2019–20 Oberliga (ice hockey) season

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2019–20 Oberliga season
LeagueOberliga
SportIce Hockey
Duration28 September 2019 – 11 March 2020
Number of teams24
TV partner(s)Sprade TV (select teams)
Regular season
Season championsTilburg Trappers (North)
Eisbären Regensburg (South)
Top scorerBrad Snetsinger (North)
Ian McDonald (South)
Promoted to
DEL2
N/A (no promotion playoffs
due to COVID-19)
Relegated to RegionalligaERC Sonthofen Bulls
(bankruptcy)
Playoffs
ChampionsNo champion
(Championship playoffs not contested)
Oberliga seasons
2020–21 →

The 2019/20 Oberliga season was the 61st season of the Oberliga, the third-tier of German ice hockey. The Oberliga operated with two regional leagues, North and South. 24 teams competed in the season that spanned from 28 September 2019 till 11 March 2020. The regular season and championship playoff qualifiers was completed, but the season was then cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the remainder of the Oberliga season was cancelled by DEB.[1] The championship playoffs were not contested so no Oberliga champion was named. There was also no sporting promotion or relegation, with ERC Sonthofen the only team to be relegated due to the club entering insolvency. Tilburg Trappers were crowned Oberliga North premiers, while Eisbären Regensburg were crowned Oberliga South premiers.

Teams[edit]

2019/20 Dutch teams in Oberliga
Oberliga North Teams: 2019–20 Season
Team Location Arena Capacity Founded Joined
league
City State
Füchse Duisburg Duisburg North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia Scania Arena 4,800 1971 2010
Black Dragons Erfurt Erfurt Thuringia Thuringia Kartoffelhalle Erfurt 1,200 2010 2010
Moskitos Essen Essen North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia Eissporthalle Essen-West 3,850 1994 2015
Saale Bulls Halle Halle (Saale) Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt Eissporthalle Halle 2,200 2004 2010
Hamburg Crocodiles Hamburg Hamburg Hamburg Eisland Farmsen 2,300 1990 2010
Hannover Indians Hannover Lower Saxony Lower Saxony Eisstadion am Pferdeturm 4,608 1948 2013
Hannover Scorpions Hannover Lower Saxony Lower Saxony Eishalle Langenhagen 3,800 1996 2013
Herner EV 2007 Herne North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia Gysenberghalle 3,700 2007 2012
Krefeld Pinguine U23 Krefeld North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia König Palast 9,000 1995 2011
IceFighters Leipzig Leipzig Saxony Saxony Kohlrabizirkus Eisarena 2,500 2010 2010
Rostock Piranhas Rostock Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Eishalle Rostock 2,000 1990 2010
Tilburg Trappers Tilburg North Brabant North Brabant IJssportcentrum Tilburg 2,500 1938 2015

Three Regionalliga teams declined promotion to Oberliga North (ECW Sande, Herford EV and Schönheider Wolves).[2][3] DEL team, Krefeld EV applied for a licence for their U23 team to compete in Oberliga North, this was accepted.[4] EC Harzer Falken withdrew from the league after beginning insolvency proceedings.[5] ECC Preussen Berlin had the chance to apply for a licence, even though they were relegated from the previous season but they could not meet the conditions so remained in Regionlliga Ost.[6]

Oberliga South Teams: 2019–20 Season
Team Location Arena Capacity Founded Joined
league
City State
EV Füssen Füssen Bavaria Bavaria Bundesleistungszentrum 4,700 1922 2019
Höchstadter EC Höchstadt Bavaria Bavaria Eisstadion Höchstadt 2,000 1993 2018
ECDC Memmingen Memmingen Bavaria Bavaria Eissportstadion am Hühnerberg 3,850 1992 2017
EV Lindau Islanders Lindau Bavaria Bavaria Eichwaldstadion 1,100 1976 2016
EC Peiting Peiting Bavaria Bavaria Eisstadion Peiting 2,500 1973 2000
SC Riessersee Garmisch-Partenkirchen Bavaria Bavaria Olympia-Eissport-Zentrum 6,926 1920 2018
ERC Sonthofen 1999 Sonthofen Bavaria Bavaria Eissporthalle Sonthofen 2,860 1999 2014
Eisbären Regensburg Regensburg Bavaria Bavaria Donau Arena 4,961 1962 2010
Starbulls Rosenheim Rosenheim Bavaria Bavaria Emilo Stadion 4,750 2000 2017
Selber Wölfe Selb Bavaria Bavaria Hutschenreuther Eissporthalle 4,082 2004 2010
1. EV Weiden Weiden Bavaria Bavaria Eisstadion Weiden 2,560 1985 2012
Deggendorfer SC Deggendorf Bavaria Bavaria Eissporthalle an der Trat 4,000 2002 2019

