Chief executive officer
The chief executive officer or just chief executive, is the most senior corporate, executive, or administrative officer in charge of managing an organization – an independent legal entity such as a company or nonprofit institution. CEOs lead a range of organizations, including public and private corporations, non-profit organizations and some government organizations; the CEO of a corporation or company reports to the board of directors and is charged with maximizing the value of the entity, which may include maximizing the share price, market share, revenues or another element. In the non-profit and government sector, CEOs aim at achieving outcomes related to the organization's mission, such as reducing poverty, increasing literacy, etc. In the early 21st century, top executives had technical degrees in science, engineering or law; the responsibility of an organization's CEO are set by the organization's board of directors or other authority, depending on the organization's legal structure.
They can be far-reaching or quite limited and are enshrined in a formal delegation of authority. Responsibilities include being a decision maker on strategy and other key policy issues, leader and executor; the communicator role can involve speaking to the press and the rest of the outside world, as well as to the organization's management and employees. As a leader of the company, the CEO or MD advises the board of directors, motivates employees, drives change within the organization; as a manager, the CEO/MD presides over the organization's day-to-day operations. The term refers to the person who makes all the key decisions regarding the company, which includes all sectors and fields of the business, including operations, business development, human resources, etc; the CEO of a company is not the owner of the company. In some countries, there is a dual board system with two separate boards, one executive board for the day-to-day business and one supervisory board for control purposes. In these countries, the CEO presides over the executive board and the chairman presides over the supervisory board, these two roles will always be held by different people.
This ensures a distinction between management by the executive board and governance by the supervisory board. This allows for clear lines of authority; the aim is to prevent a conflict of interest and too much power being concentrated in the hands of one person. In the United States, the board of directors is equivalent to the supervisory board, while the executive board may be known as the executive committee. In the United States, in business, the executive officers are the top officers of a corporation, the chief executive officer being the best-known type; the definition varies. In the case of a sole proprietorship, an executive officer is the sole proprietor. In the case of a partnership, an executive officer is a managing partner, senior partner, or administrative partner. In the case of a limited liability company, executive officer is any manager, or officer. A CEO has several subordinate executives, each of whom has specific functional responsibilities referred to as senior executives, executive officers or corporate officers.
Subordinate executives are given different titles in different organizations, but one common category of subordinate executive, if the CEO is the president, is the vice-president. An organization may have more than one vice-president, each tasked with a different area of responsibility; some organizations have subordinate executive officers who have the word chief in their job title, such as chief operating officer, chief financial officer and chief technology officer. The public relations-focused position of chief reputation officer is sometimes included as one such subordinate executive officer, but, as suggested by Anthony Johndrow, CEO of Reputation Economy Advisors, it can be seen as "simply another way to add emphasis to the role of a modern-day CEO – where they are both the external face of, the driving force behind, an organisation culture". In the US, the term chief executive officer is used in business, whereas the term executive director is used in the not-for-profit sector; these terms are mutually exclusive and refer to distinct legal duties and responsibilities.
Implicit in the use of these titles, is that the public not be misled and the general standard regarding their use be applied. In the UK, chief executive and chief executive officer are used in both business and the charitable sector; as of 2013, the use of the term director for senior charity staff is deprecated to avoid confusion with the legal duties and responsibilities associated with being a charity director or trustee, which are non-executive roles. In the United Kingdom, the term director is used instead of chief officer". Business publicists since the days of Edward Bernays and his client John D. Rockefeller and more the corporate publicists for Henry Ford, promoted the concept of the "celebrity CEO". Business journalists have adopted this approach, which assumes that the corporate achievements in the arena of manufacturing, wer
Bruno St. Jacques
Bruno St. Jacques is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who plays for the Thetford Assurancia of the semi-professional Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey, he played in 67 games over parts of four National Hockey League seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers, Carolina Hurricanes, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. St. Jacques was drafted 253rd overall in the ninth round of the 1998 NHL Entry Draft by the Philadelphia Flyers. A junior from Baie-Comeau Drakkar of the QMJHL, he made his professional debut at the tail end of the 1999–2000 season with Flyers affiliate, the Philadelphia Phantoms of the American Hockey League. St. Jacques made his NHL debut in the 2000–01 season with the Flyers and spent the next two seasons with the Phantoms before he was traded on February 7, 2003, along with Pavel Brendl to the Carolina Hurricanes for Sami Kapanen and Ryan Bast. Prior to the 2005–06 season on October 3, St. Jacques was traded by the Hurricanes, to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim for Craig Adams. In his lone appearance with the Ducks he scored the only goal in a 4-1 defeat to the Minnesota Wild on October 15, 2005.
