DEL 2002/03

	German ice hockey league
	◄ previous	2002/03 season	next ►
Master:	Krefeld penguins
Relegated:	Schwenninger Wild Wings (license withdrawal)
• DEL |  2. Bundesliga ↓   |  Oberliga ↓↓

The 2002/03 DEL season was the ninth season of the German Ice Hockey League . The regular season began on September 6, 2002 and ended on March 9, 2003; the play-off round was played from March 12. The Krefeld penguins became German champions . Since the Schwenninger Wild Wings had their license withdrawn due to ongoing insolvency proceedings , the athletic relegated Frankfurt Lions was allowed to remain in the league.

requirements

Attendees

club	Location	Previous year	Play-offs ↑ Play-downs ↓
Augsburg panther	augsburg	8th.	Quarterfinals ↑
Polar bears Berlin	Berlin	7th	Quarterfinals ↑
DEG Metro Stars	Dusseldorf	9.	-
Frankfurt Lions	Frankfurt	11.	-
Hamburg Freezers 1	Hamburg	1.	Semifinals ↑
Hanover Scorpions	Hanover	10.	-
ERC Ingolstadt	Ingolstadt	Climbers	-
Iserlohn Roosters	Iserlohn	12.	-
Kassel Huskies	kassel	5.	Semifinals ↑
Cologne Sharks	Cologne	6th	German master ↑
Krefeld penguins	Krefeld	3.	Quarterfinals ↑
Adler Mannheim	Mannheim	2.	Vice champion ↑
Nuremberg Ice Tigers	Nuremberg	4th	Quarterfinals ↑
Schwenninger Wild Wings	Villingen-Schwenningen	16.	Winner ↓

¹ in the previous year Munich Barons

Mode and rules

While the best eight teams in the preliminary round qualified for the play-offs, the last two played in a play-down round against relegation. For the teams in positions nine to twelve, the season was over after the preliminary round.

Preliminary round

After the license of the Munich Barons had changed to Hamburg, the newly founded Hamburg Freezers played a surprisingly good season in which they were able to advance from the last to eighth and thus a play-off place. With an average attendance of 10,713 and a narrow quarter-final defeat against Berlin, the Freezers finally ended their first season. The Iserlohn Roosters , the DEL club with the smallest budget, were also able to surprise and narrowly missed the play-offs under coach Greg Poss , as they finished 9th with one point behind Hamburg.

Closing table

	Club	Sp	S.	SOS	SON	N	Gates	Points
1.	Polar bears Berlin	52	30th	5	9	8th	188: 134	109
2.	Cologne Sharks (M)	52	26th	4th	15th	7th	151: 117	101
3.	DEG Metro Stars	52	24	10	4th	14th	151: 122	96
4th	Adler Mannheim	52	25th	8th	3	16	152: 129	94
5.	Nuremberg Ice Tigers	52	23	7th	6th	16	133: 127	89
6th	Krefeld penguins	52	20th	8th	2	22nd	147: 133	78
7th	Kassel Huskies	52	19th	7th	7th	19th	118: 127	78
8th.	Hamburg Freezers	52	17th	10	6th	19th	154: 152	77
9.	Iserlohn Roosters	52	17th	8th	8th	19th	142: 132	75
10.	Hanover Scorpions	52	18th	5	5	24	142: 150	69
11.	Augsburg panther	52	16	6th	6th	24	127: 146	66
12.	ERC Ingolstadt (N)	52	16	5	7th	24	122: 135	65
13.	Frankfurt Lions	52	14th	6th	6th	26th	133: 171	60
14th	Schwenninger Wild Wings	52	4th	6th	11	31	99: 184	35

Abbreviations: Sp = games, S = victories, SOS = victories after penalty shoot-out, SON = defeats after penalty shoot-out, N = defeats, (M) = defending champion, (N) = newcomer
Explanations:     = qualification for the play-offs,     = season ended ,     = Play-downs

Leaderboards

category	Surname	team	number
Top scorer	Mark Beaufait	Polar bears Berlin	54 scorer points
Top scorer	Christoph Brandner	Krefeld penguins	28 goals
Top template provider	Brad Purdie	Krefeld penguins	41 assists
Top goalkeeper	Frédéric Chabot	Nuremberg Ice Tigers	Catch quota of 94.53%
Top defender	Jeff Tory	Hamburg Freezers	46 scorer points

Play-downs

The bottom two of the table, Frankfurt Lions and Schwenninger Wild Wings, played from March 12th in a play-down series in the " Best of Seven " mode against relegation.

			series	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
Frankfurt Lions	-	Schwenninger Wild Wings	2: 4	3: 6	1: 2	6: 4	4: 3	4: 7	2: 3	-

Although the gap at the end of the main round was 25 points, the Schwenninger Wild Wings won the relegation round against the Frankfurt Lions, who were thus determined as relegated athletes. Since insolvency proceedings were opened against the Wild Wings , the SERC's license was withdrawn, whereupon it had to go into the lower leagues and Frankfurt was allowed to remain in the DEL.