Deggendorf SC joined Oberliga South for 2019/20 after being relegated from DEL2. EV Landshut left the league after being promoted to DEL2. EV Füssen joined the league from the Bayernliga while EHC Waldkraiburg went the other direction. The champions of Regionalliga Südwest, SC Bietigheim-Bissingen were not eligible for promotion to Oberliga South due to their first team playing in DEL2 (Bietigheim Steelers)

Oberliga North[edit]

Oberliga North ran from 21 September 2019 till 10 March 2020. The league operated with a 44 match (4 matches against each team) regular season. The top six teams automatically qualified for the championship & promotion playoffs. The next four teams advanced to the qualification playoffs for two spots in the championship playoffs. The team finishing eleventh, had their season end after the regular season while the team that finished twelfth, was relegated to the Regionalliga. Tilburg Trappers topped the league standings at the end of the regular season, being crowned Oberliga North premiers.[7] Krefeld EV U23's finished last and would have been relegated until the league decided to suspend all promotion and relegation for the season due to COVID-19 ending the season early.[1]

Regular season[edit]

Pos Team Pld W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Tilburg Trappers 44 31 6 1 6 209 116 +93 106 Oberliga
Championship playoffs
2 Herner EV 2007 44 31 1 2 10 198 141 +57 97
3 Hamburg Crocodiles 44 25 2 5 12 184 122 +62 84
4 Hannover Indians 44 21 4 7 12 140 117 +23 78
5 Icefighters Leipzig 44 22 3 3 16 168 134 +34 75
6 Hannover Scorpions 44 20 5 2 17 174 153 +21 72
7 Saale Bulls Halle 44 19 4 3 18 168 154 +14 68 Nord
Qualification playoffs
8 Füchse Duisburg 44 17 3 3 21 151 161 −10 60
9 Rostock Piranhas 44 13 4 6 21 133 167 −34 53
10 ESC Moskitos Essen 44 10 3 4 27 137 202 −65 40
11 Erfurt Black Dragons 44 9 3 2 30 117 189 −72 35
12 Krefelder EV U23 44 7 1 1 35 119 242 −123 24 Regionalliga
Source: www.eliteprospects.com
Rules for classification:
Tie-break: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
Points: 3 points for regulation win; 2 points for OT or SO win; 1 point for OT or SO loss; 0 points for regulation loss

Qualification playoffs[edit]

Teams finishing seventh to tenth play best of three match series in the qualification playoffs to determine the final two places from Oberliga North in the Championship playoffs. The matches occurred between 6 March and 10 March 2020.

Qualified for Championship playoffs
Team 1 Team 2 Series result Match 1 Match 2 Match 3
Saale Bulls Halle ESC Moskitos Essen 2:0 7–2[permanent dead link] 5–4[permanent dead link]
Füchse Duisburg Rostock Piranhas 1:2 3–2[permanent dead link] 3–4[permanent dead link] 2–3[permanent dead link] (OT)

Oberliga South[edit]

Oberliga South ran from 27 September 2019 till 8 March 2020. The league was broken into two stages. Stage one, the regular season, had all twelve teams compete in a home and away round before splitting into two regional groups for a second home and away round for a total of 32 matches. The top ten teams advanced to the Oberliga South qualification round to determine the league premier and eight qualifiers for the Oberliga championship playoffs. The bottom two teams advanced to the relegation playoffs with six Bayernliga teams. Memmingen Indians finished top of the regular season but Eisbären Regensburg topped the fifty match qualification round to claim the Oberliga South premiership.[8] ERC Sonthofen Bulls and Höchstadter EC finished in the bottom two, but the relegation playoffs were cancelled due to COVID-19, so neither team was relegated on sporting performance.[1] However, ERC Sonthofen declared bankruptcy and withdrew from the league, confirming their relegation next season.[9]

Regular season[edit]

