Mestis, is the second-highest ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 league in Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

.

The league was established in 2000

2000 in sports

2000 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Hermann Maier, Austria** Women's overall season champion: Renate Götschl, Austria-American football:...

 to replace the first division. Since 2000, Mestis has been the highest hockey league in Finland that can be reached with playing merits only; the SM-liiga

SM-liiga

The SM-liiga is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. As of March 2008, it is ranked by the IIHF as the second strongest league in Europe. It was created in 1975 to replace the SM-sarja, which was fundamentally an amateur league. The SM-liiga is not directly overseen by the Finnish Ice...

 was closed (to teams being relegated or promoted) in 2000. After the 2004-05 season, KalPa

KalPa

The Kalevan Pallo is an ice hockey team in the SM-liiga. They play in Kuopio, Finland at the Niiralan monttu.-Team history:Established in 1929, the full name of the company that runs the representative team is KalPa Hockey Oy. The majority of the company is owned by NHL players Sami Kapanen and...

 was promoted to the SM-liiga

SM-liiga

The SM-liiga is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. As of March 2008, it is ranked by the IIHF as the second strongest league in Europe. It was created in 1975 to replace the SM-sarja, which was fundamentally an amateur league. The SM-liiga is not directly overseen by the Finnish Ice...

, and the league was re-opened in the 2008-09 season.

