The Kanada-malja , or Poika (Literally " Boy " or " Son "), is an ice hockey club championship trophy , awarded annually to the winner of the Finnish SM-liiga playoffs . Kanada-malja is Finnish for "Canada Bowl"; the trophy is so named because it was donated by Canada's Finnish community in 1950.
24-662: The Kanada-malja was originally given for the winner of the SM-sarja , but in 1975 when SM-liiga replaced the SM-sarja, the Kanada-malja has been given to the SM-liiga winner. In 1991 a copy of the Kanada-malja was made and the original was given for display at Suomen Jääkiekkomuseo ("Finnish Ice Hockey Museum"). After the final game, the champion team of the playoffs is presented with the original Kanada-malja, but afterward
48-518: Is a common abbreviation for Suomen mestaruus , "Finnish Champion". The SM-liiga was established in 1975 to replace the amateur competition SM-sarja. Kalervo Kummola was elected to become the first chief executive officer of the SM-liiga, who served until 1987. The SM-liiga wasn't established unter the Finnish ice Hockey Association that oversees all the other leagues and cups in the country. The playoffs are introduced in Finnish ice hockey for
72-591: Is completed around mid-March and preliminary playoffs ensue almost immediately. The playoffs are completed by mid-April, so that all players are available for the World Championships . The winners of the playoffs receive gold medals and the Kanada-malja , the championship trophy of the Liiga. The winners of the regular season receive a trophy ( Harry Lindbladin muistopalkinto ) as well, though it
96-550: Is considered less prestigious than the bronze medals of the playoffs. These are the top-ten regular season point-scorers in SM-liiga history. Figures are updated after each completed SM-liiga regular season. Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points These are the top-ten regular season point-scorers for import players in SM-liiga history. Figures are updated after each completed SM-liiga regular season. Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points These are
120-826: The Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland . The league comprises 16 teams from all around Finland with relegation and promotion between the Mestis . The winner of the Liiga playoffs is awarded the Kanada-malja at the end of each season. Teams from the Liiga participate in the IIHF 's annual Champions Hockey League (CHL), competing for
144-479: The 1960s, two leading Finnish household machine factories UPO and Rosenlew established their own ice hockey teams, Upon Pallo and Rosenlewin Urheilijat-38 . These teams were run by the money of the owning companies and the players were bought from the neighbouring teams. This would be the first steps towards professionalism. By the 1970s the concept of amateur ice hockey was turning out of date as there
168-715: The European Trophy. Participation is based on the strength of the various leagues in Europe (excluding the European/Asian Kontinental Hockey League ). The Liiga was established in 1975 to replace the former SM-sarja, which was fundamentally an amateur competition. The Liiga is not directly overseen by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association , but the league and association have an agreement of cooperation. SM
192-478: The Liiga qualifiers were replaced by a license system where the winner of Mestis can apply for a Liiga license. If granted, the club will be promoted to the league after a transition period of one season. The league changed its marketing name to just Liiga for the 2013–14 season , and introduced a new logo to match. The 2019–20 Liiga season was terminated on March 13, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to
216-655: The SM-liiga is considered one of the best leagues in Europe and the world along with the Swedish Hockey League and behind the Kontinental Hockey League . Going into the 2024–25 CHL season , the Liiga was ranked the No. 3 league in Europe, allowing them to send their top four teams to compete in the CHL. The team names are usually the traditional name of the club. All clubs are commonly known by
240-429: The beginning. If the game is tied after three shooters, the shootout will be decided by individual shooters against one another until one scores and the other does not. Scoring: A win in regulation time is worth three points, a win by sudden death overtime two points, a loss by sudden death overtime one point and a loss in regulation time zero points. Teams will be ranked by points, and teams tied by points are ranked by
264-458: The criteria required for a place in the league. The league qualifiers were brought back for the 2008–09 season. However, as a condition for promotion, the Mestis team that cleared the qualifiers should have bought the shares of the losing Liiga team at the price determined by the league. Otherwise, the losing Liiga team would have continued playing in the league. Starting from the 2013–2014 season,
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#1732794540715288-413: The cup is returned to the museum and replaced with the copy. The original trophy is made of nickel silver and the copy is entirely made of silver . The winner of the regular season title receives the " Harry Lindbladin muistopalkinto " (Harry Lindblad Memorial Trophy), which is not considered as prestigious as the Kanada-malja. The Kanada-malja was donated by Canada's Finnish community in 1950 and it
