2017–18 Mestis season
# 2017–18 Mestis season

The 2017–18 Mestis season is the 18th season of Mestis, the second highest level of ice hockey in Finland after Liiga. Imatran Ketterä was promoted from Suomi-sarja at the end of last season, while JYP-Akatemia and Hokki faced bankruptcy and were relegated.

## Clubs

| Team | City | Home arena, capacity | Founded | Head coach |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Espoo United | Espoo | Espoo Metro Areena, 6,982 | 2016 | Niko Marttila |
| Hermes | Kokkola | Kokkolan jäähalli, 4,200 | 1953 | Antti Karhula 14.12.2017 Ari-Pekka Pajuluoma |
| IPK | Iisalmi | Kankaan jäähalli, 1,358 | 1966 | Janne Sinkkonen |
| Jokipojat | Joensuu | Mehtimäki Ice Hall, 4,800 | 1953 | Jouni Varis |
| Ketterä | Imatra | Imatra Spa Areena, 1,300 | 1957 | Maso Lehtonen |
| KeuPa HT | Keuruu | Keuruun Jäähalli, 1,100 | 1995 | Mikko Heiskanen |
| Kiekko-Vantaa | Vantaa | Trio Areena, 2,004 | 1994 | Pasi Arvonen |
| LeKi | Lempäälä | Masku Areena, 900 | 1904 | Miikka Kuusela |
| Peliitat | Heinola | Versowood Areena, 2,686 | 1984 | Santeri Heiskanen 1.3.2018 Jani Keinänen |
| RoKi | Rovaniemi | Lappi Areena, 3,500 | 1979 | Petri Karjalainen |
| SaPKo | Savonlinna | Talvisalo ice rink, 2,833 | 1929 | Pasi Räsänen |
| TUTO Hockey | Turku | Marli Areena, 3,000 | 1929 | Miika Elomo |

## Regular season

Top eight advance to the Mestis playoffs while the bottom two face the top two teams from Suomi-sarja for a relegation playoff. Since the highest series of Finnish hockey is a closed series no team will be promoted to Liiga.

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Final Result |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | KeuPa HT | 50 | 30 | 2 | 3 | 15 | 182 | 132 | +50 | 97 | Advance to playoffs |
| 2 | SaPKo | 50 | 24 | 9 | 6 | 11 | 175 | 138 | +37 | 96 | Advance to playoffs |
| 3 | Ketterä | 50 | 25 | 4 | 5 | 16 | 180 | 159 | +21 | 88 | Advance to playoffs |
| 4 | Kiekko-Vantaa | 50 | 21 | 6 | 5 | 18 | 150 | 151 | −1 | 80 | Advance to playoffs |
| 5 | TUTO Hockey | 50 | 21 | 4 | 8 | 17 | 166 | 129 | +37 | 79 | Advance to playoffs |
| 6 | Jokipojat | 50 | 21 | 4 | 5 | 20 | 156 | 140 | +16 | 76 | Advance to playoffs |
| 7 | IPK | 50 | 19 | 5 | 5 | 21 | 141 | 161 | −20 | 72 | Advance to playoffs |
| 8 | LeKi | 50 | 16 | 9 | 5 | 20 | 146 | 149 | −3 | 71 | Advance to playoffs |
| 9 | Espoo United | 50 | 18 | 6 | 3 | 23 | 141 | 147 | −6 | 69 | |
| 10 | RoKi | 50 | 17 | 5 | 7 | 21 | 150 | 171 | −21 | 68 | |
| 11 | Hermes | 50 | 14 | 4 | 9 | 23 | 142 | 186 | −44 | 59 | Qualification to the relegation playoffs |
| 12 | Peliitat | 50 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 30 | 153 | 219 | −66 | 45 | Qualification to the relegation playoffs |

Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Penalty minutes.

## Playoffs

Playoffs are being played in three stages. Each stage is a best-of-7 series. The teams are reseeded after the quarterfinals, so that the best team by regular season performance to make the semifinals faces the worst team in the semifinals.

### Bracket

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Finals | Finals | Finals |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | KeuPa HT | 4 | | | | | | |
| 8 | LeKi | 1 | | | | | | |
| 8 | LeKi | 1 | 1 | KeuPa HT | 4 | | | |
| | | | 6 | Jokipojat | 0 | | | |
| 2 | SaPKo | 4 | 6 | Jokipojat | 0 | | | |
| 7 | IPK | 2 | | | | | | |
| 7 | IPK | 2 | | | | 1 | KeuPa HT | 4 |
| | | | | | | 5 | TUTO Hockey | 2 |
| 3 | Ketterä | 0 | | | | | | | 5 | TUTO Hockey | 2 |
| 6 | Jokipojat | 4 | | | |
| 6 | Jokipojat | 4 | 2 | SaPKo | 3 | Third place | Third place | Third place |
| | | | 5 | TUTO Hockey | 4 |
| 4 | Kiekko-Vantaa | 1 | 5 | TUTO Hockey | 4 | 2 | SaPKo | 1 |
| 5 | TUTO Hockey | 4 | | | | 6 | Jokipojat | 0 |

