The Meistriliiga (EML), also known as the Unibet Hokiliiga for sponsorship reasons, is the top-tier ice hockey league in Estonia. The league consists of six teams.
There are 28 referees in the country who officiate at Estonian championship games in all age classes. The work of hockey referees is organized by the ref in chief of Estonian hockey referees Maksim Toode.
The Estonian champion has the right to represent the country at the Continental Cup of Hockey.
History The league was formed in the 1990-91 season. Since 1945–46, Estonian teams had participated in the Estonian SSR Championship. Prior to the country's annexation and incorporation into the Soviet Union, the Estonian Championship had been contested in interwar Estonia from 1934 to 1940. In the 2017–18 season, the league was known as the Nordic Power Hokiliiga. In the 2018-23 the name of the league was Coolbet Hokiliiga.
Narva PSK has dominated the league at the outset, winning the first six championships and eight of the first 11 seasons. Since winning their first title in 1997, Tartu Välk 494 has been the most consistently successful team in the Meistriliiga since the league started, having won a total of nine championships. HK Stars claimed four titles in five years from 2005 to 2009.
In the 2022-23 season, the tournament acquired international status, with 7 teams participating in the championship: 5 from Estonia (HC Panter, Välk 494, Narva PSK, HC Everest, Viru Sputnik) and 2 from Latvia (HK Kurbads, HS Riga). The team that won the championship that year was HK Kurbads.
In the 2023-24 season the name of the league was Unibet Hokiliiga, seven years later the Narva hockey players were able to win the Estonian championship and will represent the country in the 2024-25 IIHF Continental Cup in Group B, the games of which will be held in Narva.
The league retained its name for the 2024–25 season, with the capital's Vipers joining the five teams that played in the previous season.
Teams Team City Arena Capacity Founded HC Everest Kohtla-Järve Kohtla-Järve Kohtla-Järve Ice Hall 2012 HC Vipers Tallinn Tondiraba Ice Hall 2014 Kohtla-Järve Viru Sputnik Kohtla-Järve Kohtla-Järve Ice Hall 2003 Narva PSK Narva Narva Ice Hall 1956 Tartu Välk 494 Tartu Astri Arena 1994
Title holders
Estonian Championship 1934: Tallinn Kalev 1935: not played 1936: Tartu ASK 1937: Tallinn Kalev 1938: not played 1939: Tartu ASK 1940: Tallinn Sport 1941–1945: not played
Estonian SSR Championship
1946: Dünamo Tallinn 1947: Dünamo Tartu 1948: Dünamo Tallinn 1949: Dünamo Tallinn 1950: Tallinn LTM 1951: Tallinn LTM 1952: Dünamo Tallinn 1953: Dünamo Tallinn 1954: Dünamo Tallinn 1955: Dünamo Tartu 1956: Kohtla-Järve Kalev 1957: Dünamo Tartu 1958: Tallinn Kalev 1959: Tallinn Kalev 1960: Tallinn Kalev 1961: Tallinn Kalev 1962: Tallinn Kalev 1963: Tallinn Ekskavaator 1964: Tallinn Taksopark 1965: Tallinn Tempo 1966: Tallinn Ekskavaator 1967: Narva Kreenholm 1968: Tallinn Tempo 1969: Narva Kreenholm 1970: Kohtla-Järve HK Keemik 1971: Narva Kreenholm 1972: Kohtla-Järve HK Keemik 1973: Narva Kreenholm 1974: Kohtla-Järve HK Keemik 1975: Narva Kreenholm 1976: Kohtla-Järve HK Keemik 1977: Kohtla-Järve HK Keemik 1978: Tallinn Talleks 1979: Kohtla-Järve HK Keemik 1980: Kohtla-Järve HK Keemik 1981: Tallinn Talleks 1982: Sillamäe Kalev 1983: Kohtla-Järve HK Keemik 1984: Kohtla-Järve HK Keemik 1985: Kohtla-Järve HK Keemik 1986: Narva Kreenholm 1987: Kohtla-Järve HK Keemik 1988: Narva Kreenholm 1989: Kohtla-Järve HK Keemik 1990: Narva Kreenholm II
Meistriliiga
1991: Narva Kreenholm II 1992: Narva Kreenholm 1993: Narva Kreenholm 1994: Narva Kreenholm 1995: Narva Kreenholm 1996: Narva Kreenholm 1997: Tartu Välk 494 1998: Narva Kreenholm 1999: Tartu Välk 494 2000: Tartu Välk 494 2001: Narva 2000 2002: Tartu Välk 494 2003: Tartu Välk 494 2004: HC Panter 2005: HK Stars 2006: HK Stars 2007: HK Stars 2008: Tartu Kalev-Välk 2009: HK Stars 2010: Kohtla-Järve Viru Sputnik 2011: Tartu Kalev-Välk 2012: Tartu Kalev-Välk 2013: Viiking Sport 2014: Viiking Sport 2015: Tartu Kalev-Välk 2016: Narva PSK 2017: Narva PSK 2018: HC Viking 2019: Tartu Välk 494 2020: Tartu Välk 494 2021: Tartu Välk 494 2022: Tartu Välk 494 2023: HK Kurbads 2024: Narva PSK 2025: Tartu Välk 494 2026: Viru Sputnik
Titles by team Titles Team Season 19 Narva PSK 1967, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2016, 2017, 2024 14 Tartu Kalev-Välk 1997, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2025 13 Kohtla-Järve HK Keemik 1956, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1989 7 Tallinn Kalev 1934, 1937, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962 6 Dünamo Tallinn 1946, 1948, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1954 4 HK Stars 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009 3 Dünamo Tartu 1947, 1955, 1957 3 HC Viking 2013, 2014, 2018 2 Tartu ASK 1936, 1939 2 Tallinn LTM 1950, 1951 2 Tallinn Ekskavaator 1963, 1966 2 Tallinn Tempo 1965, 1968 2 Tallinn Talleks 1978, 1981 2 Kohtla-Järve Viru Sputnik 2010, 2026 1 Tallinn Sport 1940 1 Tallinn Taksopark 1964 1 Sillamäe Kalev 1982 1 HC Panter 2004 1 HK Kurbads 2023
Estonian Youth Championships Source:
The remaining leagues of the Estonian ice hockey championship are divided by age. In U17-U8 classes children can play according to the birth years of their age groups. In addition, a team can have up to 3 players who are one year older in their age group if they were born in the last three months of the previous year. As an exception, there is a special permit for girls who may be older than this age group by up to 2 years.
