2020–21 DEL2 season

2020–21 DEL2 season
2020–21 DEL2 season
League	DEL2
Sport	Ice Hockey
Duration	6 November 2020 – 22 May 2021
Number of games	364 (52 per team)
Number of teams	14
TV partner(s)	Sprade TV ; eoTV
Regular season
Season champions	EC Kassel Huskies
Top scorer	Marco Pfleger (Tölzen Löwen)
Relegated to Oberliga	No relegation ; (relegation suspended for season)
Playoffs
Champions	Bietigheim Steelers
Finals MVP	Norman Hauner (Steelers)
DEL2 seasons
	← 2019–20 2021–22 →

The 2020–21 DEL2 season was the eighth season since the founding of the DEL2, the second tier of German ice hockey, set below the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). The season began on a delayed start date of 6 November 2020 after being rescheduled from 2 October 2020,^[1] and concluded with the end of the playoffs on 22 May 2021. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, DEL2 along with DEL and DEB agreed to a set of health rules and guidelines to ensure a safe and consistent work environment for everyone involved with hockey in Germany.^[2] Fans were excluded from attending matches.^[2] The DEL2 board agreed to suspend relegation to the Oberliga for the season, resulting in no relegation play-offs being contested.^[3] The season also marked the first time the league implemented promotion to DEL.^[4]

Teams

DEL2 teams for the 2020–21 season.

In 2020–21 the DEL2 had 14 teams competing in the league.^[5]

**2020–21 DEL2 teams**
Team	City	Arena	Head coach	Captain
EC Bad Nauheim	Bad Nauheim	Colonel-Knight-Stadion	Hannu Järvenpää	Marc El-Sayed
Tölzer Löwen	Bad Tölz	Hacker-Pschorr-Arena	Kevin Gaudet	Philipp Schlager
Bayreuth Tigers	Bayreuth	Kunsteisstadion	Petri Kujala	Ivan Kolozvary
Bietigheim Steelers	Bietigheim-Bissingen	EgeTrans Arena	Daniel Naud	Nikolai Goc
Eispiraten Crimmitschau	Crimmitschau	Eisstadion im Sahnpark	Mario Richer	Adrian Grygiel
Dresdner Eislöwen	Dresden	EnergieVerbund Arena	Andreas Brockmann	Thomas Pielmeier
Löwen Frankfurt	Frankfurt	Eissporthalle Frankfurt	Franz-David Fritzmeier	Adam Mitchell
EHC Freiburg	Freiburg	Franz Siegel Stadion	Peter Russell	Philipp Rießle
Heilbronner Falken	Heilbronn	Kolbenschmidt Arena	Bill Stewart	Derek Damon
EC Kassel Huskies	Kassel	Eissporthalle Kassel	Tim Kehler	Denis Shevyrin
ESV Kaufbeuren	Kaufbeuren	Erdgas Schwaben Arena	Rob Pallin	Tyler Spurgeon
EV Landshut	Landshut	Eisstadion am Gutenbergweg	Leif Carlsson	Tim Brunnhuber
Lausitzer Füchse	Weißwasser	Eisstadion Weißwasser	Corey Neilson	Clarke Breitkreuz
Ravensburg Towerstars	Ravensburg	Eissporthalle Ravensburg	Rich Chernomaz	Vincenz Mayer

Format

Fourteen teams competed in the 2019–20 DEL2 regular season that ran from 6 November 2020 to 11 April 2021. No team was promoted or relegated to Oberliga. Each team played each other twice in the regular season, home and away, for a total of 52 matches each. The top eight teams qualified for the championship playoffs, played in a best of five format.^[6]

For the first time in DEL2 history, sporting promotion to DEL was introduced. Relegation from DEL to DEL2 was suspended for the season. Financial account examination was an additional requirement for the DEL2 champion to obtrain a DEL licence to secure promotion. Löwen Frankfurt, EC Kassel Huskies and Bietigheim Steelers all applied for their financial accounts to be examined.^[7]

