2021–22 Mestis season

The 2021–22 Mestis season was the 22nd season of Mestis, the second highest level of ice hockey in Finland after Liiga. Therefore, this season there would be 14 teams.^[1]

2021–22 Mestis
League	Mestis
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	23 September 2021 – April 2022
Number of teams	14
Regular season
Best record	Ketterä
Runners-up	K-Espoo
Playoffs
Finals champions	Ketterä (3rd title)
Runners-up	Kiekko-Espoo

Clubs

Team	City	Home arena, capacity	Founded	Head coach
FPS	Forssa	Forssa Ice Hall, 3,000	1931	Asko Rantanen
Hermes	Kokkola	Kokkolan jäähalli, 4,200	1953	Jere Härkälä
Hokki	Kajaani	Kajaanin jäähalli, 2,372	1968	Pasi Räsänen
IPK	Iisalmi	Kankaan jäähalli, 1,358	1966	Niko Härkönen
JoKP	Joensuu	PKS Areena, 4,800	1953	Kari Martikainen
Ketterä	Imatra	Imatra Spa Areena, 1,200	1957	Tuomo Ropo
KeuPa HT	Keuruu	Keuruun Jäähalli, 1,100	1995	Tomas Westerlund
K-Espoo	Espoo	Espoo Metro Areena, 6,982	2018	Kim Hirschovits
K-Vantaa	Vantaa	Trio Areena, 2,004	1994	Mika Niskanen
KOOVEE	Tampere	Tampere Ice Stadium, 7,300	1929	Vesa Viitakoski
Peliitat	Heinola	Versowood Areena, 2,686	1984	Hannes Hyvönen
RoKi	Rovaniemi	Lappi Areena, 3,500	1979	Maso Lehtonen
SaPKo	Savonlinna	Talvisalo ice rink, 2,833	1929	Niko Eronen 7.10.2021 Juho Nykänen[2]
TUTO Hockey	Turku	Kupittaan jäähalli, 3,000	1929	Antti Virtanen

Regular season

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	PCT	Final Result
1	Ketterä	52	30	7	3	12	191	132	+59	.686	Advance to Quarterfinals
2	K-Espoo	52	26	9	4	13	158	126	+32	.641
3	JoKP	52	27	6	5	14	182	129	+53	.628
4	FPS	52	24	5	6	17	170	152	+18	.564
5	KeuPa HT	52	22	4	6	20	165	170	−5	.513
6	RoKi	52	19	8	7	18	152	161	−9	.513
7	Hokki	52	21	4	8	19	152	155	−3	.506	Advance to Wild-card round
8	IPK	52	18	8	6	20	143	151	−8	.487
9	Hermes	52	18	4	9	21	142	151	−9	.455
10	K-Vantaa	52	17	6	8	21	146	172	−26	.455
11	TUTO Hockey	52	18	5	5	24	145	145	0	.442	Qualification to relegation playoffs
12	SaPKo	52	17	5	5	25	143	159	−16	.423
13	Peliitat	52	12	9	5	26	132	163	−31	.378
14	KOOVEE	52	10	5	8	29	130	185	−55	.308

Source: Mestis

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

Playoffs

Playoffs are being played in four stages. Wild-card round is a best-of-3 series, with the quarter-finals, the semifinals and the final being best-of-7 series. The teams are reseeded after the first two stages, so that the best team by regular season performance to make the quarter-finals and the semifinals faces the worst team in the corresponding stage.

Bracket

	Wild-card round (best-of-3)					Quarter-finals (best-of-7)					Semi-finals (best-of-7)					Finals (best-of-7)
						1	Ketterä	4
	7	Hokki	2			8	IPK	1
	10	K-Vantaa	1								1	Ketterä	4
											6	RoKi	3
						2	K-Espoo	4			(Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round)
						7	Hokki	0
																1	Ketterä	4
																2	K-Espoo	1
						3	JoKP	1
	8	IPK	2			6	RoKi	4
	9	Hermes	0								2	K-Espoo	4			Bronze medal game
											4	FPS	2
						4	FPS	4								6	RoKi	1
						5	KeuPa HT	3								4	FPS	0

Wild-card round

Hokki – K-Vantaa 2-1 28.03.2022 Hokki K-Vantaa 3-0 30.03.2022 K-Vantaa Hokki 4-2 31.03.2022 Hokki K-Vantaa 3-2 Hokki won the series 2–1.

