It starts on Friday Oberliga Nord into the new 2016/17 season. Anticipation and excitement are high in the second season after the successful restructuring of the third highest German league in the north. 15 clubs from eight German federal states and the Dutch guest club Tilburg initially start in a 30-game main round before the league is then divided into the championship and qualifying rounds, in which play-off and pre-play-off participants are determined.
“After the mode last year to revive the Oberliga Nord The clubs wanted this from a more economic, i.e. regional, perspective. With the current number of participants, we now have the opportunity to play a format that is both sportingly and economically attractive,” says Oliver Seeliger, Director of Match Operations at the Deutscher Eishockey-Bund eV (DEB).
In addition to the most frequently mentioned favorites Duisburg, who start off against the two capital city clubs Preussen and FASS Berlin have to compete and Tilburg (start against Herne and in Halle) will have a lot of eyes on them Hamburg Crocodiles should be directed. After the exit Hamburg Freezers in the DEL and the relegation of HSV, the Crocodiles are now number one in ice hockey in the Hanseatic city. The club around ex-national player and Freeza captain Christoph Schubert (1000 international matches) has sold around 70 season tickets. The Fans are looking forward to the start of the season in the northern derby against Rostock.
“I have the greatest respect for the work of Christoph Schubert and the people who support him in making ice hockey a reality Hamburg lives on,” says DEB-Vice President Marc Hindelang. “The Crocos will be a splash of color in the league and will be good for its publicity.”
The Tilburg Trappers will also certainly contribute to the attractiveness of the league again, as they secured the Oberliga championship in their first year of participation. Like last season, the Trappers start the DEL2 without promotion rights. “Before you can even talk about promotion here, the DEL2 clubs have to agree on this and this DEB communicate. We added Tilburg last year to strengthen the Oberliga structure. “That was successful,” says Hindelang. But if promotion makes sporting and economic sense for everyone involved, we have to and will talk about it.”
The games of the first weekend:
| Time of day | Home | Guest |
| Friday | ||
| 19:30 | ECC Prussia Berlin | Füchse Duisburg |
| 19:30 | BARREL Berlin | Black Dragons Erfurt |
| 20:00 | EC Harzer Falken | ESC Wedemark Scorpions |
| 20:00 | Hannover Indians | Icefighters Leipzig |
| 20:00 | Tilburg Trappers | Herner EV |
| 20:00 | EHC Timmendorfer Strand 06 | Hanover Scorpions |
| 20:00 | ESC Wohnbau Moskitos Essen | MEC Hall 04 |
| 20:00 | Crocodiles Hamburg | Rostock Piranhas |
| Sunday | ||
| 16:00 | Black Dragons Erfurt | Crocodiles Hamburg |
| 17:00 | Icefighters Leipzig | EC Harzer Falken |
| 18:15 | MEC Hall 04 | Tilburg Trappers |
| 18:30 | Herner EV | Hannover Indians |
| 18:30 | Füchse Duisburg | BARREL Berlin |
| 18:30 | Hanover Scorpions | ECC Prussia Berlin |
| 18:30 | ESC Wedemark Scorpions | EHC Timmendorfer Strand 06 |
| 19:00 | Rostock Piranhas | ESC Wohnbau Moskitos Essen |
Statistics on Oberliga Nord see here