Do you remember what happened in the SM league qualifiers 25 years ago?
Oulu Kärpät won the Lahti Pelicans in the qualifying series with a 3-1 win and rose to the main series.
What happened after that?
The Pelicans also kept their place in the SM League. With that famous cabinet decision.
The league was closed and made a series of 13 teams.
The cabinet later became enthusiastic about raising teams in the SM League with a bargain shop.
First KalPa (in 2005). Then Sport (2014). After that KooKoo (2015) and Jukurit (2016). The latest is the hockey-Espoo (2024).
Big Celebration of Cabinet Controls! The second top league level Mestis was empty. At the same time, the SM League was expanded too big.
And then the Jokers came. After a sad KHL trip, the ferry shirts returned to Härmälä’s stalk to make a new rise.
Mestis, who was stuck in his spirit market, brought to life for one team for two seasons.
Now the Jokers were eliminated from the league, but the Pelicans rolled the Helsinki residents with a 4-1 win. Even the most sleepy woke up to see how miserable the series of Mestis was made.
The hottest question of Finnish hockey is: What should the Jokers do?
The answer is easy.
The Jokers of Helsinki must be raised next season to the SM League. There is no other option.
I recognize as a sports romance. It would be fantastic if the Jokers-or any other club-would rise by playing in the SM League.
Not only is it possible in the prevailing circumstances.
The Pelicans player budget this season was about EUR 3 million. Jokers about 650,000.
The equation is impossible. The gap between the league and Mestis has been shamefully large.
The Jokers might have been able to win the qualifying series if there had been one of the league’s little clubs. So economically small. Weight weight maybe in a word.
But the big picture doesn’t change: Mestis is in a sad jam.
It is equally clear to everyone that the SM League desperately needs Jokers. Its brand, its incredibly loud and fanatic fans, its tremendous interest. And the Helsinki Arena.
The Jokers can no longer be tortured at the second highest league level.
Now, unfortunately, you have to make the exact decision that the SM league can know from recent history.
Cabinet decision.
Yes, it invalidates the qualifying series now experienced. Just like 25 years ago.
I still think that these qualifiers were worth playing. The halls were almost crowded in Lahti and Helsinki. Although the team’s difference in level was significant, good play was achieved with games.
At the same time, the fans were offered a small tasting of what kind of delicacy we might expect in the future.
If – hopefully when – Finland will have a long and devoted new series system, a genuine, athletic rise can take place. And genuine, athletic fall.
The cabinet decision is flexing. But it stings much less than the fact that the Jokers would play Nokia Pyry in Helsinki next season and not against HIFK.
The SM League is in an embarrassing situation. The FCA is currently investigating whether the league has committed an abuse of a dominant position.
How on earth could the SM League justify the leagues blessed with cabinet decisions in the past if it now hit the door from the Jokers? After all, the Helsinki club would be in a completely unequal position compared to previously raised clubs.
And there is no doubt as to whether the Jokers meet the criteria previously required for the league license.
It is the same whether 16 or 17 teams will play in the league next season. Jokers must be involved. Forced.
If this does not happen, from the league’s point of view, the worst scenario may be ahead: Jokers and economically large current league clubs will set up a whole new series.
Raising the Jokers to the League is as mandatory as rapid renewal of serial systems. Finnish ice hockey is no longer enough to lose.
When the system is repaired, the word cabinet decision can finally be wiped out of Finnish hockey.
Paasi and Nättinen: 5 minutes bundles the hottest topics in the SM league once a week. Watch the latest episode in the video.