Mestis (from , meaning 'Championship series', stylized as MEST1S) 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').
Promotion to the Liiga is achievable for a Mestis team if it defeats an SM-liiga club in the qualification series and meets all the criteria established by the SM-liiga. However, Mestis is an open league that allows for relegation and promotion with the third league, Suomi-sarja.
Mestis is also the highest league under the governance of the FIHA.
History
In the years 2000–2008, it was not practically possible for Mestis teams to get promoted to the SM-liiga, which was closed in 2000, but it was possible to drop down to the Suomi-sarja instead. However,
KalPa was promoted to the SM-liiga in the spring of 2005, when the number of teams in the league was increased from 13 to 14 teams. For the 2008–2009 season, the SM-liiga qualifiers were brought back for a few seasons, but in the 2013–2014 season, the qualifiers were removed again. After the elimination of the qualifiers,
Vaasan Sport, KooKoo and
Mikkelin Jukurit have been promoted to the SM-liiga through the license system.
The promotion and relegation between the SM-liiga was brought back for the 2024–25 season.
Mestis got a new team, HK Zemgale/LLU, from Latvia for the 2022–23 season.
According to Mestis themselves, they are talking with other international clubs about joining the Mestis league.
Clubs
The team names are usually the traditional name of the club. All clubs are commonly known by the name of their team.
Oy and
Ab are the abbreviations for limited company in
Finnish language and
Swedish language respectively.
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| Kokkolan Hermes | Kokkolan Hermes Oy | Kokkola | Kokkola Ice Hall,
4,200 | 0 |
| IPK | IPK Hockey Oy | Iisalmi | Kankaan jäähalli,
1,358 | 1 |
| Jokerit | Jokerit Helsinki Oy | Helsinki | Helsinki Ice Hall, 8,200
(Potentially Helsinki Halli, 13,349) | 1 |
| Kiekko-Pojat | Joensuun Kiekko-Pojat Oy | Joensuu | Mehtimäki Ice Hall
/ref> | 0 |
| Ketterä | Imatran Ketterä Oy | Imatra | OmaSp Areena,
1,200 | 3 |
| KeuPa HT | KeuPa Hockey Oy | Keuruu | Keuruu Ice Hall,
1,100 | 1 |
| Kiekko-Vantaa | Kiekko-Vantaa Hockey Oy | Vantaa | Tikkurila Ice Hall,
2,004 | 0 |
| RoKi | RoKi Hockey Oy | Rovaniemi | Lappi Areena,
3,500 | 0 |
| TUTO Hockey | TUTO Hockey Oy | Turku | Kupittaa multipurpose hall,
3,000 | 1 |
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Past participants
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Jää-Kotkat, relegated to the Suomi-sarja in 2003.
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Hyvinkään Ahmat, relegated to the Suomi-sarja in 2004.
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KalPa, promoted to the SM-liiga in 2005.
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Haukat, resigned in 2006.
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HC Salamat, relegated to the Suomi-sarja in 2008.
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Kotkan Titaanit relegated to the Suomi-sarja in 2009.
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Kiekko-Laser went bankrupt in 2011.
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Vaasan Sport, promoted to the SM-liiga in 2014.
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HC Keski-Uusimaa was abandoned serial place in 2014.
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KooKoo, promoted to the SM-liiga in 2015.
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Jukurit, promoted to the SM-liiga in 2016.
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JYP-Akatemia, relegated to the Suomi-sarja and folded in 2017.
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Espoo United, went bankrupt in 2018.
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LeKi, did not receive a license in 2019.
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SaPKo, went bankrupt in 2022.
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HK Zemgale/LBTU, will not play in Mestis for the season 2023-24.
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Peliitat Heinola, went bankrupt in 2023 and did not receive a license to Mestis
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FPS, relegated to the Suomi-sarja in 2024.
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Kiekko-Espoo, promoted to the SM-liiga in 2024.
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KOOVEE, went bankrupt in 2024.
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Hokki, went bankrupt in 2025.
Mestis timeline
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Winners
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| 2001 | Jukurit | TuTo | Hermes | TuTo | | 2002 | Jukurit | KooKoo | KalPa | Jukurit | | 2003 | Jukurit | K-Vantaa | KooKoo | Jukurit | | 2004 | KalPa | Jukurit | Hermes | Jukurit | | 2005 | KalPa | Sport | TuTo | KalPa | | 2006 | Jukurit | Sport | TuTo | Jukurit | | 2007 | Hokki | Jukurit | Sport | Sport | | 2008 | TuTo | Hokki | Jukurit | TuTo | | 2009 | Sport | Jokipojat | Hokki | Jokipojat | | 2010 | Jokipojat | D-Team | KooKoo | KooKoo | | 2011 | Sport | Jukurit | D-Team | Jukurit | | 2012 | Sport | Jokipojat | KooKoo | Jukurit | | 2013 | Jukurit | KooKoo | TUTO Hockey | Jukurit | | 2014 | KooKoo | Jukurit | TUTO Hockey | TUTO Hockey | | 2015 | Jukurit | KooKoo | Hokki | Jukurit | | 2016 | Jukurit | Hokki | Jokipojat | Jukurit | | 2017 | SaPKo | K-Vantaa | Espoo-United | SaPKo | | 2018 | KeuPa HT | TUTO Hockey | SaPKo | KeuPa HT | | 2019 | Ketterä | KeuPa HT | TUTO Hockey | Hermes | | 2020 | Season was not finished due to the COVID-19 pandemic. No medals were awarded. | Ketterä | | 2021 | Ketterä | Hermes | IPK | Kiekko-Espoo | | 2022 | Ketterä | Kiekko-Espoo | RoKi | Ketterä | | 2023 | Kiekko-Espoo | Ketterä | RoKi | Kiekko-Espoo | | 2024 | IPK | Ketterä | Kiekko-Espoo | IPK | | 2025 | Jokerit | IPK | K-Vantaa | Jokerit | | 2026 | | | | |
Medal table:
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| Jukurit | 7 | 4 | 1 | | Sport | 3 | 2 | 1 | | Ketterä | 3 | 2 | 0 | | KalPa | 2 | 0 | 1 | | KooKoo | 1 | 3 | 3 | | TUTO Hockey | 1 | 2 | 5 | | Hokki | 1 | 2 | 2 | | Jokipojat | 1 | 2 | 1 | | K-Espoo | 1 | 1 | 1
| | KeuPa HT | 1 | 1 | 0 | | IPK | 1 | 0 | 1 | | SaPKo | 1 | 0 | 1 | | Jokerit | 1 | 0 | 0 | | K-Vantaa | 0 | 2 | 1 | | Hermes | 0 | 1 | 2 | | JYP-Akatemia | 0 | 1 | 1 | | RoKi | 0 | 0 | 2 | | Espoo United | 0 | 0 | 1 |
External links
Statistics
1 Tags 10/10 Page Rank 5 Page Refs 2s Time
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