The U20 SM-sarja ('Under-20 Finnish Championship Series') is the premier junior men's ice hockey league in Finland. It was previously known as the A-nuorten SM-sarja ('Junior A Finnish Championship Series') during 1945 to 1991 and the Nuorten SM-liiga ('Junior Finnish Championship League') during 1991 to 2020. The league was founded by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association in 1945 and a Finnish Champion in men's under-20 ice hockey has been named annually since the league's inaugural season – with the exception of the 2019–20 season, in which the playoffs were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Eighteen to twenty teams compete in the U20 SM-sarja regular season, which is played in a preliminary ranking stage followed by a divisional or group stage.
Teams Each team in the U20 SM-sarja is the junior development squad of a professional ice hockey club and shares the club's name. Most of the senior clubs of U20 teams play in the Liiga, the premier men's ice hockey league in Finland. Notable exceptions include Jokerit, Kiekko-Espoo, Rovaniemen Kiekko (RoKi), and TUTO Hockey, all of which play in the second-tier Mestis.
In conversation, the league and participating teams are referred to as U20, A-nuorten/A-nuoret, or U20-nuorten/U20-nuoret interchangeably – the terms originate in various naming structures used by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association over the history of the league.
2020–21 season Note: Oy is an abbreviation of osakeyhtiö, a type of limited company in Finland; Ab is the abbreviation of aktiebolag, the Swedish term for an osakeyhtiö. The abbreviations ry and rf refer respectively to the Finnish and Swedish terms for a registered non-profit organization in Finland (; ). Team nameClub's registered nameLocationHPK U20HPK Liiga Oy HämeenlinnaIlves U20Ilves Hockey Oy TampereJokerit U20Jokerit Hockey Club Oy HelsinkiJukurit U20Jukurit HC Oy MikkeliJYP U20JYP Jyväskylä Oy JyväskyläKalPa U20KalPa Hockey Oy KuopioKiekko-Espoo U20Kiekko-Espoo ry EspooHIFK U20 or KollitHIFK Ishockey rf HelsinkiKooKoo U20KooKoo Hockey Oy KouvolaKärpät U20Oulun Kärpät Oy OuluLukko U20Rauman Lukko Oy RaumaPelicans U20Lahden Pelicans Oy LahtiRoKi U20Rovaniemen Kiekko ry RovaniemiSaiPa U20Liiga-Saipa Oy LappeenrantaSport U20Hockey-Team Vaasan Sport Oy VaasaTappara U20Tamhockey Oy TampereTPS U20HC TPS Turku Oy TurkuTUTO Hockey U20TuTo Hockey Oy TurkuÄssät U20HC Ässät Pori Oy Pori Source:
Renamed, still in U20 SM-sarja
JyP HT and JyP, now JYP Espoo Blues, now Kiekko-Espoo Kiekkoreipas, Hockey-Reipas, and Reipas Lahti, now Pelicans
Former clubs At present, this list includes only those former clubs which won a Finnish Championship medal while playing in the U20 SM-sarja.
Bold indicates U20 ice hockey team currently active and playing in the U20 Mestis.
