The 2020–21 Deutsche Eishockey Liga season was the 27th season since the founding of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the league announced 13 November 2020 as the start date, which was later postponed to a later date. On 19 November 2020, the DEL announced that the season would start on 17 December 2020.
Eisbären Berlin won their eighth title, after defeating the Grizzlys Wolfsburg in three games.
Format The season saw the same 14 teams as last year, as all teams were given a license. Adler Mannheim will be the defending champions from the 2018–19 DEL season as the 2019–20 season was ended after the regular season. At that point, EHC Red Bull München, who won three consecutive DEL titles until Mannheim’s 2019 triumph (a 4–1 series win against Munich), were the league leaders and had clinched the first seed for the DEL playoffs.
This season would have marked the return of promotion and relegation, as the last placed team would have been relegated to the second tier DEL2 and the 2020–21 DEL2 champions would have replaced them for the 2021–22 season DEL. On 23 October 2020, the relegation rule was moved to next season. Still, the DEL2 champion can be promoted at the end of this season, so next season could be played with 15 teams. The 14 teams played the regular season in two groups (North and South). They played the teams from the same group four times and the teams from the other group twice. After that, the top four clubs from both groups advanced to the playoffs. The quarterfinals were played within the group before, from the semifinals on, it was mixed. All playoff rounds were best of three.
Teams
TeamCityArenaCapacityAugsburger PantherAugsburgCurt Frenzel Stadium6,218Eisbären BerlinBerlinMercedes-Benz Arena14,200Fischtown PinguinsBremerhavenEisarena Bremerhaven4,674Düsseldorfer EGDüsseldorfISS Dome13,400ERC IngolstadtIngolstadtSaturn Arena4,815Iserlohn RoostersIserlohnEissporthalle Iserlohn5,000Kölner HaieCologneLanxess Arena18,500Krefeld PinguineKrefeldKönig Palast9,000Adler MannheimMannheimSAP Arena13,600EHC Red Bull MünchenMunichOlympia Eishalle6,256Nürnberg Ice TigersNurembergArena Nürnberger Versicherung7,810Schwenninger Wild WingsVillingen-SchwenningenHelios Arena6,215Straubing TigersStraubingEisstadion am Pulverturm6,000Grizzlys WolfsburgWolfsburgEis Arena Wolfsburg4,660
Regular season North
Standings
Results
South
Standings
Results
Intra-groups games
Playoffs All rounds were played in a best of three format. The first round was played in the regional group.
Bracket
Quarterfinals The quarterfinals were played between 20 and 24 April 2021 in a best-of-three mode.
Eisbären Berlin vs Iserlohn Roosters
Fischtown Pinguins vs Grizzlys Wolfsburg
Adler Mannheim vs Straubing Tigers
EHC Red Bull München vs ERC Ingolstadt
Semifinals The semifinals were played between 26 and 29 April 2021 in a best-of-three format.
Eisbären Berlin vs ERC Ingolstadt
Adler Mannheim vs Grizzlys Wolfsburg
Final The final was played between 2 and 7 May 2021 in a best-of-three format.
Awards and statistics Awards The awards were announced on 2 May 2021.
Award Player Player of the year Marcel Noebels Goaltender of the year Joacim Eriksson Defenceman of the year Marcel Brandt Forward of the year Marcel Noebels Rookie of the year Florian Elias Coach of the year Thomas Popiesch Finals MVP Ryan McKiernan
Scoring leaders List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals.
PlayerTeamGPGAPts+/−PIMPOSJoe Whitney Iserlohn Roosters 37 21 24 45 0 22 FCasey Bailey Iserlohn Roosters 37 20 24 44 +3 56 FJason Akeson Kölner Haie 38 12 32 44 +2 8 FChris Bourque EHC Red Bull München 38 7 35 42 +23 26 FMarcel Noebels Eisbären Berlin 36 6 35 42 +17 12 FTrevor Parkes EHC Red Bull München 38 23 18 41 +22 16 FMatt White Eisbären Berlin 38 19 20 39 +15 10 FAlexandre Grenier Iserlohn Roosters 35 12 27 39 −1 12 FYasin Ehliz EHC Red Bull München 38 19 19 38 +19 28 FJon Matsumoto Kölner Haie 37 16 22 38 +7 22 F
Leading goaltenders Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played at least 40% of their team's minutes, are included in this list.
PlayerTeamTOIGAGAASASv%SOFelix Brueckmann Adler Mannheim 1096 28 1.53 437 93.6 4Joacim Eriksson Schwenninger Wild Wings 1812 74 2.45 1074 93.1 2Tomáš Pöpperle Fischtown Pinguins 743 29 2.34 382 92.4 0Dustin Strahlmeier Grizzlys Wolfsburg 1402 49 2.10 636 92.3 2Mathias Niederberger Eisbären Berlin 1609 57 2.13 735 92.2 5
References
External links Official website