Competition mode on - Germany's highest young talent league starts playing: This weekend things will get serious again in the U20 DNL. The new season begins, one under unprecedented conditions. As a result of the corona pandemic, the Deutscher Eishockey-Bund has decided to increase the top young talent leagues. Compared to the previous year, the DNL Division 1 from ten instead of eight teams. The two newcomers are the ESV Kaufbeuren and the ERC Ingolstadt. The other teams are like last season: The Kölner Junghaie, the Young Eagle Mannheim, the EV Landshut, the Düsseldorfer EG, the EV Regensburg, the Eisbären Juniors Berlin, the Augsburg EV and the Krefelder EV.
After the start of the season was postponed - due to the... Bayern current Corona regulation – things are now starting with a three-week delay. Due to the postponement, the game plan had to be changed from a double round to a one and a half round in order to be able to cushion game cancellations with sufficient alternative dates and to be finished in time for the U2021 World Cup planned for April 18. “At first glance, the planned one and a half round is not the ideal solution, but there is no alternative. It will be a season like no other in this form,” says DEB-Competitive sports representative Michael Pfuhl – and agrees with U18 national coach Steffen Ziesche on this point. “Due to the current situation, we need a time buffer for catch-up appointments. The end of the season has also been fixed with a view to the U18 World Cup,” adds Pfuhl.
The game mode is as follows: The first two places in the preliminary round are automatically qualified for the play-off semi-finals. The teams placed third to sixth will play the other two semi-finalists in a best-of-three series. The semi-finals will also take place in “best-of-three” mode. The four teams at the bottom of the table will be linked to the two best placed teams from Division II and the two best teams will qualify for Division I in the 2021/22 season. “The aim of the descent is to maintain performance,” describes Ziesche.
Ziesche also sees the two newcomers as having a responsibility: "It will be interesting to see how the newcomers do. They now have to repay the loan that they received through the opportunity to advance. The increase should not result in a drop in performance within the league.”
The start of the season is very important for the U18 national coach, especially with a view to the World Cup in April. “It’s important for the boys that games start again. Athletic competition is the most important thing for athletes to achieve a high level,” says Ziesche. It is also important for him to be able to observe and see players in competition.
The games of Kölner Junghaie on the first two weekends – on 26/27.9 September against the Jungadler Mannheim and on 3/4.10 October against the Augsburger EV – have to be cancelled due to an ordered quarantine. “This example shows that it is only possible to play catch-up games for the cancellations of the first four league games of the Kölner Junghaie to start,” says Ziesche. “Despite all the care we take in dealing with the hygiene concepts, we must expect that further games will be canceled during the season due to corona,” notes Pfuhl. Everyone in the association and at the clubs is united by the desire to “complete the season properly,” as Ziesche emphasizes.
Photo: Sörli Binder/ Adler Mannheim