However, he played with AHL affiliate, the Portland Pirates, for the season. In the 2006–07 season, on December 28, 2006, St. Jacques was traded from the Ducks, along with P. A. Parenteau, to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Sébastien Caron, Matt Keith and Chris Durno, he was assigned to AHL affiliate, the Norfolk Admirals, for the duration of the year. On October 4, 2007, St. Jacques signed with the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL for the 2007–08 season. After 13 games with the Crunch, he was loaned to back to the Ducks affiliate, the Portland Pirates on November 15. On December 10, St. Jacques remained with the Pirates for the year. On May 27, 2008, St. Jacques left North America and signed with German team, ERC Ingolstadt of the DEL. After three seasons with Ingolstadt, he signed with another DEL team, the Struabing Tigers, on a one-year contract on June 3, 2011. Upon season end with the Tigers, St. Jacques announced his intention to retire and return to North America; however upon return to Canada, he signed a one-year contract with the semi-professional Jonquière Marquis of the LNAH on July 20, 2012.
Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com, or Hockey-Reference.com, or Legends of Hockey, or The Internet Hockey Database
Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League. Part of the 1967 NHL Expansion, the Flyers were the first expansion team in the post–Original Six era to win the Stanley Cup, victorious in 1973–74 and again in 1974–75; the Flyers' all-time points percentage of 57.5% is the third-best in the NHL, behind only the Vegas Golden Knights and Montreal Canadiens. Additionally, the Flyers have the most appearances in the conference finals of all 24 expansion teams, they are second behind the St. Louis Blues for the most playoff appearances out of all expansion teams; the Flyers have played their home games on Broad Street since their inception, first at the Spectrum from 1967 until 1996, at the Wells Fargo Center since 1996. The Flyers have had rivalries with several teams over the years, their biggest adversaries have been the New York Rangers, with an intense rivalry stretching back to the 1970s.
They have waged lengthy campaigns against the New York Islanders in the 70s and 80s, the Boston Bruins, a bruising battle in the 1970s, the Washington Capitals, which has always been intense since their days in the Patrick Division, as well as the New Jersey Devils, with whom they traded the Atlantic Division title every season between 1994–95 and 2006–07, they enjoy a spirited rivalry with their cross-state and expansion brethren, the Pittsburgh Penguins, considered by some to be the best rivalry in the league. Prior to 1967, Philadelphia had only iced a team in the NHL in the 1930–31 season, when the financially struggling Pittsburgh Pirates relocated in 1930 as the Philadelphia Quakers, playing at The Arena at 46th and Market Streets; the club, garbed in orange and black like today's Flyers, was coached by J. Cooper Smeaton, to be elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame 30 years for his far more notable role as an NHL referee. Among the young Quakers' skaters in 1930–31 was another future Hall of Famer in 19-year-old rookie center Syd Howe.
The Quakers' only "claim to fame" was to establish a single season NHL record for futility which has stood since, by compiling a dismal record of 4–36–4, still the fewest games won in a season by an NHL club. The Quakers suspended operations after that single dreadful campaign to again leave the Can-Am League's Philadelphia Arrows as Philadelphia's lone hockey team; the Quakers' dormant NHL franchise was canceled by the league in 1936.)In 1946, a group led by Montreal and Philadelphia sportsman Len Peto announced plans to put another NHL team in Philadelphia, to build a $2.5 million rink to seat 20,000 where stood the old Baker Bowl and to acquire the franchise of the old Montreal Maroons. The latter was held by owner of the Montreal Canadiens. However, Peto's group was unable to raise funding for the new arena project by the league-imposed deadline, the NHL cancelled the Maroons franchise. While attending a basketball game on November 29, 1964, at the Boston Garden, Ed Snider, the then-vice-president of the Philadelphia Eagles, observed a crowd of Boston Bruins fans lining up to purchase tickets to see a last-place ice hockey team.
