DEL2

DEL2 (also known as DEL II) is the second tier ice hockey league in Germany, below the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) and ahead of the Oberliga. Founded in 2013 to replace the defunct 2nd Bundesliga, DEL2 is administered by ESBG, under licence from DEB.

Not to be confused with del squared (disambiguation).
DEL2
Current season, competition or edition:
2019–20 DEL2 season
Formerly2nd Bundesliga
SportIce hockey
Founded2013 (2013)
Inaugural season2013–14
CEORené Rudorisch
Motto"Carried by passion, at home in ice hockey" [1]
No. of teams14
Country Germany
HeadquartersNeuss, Germany
ConfederationDEB
Most recent
champion(s)		Ravensburg Towerstars
(1st title)
Most titlesBietigheim Steelers
(2 titles)
TV partner(s)Sprade TV
eoTV
Promotion toDEL (2020–21 onward)
Relegation toOberliga
Official websitewww.del-2.org

History

The DEL2 league was founded on 2 May 2013 by Eishockeyliga Betriebsgesellschaft mbH. The foundation of the league was controversial as it was preceded by a long standing dispute between the operator of the second division, Eishockeyspielbetriebsgesellschaft mbH (ESBG), and the German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB).[2]

In 2011, ESBG refused to sign a cooperation agreement between DEB and DEL citing unacceptable conditions. As a result, DEB withdrew their support of ESBG and promotion and relegation between the DEL and 2nd division was removed.[3] On 18 April 2013, the Eishockeyliga Betriebsgesellschaft mbH was established by Ernst Rupp, CEO of Heilbronn Falcons.[2] The new company was founded with the goal of reforming a new second division league. The new company quickly aligned with DEL and officially founded the new league on 2 May 2013. The DEB responded by labelling the new league an unsanctioned breakaway competition. ESBG subsequently filed an injunction against DEB in the Munich Regional Court. On 17 July 2013, the DEB, second division clubs and ESBG came to an out of court settlement on the matter. The settlement agreement between ESBG and DEB stipulated the status-quo of ESBG running the second division operations until 2018. Post 2018, the league would then be separated and self-run.[4]

In 2014, the league expanded to include fourteen teams, the same number as the DEL. DEL2 had started with just twelve teams in the 2013/14 season.[5]

In April 2015, DEB altered its statutes so clubs associated with DEL and DEL2 could become members of the DEB again.[6] This decision by DEB led to a new agreement being reached between DEL and DEL2 in September 2015 to re-enable promotion and relegation between the two leagues. This system implemented was based on sporting achievement but came with specified condition caveats on the DEL2 team wishing to obtain promotion.[7]

At the conclusion of the 2015/16 season, DEL2 was recognised as the best-supported second-tier hockey league in Europe. DEL2 had average spectator attendances of 2,688 per match.[8]

1 July 2016, the DEL2 club Fischtown Pinguins became the first club from DEL2 to be ‘unofficially’ promoted to DEL. The Pinguins were not promoted through the DEL/DEL2 promotion system but instead applied for a vacated licence in DEL, following the withdrawal of the Hamburg Freezers who ceased operations on 24 May 2016.[9]

In 2017, the DEL2 and Oberliga (German third division) reached agreement for the introduction of promotion and relegation between the two divisions. The first ever DEL2 relegation occurred at the end of the season with Starbulls Rosenheim relegated to Oberliga.[5]

As of 2018, no DEL2 team had been able to meet the conditions for promotion to DEL. This led to new negotiations between the two leagues and in July 2018 a new agreement was reached to introduce automatic promotion and relegation between the two divisions, starting in the 2020/21 season, ten years after it was taken away.[10]

Current teams

The league had 12 teams participating in the 2013–14 season, before expanding to 14 teams from the 2014–15 season.[11]

DEL2 teams for the 2019–20 season.
DEL2 Teams: 2019–20 Season[12]
Team Location Arena Capacity Founded Joined league
CityState
EC Bad Nauheim Bad Nauheim Hesse Colonel Knight Stadion 4,500 1982 2013
EHC Bayreuth Bayreuth Bavaria Städtisches Kunsteisstadion Bayreuth 4,555 2006 2016
Bietigheim Steelers Bietigheim-Bissingen Baden-Württemberg EgeTransArena 4,500 1981 2013
Eispiraten Crimmitschau Crimmitschau Saxony Eisstadion im Sahnpark 5,222 1990 2013
Dresdner Eislöwen Dresden Saxony EnergieVerbund Arena 4,200 1990 2013
Löwen Frankfurt Frankfurt Hesse Eissporthalle Frankfurt 6,990 2010 2014
EHC Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau Baden-Württemberg Franz Siegel Stadion 5,800 1984 2015
Heilbronner Falken Heilbronn Baden-Württemberg Kolbenschmidt Arena 4,000 1980 2013
EC Kassel Huskies Kassel Hesse Eissporthalle Kassel 6,100 1977 2014
ESV Kaufbeuren Kaufbeuren Bavaria Erdgas Schwaben Arena 3,100 1946 2013
EV Landshut Landshut Bavaria Eisstadion am Gutenbergweg 6,750 1948 2019
Lausitzer Füchse Weißwasser Saxony Eisarena Weißwasser 3,050 1932 2013
Ravensburg Towerstars Ravensburg Baden-Württemberg Eissporthalle Ravensburg 3,300 1881 2013
Tölzer Löwen Bad Tölz Bavaria Hacker-Pschorr-Arena 4,115 1928 2017

