Mestis (from fi, Mestaruussarja, meaning 'Championship series') is the second-highest men's

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 ...

league in

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 ...

. The league was established by the

Finnish Ice Hockey Association The Finnish Ice Hockey Association ( fi, Suomen Jääkiekkoliitto, sv, Finlands Ishockeyförbund) is the governing body of ice hockey in Finland. In 1927, the Finnish Skating Association introduced ice hockey as part of its program and, through ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

to replace the

I-divisioona I-Divisioona was the second tier of ice hockey in Finland from 1974 to 2000. In the year 2000 I-Divisioona was replaced by Mestis. Participating teams External linksFinnish Ice Hockey Federation {{DEFAULTSORT:1-Divisioona Ice hockey leagu ...

('First Division'). It had initially been the highest hockey league in Finland that could be reached through playing merits alone; 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 ...

was closed (to teams being relegated or promoted) in 2000. After the 2004–05 season,

KalPa Kalevan Pallo (KalPa) is a professional ice hockey team which competes in the Finnish Liiga. They play in Kuopio, Finland at the Niiralan monttu, Olvi Areena. Team history Established in 1929 as ''Sortavalan Palloseura'' in Sortavala, the club r ...

was promoted to the SM-liiga, and the Liiga was re-opened in the 2008–09 season.

Vaasan Sport Sport, known by its full name as ''Hockey Team Vaasan Sport OY'', is a Finnish ice hockey team playing in Liiga, and is based at Vaasa Arena (capacity 4448) in Vaasa. The team was established in 1939 as IF Sport (Idrottsföreningen Sport). Hist ...

was promoted in 2014–15,

KooKoo ''KooKoo'' is the debut solo album by American singer Debbie Harry, released on July 27, 1981, by Chrysalis Records. Produced by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic, the album was recorded whilst Harry took a break from her band Blondie. It ...

was promoted in 2015–16, and

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 level) ...

was promoted in 2016–17. Mestis, however, is an open league, with promotion and relegation between it and

Suomi-sarja The Suomi-sarja is Finland's third-highest ice hockey league. Suomi-sarja has 14 teams. Suomi-sarja has been played since the 1999–2000 season. Prior to this, Finland's third league had been Division II since 1975 and before that the Provinci ...

. However there will be no relegation during the

2020-21 The hyphen-minus is the most commonly used type of hyphen, widely used in digital documents. It is the only character that looks like a minus sign or a dash in many character sets such as ASCII or on most keyboards, so it is also used as such. ...

season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Clubs

Winners

Medaltable:

Past participants

* Jää-Kotkat, relegated to the

in 2003. * Hyvinkään Ahmat, relegated to the Suomi-sarja in 2004. *

, promoted to the SM-liiga in 2005. *

Haukat The Jääurheiluseura Hawks, commonly known as the Haukat ('Hawks'), is a men's ice hockey team in the Suomi-sarja, the third-tier professional ice hockey league in Finland. The team is based in Järvenpää, in the Uusimaa region of southern ...

, resigned in 2006. *

FPS FPS may refer to: Arts and entertainment * "F.P.S." (''Law & Order: Criminal Intent''), an episode of the TV show ''Law & Order: Criminal Intent'' * '' fps magazine'', a defunct magazine about animation * ''The Fabulous Picture Show'', a televi ...

and KOOVEE, relegated to the Suomi-sarja in 2007. *

HC Salamat Hockey Club Kirkkonummen Salamat or HCK Salamat are a Finnish ice hockey team in the III-divisioona, the fifth-tier men's ice hockey league in Finland. They play in Kirkkonummi, a municipality in the western Greater Helsinki region, at Varuboden- ...

relegated to the Suomi-sarja in 2008. *

Kotkan Titaanit Kotkan Titaanit ("Kotka Titans") is an ice-hockey club founded in 1974 in Kotka Kotka (; ; la, Aquilopolis) is a city in the southern part of the Kymenlaakso province on the Gulf of Finland. Kotka is a major port and industrial city and also ...

relegated to the Suomi-sarja in 2009. *

Kiekko-Laser Kiekko-Laser were a Finnish ice hockey club from Oulu, Finland. They played in the country's second-tier league, Mestis, after winning a qualification round against RoKi in 2010. On December 5, 2011 however, the club announced its bankruptcy an ...

went bankrupt in 2011. *

, promoted to the Liiga in 2014. *

HC Keski-Uusimaa HC Keski-Uusimaa known as HCK is a Finnish ice hockey team based in Kerava, Finland. The team was founded in 2008 and began play in the Suomi-sarja, the third level of hockey in Finland, before being promoted to the Mestis for the 2012–13 se ...

was abandoned serial place in 2014. *

, promoted to the Liiga in 2015. *

, promoted to the Liiga in 2016. *

JYP-Akatemia JYP-Akatemia was a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Jyväskylä. The club played in the Mestis from 2008 to 2017, after acquiring the spot from D-Kiekko. During their inaugural season, JYP-Akatemia was known as D Team. It was renamed J ...

, relegated to the Suomi-sarja and folded in 2017. *

Hokki Kajaanin Hokki is a Finnish ice hockey team based at Kajaani. The team was founded in 1968. The club Hokki was promoted from Suomi-sarja to Mestis in the end of season 2001–02 after beating Diskos of Jyväskylä in qualifications. Hokki's ho ...

, went bankrupt in 2017. * Espoo United, went bankrupt in 2018. * LeKi, did not receive a license in 2019. *

SaPKo Savonlinnan Pallokerho (SaPKo) was an ice hockey team from Savonlinna, Finland, they formerly play in the Mestis league. It plays its home matches at the Talvisalo ice rink. The sports club Savonlinnan Pallokerho was founded in 1929. First it ...

, went bankrupt in 2022.

Mestis timeline

References

External links

Mestis
Official website (in Finnish) {{SM-liiga Professional ice hockey leagues in Finland

Fin A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. Fin ...