The 2010–11 SM-liiga season was the 36th season of the SM-liiga, the top level of ice hockey in Finland, since the league's formation in 1975. The title was won by HIFK who defeated Espoo Blues in the finals. The title was 7th in team history.
Teams
Team City Head coach Arena Capacity Captain Pori Pekka Rautakallio Porin jäähalli Matti Kuparinen Blues Espoo Petri Matikainen Barona Areena Toni Kähkönen HIFK Helsinki Kari Jalonen Helsingin jäähalli Ville Peltonen HPK Hämeenlinna Harri Rindell Patria-areena Marko Tuulola Ilves Tampere Juha Pajuoja Tampereen jäähalli Pasi Määttänen Jokerit Helsinki Erkka Westerlund* Hartwall Areena Ossi Väänänen JYP Risto Dufva Jyväskylän jäähalli Juha-Pekka Hytönen KalPa Kuopio Pekka Virta Niiralan monttu Tommi Miettinen Kärpät Oulu Hannu Aravirta* Oulun Energia Areena Ilkka Mikkola Lukko Rauma Rauli Urama Äijänsuo Arena Tomi Pettinen Pelicans Lahti Pari Räsänen* Isku Areena Jan Latvala SaiPa Lappeenranta Ari-Pekka Selin Kisapuisto Ville Koho Tappara Tampere Sami Hirvonen Tampereen jäähalli Pekka Saravo TPS Turku Jukka Koivu* Turkuhalli Ville Vahalahti
Head coaches listed with asterisk (*) were mid-season replacements.
Regular season
Each team played four times against every other team (twice home and twice away), getting to 52 games. Additionally, the teams were divided to two groups, where teams would play one extra game. One group included Blues, HIFK, Jokerit, JYP, KalPa, Pelicans and SaiPa, while other had HPK, Ilves, Kärpät, Lukko, Tappara, TPS and Ässät.
New addition to schedule was two games where teams could choose the opponents. These were played back-to-back in late January and the choices were made in December, with team with lowest point total to that date was able to choose first. These pairs were: TPS-Ilves, Pelicans-KalPa, SaiPa-Tappara, Kärpät-Blues, Jokerit-HIFK, Lukko-Ässät and HPK-JYP.
Team GP W OTW OTL L GF GA +/− P JYP 60 39 4 4 13 186 97 +89 129 Ässät 60 30 11 7 12 176 132 +44 119 HIFK 60 31 6 12 11 199 140 +59 117 Lukko 60 27 6 5 22 175 157 +18 98 KalPa 60 26 9 2 23 150 141 +9 98 Jokerit 60 25 6 9 20 165 150 +15 96 HPK 60 25 4 9 22 154 151 +3 92 Kärpät 60 23 8 4 25 151 161 −10 89 Blues 60 21 8 7 24 142 151 −9 86 Ilves 60 21 7 4 28 161 192 −31 81 Tappara 60 17 7 6 30 142 181 −39 71 SaiPa 60 16 4 9 31 137 186 −49 65 TPS 60 12 8 8 32 134 186 −52 60 Pelicans 60 17 2 4 37 133 180 −47 59 Source: Elite Prospects
Playoffs
Wild card round (best-of-three)
HPK – Ilves 0–2 HPK-Ilves 3–5 Ilves-HPK 5–2
Kärpät – Blues 1–2 Kärpät-Blues 2–3 (OT) Blues-Kärpät 3–5 Kärpät-Blues 1–2 (OT)
Quarterfinals (best-of-seven)
JYP – Ilves 4–0 JYP-Ilves 7–3 Ilves-JYP 1–2 JYP-Ilves 4–3 Ilves-JYP 2–3 Ässät – Blues 2–4 Ässät-Blues 3–4 (OT) Blues-Ässät 3–0 Ässät-Blues 1–2 Blues-Ässät 1–5 Ässät-Blues 2–0 Blues-Ässät 3–0 HIFK – Jokerit 4–3 HIFK-Jokerit 0–1 Jokerit-HIFK 4–2 HIFK-Jokerit 2–1 Jokerit-HIFK 2–3 (OT) HIFK-Jokerit 1–3 Jokerit-HIFK 1–2 (OT) HIFK-Jokerit 5–1 Lukko – KalPa 4–3 Lukko-KalPa 2–3 KalPa-Lukko 3–0 Lukko-KalPa 2–1 KalPa-Lukko 2–5 Lukko-KalPa 5–0 KalPa-Lukko 3–2 (2OT) Lukko-KalPa 5–1
Semifinals (best-of-seven) JYP – Blues 1–4 JYP-Blues 1–3 Blues-JYP 4–3 JYP-Blues 4–2 Blues-JYP 2–0 JYP-Blues 1–3
HIFK – Lukko 4–1 HIFK-Lukko 2–3 (3OT) Lukko-HIFK 1–3 HIFK-Lukko 5–2 Lukko-HIFK 0–3 HIFK-Lukko 7–1
Bronze medal game JYP-Lukko 2–4
Finals (best-of-seven) HIFK-Blues 4–0 HIFK-Blues 3–2 Blues-HIFK 1–5 HIFK-Blues 5–3 Blues-HIFK 2–4
References