Former teams
Former DEL2 Teams
Team Location Arena Capacity Founded Joined league Left league
CityState
Deggendorfer SC Deggendorf Bavaria Eissporthalle an der Trat 2,790 1996 2018 2019
Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven Bremen Eisarena Bremerhaven 4,674 1974 2013 2016
SC Riessersee Garmisch-Partenkirchen Bavaria Olympia-Eissport-Zentrum 6,929 1923 2013 2018
Starbulls Rosenheim Rosenheim Bavaria Emilo Stadion 4,750 1928 2013 2017

Champions

The champions, runners-up and regular season premiers of the league standings:[13]

DEL2 season-by-season results
Season Regular season Playoffs Top scorer Promoted team Relegated team
PremiersPtsChampionsResultRunners-upG1G2G3G4G5G6G7PlayerPts
2013–14Fischtown Pinguins104Fischtown Pinguins4:1Bietigheim Steelers4:32:34:34:23:2-- Harrison Reed90--
2014–15Bietigheim Steelers114Bietigheim Steelers4:2Fischtown Pinguins4:33:44:34:31:64:3- Mike Collins81--
2015–16Bietigheim Steelers111EC Kassel Huskies4:0Bietigheim Steelers1:03:23:25:2--- Justin Kelly85Fischtown Pinguins-
2016–17Bietigheim Steelers109Löwen Frankfurt4:2Bietigheim Steelers7:54:04:22:31:25:2- Matt McKnight72-Starbulls Rosenheim
2017–18SC Riessersee103Bietigheim Steelers4:1SC Riessersee3:13:52:16:32:0-- Richard Mueller80-SC Riessersee
2018–19Löwen Frankfurt97Ravensburg Towerstars4:2Löwen Frankfurt5:31:36:57:41:35:1- Roope Ranta79-Deggendorfer SC
2019–20Löwen Frankfurt95Play-offs cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic Dylan Wruck 88 - -


League player records

The following are the top five all-time leaders in five different statistical categories: matches played; goals; assists; points; penalty minutes[14]

All-time appearances
# Name Pos MP
1 Henry Martens D307
2 Marco Müller D304
3 Benjamin Hüfner D303
4 René Schoofs F302
5 Adriano Carciola F296
All-time goals
# Name Pos Gol
1 Richard Mueller F166
2 Matt McKnight F133
3 Tyler McNeely F123
4 Marc Sommerfeld F110
5 Adriano Carciola F105
All-time assists
# Name Pos A
1 Matt McKnight F257
2 Marc Sommerfeld F216
3 Tyler McNeely F215
4 Shawn Weller F194
5 Robin Just F171
All-time points
# Name Pos Pts
1 Matt McKnight F390
2 Tyler McNeely F338
3 Marc Sommerfeld F326
4 Richard Mueller F295
5 Shawn Weller F292
All-time PIM
# Name Pos PIM
1 Josef Frank D483
2 Carter Proft F447
3 Andrew McPherson F412
4 Marco Müller D403
5 Henry Martens D401

See also

References
  1. "DEL2 startet mit neuem Claim: Von Herzblut getragen. Im Eishockey zuhause" (in German). www.eishockeynews.de. 2019-08-23. Retrieved 2019-08-24.
  2. Welck, Tobias (2013-05-03). "DEL II-GmbH ist gegründet: Trennung vom DEB kaum mehr zu verhindern - Rupp: "Herr Harnos hat uns verarscht"" (in German). www.eishockeynews.de. Retrieved 2019-08-27.
  3. "Kooperationsvertrag bis 2018: Kein Auf- und Abstieg – DEB und DEL einigen sich" (in German). www.kicker.de. 2011-07-28. Retrieved 2019-08-27.
  4. "DEB contra ESBG: Ralph Bader in der Rolle des Mediators" (in German). www.merkur.de. 2012-10-10. Retrieved 2019-08-27.
  5. Kruchen, Vincent (2018-04-03). "Das Märchen vom funktionierenden Auf- und Abstieg". www.shorthandednews.de. Retrieved 2019-08-27.
  6. "DEB-Präsident Reindl setzt Reformen durch" (in German). www.faz.net. 2015-04-18. Retrieved 2019-08-27.
  7. DEL: Rückkehr zu Auf- und Abstieg? Fahrplan steht! (in German) kicker.de, published: 8 September 2015, accessed: 22 September 2015
  8. "EUROPEAN ATTENDANCE RANKING PUBLISHED". iihf.com. International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
  9. "Bremerhaven wird DEL-Standort" [Bremerhaven joins the DEL]. kicker.de (in German). Kicker (sports magazine). 1 July 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
  10. Merk, Martin (2018-07-27). "Promotion returns to Germany". www.iihf.com. Retrieved 2019-08-27.
  11. "DEL II is official". Eurohockey.com. 2013-07-13.
  12. "DEL2 startet mit 14 Teams in die neue Saison" [DEL2 starts new season with 14 teams] (in German). DEL2. Retrieved 2016-07-06.
  13. DEL 2 (in German) kicker.de, accessed: 22 September 2015
  14. "DEL2 - All Time Regular Season Player Stats". www.eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 2019-08-27.
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