Clubs

Team	City	Home arena	Founded	Head coach
Hokki	Kajaani Kajaani Kajaani is a town and municipality in Finland.It is the capital of the Kainuu region. It is located southeast of Oulujärvi , which drains to the Gulf of Bothnia along the Oulujoki . There are inhabitants and city surface area is of which is water. The population density is . The town is...	Kajaanin jäähalli, 2372	1968	Petri Mattila
Jokipojat	Joensuu Joensuu Joensuu is a city and municipality in North Karelia in eastern Finland. It is located in the province of Eastern Finland and is part of North Karelia region. It was founded in 1848...	Mehtimäki Ice Hall Mehtimäki Ice Hall Mehtimäki Ice Stadium is an indoor arena located in Joensuu, Finland. It is the home arena for Jokipojat of the Mestis and Joensuun Kataja's figure skaters.... , 4800	1953	Mikko Haapakoski Mikko Haapakoski Mikko Haapakoski is a retired professional ice hockey defender. Haapakoski won silver in 1986 and bronze in 1987 in the Finnish national league, and was signed by the Detroit Red Wings in 1987. However, they never played him in North America.-External links:...
Jukurit Mikkelin Jukurit Mikkelin Jukurit is an ice hockey team in the Mestis. They play in Mikkeli, Finland, at the Kalevankankaan jäähalli. The team has won 4 league championships .-History:...	Mikkeli Mikkeli Mikkeli is a town and municipality in Finland. It is located in what used to be the province of Eastern Finland and is part of the Southern Savonia region. The municipality has a population of and covers an area of of which is water...	Kalevankankaan jäähalli, 4500	1970	Jarno Pikkarainen
JYP-Akatemia D Team JYP-Akatemia is an ice hockey team from Jyväskylä, Finland, playing in the Mestis league. It plays its home matches in Synergia-areena. The teams former names include Jyväskylän Lohi , Diskos , D-Kiekko and D Team...	Jyväskylä Jyväskylä Jyväskylä is the capital of Central Finland and the largest city on the Finnish Lakeland, north-east of Tampere and north of Helsinki, on northern coast of lake Päijänne. The city has been continuously one of the most rapidly growing cities in Finland since World War II. The city is surrounded...	Synergia-areena Jyväskylän jäähalli Synergia-areena is an arena in Jyväskylä, Finland. It is primarily used for ice hockey, and is the home arena of JYP and D Team.The arena originally opened in 1982 and was then known as Jyväskylän jäähalli. It was renovated and renamed in 2008. The capacity of the arena is 4,628 people.... , 4500	1974	Jukka Ahvenjärvi
Kiekko-Laser Kiekko-Laser Kiekko-Laser is a Finnish ice hockey team from Oulu Finland. Team rose to Mestis after beating RoKi in a rematch at Mestis qualification round in the end of 2009-2010 season.-Current Team 2011-2012:-Coaching:*Head Coach Mikko Manner...	Oulu Oulu Oulu is a city and municipality of inhabitants in the region of Northern Ostrobothnia, in Finland. It is the most populous city in Northern Finland and the sixth most populous city in the country. It is one of the northernmost larger cities in the world....	Oulun Energia Areena Oulun Energia Areena Oulun Energia Areena is an arena in the Raksila district of Oulu, in Finland. It is primarily used for ice hockey, and is the home arena of Kärpät. It opened in 1975 and holds 6,612 people. The arena's former name was Raksilan jäähalli... , 6614	2005	Mikko Manner
Kiekko-Vantaa Kiekko-Vantaa Kiekko-Vantaa is an ice hockey team from Vantaa, Finland, playing in the Mestis league. It plays its home games in Valtti-areena.-Notable players: Ilari Filppula Valtteri Filppula Carlo Grünn Juha Kaunismäki Antti Niemi Erkki Rajamäki Joonas Vihko Hannu Väisänen Joonas Rönnberg Juha Koivisto Sami...	Vantaa Vantaa Vantaa is a city and municipality in Finland. Helsinki, Vantaa, Espoo and Kauniainen make up the Helsinki Metropolitan Area.Vantaa, with its population of , is the fourth most populated city of Finland. The biggest airport in Finland, the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, is located there...	Valtti-areena, 3700	1994	Samu Kuitunen
KooKoo Kouvolan Edustuskiekko KooKoo is a Finnish ice hockey team based at Kouvolan jäähalli , Kouvola. Established in 1965. Full name of the club is Kouvolan Edustuskiekko.-Current Team:-Retired numbers:* 36 Mikko Outinen...	Kouvola Kouvola Kouvola is a town and municipality in southeastern Finland. It is located northeast of the capital, Helsinki.The city has a population of and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is ....	Kouvolan jäähalli, 6000	1965	Ismo Lehkonen
LeKi Lempäälän Kisa Lempäälän Kisa is an ice hockey team from Lempäälä, Finland. They play currently in the Mestis league, the second top league in Finland after Sm-liiga. Their home rink is Masku Arena holding currently only 900 people.-Retired numbers:...	Lempäälä Lempäälä Lempäälä is a municipality in southwestern Finland with inhabitants . Lempäälä is located south of the city of Tampere. The municipality covers an area of of which is water...	Masku Areena, 900	1904	Marko Keskinen
Peliitat	Heinola Heinola Heinola is a town and a municipality of inhabitants located in the Province of Southern Finland. Heinola is perhaps best known for its summer activities such as the Sauna-sitting World Championships.-History:...	Versowood Areena, 2975	1984	Janne Sinkkonen
SaPKo SaPKo Savonlinnan Pallokerho is an ice hockey team from Savonlinna, Finland, playing in the Mestis league. It plays its home matches in Talvisalon jäähalli.The sports club Savonlinnan Pallokerho was founded in 1929...	Savonlinna Savonlinna Savonlinna is a town and a municipality of inhabitants in the southeast of Finland, in the heart of the Saimaa lake region. The Finnish name of the town means "Castle of Savonia" and the Swedish name means "Newcastle".- History :...	Talvisalon Gigantti-areena, 2833	1929	Pekka Tirkkonen
Vaasan Sport Sport (Vaasa) Sport, known by its full name as Hockey Team Vaasan Sport OY, is a Finnish ice hockey team based at Vaasa Arena in Vaasa. The team was established in 1939 as IF Sport .- History :Vaasan Sport was founded in 1939...	Vaasa Vaasa Vaasa is a city on the west coast of Finland. It received its charter in 1606, during the reign of Charles IX of Sweden and is named after the Royal House of Vasa...	Vaasa Arena Vaasa Arena Vaasa Arena is an arena in Vaasa, Finland. It is primarily used for ice hockey, and is the home arena of Sport. It opened in 1971 and holds 4,448 people, but plans are ready to expand the capacity. Some extra seats were installed before the SM-league qualification series in spring 2009.The arena... , 4448	1939	Pasi Räsänen
TUTO Hockey TuTo TuTo is a Finnish ice hockey team based at the new Kupittaan jäähalli , Turku. Established in 1929. TuTo plays in Turku, Finland, and is one of two clubs in that city . Full name of the club is TuTo Hockey...	Turku Turku Turku is a city situated on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River. It is located in the region of Finland Proper. It is believed that Turku came into existence during the end of the 13th century which makes it the oldest city in Finland...	Kupittaan jäähalli Kupittaan jäähalli Kupittaan jäähalli is an arena in Turku, Finland. It is primarily used for ice hockey, and is the home arena of TuTo. It was originally opened in 1973 and held 5,500 people.-History:... , 3000	1929	Kari Makkonen Kari Makkonen Kari Makkonen is a retired professional ice hockey player who played in the SM-liiga for Ässät.-Playing career:Kari Makkonen played his entire SM-liiga career for Pori based team Ässät....

Winners

Year	Champion	Silver	Bronze
2001	Jukurit	TuTo	Hermes
2002	Jukurit	KooKoo	KalPa
2003	Jukurit	K-Vantaa	KooKoo
2004	KalPa	Jukurit	Hermes
2005	KalPa	Sport	TuTo
2006	Jukurit	Sport	TuTo
2007	Hokki	Jukurit	Sport
2008	TuTo	Hokki	Jukurit
2009	Sport	Jokipojat	Hokki
2010	Jokipojat	D-Team	KooKoo
2011	Sport	Jukurit	D-Team