Group A
# Team
1 EV Füssen
2 ECDC Memmingen
3 EV Lindau Islanders
4 EC Peiting
5 SC Riessersee
6 ERC Sonthofen Bulls
Group B
# Team
1 Eisbären Regensburg
2 Starbulls Rosenheim
3 Selber Wölfe
4 Höchstadter EC
5 1. EV Weiden
6 Deggendorfer SC
Pos Team Pld W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 ECDC Memmingen 32 16 8 2 6 127 89 +38 66 Süd
Qualification round
2 Deggendorfer SC 32 16 5 2 9 154 114 +40 60
3 Starbulls Rosenheim 32 17 2 5 8 134 100 +34 60
4 Eisbären Regensburg 32 15 2 5 10 141 113 +28 54
5 EV Füssen 32 16 0 6 10 98 100 −2 54
6 SC Riessersee 32 10 7 7 8 121 101 +20 51
7 EC Peiting 32 12 5 5 10 112 98 +14 51
8 EV Lindau Islanders 32 13 1 4 14 100 130 −30 45
9 Selber Wölfe 32 10 6 0 16 117 122 −5 42
10 1. EV Weiden 32 10 4 3 15 105 132 −27 41
11 ERC Sonthofen Bulls 32 11 2 3 16 117 131 −14 40 Regionalliga
relegation playoffs
12 Höchstadter EC 32 3 1 1 27 67 163 −96 12
Source: www.eliteprospects.com
Rules for classification:
Tie-break: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
Points: 3 points for regulation win; 2 points for OT or SO win; 1 point for OT or SO loss; 0 points for regulation loss

Qualification round[edit]

Pos Team Pld W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Eisbären Regensburg 50 29 2 5 14 216 155 +61 96 Oberliga
Championship playoffs
2 ECDC Memmingen 50 23 11 4 12 186 144 +42 95
3 SC Riessersee 50 22 9 8 11 196 138 +58 92
4 Deggendorfer SC 50 24 8 3 15 226 184 +42 91
5 Starbulls Rosenheim 50 25 3 5 17 200 156 +44 86
6 EC Peiting 50 20 5 9 16 174 163 +11 79
7 EV Füssen 50 23 0 8 19 168 176 −8 77
8 Selber Wölfe 50 15 9 3 23 177 186 −9 66
9 1. EV Weiden 50 13 6 7 24 164 218 −54 58
10 EV Lindau Islanders 50 14 4 4 28 142 219 −77 54
Source: www.gamepitch.de
Rules for classification:
Tie-break: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
Points: 3 points for regulation win; 2 points for OT or SO win; 1 point for OT or SO loss; 0 points for regulation loss

Championship playoffs[edit]

The championship playoffs to determine the Oberliga champion and promotion to DEL2 did not go ahead for the 2019/20 season. All ice hockey in Germany was cancelled on 11 March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[1]

Qualified teams

North
# Team
1 Eisbären Regensburg
2 ECDC Memmingen
3 SC Riessersee
4 Deggendorfer SC
5 Starbulls Rosenheim
6 EC Peiting
7 EV Füssen
8 Selber Wölfe
South
# Team
1 Tilburg Trappers
2 Herner EV 2007
3 Hamburg Crocodiles
4 Hannover Indians
5 Icefighters Leipzig
6 Hannover Scorpions
7 Saale Bulls Halle
8 Rostock Piranhas

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d "Vorzeitiges Saisonende aller Ligen des DEB-Spielbetriebs" [Early season end to all DEB sanctioned leagues] (in German). Deutscher Eishockey-Bund. 11 March 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  2. ^ Busch, Henning (8 February 2019). "Nach der Meisterfeier ist vor den Playoffs" [Early season end to all DEB sanctioned leagues] (in German). www.NWZonline.de. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  3. ^ Voss, Markus (3 April 2019). "Herforder Ice Dragons feiern den größten Triumph der Vereinsgeschichte" [Herford Ice Dragons celebrate the greatest triumph in club history] (in German). www.nw.de. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  4. ^ Schoofs, H (6 February 2019). "Der KEV'81 kehrt in die Oberliga zurück" [The KEV’81 returns to the top division] (in German). Rheinische Post. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  5. ^ "Harzer Falken planen für die Regionalliga Nord" [Harzer Falken plan for the Regionalliga Nord] (in German). Harzer Falken. 17 April 2019. Archived from the original on 28 September 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  6. ^ Thelen, Friedhelm (12 July 2019). "ECC Preussen Berlin zieht sich in die Regionalliga zurück" [ECC Preussen Berlin withdraws to the Regionalliga] (in German). www.hockeyweb.de. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  7. ^ "Tilburg Trappers als Oberliga Nord Meister de play-offs in" [Tilburg Trappers enter the play-offs as Oberliga Nord Meister] (in Dutch). www.tilburg.com. 2 March 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  8. ^ Wotruba, Claus-Dieter (8 March 2020). "Sagenhaft: Die Eisbären sind Meister!" [Legendary: The polar bears are masters!] (in German). www.mittelbayerische.de. Archived from the original on 11 April 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  9. ^ "ERC Sonthofen Spielbetriebsgesellschaft mbH meldet Insolvenz an" [ERC Sonthofen files for bankruptcy] (in German). www.hockeyweb.de. 27 February 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2020.

External links[edit]