He began making plans for a new arena upon hearing the NHL was looking to expand due to fears of a competing league taking hold on the West Coast and the desire for a new television contract in the United States. Snider made his proposal to the league, which chose the Philadelphia group—including Snider, Bill Putnam, Jerome Schiff and Philadelphia Eagles owner Jerry Wolman—over the Baltimore group. On April 4, 1966, Putnam announced a name-the-team contest. Details of the contest were released on July 12; the team name was announced on August 3. The new teams were hampered by restrictive rules that kept all major talent with the "Original Six" teams. In the NHL Expansion Draft, most of the players available were either aging veterans or career minor-leaguers before expansion occurred. Among the Flyers' 20 selections were Bernie Parent, Doug Favell, Bill Sutherland, Ed Van Impe, Joe Watson, Lou Angotti, Leon Rochefort and Gary Dornhoefer. Having purchased the minor-league Quebec Aces, the team had a distinctly francophone flavor in its early years, with Parent, Andre Lacroix, Serge Bernier, Jean-Guy Gendron, Simon Nolet and Rosaire Paiement among others.
Beginning play in 1967–68, the Philadelphia Flyers made their debut on October 11, 1967, losing 5–1 on the road to the California Seals. They won their first game a week defeating the St. Louis Blues on the road, 2–1; the Flyers made their home debut in front of a crowd of 7,812, shutting-out their intrastate rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins, 1–0 on October 19. Lou Angotti was named the first captain in Flyers history, while Rochefort was the Flyers' top goal scorer after netting a total of 21 goals. With all six expansion teams grouped into the same division, the Flyers were able to win the division with a sub-.500 record despite being forced to play their last seven home games on the road due to a storm blowing parts of the Spectrum's roof off. However, playoff success did not come so as the Flyers were upset by St. Louis in a first round, seven-game series. Angotti was replaced by Van Impe as team captain. Led by Van Impe and the team-leading 24 goals of Andre Lacroix, the Flyers struggled during their sophomore season by finishing 15 games under.500.
Despite their poor regular season showing in 1968–69, they made the playoffs. They again lost to this time being dispatched in a four-game sweep. Not wanting his team to be physically outmatched again
Goal (ice hockey)
In ice hockey, a goal is scored when the puck crosses the goal line between the two goal posts and below the goal crossbar. A goal awards one point to the team attacking the goal scored upon, regardless of which team the player who deflected the puck into the goal belongs to. A player on the team attempting to score shoots the puck with their stick towards the goal net opening, a player on the opposing team called a goaltender tries to block the shot to prevent a goal from being scored against their team; the term goal may refer to the structure in which goals are scored. The ice hockey goal is rectangular in shape. A net is attached to the back of the frame to catch pucks that enter the goal and to prevent pucks from entering it from behind; the entire goal is considered an inbounds area of the playing surface, it is legal to play the puck behind the goal. Under NHL rules, the opening of the goal is 72 inches wide by 48 inches tall, the footprint of the goal is 44 inches deep; the object of the game of ice hockey is to score more goals than the opposing team.
Goaltenders and defencemen are concerned with keeping the other team from scoring a goal, while forwards are concerned with scoring goals on the other team. Forwards have to be defensively responsible while defencemen need to press offensively, it is not unknown for goalies to attempt to position the puck for a counterattack, or attempt to shoot against an unguarded net. For a goal to be scored, the puck must cross the goal line between the posts and under the crossbar of the goal frame. A goal is not allowed under any of the following conditions: the puck is sent into the goal from a stick raised above the height of the crossbar the puck is intentionally kicked, batted, or thrown into the net by an attacking player; the puck breaks into two or more pieces prior to any portion of it entering the goal. Additionally, in many leagues, a goal does not count if a player from the attacking team has a skate or stick in the goal crease before the puck; the National Hockey League abolished this rule starting in the 1999-2000 season after the disputed triple-overtime goal in the 1999 Stanley Cup Finals.
