Pure mind games, daily newspaper Junge Welt, October 11, 2024

Pure mind games, daily newspaper Junge Welt, October 11, 2024

Cody Brenner, goalkeeper of the Löwen Frankfurt (October 1, 2024)

On October 11th, the Augsburg Panthers will face the Frankfurt Lions at home in the Curt Frenzel Stadium on the eighth matchday of the German Ice Hockey League (DEL). A duel between the currently ninth-placed team and the fourth-placed team in which the modalities after the end of the era of the “closed society” in the league can be seen as an example. The Hessians would not be allowed to play in the elite class if the clubs had not decided in 2017 that promotion was possible. As second division champions for the 2022/23 season, the Lions benefited from this new regulation. The Augsburg Panthers, for their part, would have to be chasing the puck in the second division for a long time now according to the new promotion and relegation regulations. After the end of the DEL main round and 52 matches at the bottom of the table in 2022 and 2023, relegation had already been sealed twice for the Swabians – but both times they escaped with a black eye thanks to a regulation that is unique in the German professional leagues.

With the Eisbären from Regensburg last season and the Ravensburg Towerstars in the second to last, two teams won the championship in DEL 2 that were not considered for promotion to the first floor from the outset. The regulation stipulates that only clubs from DEL 2 that have applied for a DEL license before the start of the season and have deposited the required financial citizenship of 800,000 euros are allowed to move up to the elite league. A very special practice that was extended by the two highest ice hockey leagues almost six months ago in a new cooperation agreement until the 2030/2031 season.

For the time being, the last group in the preliminary round can continue to compete in the DEL if the champion of the lower house does not meet the requirements for promotion. As far as the still young 2024/25 season is concerned, the strict requirements in league two are only met by Kassel, Dresden, Rosenheim, Landshut and Krefeld. Only if one of these five teams triumphed in the end would the dogs bite one of the 14 DEL clubs. The agreement has nevertheless led to dissatisfaction. Surprisingly, even the lucky ones from Augsburg were twice as lucky. Instead of considering themselves lucky to have remained in the league, they complained about the long weeks of waiting and uncertainty between the end of the DEL main round at the beginning of March and the DEL 2 final at the end of April. The Swabians argue that they lost time for squad and other planning.

There is also resistance to the current relegation modalities elsewhere, such as one dpasurvey recently revealed. Some people like coach Tom Pokel from the Straubing Tigers would like clear conditions with promotion and relegation regulations without any ifs and buts. Those responsible in the clubs are also calling for a renaissance of play-down games like in the times before the DEL was founded in 1994. “That would be 100 percent desirable,” says Nuremberg manager Stefan Ustorf, for example. At the same time, one could avoid waiting until the DEL 2 finally determines its champion, says the sports director of the Düsseldorfer EG, Niki Mondt, agrees with this view.

DEL managing director Gernot Tripcke can jW-Inquiries do not gain anything from such discussions. Firstly, because the topic was discussed internally before the extension of the cooperation agreement between DEL and DEL 2. On the other hand, because “there are no majorities for changes”. On the contrary, the latest example from the Swiss National League shows what absurd results a play-down series can lead to. Not only would four or more teams be dragged into the relegation vortex after the main round, but at the same time such a mode would quickly mutate into a farce if the second division champion is not entitled to promotion, as has been seen in the past two years.

According to Tripcke, legally and according to the DEL regulations, it is not impossible to reform the relegation scenario before the cooperation agreement, which is dated until 2031, expires. “The DEL 2 obviously cannot defend itself if we change our own relegation rules,” explained the DEL boss. Of course, this cannot mean that the DEL decides that every DEL 2 champion will automatically be promoted or that in the future – as in the Bundesliga – there will be relegation games between the DEL bottom team and the DEL 2 champion. Such variants are excluded without the consent of the second league and are, for Tripcke, “purely theoretical mind games” anyway. For him, the mode as it is is not up for grabs. »Also because we are improving our main round and especially the final phase in the main round, when the decisive games against relegation come up. We always see from the number of spectators how great the sporting appeal of this regulation is.

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