The Kanada-malja, or Poika (nicknamed "Boy"/"Son"), is an ice hockey club championship trophy, awarded annually to the winner of the Finnish SM-liiga playoffs. Kanada-malja is Finnish for "Canada bowl"; the trophy is so named because it was donated by Canada's Finnish community in 1950.A to Z Encyclopedia of Ice Hockey: Ka . Retrieved 26 August 2008.
The Kanada-malja was originally given for the winner of the SM-sarja, but in 1975 when SM-liiga replaced the SM-sarja, the Kanada-malja has been given to the SM-liiga winner.
In 1991 a copy of the Kanada-malja was made and the original was given for display at Suomen Jääkiekkomuseo ("Finnish Ice Hockey Museum"). After the final game, the champion team of the playoffs is presented with the original Kanada-malja, but afterward the cup is returned to the museum and replaced with the copy.
The original trophy is made of nickel silver and the copy is entirely made of silver.
The winner of the regular season title receives the "Harry Lindbladin muistopalkinto" (Harry Lindblad Memorial Trophy), which is not considered as prestigious as the Kanada-malja.
History
The Kanada-malja was donated by Canada's Finnish community in 1950 and it was first awarded in 1951 to the champion of the SM-sarja. The first champions were Ilves. The most Kanada-malja champions are held by Tappara, with 21 championships.
Engraving From 1951 to 1975, only the name of the club and the year of the championship were engraved into the trophy, but after the establishment of the SM-liiga, players names have been engraved on it. New layers to the trophy have been added two times.
Past champions
Year Champion Runners-up 1951 Ilves Tarmo 1952 Ilves HPK 1953 TBK Tarmo 1954 TBK Karhu-Kissat 1955 TBK TPS 1956 TPS Tarmo 1957 Ilves TPS 1958 Ilves Tappara 1959 Tappara TK-V 1960 Ilves Tappara 1961 Tappara Lukko 1962 Ilves TK-V 1963 Lukko Tappara 1964 Tappara TK-V 1965 Karhut Ilves 1966 Ilves Lukko 1967 RU-38 TPS 1968 Koo-Vee Ilves 1969 HIFK Ilves 1970 HIFK Ilves 1971 Ässät Jokerit 1972 Ilves HJK 1973 Jokerit HIFK 1974 HIFK Tappara 1975 Tappara HIFK 1976 TPS Tappara 1977 Tappara TPS 1978 Ässät Tappara 1979 Tappara Ässät 1980 HIFK Ässät 1981 Kärpät Tappara 1982 Tappara TPS 1983 HIFK Jokerit 1984 Tappara Ässät 1985 Ilves TPS 1986 Tappara HIFK 1987 Tappara Kärpät 1988 Tappara Lukko 1989 TPS JYP 1990 TPS Ilves 1991 TPS KalPa 1992 Jokerit JYP 1993 TPS HPK 1994 Jokerit TPS 1995 TPS Jokerit 1996 Jokerit TPS 1997 Jokerit TPS 1998 HIFK Ilves 1999 TPS HIFK 2000 TPS Jokerit 2001 TPS Tappara 2002 Jokerit Tappara 2003 Tappara Kärpät 2004 Kärpät TPS 2005 Kärpät Jokerit 2006 HPK Ässät 2007 Kärpät Jokerit 2008 Kärpät Blues 2009 JYP Kärpät 2010 TPS HPK 2011 HIFK Blues 2012 JYP Pelicans 2013 Ässät Tappara 2014 Kärpät Tappara 2015 Kärpät Tappara 2016 Tappara HIFK 2017 Tappara KalPa 2018 Kärpät Tappara 2019 HPK Kärpät 2020 Season suspended due to COVID-19. 2021 Lukko TPS 2022 Tappara TPS 2023 Tappara Pelicans 2024 Tappara Pelicans 2025 KalPa SaiPa 2026 Tappara KooKoo
Teams by number of wins Team No. Wins Last win Tappara/TBK 21 2026 HC TPS 11 2010 Ilves 9 1985 Kärpät 8 2018 HIFK 7 2011 Jokerit 6 2002 Ässät 3 2013 Lukko 2 2021 HPK 2 2019 JYP 2 2012 KalPa 1 2025 RU-38 1 1967 KOOVEE 1 1968 Karhut 1 1965
See also
SM-liiga trophies List of Finnish ice hockey champions
References