The Jungadler Mannheim can celebrate winning the German U20 championship for the 2022/2023 season. The Mannheim Young Talent Team managed a sweep against last year’s finalists, the Kölner Junghaie.
On the way to the playoff finals, the Mannheim team beat the U20 teams Schwenninger Wild Wings and the ESV Kaufbeuren through. Cologne's entry into the final led to the ERC Ingolstadt and the defending champion Eisbären Juniors Berlin. With the young eagles Mannheim and the Kölner Junghaien, the two first and second placed teams in the final table of the placement round faced each other in the final.
Results playoff final:
- Young Eagles Mannheim – Kölner Junghaie (6:5 OT)
- Kölner Junghaie – Young Eagles Mannheim (2:3)
- Young Eagles Mannheim – Kölner Junghaie - 6:2
Changed game mode for the 2022/2023 season
The U20 DNL Division 1 has been playing in a different format since this season. First, two groups of six teams each were divided into evaluation rounds A and B. For the subsequent main round, two equally strong groups were again formed (Group 1: places one to three in both groups and Group 2: places four to six in both groups). Places one to six in Group 1 and places one and two in Group 2 qualified for the playoffs. The subsequent placement rounds were between places three to six in Group 2. The playoffs were played for the first time with eight teams and from the quarter-finals in best-of-five mode - previously the playoffs only started from the semi-finals and were played in best-of-three mode.
DEB-President Dr. Peter Merten: "My warmest congratulations go to the Jungadler Mannheim on their 17th U20 title in the club's history. Thanks to a brilliant start with many early goals, the Jungadler were able to crown their performance with the title in their age group in front of their own home crowd."
Head coach Jungadler Mannheim Luigi Calce: "The Kölner Junghaie have a good team and are very organized. I didn't think we could pull off such a breakthrough here. I’m very happy that we managed to do that and the boys brutally deserved it.”
Presenters DEB-Game operation Markus Schubert: "Congratulations to the Jungadler Mannheim on winning the U20 championship. Thanks to the change in the format in the U20 DNL Division 1, we were able to enjoy very good games at a high level of performance in the main round and in the playoffs. The best-of-five format among the best eight U20 teams was very attractive and created excitement."
Edwin Tropmann (Kölner Junghaie) excellent.
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