Hämeenlinnan Tarmo, Hämeenlinna Helsingin Jääkiekkoklubi (HJK), Helsinki Hermes, Kokkola Karhu-Kissat (K-Kissat), Helsinki KOOVEE, Tampere previously called Tampereen Kilpa-Veljet (TK-V) Kotkan Työväen Palloilijat (KTP), Kotka Kuopion Palloseura (KuPS), Kuopio Lauritsalan Kisa (LaKi), Lauritsala Mikkelin Palloilijat, Mikkeli Porin Pallo-Toverit (PPT), Pori Porin Karhut, Pori Rauman Hokki, Rauma Reipas Lahti, Lahti Savonlinnan Pallokerho (SaPKo), Savonlinna Tammerfors Bollklubb (TBK), Tampere Tampereen Kisa-Toverit (TKT), Tampere Tampereen Pallo-Veikot (TPV), Tampere Töölön Vesa, Helsinki Åbo IFK, Turku (Åbo)
Champions by year
Year Champions Runners-up Third Place1945IlvesK-Kissat–1946IlvesÅIFK–1947IlvesHJK–1948IlvesTarmoHJK1949IlvesTBKHJK1950K-KissatÅIFKIlves1951TBKK-Kissat–1952IlvesTBK–1953IlvesLukkoHJK1954TBKK-KissatIlves1955KuPSIlvesTBK1956TapparaTKTKTP1957TapparaHermesPPT1958LukkoTapparaTarmo1959TapparaTK-VKalPa1960IlvesTK-VTarmo1961IlvesTapparaMikkelin Palloilijat1962TapparaIlvesLaKi1963TapparaIlvesLaKi1964TarmoTuToSaiPa1965TapparaSaiPaHPK / TPV1966IlvesSaiPaRauman Hokki / Töölön Vesa1967IlvesSaPKoHIFK / Karhut1968TapparaTPSSaiPa1969TPSTapparaReipas1970SaiPaIlvesTappara1971KOOVEEÄssätTappara1972TapparaJokeritIlves1973TapparaIlvesÄssät1974IlvesReipasSaiPa1975TapparaKOOVEEIlves1976IlvesKOOVEEÄssät1977IlvesTPSKärpät1978IlvesKärpätTPS1979KärpätTapparaTPS1980ÄssätJokeritTPS1981IlvesTapparaKärpät1982IlvesHIFKTappara1983HIFKIlvesTPS1984HIFKIlvesTPS1985KärpätHIFKTPS1986TapparaIlvesHIFK1987HIFKTapparaKärpät1988JokeritTapparaKärpät1989K-EspooTapparaHIFK1990K-EspooTapparaHIFK1991IlvesHIFKJyP HT1992TPSIlvesÄssät1993IlvesTPSÄssät1994IlvesTPSJyP HT1995JyP HTIlvesK-Espoo1996JokeritKalPaK-Espoo1997JyP HTHPKÄssät1998TPSJokeritTappara1999JokeritIlvesTPS2000JokeritTPSLukko2001TapparaHIFKJYP2002SaiPaTPSHIFK2003HIFKJokeritBlues2004TapparaJYPHIFK2005IlvesTPSJYP2006JYPKärpätBlues2007PelicansBluesHIFK2008KalPaÄssätJYP2009BluesTPSLukko2010KärpätHIFKIlves2011JYPBluesIlves2012HIFKJokeritHPK2013HPKBluesLukko2014BluesKärpätÄssät2015TPSHPKBlues2016IlvesBluesKalPa2017HPKÄssätLukko2018KalPaKärpätHIFK2019KärpätBluesSport2020 Playoffs cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic2021LukkoKärpätTappara / TPS2022LukkoKalPaTPS2023TapparaJokeritTPS2024ÄssätTPSTappara2025LukkoK-EspooKalPa2026K-EspooIlvesHPK Source:
Awards In 2010, the Finnish Ice Hockey Association standardized the award categories across the top leagues in each competition class under its administration: the Mestis, the Naisten Liiga, the U20 SM-sarja, the U18 SM-sarja (B-nuorten SM-sarja), and the U16 SM-sarja (C-nuorten SM-sarja). New trophies were created for award categories not previously used by a league and existing awards were renamed after iconic players in Finnish ice hockey. Player of the Year: Teemu Selänne Trophy Rookie of the Year: Yrjö Hakala Trophy Best Goaltender: Jorma Valtonen Trophy Best Defenseman: Reijo Ruotsalainen Trophy Best Forward: Saku Koivu Trophy Point Scoring Leader: Kari Jalonen Trophy Top Goal Scorer: Arto Javanainen Trophy Playoffs MVP: Ville Peltonen Trophy Fair-Play/Gentlemanly Player: Jere Lehtinen Trophy Best Plus–minus: Raimo Helminen Trophy Coach of the Year: Hannu Aravirta Trophy All-Star First & Second Teams Fair-Play Team
See also Finland men's national junior ice hockey team Ice hockey in Finland
References
External links League information and statistics from EliteProspects.com and EuroHockey.com and HockeyArchives.info