The Bietigheim Steelers are the new champions of the 2024/2025 season of the DEB-Oberliga. Bietigheim wins game seven of the best-of-seven series 2-1 against the Hannover Scorpions and thus secures the title. The trophy presentation was attended by DEB-Vice President Marc Hindelang (responsible for LEV/Leagues) and DEBSecretary General Claus Gröbner travelled to Hanover.
In an exciting and hard-fought final playoff series, the Hannover Scorpions and the Bietigheim Steelers The respective runners-up of the Oberliga North and South divisions faced each other. The Hannover Scorpions were also one of the last year's finalists – in the 2023/2024 season, the team had to accept the Blue Devils Weiden admit defeat. The Bietigheim Steelers However, winning the championship means direct promotion back to the DEL2.
Playoff finals
With the same ranking in the regular season, the North Division had the first home advantage this season – thus, the opening and decisive game seven of the final playoff series took place in Hanover. The home team prevailed in each of the first six games – four of the final seven games were won only in overtime, aptly reflecting the excitement and drama of the search for the new Oberliga champion.
Olafr Schmidt (Bietigheim Steelers) excellent.
All matches of the final series were sold out. A total of 23.910 spectators were present in Hanover and Bietigheim to watch the exciting final matches of this year's Oberliga season live.
Voices about the game:
DEB-Vice President Marc Hindelang (responsible for LEV/leagues): "A final series could hardly be closer and more exciting. Congratulations to the Bietigheim Steelers, who demonstrated their class at the crucial moment and scored that one more goal. Thanks in part to their strong playoff performance, they are deserving Oberliga champions and promoted. Respect also to the Hannover Scorpions, who once again played a top season."
Commercial Manager DEB-Ligen Panagiotis Christakakis: “We congratulate them Bietigheim Steelers to win the championship. The Hannover Scorpions deserve equally high recognition; with their high-class performance, they were a worthy opponent in the final. This year's final playoff series was a fantastic advertisement for ice hockey and hard to beat in terms of excitement. The fact that this year's champion wasn't crowned until game seven shows that these were two teams on equal terms. The atmosphere in the respective arenas, which were sold out for all seven games, was correspondingly exuberant.
Head coach Bietigheim Steelers Alexander Dück: "It was an incredibly hard-fought series in which both teams gave it their all. The Scorpions had good players in their ranks and really didn't make it easy for us, but in the end, we had the better of it. We won four of the seven games and are, of course, very happy about that."
Results Oberliga playoff final
17.04.2025 | Hanover Scorpions – Bietigheim Steelers 3:2nV
19.04.2025 | Bietigheim Steelers – Hanover Scorpions 6:2
21.04.2025 | Hanover Scorpions – Bietigheim Steelers 4:3nV
23.04.2025 | Bietigheim Steelers – Hanover Scorpions 3:1
25.04.2025 | Hanover Scorpions – Bietigheim Steelers 4:3nV
27.04.2025 | Bietigheim Steelers – Hanover Scorpions 4:3nV
29.04.2025 | Hanover Scorpions – Bietigheim Steelers 1:2
All results and statistics for the matches can be found at: https://deb-online.live/liga/olpo/