2023–24 Mestis season

The 2023–24 Mestis season was the 24th season of Mestis, the second level of ice hockey in Finland. 13 teams participated in the league. This season marked the return of Jokerit to Finnish hockey after 10 years in the KHL.^[1]

2023–24 Mestis season
League	Mestis
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	September 2023 – April 2024
Number of teams	13
TV partner(s)	C More
Regular Season
Best record	IPK
Runners-up	Ketterä
Promoted to Liiga	Kiekko-Espoo
Relegated to Suomi-sarja	FPS
Playoffs
Champions	IPK
Runners-up	Ketterä

Clubs

Updated 25 July 2023.

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	Tuukka Poikonen
Hokki	Kajaani	Kajaanin jäähalli, 2,372	1968	Pasi Räsänen
IPK	Iisalmi	Kankaan jäähalli, -	1966	Niko Härkönen
Jokerit	Helsinki	Keravan jäähalli, 2,000 Helsinki Ice Hall, 8,200	1967	Tero Määttä
JoKP	Joensuu	Mehtimäki Ice Hall, 4,800	1953	Kari Martikainen
Kiekko-Espoo	Espoo	Espoo Metro Areena, 6,900	2018	Tomas Westerlund
Ketterä	Imatra	Imatra Spa Areena, 1,300	1957	Tuomo Ropo
KeuPa HT	Keuruu	Keuruun Jäähalli, 1,100	1995	Sami Ryhänen
KOOVEE	Tampere	Tampere Ice Stadium, 7,300	1929	Miikka Kuusela
Kiekko-Vantaa	Vantaa	Trio Areena, 3,700	1994	Jani Manninen
RoKi	Rovaniemi	Lappi Areena, 3,500	1979	Maso Lehtonen
TUTO Hockey	Turku	Rajupaja Areena, 3,000	1929	Hermanni Vidman

Team changes

The following team changes have happened for the 2023–24 season:

To Mestis

Promoted from Suomi-sarja

• None

Relegated from Liiga

• None as Liiga is closed^[2]

Other

• Jokerit from the KHL

From Mestis

Promoted to Liiga

• None as Liiga is closed^[2]

Relegated to Suomi-sarja

• None

Other

• HK Zemgale/LLU did not receive a license^[3]
• Peliitat went bankrupt and thus did not receive a license^[4]

Regular season

The regular season consists of 48 matches.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Final Result
1	IPK	48	32	4	4	8	205	123	+82	108	Advance to Quarterfinals
2	Ketterä	48	29	5	1	13	192	115	+77	98
3	Jokerit	48	23	10	5	10	179	120	+59	94
4	K-Espoo	48	26	2	5	15	166	130	+36	87
5	TUTO Hockey	48	22	6	7	13	145	142	+3	85
6	Hermes	48	22	4	6	16	180	147	+33	80
7	JoKP	48	18	5	8	17	146	158	−12	72	Advance to Wild-card round
8	RoKi	48	18	6	5	19	165	177	−12	71
9	K-Vantaa	48	19	3	7	19	164	158	+6	70
10	KOOVEE	48	13	6	3	26	122	174	−52	54
11	KeuPa HT	48	11	7	5	25	122	180	−58	52
12	Hokki	48	9	4	6	29	112	166	−54	41	Qualification to relegation playoffs
13	FPS	48	5	3	3	37	95	203	−108	24

Source: Mestis

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

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.^[3]

Bracket

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

Promotion and relegation

Promotion

As the champion of Mestis in season 2022-23, Liiga decided to promote Kiekko-Espoo for the Liiga Season 2024-25.^[5]

Relegation

In the first round of relegation playoffs the 12th and 13th seated teams will play against each other. The loser will be relegated to the Suomi-sarja for next season.

In the second round of relegation playoffs, the winner of the first round will play against the champion of Suomi-sarja. The winner of this round will play next season in Mestis and the loser will be in Suomi-sarja.

Both 1st and 2nd rounds are played as a best-of-7 series.^[3]

	1st round of relegation playoffs					2nd round of relegation playoffs
						1	Hokki (Stays in Mestis)	4
	12	Hokki	4			2	Pyry (Stays in Suomi-sarja)	0
	13	FPS (relegated)	1