DEL2 (also known as Deutsche Eishockey Liga 2 or 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.

DEL2
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2023-24 DEL2 season
Formerly2nd Bundesliga
SportIce hockey
Founded2013; 11 years ago (2013)
CEORené Rudorisch
AdministratorDEB
Motto"Carried by passion, at home in ice hockey" [1]
No. of teams14
CountryGermany
Most recent
champion(s)
Ravensburg Towerstars
(2nd title)
Most titlesBietigheim Steelers
(3 titles)
TV partner(s)Sprade TV
eoTV
Level on pyramidLevel 2
Promotion toDEL (2020–21 onward)
Relegation toOberliga
Official websitedel-2.org

History

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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

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The league had 12 teams participating in the 2013–14 season, before expanding to 14 teams from the 2014–15 season.[11] In season 2023–24 there will be 14 teams qualified as Bayreuth Tigers didn't receive a licence due to financial issues.[12]

DEL2 Teams: 2023–24 Season
Team Location Arena Capacity Founded Joined league
City State
EC Bad Nauheim Bad Nauheim   Hesse Colonel Knight Stadion 4,500 1982 2013
Bietigheim Steelers Bietigheim-Bissingen   Baden-Württemberg EgeTransArena 4,500 1981 2023
Eispiraten Crimmitschau Crimmitschau   Saxony Eisstadion im Sahnpark 5,222 1990 2013
Dresdner Eislöwen Dresden   Saxony EnergieVerbund Arena 4,200 1990 2013
EHC Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau   Baden-Württemberg Franz Siegel Stadion 5,800 1984 2015
EC Kassel Huskies Kassel   Hesse Eissporthalle Kassel 6,100 1977 2014
ESV Kaufbeuren Kaufbeuren   Bavaria Erdgas Schwaben Arena 3,100 1946 2013
Krefeld Pinguine Krefeld   North Rhine-Westphalia Yayla-Arena 8,029 1936 2022
EV Landshut Landshut   Bavaria Eisstadion am Gutenbergweg 6,750 1948 2019
Lausitzer Füchse Weißwasser   Saxony Eisstadion Weißwasser 3,050 1932 2013
Ravensburg Towerstars Ravensburg   Baden-Württemberg Eissporthalle Ravensburg 3,300 1881 2013
Eisbären Regensburg Regensburg   Bavaria Donau-Arena 4,961 1962 2022
Starbulls Rosenheim Rosenheim   Bavaria ROFA-Stadion 5,022 1928 2023
Selber Wölfe Selb   Bavaria NETZSCH Arena 3,983 1953 2021

Former teams

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Former DEL2 Teams
Team Location Arena Capacity Founded Joined league Left league
City State
Deggendorfer SC Deggendorf   Bavaria Eisstadion Deggendorf 2,790 1996 2018 2019
Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven   Bremen Eisarena Bremerhaven 4,674 1974 2013 2016
Löwen Frankfurt Frankfurt   Hesse Eissporthalle Frankfurt 6,990 2010 2014 2022
Heilbronner Falken Heilbronn   Baden-Württemberg Kolbenschmidt Arena 4,000 1980 2013 2023
SC Riessersee Garmisch-Partenkirchen   Bavaria Olympia-Eissport-Zentrum 6,929 1923 2013 2018
Tölzer Löwen Bad Tölz   Bavaria Hacker-Pschorr-Arena 4,115 1928 2017 2022
Bayreuth Tigers Bayreuth   Bavaria Kunsteisstadion 4,555 2006 2016 2023

Timeline of clubs in DEL2

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Timeline of clubs in DEL2
13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 17/18 18/19 19/20 20/21 21/22 22/23 23/24 24/25
EC Bad Nauheim
Tölzer Löwen
EHC Bayreuth
Bietigheim Steelers SCB
Fischtown
Eispiraten Crimmitschau
DSC
Dresdner Eislöwen
Löwen Frankfurt
EHC Freiburg
SC Riessersee
Heilbronner Falken
Kassel Huskies
ESV Kaufbeuren
Krefeld
EVL EV Landshut
Ravensburg Towerstars
Regensburg
Starbulls Rosenheim SBR
VER Selb
Weiden
Lausitzer Füchse