312-406: The decision, the final round of the regular season and the playoffs were not played, and the 2020 Finnish hockey championship was not awarded. For the 2024–25 season, Kiekko-Espoo were promoted to the Liiga as the league expanded to 16 teams. The league was opened for relegation and promotion between the Mestis for the first time since 2013. According to a 2023 article by The Hockey Writers ,
336-411: The first time during the inaugural SM-liiga season. At first there were 10 clubs in the SM-liiga. The league expanded to 12 teams in the 1988–89 season. In 2000, the SM-liiga was expanded by one team, after which the league was closed so that teams could not drop out of the league or move up from a lower league. For the 2005–2006 season, the Mestis winner KalPa was promoted to the series, which met
360-484: The greater number of wins in regulation. Playoffs: The four best teams at the conclusion of regular season proceed directly to quarter-finals. Teams placing between fifth and twelfth (inclusive) will play preliminary play-offs best-out-of-five – the four winners take the last four slots to quarter-finals. All series since then are best-of-seven. Losers of the semi-finals play a bronze medal match. Teams are paired up for each round according to regular season results so that
384-415: The highest-ranking team will play against the lowest-ranking, second highest against the second lowest, and so on. Higher-ranking teams get home advantage. Each playoff match consists of a 60-minute regulation time which in the event of a tie is followed by extra 20-minute periods of 5-on-5 sudden death overtime, in which the first team to score wins. Relegation: The 16th and 15th placed teams will play in
408-465: The name of their team. Oy and Ab are the abbreviations for limited company in Finnish and Swedish respectively. Regular season: All teams play 60 matches. Each match consists of 60 minutes regulation time, and in the event of a tie, the winner is decided by a three-on-three sudden death, 5-minute overtime . Ties after overtime are decided by a shootout , where each team has three shooters in
432-561: The playout series to decide which team plays against the Mestis champion. Scheduling: The regular season begins around mid-September. It takes a one-and-half-week break around the end of October to the beginning of November, when Team Finland competes in Karjala Tournament . There is a one-week Christmas break. During Winter Olympic years, a break is reserved for the Winter Olympic Games . The regular season
456-495: The time of SM-sarja. The lowest number of participating teams was during the 1935 SM-sarja season when there was 3 teams. The most common number of participating teams was 12. Since 1944-45 SM-sarja season there was relegations for lowest-ranking teams of each season. In the relegations the lowest-ranking teams either faced the winner of the 1. Divisioona (1st Division) or was straightly relegated from SM-sarja. The first SM-sarja season took place in 1928. The first championship
480-524: The trophy have been added two times. This list only includes the SM-liiga champions. The trophy has also been awarded in the SM-sarja . SM-sarja SM-Sarja was the top level of ice hockey in Finland from 1928 to 1975. SM-sarja is a common abbreviation for Suomen mestaruussarja , "Finnish Championship Series". There was variable number of teams playing for the Finnish championship during
504-417: Was commercials on players uniforms and bigger money involved in teams and in 1975 SM-sarja played its last season and was replaced by SM-liiga (Finnish Championship League) for 1976 season. The last team to win the Finnish championship under SM-sarja was Tappara . Between 1928 and 1933 SM-sarja Championship was contested under Cup rules. After 1933 SM-sarja was contested as a league. In 1951 SM-sarja
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#1732794540715528-724: Was competed as a cup. Viipurin Reipas was the winning team and they became the first Finnish ice hockey champions. SM-sarja was cancelled in 1930 because of bad winter in Finland. SM-sarja was also cancelled in 1940, 1942 and during the 1944 season because of the Winter War and the Continuation War SM-sarja was played in amateur principles so the clubs were not supposed to pay their players beyond compensation for lost wages. However, as ice hockey evolved in Finland some teams started to be handled like Businesses . In
552-692: Was divided to 2 groups and the Play Offs were introduced. The SM-sarja moved back to one group play in 1959 though the two group-system returned for 1965–66 SM-sarja season . Teams in bold still play in SM-liiga . Until 1955 the Winner of the SM-sarja received the Aaro Kivilinna memorial award . After 1955 the winner was given the Kanada-malja ("Canada Cup") as the official rotating award of SM-sarja. SM-liiga The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), colloquially called
576-400: Was first awarded in 1951 to the champion of the SM-sarja . The first champions were Ilves Tampere . The most Kanada-malja champions are held by Tappara Tampere , with 20 championships. From 1951 to 1975, only the name of the club and the year of the championship were engraved into the trophy, but after the establishment of the SM-liiga , players names have been engraved on it. New layers to
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