Mestis (from , meaning 'Championship series', stylized as MEST1S) is the second-highest men's

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 ...

league in

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, ...

. The league was established by the

Finnish Ice Hockey Association The Finnish Ice Hockey Association (, ) is the sport governing body, governing body of ice hockey in Finland. Since the late 1980s, Finland has enjoyed a period of success on the international stage and, , the Finland men's national ice hockey t ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

to replace the

I-divisioona I-Divisioona was the second tier of ice hockey in Finland from 1974 to 2000. It replaced the previous league Suomensarja that ran from 1936 to 1974. I-Divisioona was known as the Finland-liiga (1992–1994) and the Fazer liiga (1994–1996) due ...

('First Division'). Being promoted to

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 ...

is possible if a Mestis team beats a SM-liiga club in the qualification series and matches all the criteria set by the SM-liiga. Mestis, however, is an open league where relegation and promotion are possible with the 3rd league,

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 Provi ...

. Mestis is also the highest league governed by 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 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 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,

Sport Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...

, KooKoo and 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. HK Zemgale had never played in a Finnish league before and was added to Mestis to bring more entertainment and internationalization to Finnish ice hockey. 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

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in Finnish and Swedish respectively.

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, resigned in 2006. * HC Salamat, relegated to the Suomi-sarja in 2008. * Kotkan Titaanit relegated to the Suomi-sarja in 2009. * Kiekko-Laser went bankrupt in 2011. *

Vaasan Sport Sport, known by its full name as Hockey Team Vaasan Sport Oy or simply Vaasan Sport, is a Finnish ice hockey team playing in Liiga, and is based at the 5,200-capacity Vaasa Arena in Vaasa. The team was established in 1939 as IF Sport (Idrottsf� ...

, promoted to the SM-liiga in 2014. * HC Keski-Uusimaa was abandoned serial place in 2014. * KooKoo, promoted to the SM-liiga in 2015. * Jukurit, promoted to the SM-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 ...

, relegated to the Suomi-sarja and folded in 2017. * Espoo United, went bankrupt in 2018. * LeKi, did not receive a license in 2019. * SaPKo, went bankrupt in 2022. * HK Zemgale/LBTU, will not play in Mestis for the season 2023-24. * Peliitat, went bankrupt in 2023 and did not receive a license to Mestis * FPS, relegated to the Suomi-sarja in 2024. *

Kiekko-Espoo Kiekko-Espoo is a Finnish professional ice hockey club founded in 2018 as a continuation of the Kiekko-Espoo team originally founded in 1984. Kiekko-Espoo men's team plays in the Liiga, where they were promoted for the 2024–25 Liiga season, 20 ...

, promoted to the SM-liiga in 2024. * KOOVEE, went bankrupt in 2024. *

Hokki Kajaanin Hokki was a Finnish ice hockey team based at Kajaani. The team was founded in 1968 and folded in 2025 due to bankruptcy. The last season of Hokki was the 2024-25 Mestis season where they positioned last. The club Hokki was promoted f ...

, went bankrupt in 2025.

Mestis timeline

Winners

Medal table:

References

External links

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

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