Purpose of the competition:
Identify Estonian youth ice hockey champions in the age groups U20, U17, U14. To promote children's hockey in the age groups U12, U10 and U8 throughout Estonia. Find out the candidates for the U-20 and U-18 teams. To popularize ice hockey in the Republic of Estonia.
Season 2023-2024 Source:
For the 2023-24 season, the following age groups were formed: U20, U17, U14, U12-1 (full rink championship matches); U12-2 (half rink championship matches); U10-1, U10-2, U8 (championship matches on a third of the rink).
U20 There were 2 teams represented in the U20 class:
HC Panter/HK Tornaado (Tallinn) Narva PSK (Narva)
The teams had 4 meetings with each other (2 at home and 2 away), each meeting lasted 3 periods of 20 minutes. Final standings of the winners: +U20PlaceTeamPoints1HC Panter/HK Tornaado72Narva PSK1
U17 There were 6 teams represented in the U17 class:
SK Kajakas/HC Everest (Tartu, Kohtla-Järve) Narva PSK (Narva) HC Vipers (Tallinn) HK Tornaado (Tallinn) SK Viru Sputnik (Kohtla-Järve) HC Panter (Tallinn)
Each team played 4 meetings (2 at home and 2 away), each game lasted 3 periods of 20 minutes. Final standings of the winners: +U17PlaceTeamPoints1SK Kajakas/HC Everest332Narva PSK273HC Vipers24
U14 There were 11 teams represented in the U14 class:
HK Tornaado Sinine (Tallinn) SK Kajakas (Tartu) HC Vipers 11 (Tallinn) Narva PSK (Narva) HC Vipers 10 (Tallinn) HC Panter Must (Tallinn) HK Tornaado Kollane (Tallinn) Narva PSK 2 (Narva) SK Viru Sputnik (Kohtla-Järve) HC Panter Punane (Tallinn) HC Everest (Kohtla-Järve)
At the first stage, each team played one game with each, then, based on the results of the first round, the teams were divided into two groups U14-1 (the first 6 teams) and U14-2 (the last 5 teams) and in these groups they played 2 games each with each one. The first round the teams played 3 periods of 15 minutes. Second round: U14-1 - 3 periods of 15 minutes; U14-2 - 2 periods of 20 minutes. Final standings of the winners: +U14-1PlaceTeamPoints1HK Tornaado Sinine192Narva PSK143HC Vipers 1110 +U14-2PlaceTeamPoints1HK Tornaado Kollane162SK Viru Sputnik123Narva PSK 28
U12-1 There were 7 teams represented in the U12-1 class:
HK Tornaado (Tallinn) SK Kajakas (Tartu) HC Vipers 2012 (Tallinn) Narva PSK (Narva) HC Vipers 2013 (Tallinn) HC Panter (Tallinn) SK Viru Sputnik (Kohtla-Järve)
Starting from the U12-1 class and up to U8, teams do not keep score during the game and the final score in all matches was 0:0.
In the U12-1 group, each team played 3 games with each other (1 away and 2 at home or 1 at home and 2 away), each game lasted 2 periods of 20 minutes.
U12-2 There were 6 teams represented in the U12-2 class:
JHK/SOFTCOM (Jõgeva) SK Kajakas (Tartu) HC Vipers (Tallinn) Narva PSK (Narva) Viljandi Hokiklubi (Viljandi) HC Panter (Tallinn) HC Everest (Kohtla-Järve)
From U12-2 to U8, each game lasts 24 minutes.
In the U12-2 class each team had 3 meetings (1 away and 2 at home or 1 at home and 2 away). The teams played in a 4v4 format.
U10-1 There were 8 teams represented in the U10-1 class:
HK Tornaado (Tallinn) SK Kajakas (Tartu) HC Vipers 2014 (Tallinn) Narva PSK 1 (Narva) HC Vipers 2015 (Tallinn) HC Panter (Tallinn) Narva PSK 2 (Narva) SK Viru Sputnik (Kohtla-Järve)
From class U10-1 to U8, teams play in a 3v3 format.
Each team in the U10-1 class played 2 games (1 home and 1 away).
U10-2 There were 4 teams represented in the U10-1 class:
HC Vipers 2014/2015 (Tallinn) HC Panter (Tallinn) HC Everest (Kohtla-Järve) HK Tornaado (Tallinn)
Each team had 4 meetings (2 at home and 2 away).
U8 There were 11 teams represented in the U8 class:
HK Tornaado Sinine (Tallinn) SK Kajakas (Tartu) HC Vipers (Tallinn) Narva PSK Must (Narva) JHK/SOFTCOM (Jõgeva) HC Panter Must (Tallinn) HK Tornaado Kollane (Tallinn) Narva PSK Valge (Narva) SK Viru Sputnik (Kohtla-Järve) HC Panter Punane (Tallinn) HC Everest (Kohtla-Järve)
Children of the youngest class of the Estonian hockey championship played with a blue puck. Notes
References
External links
Unibet Hokiliiga on eurohockey.com