Naisten Mestis

Naisten Mestis (lit. 'Women's Championship Series'; from Mestaruussarja, 'Championship series') is the second-highest women's ice hockey league in Finland. The league was founded as Naisten I-divisioona ('Women's First Division') in 1985 by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association, when the number of teams playing in the Naisten SM-sarja (renamed 'Naisten Liiga' in 2017) was limited. It was renamed Naisten Mestis prior to the 2012–13 season.

Series format
The Mestis season format has changed many times since the founding of the league in 1985. The current format was first published by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association in 2022 and was fully implemented in the 2023–24 season.

2023 to present
Both the Naisten Liiga and Naisten Mestis are intended to operate with ten teams using a quadruple round-robin tournament system in which each team plays a 36-game season.

The top-two teams in the Naisten Mestis have the opportunity to earn promotion to the Naisten Liiga in a promotion series against the bottom ranked Naisten Liiga teams during the postseason. Similarly, the bottom-two teams in the Naisten Mestis must defend their league places in a relegation series against the top-two teams in the Naisten Suomi-sarja.

2022–23 season
Excepting the ten teams of the Naisten Liiga, all women's ice hockey teams competing at the national level began the season in the Naisten Mestis qualifiers (karsinta). The Naisten Mestis qualifiers, which were contested during September to December 2022, involved eighteen teams divided into three groups of five to seven teams. In the closed groups, each team played every other team at least twice. The top eight teams at the end of the qualifiers continued in the Naisten Mestis and the remaining teams filled the ranks of the Naisten Suomi-sarja.

The top-two teams from the Naisten Suomi-sarja would join the eight Naisten Mestis teams for the 2023–23 season to fill all ten available slots.

2019–2022
With the exception of the Naisten Liiga teams, all club representative teams started the season in the Naisten Mestis Qualifiers (Karsinta). Each team was sorted into a group (lohko) of five to eight teams; the number of groups was determined by the total number of teams competing and each group was loosely defined by geography, with proximate teams being sorted together. Each team played a total of fifteen or sixteen matches within their division. The points earned in those games determined the team's ranking within their division; victories earned three points, overtime victories earned two points, and overtime losses earned one point. Teams that ranked forth or lower in each division at the end of the qualifiers did not qualify to play in the Naisten Mestis and continued the season in the Naisten Suomi-sarja. The qualifying round ran from the beginning of the season in September to late November or early December.
 * Qualifiers

The team with the highest point total from each division of the qualifiers moved on the cross-qualifying round (ristiinkarsinta). If there were an odd number of divisions, the second-placed team with the highest point total of all remaining teams also moved on. The cross qualifiers were a round-robin tournament, each team faced all other participating teams once. The two teams earning the highest point totals at the end of the tournament continued their seasons in the Lower Division (Alempi jatkosarja) of the Naisten Liiga and had the opportunity to gain promotion to the Naisten Liiga for the following season. The teams ranked third and lower in the cross qualifiers continued the season in the Naisten Mestis regular season. The cross qualifying round was played in late November and/or early December.
 * Cross qualifiers

The teams ranked third and lower in the cross qualifiers and the teams that finished second or third in each division of the qualifiers filled the ranks of the Naisten Mestis regular season. If the number of divisions was odd, the third ranked team from the qualifiers with the smallest point total would not qualify and moved to the Naisten Suomi-sarja so that an even number of teams was maintained in the Naisten Mestis. Each team in the regular season played an equal number of games against each of the other teams. The regular season ran from January to March.
 * Regular season

2023–24 season
The Finnish Ice Hockey Association intended for the Naisten Mestis to comprise ten teams in the 2023–24 season, however, costs led two teams that qualified for the season to decline participation in the league. KJT Haukat qualified after finishing fourth in the 2022–23 Naisten Mestis regular season but the team ceased operations in May 2023, citing a lack of players willing to commit to an increased game schedule and insuficient financial resources. Kiilat Haapajärvi qualified after placing second in the 2023 Naisten Suomi-sarja final (Naisten Suomi-sarjan lopputurnaus) but dropped out of the league due to financial concerns and instead remained in the Naisten Suomi-sarja for the 2023–24 season.

Of the eight teams that participated in the 2023–24 season, five were the 'akatemia' teams (lit. 'academy' teams; secondary or developmental teams) of clubs playing in the Naisten Liiga. Only APV, PaRa, and SaiPa – the three teams from clubs without Naisten Liiga teams – declared their willingness to vie for promotion to the Naisten Liiga in the postseason qualification series, meaning no qualifiers would be held if at least one of those teams did not end the season ranked in the top-three of the Naisten Mestis.

Teams in previous seasons
The teams that qualified for the Naisten Mestis regular season, listed by overall rank at the end of the regular season.

1. TPS 2. Sport 3. JYP 4. RoKi 5. Hermes 6. Red Wings 7. KalPa Ak 8. Puhti
 * 2017–18

1. HIFK 2. RoKi 3. Hermes 4. APV 5. JYP 6. Kärpät Ak
 * 2018–19

1. JYP 2. Kärpät Ak 3. KJT Haukat 4. HIFK AK 5. SaiPa 6. YJK
 * 2019–20

1. Kärpät Ak 2. APV 3. PaRa 4. KOOVEE –. HIFK Ak –. K-Espoo Ak
 * 2020–21

1. HIFK Ak 2. K-Espoo Ak 3. Kärpät Ak 4. JYP 5. HPK Akatemia 6. KJT Haukat
 * 2021–22

1. HIFK Ak 2. K-Espoo Ak 3. HPK Ak 4. KJT Haukat 5. KalPa Ak 6. APV 7. Kärpät Ak 8. SaiPa
 * 2022–23

Series champions
The manner in which the Mestis Championship is won has changed many times since the founding of the league in 1985. It has, for example, been awarded to the most successful team in the regular season, the winner of Mestis playoffs (which have repeatedly changed format or not been held), or to the team able to win promotion through the Naisten Liiga qualification/relegation series. The winner of the Naisten Mestis has not been historically guaranteed a place in the Naisten Liiga for the following season.


 * 1986: Shakers, Kerava
 * 1987: Tiikerit, Hämeenlinna
 * 1988: Ilves-Kiekko, Tampere
 * 1989: Tiikerit, Hämeenlinna
 * 1990: Espoon Kiekkoseura (EKS), Espoo
 * 1991: Ketterä, Imatra ...
 * 2001: Hämeenlinnan Pallokerho (HPK), Hämeenlinna
 * 2002: Turun Palloseura (TPS), Turku
 * 2003: Turun Palloseura (TPS), Turku
 * 2004: Lohjan Kisa-Veikot (LoKV), Lohja
 * 2005: Turun Palloseura (TPS), Turku
 * 2006: Etelä-Vantaan Urheilijat (EVU), Vantaa
 * 2007: Alavuden Peli-Veikot (APV), Kuortane
 * 2008: Salo Hockey Team (Salo HT), Salo
 * 2009: Alavuden Peli-Veikot (APV), Kuortane
 * 2010: Kalevan Pallo (KalPa), Kuopio
 * 2011: Itä-Helsingin Kiekko (IHT), Helsinki
 * 2012: Keski-Uudenmaan Juniorikiekkoilun Tuki (KJT), Kerava
 * 2013: Keski-Uudenmaan Juniorikiekkoilun Tuki (KJT), Kerava
 * 2014: Rovaniemen Kiekko (RoKi), Rovaniemi
 * 2015: Lapinlahden Luistin -89 Red Lights (LL-89), Lapinlahti