2019–20 Oberliga (ice hockey) season explained

2019–20 Oberliga season
League:Oberliga
Sport:Ice Hockey
Color:
  1. c7bf98
Color Text:black
Duration:28 September 2019 – 11 March 2020
No Of Teams:24
Tv:Sprade TV (select teams)
Season:Regular season
Season Champs:Tilburg Trappers (North)
Eisbären Regensburg (South)
Top Scorer:Brad Snetsinger (North)
Ian McDonald (South)
Promote:N/A (no promotion playoffs
due to COVID-19)
Promote From:
DEL2
Relegate:ERC Sonthofen Bulls
(bankruptcy)
Relegate To:Regionalliga
Finals:Playoffs
Finals Champ:No champion
(Championship playoffs not contested)
Seasonslist:Oberliga seasons
Seasonslistnames:Oberliga
Prevseason Link:2018–19 Oberliga (ice hockey) season
Prevseason Year:2018–19
Nextseason Link:2020–21 Oberliga (ice hockey) season
Nextseason Year: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

Oberliga North Teams: 2019–20 Season
TeamLocationArenaCapacityFoundedJoined
league
City State
4,800 1971 2010
Kartoffelhalle Erfurt 1,200 2010 2010
Eissporthalle Essen-West 3,850 1994 2015
Eissporthalle Halle 2,200 2004 2010
Eisland Farmsen 2,300 1990 2010
4,608 1948 2013
Eishalle Langenhagen 3,800 1996 2013
Gysenberghalle 3,700 2007 2012
9,000 1995 2011
Kohlrabizirkus Eisarena 2,500 2010 2010
Eishalle Rostock 2,000 1990 2010
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
TeamLocationArenaCapacityFoundedJoined
league
City State
4,700 1922 2019
Eisstadion Höchstadt 2,000 1993 2018
Eissportstadion am Hühnerberg 3,850 1992 2017
Eichwaldstadion 1,100 1976 2016
Eisstadion Peiting 2,500 1973 2000
6,926 1920 2018
Eissporthalle Sonthofen 2,860 1999 2014
4,961 1962 2010
Emilo Stadion 4,750 2000 2017
Hutschenreuther Eissporthalle 4,082 2004 2010
Eisstadion Weiden 2,560 1985 2012
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

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]

Qualification playoffs

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 1Team 2Series resultMatch 1Match 2Match 3
2:0 7–2 5–4
1:2 3–2 3–4 2–3 (OT)

Oberliga South

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

Group A
width=1%width=85%Team
1EV Füssen
2ECDC Memmingen
3EV Lindau Islanders
4EC Peiting
5SC Riessersee
6ERC Sonthofen Bulls
Group B
width=1%width=85%Team
1Eisbären Regensburg
2Starbulls Rosenheim
3Selber Wölfe
4Höchstadter EC
51. EV Weiden
6Deggendorfer SC

Qualification round

Championship playoffs

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
width=1%width=85%Team
1Eisbären Regensburg
2ECDC Memmingen
3SC Riessersee
4Deggendorfer SC
5Starbulls Rosenheim
6EC Peiting
7EV Füssen
8Selber Wölfe
South
width=1%width=85%Team
1Tilburg Trappers
2Herner EV 2007
3Hamburg Crocodiles
4Hannover Indians
5Icefighters Leipzig
6Hannover Scorpions
7Saale Bulls Halle
8Rostock Piranhas

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Vorzeitiges Saisonende aller Ligen des DEB-Spielbetriebs . . 11 March 2020 . 12 April 2020 . German . Early season end to all DEB sanctioned leagues.
  2. Web site: Nach der Meisterfeier ist vor den Playoffs . www.NWZonline.de . Henning . Busch . 8 February 2019 . 12 April 2020 . German . Early season end to all DEB sanctioned leagues.
  3. Web site: Herforder Ice Dragons feiern den größten Triumph der Vereinsgeschichte . www.nw.de . Markus . Voss . 3 April 2019 . 12 April 2020 . German . Herford Ice Dragons celebrate the greatest triumph in club history.
  4. Web site: Der KEV'81 kehrt in die Oberliga zurück . . H . Schoofs . 6 February 2019 . 12 April 2020 . German . The KEV’81 returns to the top division.
  5. Web site: Harzer Falken planen für die Regionalliga Nord . Harzer Falken . 17 April 2019 . 12 April 2020 . German . Harzer Falken plan for the Regionalliga Nord . 28 September 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200928092313/https://www.harzer-falken.de/news/artikel/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=613&cHash=b3911b13445d124f75c3dc0b776755c7 . dead .
  6. Web site: ECC Preussen Berlin zieht sich in die Regionalliga zurück . www.hockeyweb.de . Friedhelm . Thelen . 12 July 2019 . 12 April 2020 . German . ECC Preussen Berlin withdraws to the Regionalliga.
  7. Web site: Tilburg Trappers als Oberliga Nord Meister de play-offs in . www.tilburg.com . 2 March 2020 . 12 April 2020 . Dutch . Tilburg Trappers enter the play-offs as Oberliga Nord Meister.
  8. Web site: Sagenhaft: Die Eisbären sind Meister! . www.mittelbayerische.de . Claus-Dieter . Wotruba . 8 March 2020 . 12 April 2020 . German . Legendary: The polar bears are masters! . 11 April 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200411145453/https://www.mittelbayerische.de/sport-nachrichten/sagenhaft-die-eisbaeren-sind-meister-21510-art1889040.html . dead .
  9. Web site: ERC Sonthofen Spielbetriebsgesellschaft mbH meldet Insolvenz an . www.hockeyweb.de . 27 February 2020 . 12 April 2020 . German . ERC Sonthofen files for bankruptcy.