Champions

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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
Premiers Pts Champions Result Runners-up G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 Player Pts
2013–14 Fischtown Pinguins 104 Fischtown Pinguins 4:1 Bietigheim Steelers 4:3 2:3 4:3 4:2 3:2 - -   Harrison Reed 90 - -
2014–15 Bietigheim Steelers 114 Bietigheim Steelers 4:2 Fischtown Pinguins 4:3 3:4 4:3 4:3 1:6 4:3 -   Mike Collins 81 - -
2015–16 Bietigheim Steelers 111 EC Kassel Huskies 4:0 Bietigheim Steelers 1:0 3:2 3:2 5:2 - - -   Justin Kelly 85 Fischtown Pinguins -
2016–17 Bietigheim Steelers 109 Löwen Frankfurt 4:2 Bietigheim Steelers 7:5 4:0 4:2 2:3 1:2 5:2 -   Matt McKnight 72 - Starbulls Rosenheim
2017–18 SC Riessersee 103 Bietigheim Steelers 4:1 SC Riessersee 3:1 3:5 2:1 6:3 2:0 - -   Richard Mueller 80 - SC Riessersee
2018–19 Löwen Frankfurt 97 Ravensburg Towerstars 4:2 Löwen Frankfurt 5:3 1:3 6:5 7:4 1:3 5:1 -   Roope Ranta 79 - Deggendorfer SC
2019–20 Löwen Frankfurt 94 Play-offs cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic   Dylan Wruck 88 - -
2020–21 Kassel Huskies 112 Bietigheim Steelers 3:2 Kassel Huskies 1:2 1:4 3:2 5:4 5:2 - -   Marco Pfleger 86 Bietigheim Steelers -
2021–22 Löwen Frankfurt 112 Löwen Frankfurt 4:0 Ravensburg Towerstars 7:0 3:1 1:0 2:1 - - -   Peter Quenneville 80 Löwen Frankfurt Tölzer Löwen
2022–23 Kassel Huskies 131 Ravensburg Towerstars 4:1 EC Bad Nauheim 4:2 0:3 5:2 3:1 7:3 - -   Marcel Müller 70 - Heilbronner Falken

League player records

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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 D 307
2   Marco Müller D 304
3   Benjamin Hüfner D 303
4   René Schoofs F 302
5   Adriano Carciola F 296
All-time goals
# Name Pos Gol
1   Richard Mueller F 166
2   Matt McKnight F 133
3   Tyler McNeely F 123
4   Marc Sommerfeld F 110
5   Adriano Carciola F 105
All-time assists
# Name Pos A
1   Matt McKnight F 257
2   Marc Sommerfeld F 216
3   Tyler McNeely F 215
4   Shawn Weller F 194
5   Robin Just F 171
All-time points
# Name Pos Pts
1   Matt McKnight F 390
2   Tyler McNeely F 338
3   Marc Sommerfeld F 326
4   Richard Mueller F 295
5   Shawn Weller F 292
All-time PIM
# Name Pos PIM
1   Josef Frank D 483
2   Carter Proft F 447
3   Andrew McPherson F 412
4   Marco Müller D 403
5   Henry Martens D 401

See also

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References

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  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. ^ a b 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. ^ a b 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. Archived from the original on 2020-10-24. Retrieved 2019-08-27.
  11. ^ "DEL II is official". Eurohockey.com. 2013-07-13.
  12. ^ "Bayreuth Tigers erhalten keine Lizenz für die DEL2" [Bayreuth Tigers don't receive licence for DEL2] (in German). DEL2. 2023-06-30.
  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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