Play-offs

Play-off tree

Quarter finals

Semifinals

final

1.

Polar bears Berlin

4th

8th.

Hamburg Freezers

1

1.

Polar bears Berlin

1

6th

Krefeld penguins

3

3.

DEG Metro Stars

1

6th

Krefeld penguins

4th

2.

Cologne Sharks

2

6th

Krefeld penguins

3

2.

Cologne Sharks

4th

7th

Kassel Huskies

3

2.

Cologne Sharks

3

4th

Adler Mannheim

0

4th

Adler Mannheim

4th

5.

Nuremberg Ice Tigers

1

Quarter finals

The quarter-finals were played from March 12, 2003 in the " best-of-seven " mode. The best-placed team in the main round, the Eisbären Berlin, met the eighth-placed Hamburg Freezers, the second-placed Kölner Haie against the seventh Kassel Huskies, the third, the DEG Metro Stars, the sixth-placed Krefeld Pinguine and the fourth-placed Adler Mannheim against the Nürnberg Ice Tigers who finished the main round in fifth.

			series	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
Polar bears Berlin	-	Hamburg Freezers	4: 1	5: 2	5: 6 n.p.	3: 2	2: 1	4-0	-	-
Cologne Sharks	-	Kassel Huskies	4: 3	1: 3	3: 1	2: 1	4: 5	4: 1	2: 3	5: 1
DEG Metro Stars	-	Krefeld penguins	1: 4	1: 2	5: 6 a.d.	1-0	2: 5	1: 4	-	-
Adler Mannheim	-	Nuremberg Ice Tigers	4: 1	5: 4	1: 6	5: 1	4: 2	3-0	-	-

Semifinals

The semi-finals were held from March 28th and, like the finals, in the " Best-of-Five " mode. The best-placed team in the preliminary round met the worst-placed team, while the second-best team in the preliminary round met the third-best placed.

			series	1	2	3	4th	5
Polar bears Berlin	-	Krefeld penguins	1: 3	4: 1	2: 4	0: 1	1: 4	-
Cologne Sharks	-	Adler Mannheim	3-0	3: 2	5: 3	4: 3 a.d.	-	-

The Berliners surprisingly lost the semifinals against the Krefeld Penguins, although the polar bears were the first to complete the preliminary round with 109 points and were therefore the top favorites for the championship.

final

The final series was played from April 11th. The Kölner Haie had the first home right due to their better placement in the main round.

			series	1	2	3	4th	5
Cologne Sharks	-	Krefeld penguins	2: 3	2: 5	2: 3	3: 2	3: 2 a.d.	1: 3

As the biggest surprise of the season, the Krefeld Penguins were German champions for the second time in their club's history. After two wins in the first two games, the Penguins were on the verge of becoming the second team in DEL history after Adler Mannheim (1996/97 against Kassel) to become German champions with a sweep , i.e. a series without defeat. In the Bundesliga times, only EC Hedos Munich had succeeded in the final series of the 1993/94 season against the Düsseldorfer EG, and the Düsseldorfer EG against SB Rosenheim in the 1991/92 season. Due to the narrow 3-2 victory of Cologne in the third game, the Krefeld was unable to do this. Due to the play-off victories against Dusseldorf, Berlin and Cologne, the motto of “ State Capital Winner , Federal Capital Winner , Carnival Club Winner , German Champion 2003” was jokingly coined in Krefeld circles .

Squad of the German champions

German champion Krefeld penguins

Goalkeepers: Roger Nordström , Robert Müller Defenders: Paul Dyck , Christian Ehrhoff , Daniel Kunce , Dan Lambert , Sjarhej Stas , Andreas Raubal , Darryl Shannon , Mario Doyon Attackers: Thomas Brandl , Steffen Ziesche , Gary Shuchuk , David Musial , Brad Purdie , Patrik Augusta , Günther Oswald , Jonas Lanier , Christoph Brandner , Stéphane Barin , Bill Bowler , Adrian Grygiel , Sandy Moger Head coach: Chris Valentine (until December 2002) , Butch Goring (since November 2002)

Web links

• All results and tables of the DEL 2002/03 at hockey-db.de