IPK – Hermes 2-0 28.03.2022 IPK Hermes 1-0 30.03.2022 Hermes IPK 2-3 OT IPK won the series 2–0.

Quarter-finals

Ketterä – IPK 4-1 02.04.2022 Ketterä IPK 8-1 04.04.2022 IPK Ketterä 2-4 06.04.2022 Ketterä IPK 6-2 08.04.2022 IPK Ketterä 4-2 09.04.2022 Ketterä IPK 5-3 Ketterä won the series 4–1. JoKP – RoKi 1-4 02.04.2022 JoKP RoKi 2-5 04.04.2022 RoKi JoKP 5-2 06.04.2022 JoKP RoKi 2-5 08.04.2022 RoKi JoKP 2-4 09.04.2022 JoKP RoKi 2-3 OT RoKi won the series 4–1.

K-Espoo – Hokki 4-0 03.04.2022 K-Espoo Hokki 6-4 04.04.2022 Hokki K-Espoo 1-2 OT 06.04.2022 K-Espoo Hokki 3-2 08.04.2022 Hokki K-Espoo 3-4 OT K-Espoo won the series 4–0. FPS – KeuPa HT 4-3 02.04.2022 FPS KeuPa HT 5-2 04.04.2022 KeuPa HT FPS 5-2 06.04.2022 FPS KeuPa HT 3-2 08.04.2022 KeuPa HT FPS 0-3 09.04.2022 FPS KeuPa HT 4-5 11.04.2022 KeuPa HT FPS 5-4 13.04.2022 FPS KeuPa HT 3-1 FPS won the series 4–3.

Semi-finals

Ketterä – RoKi 4-3 13.04.2022 Ketterä RoKi 7-0 15.04.2022 RoKi Ketterä 3-2 OT 17.04.2022 Ketterä RoKi 3-2 19.04.2022 RoKi Ketterä 4-3 OT2 21.04.2022 Ketterä RoKi 1-3 22.04.2022 RoKi Ketterä 1-4 24.04.2022 Ketterä RoKi 4-3 Ketterä won the series 4–3.

K-Espoo – FPS 4-2 15.04.2022 K-Espoo FPS 2-4 16.04.2022 FPS K-Espoo 2-1 18.04.2022 K-Espoo FPS 2-1 20.04.2022 FPS K-Espoo 2-4 22.04.2022 K-Espoo FPS 2-1 23.04.2022 FPS K-Espoo 1-2 OT K-Espoo won the series 4–2.

Bronze medal game

27 April 2022 18:30 EEST

FPS

2–3 OT2 (0–0, 2–1, 0–1) (OT: 0–0, 0–1)

RoKi

Forssa Ice Hall, Forssa Attendance: 912

Game reference
	Petrus Lintonen	Goalies	Vilho Heikkinen	Referees: Ville-Veikko Väkeväinen Janne Wuorenheimo Linesmen: Luka Mäkinen Niko Nurmio
	Rybchyk (Karlsson, Alapuranen) – 21:36 1–0 Kärjä (Ronkainen, Vainio) – 27:40 2–0 2–1 36:20 – Smedberg (Tumānovs, Poluvytnov) 2–2 41:32 – Sedlak (Huttunen, Poluvytnov) (PP) 2–3 82:51 – Canade (Järvelä, Kaarela)
	10 min	Penalties	16 min
	64	Shots	69

Finals

27 April 2022 18:30 EEST

Ketterä

4–1 (1–1, 1–0, 2–0) score in the series: 1–0

K-Espoo

Imatra Spa Areena, Imatra Attendance: 842

Game reference
	Santeri Lipiäinen	Goalies	Jani Lampinen	Referees: Henri Neva Mikko Silvennoinen Linesmen: Juho-Pekka Inkinen Teo Mäkinen
	0–1 08:50 – Turtiainen (Tuomaala) (PP1) Kettunen (Viskari, Karjalainen) (PP1) – 17:19 1–1 Luhanka (Liuksiala, Ruotsi) – 23:08 2–1 Shekhovtsov (Rämö, Stråka) – 45:04 3–1 Perttu (Kautiainen, Rikkilä) (PP1) – 51:45 4–1
	12 min	Penalties	16 min
	71	Shots	20