Brett Hull of the Dallas Stars scored the series-clinching goal against the Buffalo Sabres. There are those. A goal may be awarded if a player would be awarded a penalty shot, but the opposing team had substituted a skater for a goaltender. I such rare cases, a goal is awarded rather than allowing a penalty shot attempt on an empty goal net; the last player on the goal-scoring team to touch the puck before it goes into the net is credited with scoring that goal. Zero, one, or two other players on the goal-scoring team may credited with an assist for helping their teammate to score the goal. If another player on the goal-scoring team touched the puck to help score the goal before the goal-scoring player touched it without an opposing player intervening that player gets an assist. If yet another player on the goal-scoring team touched the puck before that without an opposing player intervening that player gets an assist. For a hockey player, a goal or an assist credited to them is considered a point.
However, a rule says. This means one player cannot be credited with a goal and an assist for the same goal scored, it means that one player cannot be credited with two assists for the same goal scored. On a hockey team, forwards score the most goals and get the most points, although defensemen can score goals and get assists. In professional play, goaltenders only get an assist, only rarely score a goal when the opposite net is empty; the number of goals scored is a watched statistic. Each year the Rocket Richard Trophy is presented to the NHL player to have scored the most goals; the trophy is named after Maurice Richard, the first player to score 50 goals in a season, at a time when the NHL regular season was only 50 games. The player to have scored the most goals in an NHL season is Wayne Gretzky. Gretzky is the fastest to 50 goals; the overall amount of goal scoring is closely watched. In recent years, goal scoring has decreased. Many believe the game is less entertaining beca
HC Kometa Brno
HC Kometa Brno is a professional ice hockey team based in Brno, Czech Republic. They play in the Czech Extraliga. Kometa is the most successful ice hockey club in the Czech Republic with 13 Czechoslovak league championship titles. Holding three European Cup titles, Kometa ranks as the most successful Czech club in international ice hockey; the team has won the past 2 Czech championships seasons, capturing the title in both 2016-2017 and in 2017-2018. The club was founded in 1953 as an army ice hockey club with the name Rudá hvězda Brno; the majority of players were transferred from 2 hockey clubs in Brno. In 1962, the club stopped being an army team. In 1976, the name was changed to Zetor Brno. Shortly after the revolution, the club changed its name to HC Kometa Brno. "Kometa" was the team's nickname since 1950's and the team was referred to by this name since its beginnings. In 1996, the team was relegated from Czech Extraliga to the second highest ice hockey league, the 1st Czech Republic Hockey League.
For many years, the team struggled due to poor financing and multiple changes of owners, facing relegation again in 2001–2002. The club ceased to exist, playing in the East division of the third-highest Czech ice hockey league. By the 2003–2004 season, it returned to the first league. In 2004, Kometa played its first playoff series since 1997, reached the semifinals in 2008, the finals in 2009. On 1 April 2009, Kometa Rene Burger bought the licence for another South Moravian club, HC Znojemští Orli; this club will began to serve as a farm team for Brno. In March 2012, the team managed to defeat HC Sparta Praha, the winner of the 2011–12 Czech Extraliga regular season, in six games, qualifying for the playoff semifinals. In the semifinals, they defeated the runner-up of the regular season, in five games. In the final, Kometa lost the Czech Extraliga championship final to HC Pardubice in six games. Czechoslovak league titles: 11 European Cup champion: 3 Czech Extraliga winner: 2 1953 – Rudá hvězda Brno 1962 – TJ ZKL Brno 1976 – TJ Zetor Brno 1990 – HC Zetor Brno 1993 – HC Královopolská Brno 1994 – HC Kometa Brno 1995 – HC Kometa Brno BVV 1997 – HC Kometa Brno Current roster for season 2018/2019 Official page Modrobílí
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League; the club is owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, Ltd. and are represented by Chairman Larry Tanenbaum. With an estimated value of US $1.45 billion in 2018 according to Forbes, the Maple Leafs are the second most valuable franchise in the NHL, after the New York Rangers. The Maple Leafs' broadcasting rights are split between BCE Rogers Communications. For their first 14 seasons, the club played their home games at the Mutual Street Arena, before moving to Maple Leaf Gardens in 1931; the Maple Leafs moved to their present home, Scotiabank Arena in February 1999. The club was founded in 1917, operating as Toronto and known as the Toronto Arenas. Under new ownership, the club was renamed the Toronto St. Patricks in 1919. In 1927 the club was renamed the Maple Leafs. A member of the "Original Six", the club was one of six NHL teams to have endured through the period of League retrenchment during the Great Depression.
