LIIGA WAGERS

The Liiga (known as SM-liiga from 1975 to 2013, and commonly called the Finnish Elite League) is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland.

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 Hockey Association, but the league and association have an agreement of cooperation. SM is a common abbreviation for Suomen mestaruus or "Finnish championship".

On 9 August 2013, the league dropped the SM, and simply became Liiga.

A total of 165 teams compete in Liiga. Each team plays a total of 60 matches during the regular season, a quadruple round robin with extra local double rounds (every team plays four matches against every other team, plus two or four extra matches against defined local opponents).

The 2010–11 season also saw the inaugural Talviklassikko outdoor game at Helsinki's Olympic Stadium. In the Helsinki derby, HIFK defeated Jokerit 4–3.

The six best teams at the conclusion of regular season proceed directly to quarter-finals. Teams placing between seventh and tenth (inclusive) will play preliminary play-offs best-out-of-three – the two winners take the last two slots to quarter-finals. Starting from the season 2007–2008 all series since then are best-of-seven. Losers of the semi-finals play a bronze medal match.

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Teams are paired up for each round according to regular season results, so that the highest-ranking team will play against the lowest-ranking, second highest against the second lowest, and so on. Higher-ranking teams play the first match at home, then by turns away, home, away, etc. Each play-off match consists of a 60-minute regulation time which in the event of a tie is followed by extra 20-minute periods of sudden death overtime, in which the first team to score wins.

The regular season begins around mid-September. It takes a two-week break around the end of October to the beginning of November, when Team Finland plays in a European competition.

There is a two-week Christmas break. During Winter Olympic years a break is reserved for the Winter Olympic Games. The regular season is completed around mid-March and preliminary play-offs ensue almost immediately. The play-offs are completed by mid-April, so that all players are available for the World Championships.

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