7-639: 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
14-516: 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. Each team in the U20 SM-sarja
21-693: 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. Source: 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
28-607: Is the competition in which the winning athlete, team, or club is named Finnish Champion. SM-sarja is commonly used when discussing the highest-level league of a sport that competes for the Finnish Championship or the specific competition in which a Finnish Champion is named, as with the Baseballin SM-sarja , Ringeten SM-sarja , Rugbyn SM-sarja , etc. The abbreviation SM-liiga ( lit. ' Finnish Championship League ' from Suomen mestaruusliiga )
35-587: 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 –
42-656: 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. Finnish Champion In Finland , the Suomen mestaruus ( SM ; lit. ' Finnish Champion ' ) is the winner of the highest level of national competition in a particular sport. Suomen mestaruussarja ( lit. ' Finnish Championship ' ), abbreviated SM-sarja ,
49-731: The terms originate in various naming structures used by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association over the history of the league. 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 ( Finnish : rekisteröity yhdistys ; Swedish : registrerad förening ). Source: Renamed, still in U20 SM-sarja At present, this list includes only those former clubs which won
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