The club has won thirteen Stanley Cup championships, second only to the 24 championships of the Montreal Canadiens. The Maple Leafs history includes two recognized dynasties, from 1947 to 1951. Winning their last championship in 1967, the Maple Leafs' 50-season drought between championships is the longest current drought in the NHL; the Maple Leafs have developed rivalries with three NHL franchises: the Detroit Red Wings, the Montreal Canadiens, the Ottawa Senators. The Maple Leafs have retired the use of thirteen numbers in honour of nineteen players. In addition, a number of individuals who hold an association with the club have been inducted in the Hockey Hall of Fame; the Maple Leafs are presently affiliated with two minor league teams, the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League, the Newfoundland Growlers of the ECHL. The National Hockey League was formed in 1917 in Montreal by teams belonging to the National Hockey Association that had a dispute with Eddie Livingstone, owner of the Toronto Blueshirts.
The owners of the other four clubs — the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Quebec Bulldogs and the Ottawa Senators — wanted to replace Livingstone, but discovered that the NHA constitution did not allow them to vote him out of the league. Instead, they opted to create a new league, the NHL, did not invite Livingstone to join them, they remained voting members of the NHA, thus had enough votes to suspend the other league's operations leaving Livingstone's league with one team. The NHL had decided that it would operate a four-team circuit, made up of the Canadiens, Maroons and one more club in either Quebec or Toronto. Toronto's inclusion in the NHL's inaugural season was formally announced on November 26, 1917, with concerns over the Bulldog's financial stability surfacing; the League granted temporary franchise rights to the Arena Company, owners of the Arena Gardens. The NHL granted the Arena responsibility of the Toronto franchise for only the inaugural season, with specific instructions to resolve the dispute with Livingstone, or transfer ownership of the Toronto franchise back to the League at the end of the season.
The franchise did not have an official name, but was informally called "the Blueshirts" or "the Torontos" by the fans and press. Although the inaugural roster was made up of players leased from the NHA's Toronto Blueshirts, including Harry Cameron and Reg Noble, the Blueshirts are viewed as a separate franchise. During the inaugural season the club performed the first trade in NHL history, sending Sammy Hebert to the Senators, in return for cash. Under manager Charlie Querrie, head coach Dick Carroll, the team won the Stanley Cup in the inaugural 1917–18 season. For the next season, rather than return the Blueshirts' players to Livingstone as promised, on October 19, 1918, the Arena Company applied to become permanent franchise, the Toronto Arena Hockey Club, granted by the NHL; the Arena Company decided that year that only NHL teams were allowed to play at the Arena Gardens—a move which killed the NHA. Livingstone sued to get his players back. Mounting legal bills from the dispute forced the Arenas to sell some of their stars, resulting in a horrendous five-win season in 1918–19.
With the company facing increasing financial difficulties, the Arenas eliminated from the playoffs, the NHL agreed to let the team forfeit their last two games. Operations halted on February 1919, with the NHL ending its season and starting the playoffs; the Arenas'.278 winning percentage that season remains the worst in franchise history. However, the 1919 Stanley Cup Finals ended without a winner due to the worldwide flu epidemic; the legal dispute forced the Arena Company into bankruptcy, it was forced to sell the team. On December 9, 1919, Querrie brokered the team's purchase by the owners of the St. Patricks Hockey Club, allowing him to maintain an ownership stake in the team; the new owners renamed the team the Toronto St. Patricks, which they used until 1927. Changing the colours of the team from blue to green, the club won their second Stanley Cup championship in 1922. Babe Dye scored four times in the 5–1 Stanley Cup-clinching victory against the Vancouver Millionaires. In 1924 Jack Bickell invested C$25,000 in the St. Pats as a favour to his friend Querrie, who needed to financially reorganize his hockey team.