### Quarterfinals

KeuPa HT – LeKi 4-1 :

| 10.3.2018 | KeuPa HT | LeKi | 7-1 ref |
| - | - | - | - |
| 12.3.2018 | LeKi | KeuPa HT | 2-3 OT1 ref |
| 14.3.2018 | KeuPa HT | LeKi | 2-0 ref |
| 16.3.2018 | LeKi | KeuPa HT | 2-1 OT2 ref |
| 17.3.2018 | KeuPa HT | LeKi | 4-0 ref |
| KeuPa HT wins the series 4-1. ||||

Ketterä – Jokipojat 0-4 :

| 10.3.2018 | Ketterä | Jokipojat | 3-5 ref |
| - | - | - | - |
| 12.3.2018 | Jokipojat | Ketterä | 5-3 ref |
| 14.3.2018 | Ketterä | Jokipojat | 0-3 ref |
| 16.3.2018 | Jokipojat | Ketterä | 4-2 ref |
| Jokipojat wins the series 4-0. ||||

SaPKo – IPK 4-2 :

| 10.3.2018 | SaPKo | IPK | 7-3 ref |
| - | - | - | - |
| 12.3.2018 | IPK | SaPKo | 6-3 ref |
| 14.3.2018 | SaPKo | IPK | 4-1 ref |
| 16.3.2018 | IPK | SaPKo | 7-6 ref |
| 17.3.2018 | SaPKo | IPK | 6-3 ref |
| 19.3.2018 | IPK | SaPKo | 4-5 OT1 ref |
| SaPKo wins the series 4-2. ||||

Kiekko-Vantaa – TUTO Hockey 1-4 :

| 10.3.2018 | Kiekko-Vantaa | TUTO Hockey | 3-2 OT1 ref |
| - | - | - | - |
| 12.3.2018 | TUTO Hockey | Kiekko-Vantaa | 6-2 ref |
| 14.3.2018 | Kiekko-Vantaa | TUTO Hockey | 2-3 ref |
| 16.3.2018 | TUTO Hockey | Kiekko-Vantaa | 3-0 ref |
| 17.3.2018 | Kiekko-Vantaa | TUTO Hockey | 1-2 ref |
| TUTO Hockey wins the series 4-1. ||||

### Semifinals

KeuPa HT – Jokipojat 4-0 :

| 23.3.2018 | KeuPa HT | Jokipojat | 3-2 OT1 ref |
| - | - | - | - |
| 24.3.2018 | Jokipojat | KeuPa HT | 1-2 ref |
| 26.3.2018 | KeuPa HT | Jokipojat | 7-2 ref |
| 28.3.2018 | Jokipojat | KeuPa HT | 2-3 ref |
| KeuPa HT wins the series 4-0. ||||

SaPKo – TUTO Hockey 3-4 :

| 23.3.2018 | SaPKo | TUTO Hockey | 4-3 OT1 ref |
| - | - | - | - |
| 24.3.2018 | TUTO Hockey | SaPKo | 4-3 OT1 ref |
| 27.3.2018 | SaPKo | TUTO Hockey | 5-3 ref |
| 29.3.2018 | TUTO Hockey | SaPKo | 2-1 ref |
| 31.3.2018 | SaPKo | TUTO Hockey | 1-2 ref |
| 1.4.2018 | TUTO Hockey | SaPKo | 1-2 ref |
| 3.4.2018 | SaPKo | TUTO Hockey | 1-3 ref |
| TUTO Hockey wins the series 4-3. ||||

### Finals

KeuPa HT wins the series 4-2.

## Relegation playoffs

The bottom two teams will face the top two teams from Suomi-sarja for a best-of-7 series were the winners will get a place in Mestis for the next season.

Hermes – KOOVEE 4-1 :

| 16.3.2018 | Hermes | KOOVEE | 1-3 ref |
| - | - | - | - |
| 17.3.2018 | KOOVEE | Hermes | 0-4 ref |
| 21.3.2018 | Hermes | KOOVEE | 4-2 ref |
| 23.3.2018 | KOOVEE | Hermes | 0-3 ref |
| 24.3.2018 | Hermes | KOOVEE | 2-0 ref |
| Hermes wins the series 4-1 and avoids relegation. ||||

Peliitat – JHT 4-0 :

| 16.3.2018 | Peliitat | JHT | 4-2 ref |
| - | - | - | - |
| 17.3.2018 | JHT | Peliitat | 0-8 ref |
| 21.3.2018 | Peliitat | JHT | 4-1 ref |
| 23.3.2018 | JHT | Peliitat | 1-6 ref |
| Peliitat wins the series 4-0 and avoids relegation. ||||

No team got relegated from or promoted to Mestis for the next season.

