Robert
Prospect
Sophomore
Save the forrests - eat more beavers!!!
Posts: 308
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Post by Robert on Jul 22, 2004 20:25:20 GMT -5
Here you'll have possibility to ask questions about the german hockey league (DEL) and I'll try to give you an overview about it.
Today there are 14 teams in the league, playing four times against each other during 52 rounds from mid of september till the beginning of march. Eight teams then qualify for the playoffs, while the two worst-ranked teams battle for the remaining in the league in a best-of-seven-series. The first play-round is played as a best-of-seven-series, too. Semifinals and finals are played in best-of-five-series.
The DEL is going into the tenth season and has seen 5 different champions in that time. 4x Adler (Eagles) Mannheim, 2x Kölner Haie (Cologne Sharks), Düsseldorfer EG, Krefeld Pinguine, Frankfurt Lions and Munich. The latter team is now playing under the name Hamburg Freezers.
I'll try to give you an overview from time to time and ask questions if you have some.
Robert
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Post by Jazz on Jul 23, 2004 14:53:57 GMT -5
Hey Robert.... your turn...  ! Ok, what seems to be hockey's problem in Germany? Both in terms of popularity and the financial stability of the teams in the DEL? Why has Germany - a country which has what seemed like forever remained the 8th best team in the world (7th before Slovakia came along) - not been able to close the close the gap on the elite nations? In fact, with countries like Denmark, Switzerland and Latvia on the rise, do you think that Germany's 8th place in danger? |
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Robert
Prospect
Sophomore
Save the forrests - eat more beavers!!!
Posts: 308
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Post by Robert on Jul 24, 2004 9:10:46 GMT -5
The popularity is getting better in my eyes. There's so much soccer broadcasted in television that causes a real overload. The success at the worldchampionship in Germany, reaching the quarterfinals could have been a big impact. But unfortunately the german hockey association and the german hockey league didn't took advantage of this hype for hockey.
The nationalteam has shown it's abilities in Sweden and Finland too, but couldn't prevent the step back in Czech Republic. After several years of neglecting the youth programs Germany is now profiting from the efforts. But the playing style didn't accomodate with the players potential. So the german hope's name is Greg Poss. He's been very successful in coaching as welll in the german league and also as assistant Coach for Team USA.
The financial situation isn't easy to describe. There was are a time where several teams had a patron, like Mannheim and Cologne. It seemed to be a hobby for them. But nowadays they have recognized that earning some money isn't that bad. So there are many new arenas built and they trying to make everything more professional. Unfortunately there's almost no hockey shown in free-tv, so it's not very easy to gain new sponsors and spectators.
The development of german hockey got big hit back when the limitation of foreign players was changed in the mid 90s. To make it easier to understand, now a list of the changes of limitation:
94/95 2 foreign players on the game sheet
95/96 3 foreign players on the game sheet
96/97 3 no-european players on the game sheet
97/98 every team had to have at least 5 german players licensed to play
The next season the number of foreign players to be licensed was cut to 14 and was reduced to 12 for the 2003/2004 campaign. In 2004/2005 it will be allowed to license 12 foreign players, but only 11 on the game sheet. There's also a restriction of players older than 23. 18 players allowed on the game sheet. So a lot of reasons for the german stagnation in hockey.
I think Germany has a good chance to keep the 8th spot as long as they continue the way they have started in the late 90s.
Robert
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Post by Jazz on Jul 26, 2004 15:56:43 GMT -5
....Unfortunately there's almost no hockey shown in free-tv, so it's not very easy to gain new sponsors and spectators..... Now that is the problem.  Why would they not put up a game of the week or something on free - TV? It seems to make sense to me that the product needs to be exposed to the public - how does the league not see that? |
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Graham
Prospect
Sophomore
GBSC Webmaster
Posts: 148
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Post by Graham on Jul 27, 2004 5:17:54 GMT -5
In 2004/2005 it will be allowed to license 12 foreign players, but only 11 on the game sheet. There's an interesting subltely here that I believe only exists in Germany. "License" means sign over the entire season. If you sign a foreign player who either isn't as good as you thought, or takes a season ending injury in week 2 of the campaign, you've still used up one of your licenses. You can't replace him, you can only use another one of your licenses, if you still have any free. I would love to see that rule used in the UK. Would force our clubs to improve their recruiting processes. In the early 1990s, my own club signed 10 imports over a season, in a league that allowed you to only have 3 at any one time. Not surprisingly, we got relegated... Graham. |
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Robert
Prospect
Sophomore
Save the forrests - eat more beavers!!!
Posts: 308
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Post by Robert on Jul 27, 2004 6:06:49 GMT -5
@ Gurj
Free-tv hockey is only shown in regional programms nowadays. Two seasons ago there was also a thirty minute summary of the sunday faternoon game shown on pay-tv in late sunday evening (23:30). During these 30 minutes there were two or three commercial breaks showing only sexual content. Seems to be great for kids, eh?
@ Graham
The licences were once introduced, when several teams got a huge deficit by signing almost 40 players per season. It forces the management to good scouting.
Robert
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