After a number of financially difficult seasons, the St. Patricks' ownership group consider
Liiga
The SM-liiga, colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding leagues of the Champions Hockey League and allocated five spots - the maximum number - based on success in previous editions, it was created in 1975 to replace the SM-sarja, fundamentally an amateur league. The SM-liiga is not directly overseen by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association, but the league and association have an agreement of cooperation. SM is a common abbreviation for Suomen mestaruus, "Finnish championship"; the SM-liiga had a system of automatic promotion and relegation in place between itself and the Mestis, the second highest level of competition in Finland, but the automatic system was ended in 2000. The league was allowed KalPa to get a promotion. In 2009, a new system was introduced and it includes the last placed SM-liiga team facing the Mestis champion in a best of seven playout series. In 2013, the relegation system was abandoned again and replaced by a procedure in which successful clubs of Mestis may apply for a promotion if they fulfill definite financial criteria.
Since 2013, Jokerit joined the KHL and Espoo Blues went bankrupt, but Sport, KooKoo and Jukurit were promoted. Therefore Liiga is a competition of 15 teams in the 2016 -- 2017 -- 18 seasons; the SM-liiga was constituted in 1975 to concentrate the development of top-level Finnish ice hockey, pave the way towards professionalism. Its predecessor, the SM-sarja, being an amateur competition, had its disadvantages, which were perceived as impeding Finland's rise to the highest ranks of ice hockey. One of the main problems was that the governing of the SM-sarja was based on the annual meeting of the Finnish Ice Hockey Association, where all important issues were decided by vote. Since all clubs registered under the Finnish Ice Hockey Association had the right to vote, the many amateur clubs prevailed over the few business-like clubs. Therefore, the concentrated development of top-level Finnish ice hockey by the motivated and financially capable clubs proved arduous; the new SM-liiga was to be run by a board consisting of its participating clubs only and to have an agreement of cooperation with the Finnish Ice Hockey Association.
The SM-sarja was outdated on its own, as it was run according to amateur principles. Clubs were not supposed to pay their players beyond compensation for lost wages. However, by the 1970s many clubs were run like businesses and recruited players through a contract of employment, paying their wages secretly and evading taxes. However, in 1974, accounting reform in Finland extended book-keeping standards to cover sports clubs, shortfalls were exposed in audit raids; the SM-liiga was to allow wages for players, clubs were put under a tighter supervision. They were to establish their own association for SM-liiga ice hockey only, separating their commitments from junior activities and other sports. Copies of all player contracts were to be sent to the SM-liiga to provide players with adequate security, such as insurance and pensions; the SM-sarja had other limits for players. According to amateur ideals, no player could represent more than one club within one season. Personal sponsorship was forbidden.
To discourage trading, a system of quarantine was in force. The SM-liiga stripped the limitations for players, replaced quarantine with a then-modest transfer payment, introduced the transfer list. Players wanting a transfer were to sign up, the SM-liiga would distribute the right of negotiations to clubs. In practice, the list was not successful, as both parties worked their way around the formalities; these changes led to a transition towards professional ice hockey as the league became semi-professional. Only a few players would make a livelihood out of ice hockey in Finland in the 1970s, many players the young, would settle for a contract in the SM-liiga without a wage. A major financial development for professional ice hockey in Finland was the introduction of playoffs. Gate receipts and other income from playoffs were distributed as a placement bonus. Although playoffs were the standard way of determining the champions in North American professional sports, at the time they were not common in Europe.
The SM-liiga was established rather hastily. The required changes were initiated at the 1974 annual meeting, the SM-liiga was launched for the 1975–76 season, it was the first Finnish professional sports league, its solutions were untried. However, there had been a mounting demand for these changes, as the popularity of ice hockey had been rising in the previous decade; the SM-liiga picked up. The four best of the regular season were to proceed to the playoffs; the system of promotion and relegation from the SM-sarja remained in force: last-placed teams of the regular season had to qualify for their position in the SM-liiga against the best teams of the second-highest series. The combined attendance for the first eleven regular seasons hovered around 900,000. In 1986–87, the number of games for each team was increased from 36 to 44, reaching its current level of 56 games in 2000–01, the SM-liiga was expanded to 12 clubs for the 1988–89 season; the general popularity of ice hockey strengthened through international success of the Finland men's national ice hockey team, the combined attendance climbed through the 1990s to about 1.8 million.
This prompted an increase in the profitability of the ice hockey business and the completion of the transition to full professionalism. By the mid-1990s, all players were full-time, by 2000, most clubs had reformed into limited companies. In late 1990s and early 2000s the S
Finland
