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

SM-liiga The Liiga, colloquially called 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 Mest ...

, the top level of

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, since the league's formation in 1975. The title was won by Ässät Pori who defeated Tappara Tampere 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. The Top 10 made the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

, with the top six advancing straight to the quarter-finals, and teams between 7th and 10th positions playing wild card round for the final two spots. The last-placed team Ilves had to play best-of-seven series against

Mestis 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 ...

winner Jukurit.

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 Liiga seasons