Many things are still open before the SM league’s decision on Tuesday. Tappara practically ensured the victory of the regular season. Judge Mikko Kaukokari achieved a wonderful finish on Saturday.
The ice hockey round will follow the events of the final round of the regular season at Areena on Tuesday from 18:00. On Wednesday, Radio Finland will celebrate the big playoff night from 18:02.
The penultimate round of the regular season was played in the men’s SM league on Saturday. At the end of this article you will find a list of all the matches of Tuesday’s final round and their stakes.
Tappara–Kärpät 3–1
KalPa–Jukurit 2–3 and.
KooKoo–Pelicans 3–6
Lock–TPS 1–2
SaiPa–HPK 7–0
Sport–HIFK 1–4
Aces–JYP 4–1
Among the teams, KooKoo has now played all regular season matches. The loss to the Pelicans meant that the Kouvola team’s season ends. With the win, the Pelicans secured home advantage for the quarterfinals.
League leader Tappara beat Kärpät in their home hall 3–1. With their victory, Tappara practically ensured the victory of the regular season. Ilves can still get equal points with Tappara in the final round, if Ilves wins TPS and Tappara loses to HPK.
However, this would not be enough for Ilves. At that time, the teams would have the same number of points and the same number of three-point wins. Ilves should achieve a better goal difference than Tapparaa. The goal difference is currently nine goals in Tappara’s favor.
The league round saw one big highlight when the match between Tappara and Kärppi was judged by the head referee Mikko Kaukokari, which completed 800 whistled SM league matches. He is only the fourth head referee to have at least 800 matches under his belt.
– It wasn’t a basic day. Party games are usually quite dangerous when you can lose focus. When I started, the game was quite different. The most important people on the trip have been the people you always bump into in the hall, Kaukokari told Jääkiekkokierros in an interview.
You can find out below what kind of bets are placed on the table in the final round of the SM league on Tuesday. In Vaasa, Sport and Ässät are playing for the last playoff spot.
Tuesday’s final round of the SM league and the stakes of the matches
Sport–Aces
The winner of the match will make it to the playoffs. The loser’s streak ends with the regular season.
Jukurit–Kärpät
The winner of the match gets home advantage in the quarterfinals if the game ends in regular time.
Jukurit can still rise to third in the regular season with a three-point win if the Pelicans lose to SaiPa. The team then has more three-point wins than the Pelicans.
Even with a loss, Kärpät will keep its top spot if HIFK loses to KalPa in regular time. At that time, it is Jukurit that will face in the quarter-finals.
HIFK–KalPa
HIFK can only rise to fourth in the series with a win of only three points. The home advantage will escape from the people of Helsinki at that time as well, if Kärpät beat Jukurit in regular time.
KalPa starts the first round of the playoffs with a home advantage. The team keeps its seventh place even with a loss, if Lukko remains without points or if the teams get the same number of points from the final round.
JYP–Lukko Lukko will move up to seventh if KalPa loses to HIFK in regular time and Lukko gets at least one point from Jyväskylä. KalPa, who has more three-point victories, takes seventh place in a tie.
JYP’s season ends with the regular season.
Pelicans–SaiPa
The Pelicans have secured home advantage for the regular season.
The Pelicans secure third place in the regular season by one point.
SaiPa remains a league jumbo.
TPS–Ilves
Ilves can still win the regular season if Tappara doesn’t get points. However, Ilves needs a crushing victory.
TPS has secured a place in the playoffs. If Ässät beats Sport in regular time, TPS will drop to tenth place. Aces have more three-point wins.
Tappara–HPK
One point is enough for Tappara to win the regular season.
HPK’s season will end for sure.
Edited at 8:11 p.m.: Refined bets for match pairs.