Regular season

Results

Home \ Away	BN	TL	BT	BS	EC	DE	LF	EF	HF	KH	EK	EL	FU	RT	BN	TL	BT	BS	EC	DE	LF	EF	HF	KH	EK	EL	FU	RT
EC Bad Nauheim		–	4–1	6–3	3–7	3–2	6–2	–	7–1	0–8	–	4–3	4–2	6–0		–	4–1	2–6	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Tölzer Löwen	7–2		4–2	2–3^[a]	8–1	3–4	–	4–2	6–3	4–5^[a]	–	5–2	7–1	3–6	–		–	5–2	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	1–4
Bayreuth Tigers	7–2	2–1		2–5	1–4	4–1	–	3–4	3–1	3–4^[b]	4–3	4–7	2–3	3–1	–	0–5		–	6–7^[b]	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Bietigheim Steelers	1–0	8–7	3–7		4–2	–	7–2	3–4^[a]	4–1	5–4^[b]	7–2	9–4	3–5	3–8	–	–	–		–	4–1	–	1–2^[b]	–	–	6–4	–	–	–
Eispiraten Crimmitschau	5–1	4–5^[b]	2–4	0–3		2–1^[a]	–	5–3	3–4	3–2	7–6	6–7	3–2	4–1	–	–	–	–		2–4	–	–	–	–	–	4–2	–	–
Dresdner Eislöwen	2–3^[a]	0–1	3–0	3–2	3–2^[a]		3–2^[a]	1–5	4–2	3–4^[b]	2–6	5–2	5–4^[a]	0–3	–	–	–	–	–		2–10	–	–	–	–	–	1–0^[a]	–
Löwen Frankfurt	5–1	1–4	5–3	–	2–0	–		5–4^[b]	2–3^[a]	4–3^[b]	5–3	2–1^[a]	6–1	5–2	–	–	–	–	–	–		–	2–1	2–1	–	–	–	–
EHC Freiburg	8–1	4–3^[a]	4–2	2–5	3–4	5–4	2–3		5–2	0–3	4–3	7–3	6–1	2–3^[b]	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		3–4^[a]	–	–	–	–	3–2^[b]
Heilbronner Falken	–	3–6	–	6–2	5–2	2–5	1–3	4–7		–	3–6	8–4	4–1	7–0	–	2–4	–	–	–	–	–	–		–	1–3	–	–	–
EC Kassel Huskies	3–4^[a]	5–3	6–2	3–1	4–5	4–1	7–0	1–0	4–3		5–0	3–1	5–1	4–2	4–1	–	–	–	–	–	–	5–1	–		–	–	–	–
ESV Kaufbeuren	3–2	2–6	5–7	3–2^[b]	3–2	8–1	5–4^[a]	5–0^[c]	4–2	1–4		5–6^[b]	–	1–4	–	–	–	–	–	1–4	–	–	–	–		3–2	–	–
EV Landshut	3–2^[b]	3–2^[b]	5–3	1–2^[a]	3–4^[a]	5–2	4–2	4–2	–	–	2–3^[b]		4–2	2–3	–	–	–	–	–	–	3–1	–	–	–	–		3–4	–
Lausitzer Füchse	7–3	3–2^[a]	2–3^[a]	6–0	3–4	3–2	2–1	–	4–5^[a]	4–3	0–1	1–3		1–3	–	–	1–3	–	–	–	–	–	–	2–3	–	–		–
Ravensburg Towerstars	7–1	2–3	3–2^[a]	4–1	4–1	6–3	1–2	3–4^[a]	–	2–4	7–5	4–2	3–5		2–4	–	–	–	2–3^[b]	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–

Updated to match(es) played on 9 February 2021. Source: DEL2
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v Overtime
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p Shootout
^ Match forfeited by Freiburg retrospectively for not icing enough U21 players. ESV Kaufbeuren handed a 5-0 victory despite the match finishing 6-2 on the night.