29 April 2022 18:30 EEST

K-Espoo

5–2 (1–2, 0–0, 4–0) score in the series: 1–1

Ketterä

Tapiolan urheilupuisto, Espoo Attendance: 2,301

Game reference
	Jani Lampinen	Goalies	Santeri Lipiäinen	Referees: Antti Hölli Jonne Mäkisalo Linesmen: Joonas Jalonen Miro Skinnarla
	0–1 04:06 – Stråka (Kautiainen, Rämö) 0–2 04:25 – Kettunen (Chizhikov) Ollikainen (Tuomaala, Keskitalo) – 05:35 1–2 Ollikainen (Takkunen) – 52:35 2–2 Turtiainen (Lemetyinen, Villanen) (PP1) – 55:57 3–2 Iisakka (EN) – 59:07 4–2 Pesonen (EN) – 59:54 5–2
	2 min	Penalties	4 min
	35	Shots	57

30 April 2022 17:00 EEST

Ketterä

3–0 (2–0, 0–0, 1–0) score in the series: 2–1

K-Espoo

Imatra Spa Areena, Imatra Attendance: 1,032

Game reference
	Santeri Lipiäinen	Goalies	Jani Lampinen	Referees: Jani Pesonen Ville-Veikko Väkeväinen Linesmen: Luka Mäkinen Niko Nurmio
	Rämö (Rikkilä, Perttu) (PP1) – 11:44 1–0 Perttu (Rikkilä) – 19:59 2–0 Korhonen – 43:10 3–0
	0 min	Penalties	8 min
	38	Shots	34

2 May 2022 18:30 EEST

K-Espoo

1–2 (0–1, 1–1, 0–0) score in the series: 1–3

Ketterä

Tapiolan urheilupuisto, Espoo Attendance: 2,514

Game reference
	Jani Lampinen	Goalies	Santeri Lipiäinen	Referees: Antti Hölli Jonne Mäkisalo Linesmen: Joonas Jalonen Miro Skinnarla
	0–1 04:43 – Kautiainen (Vertanen, Luhanka) Villanen (Hopponen, Turtiainen) (PP1) – 23:49 1–1 1–2 37:13 – Liuksiala (Kettunen, Haaparanta)
	6 min	Penalties	4 min
	29	Shots	36

4 May 2022 18:30 EEST

Ketterä

4–1 (1–1, 2–0, 1–0) score in the series: 4–1

K-Espoo

Imatra Spa Areena, Imatra Attendance: 1,350

Game reference
	Santeri Lipiäinen	Goalies	Jani Lampinen	Referees: Jani Pesonen Ville-Veikko Väkeväinen Linesmen: Luka Mäkinen Niko Nurmio
	0–1 15:34 – Rantaeskola (Tuomaala, Ollikainen) Kettunen (Vertanen, Haaparanta) – 18:49 1–1 Kautiainen (Kaksonen) – 22:08 2–1 Ruotsi (Liuksiala, Rämö) – 26:55 3–1 Viskari – 57:11 4–1
	8 min	Penalties	4 min
	39	Shots	29

Relegation

The bottom four teams will face the top two teams from Suomi-sarja in a double round-robin format. The four best placed get a place in Mestis for the next season.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Final Result
1	TUTO Hockey	10	9	0	0	1	47	20	+27	27	Qualified for 2022-2023 Mestis season
2	Peliitat	10	5	2	1	2	47	29	+18	20
3	SaPKo	10	3	3	1	3	39	34	+5	16
4	KOOVEE	10	4	0	1	5	34	32	+2	13
5	JHT Kalajoki	10	2	0	2	6	27	51	−24	8	Relegated to Suomi-sarja
6	D-Kiekko	10	0	2	2	6	23	51	−28	6

Source:

Final rankings

	Ketterä
	K-Espoo
	RoKi
4	FPS
5	JoKP
6	KeuPa HT
7	Hokki
8	IPK
9	Hermes
10	K-Vantaa
11	TUTO Hockey
12	SaPKo
13	Peliitat
14	KOOVEE