK 3-1 :HPK-JYP 3-2 :JYP-HPK 4-2 :HPK-JYP 2-3 ( OT) :JYP-HPK 5-1
Ässät-KalPa 4-1 :Ässät-KalPa 2-1 :KalPa-Ässät 0-2 :Ässät-KalPa 5-2 :KalPa-Ässät 5-0 :Ässät-KalPa 3-0

Semifinals (best-of-seven)

Tappara-Lukko 4-0 :Tappara-Lukko 3-2 ( OT) :Lukko-Tappara 3-4 ( OT) :Tappara-Lukko 3-0 :Lukko-Tappara 0-5
JYP-Ässät 1-4 :JYP-Ässät 3-4 ( OT) :Ässät-JYP 2-0 :JYP-Ässät 1-4 :Ässät-JYP 1-2 :JYP-Ässät 0-1

Bronze Medal Game

:JYP-Lukko 2-0

Finals (best-of-seven)

Tappara-Ässät 2-4 :Tappara-Ässät 2-1 :Ässät-Tappara 5-1 :Tappara-Ässät 3-2 :Ässät-Tappara 4-0 :Tappara-Ässät 1-2 ( OT) :Ässät-Tappara 3-2

Relegation (best-of-seven)

Ilves-Jukurit 4-1 :Ilves-Jukurit 2-0 :Jukurit-Ilves 1-3 :Ilves-Jukurit 2-1 ( OT) :Jukurit-Ilves 7-4 :Ilves-Jukurit 4-2

External links

Official site of the SM-liiga
{{DEFAULTSORT:2012-13 SM-liiga season 1

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

Liiga seasons