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	EC Kassel Huskies	49	32	6	4	7	210	108	+102	112	2021 DEL2 Championship Playoffs
2	Tölzer Löwen	50	28	1	6	15	210	153	+57	92
3	EHC Freiburg	49	23	8	4	14	177	149	+28	89
4	Bietigheim Steelers	49	26	4	3	16	183	165	+18	89
5	Löwen Frankfurt	49	22	8	5	14	158	141	+17	87
6	ESV Kaufbeuren	50	22	6	2	20	181	187	−6	80
7	Ravensburg Towerstars	50	20	2	8	20	155	161	−6	72
8	Heilbronner Falken	49	20	3	2	24	173	175	−2	68
9	Eispiraten Crimmitschau	49	17	6	3	23	156	166	−10	66
10	EV Landshut	50	15	4	7	24	162	191	−29	60
11	EC Bad Nauheim	49	16	4	4	25	156	187	−31	60
12	Lausitzer Füchse	50	15	3	7	25	141	175	−34	58
13	Dresdner Eislöwen	49	12	7	6	24	140	184	−44	56
14	Bayreuth Tigers	50	12	4	5	29	145	205	−60	49

Updated to match(es) played on 8 April 2021. Source: www.kicker.de www.del-2.org
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

Top scorers

These are the top-ten scorers in DEL2 for the 2020–21 season. (Table is created at the conclusion of the DEL2 regular season)

Top goaltenders

These are the top-ten goaltenders in DEL2 for the 2020–21 season. (Table is created at the conclusion of the DEL2 regular season)

Playoffs

Due to the ongoing coronavirus situation, the relegation play-offs were suspended for the season.^[3] The championship play-offs saw the DEL2 champion qualify for promotion to DEL for the first time, as long as the winning team also met financial requirements to obtain a DEL licence.^[4]

Championship

The championship playoffs reference:^[8]

The championship playoffs ran from 22 April 2021 to 22 May 2021. The top eight teams from the regular season qualified and played best-of-five series. Teams were reseeded following the quarter-finals, which meant that Ravensburg, the only lower seed to advance, had to face top seed Kassel in the semi-finals. In the finals, Bietigheim came back from two games down to win the series and the DEL2 championship, 3 games to 2.

Quarterfinals			Semifinals			Finals

1	EC Kassel Huskies	3

8	Heilbronner Falken	0
			1	EC Kassel Huskies	3

			7	Ravensburg Towerstars	1
2	Tölzer Löwen	1

7	Ravensburg Towerstars	3
						1	EC Kassel Huskies	2
(Pairings are reseeded after the first round)
						4	Bietigheim Steelers	3
3	EHC Freiburg	3

6	ESV Kaufbeuren	2
			3	EHC Freiburg	2

			4	Bietigheim Steelers	3
4	Bietigheim Steelers	3

5	Löwen Frankfurt	2

Note: All numbers represent series results, not a match score

References

^ "DEL2 gezwungen Saisonstart nochmals zu verschieben" [DEL2 forced to postpone the start of the season again] (in German). DEL2. 14 August 2020. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
^ ^a ^b "Task Force Eishockey präsentiert umfassendes Hygiene- und Zuschauerkonzept" [Task Force Ice Hockey presents a comprehensive hygiene and spectator concept] (in German). Deutscher Eishockey Bund. 16 July 2020. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
^ ^a ^b "DEL2 beendet Saison vorzeitig" [DEL2 ends season prematurely] (in German). DEL2. 10 March 2020. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
^ ^a ^b "PENNY DEL und DEL2 einigen sich über Auf- und Abstieg für die Saison 2021/22" [PENNY DEL and DEL2 agree on promotion and relegation for the 2021/22 season] (in German). Deutsche Eishockey Liga. 23 October 2020. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
^ "DEL 2: 2020-2021 Standings". eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
^ "Spielmodus Saison 2020/2021" [Game mode for the 2020/2021 season] (in German). www.del-2.org. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
^ "Grizzlys geben Lizenzunterlagen ab" [Grizzlys hand in license documents] (in German). Grizzlys Wolfsburg. 25 May 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
^ "DEL2 | Statistik | Spielpläne - Archiv der DEL2". www.del-2.org. Retrieved 18 March 2020.