# 2008–09 DEL season

The 2008–09 Deutsche Eishockey Liga season was the 15th season since the founding of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (English: German Ice Hockey Leagie). 16 Teams played after the 2. Bundesliga Champion, the Kassel Huskies received the license to play in the DEL. After 52 rounds and the play-off's, the Eisbären Berlin won its 4th German Championship in the last five years.

## Teams

| Team | City | Arena | Budget Million € | Attendance Regular Season | Attendance Playoffs |
| Augsburger Panther | Augsburg | Curt Frenzel Stadium | 3.1 | 3,678 | 5,052 |
| Eisbären Berlin | Berlin | O2 World | 7.7 | 13,746 | 14,083 |
| DEG Metro Stars | Düsseldorf | ISS Dome | 7.2 | 6,084 | 9,943 |
| Frankfurt Lions | Frankfurt | Eissporthalle Frankfurt | 4.8 | 6,208 | 5,650 |
| Füchse Duisburg | Duisburg | Scania Arena | 4.0 | 1,792 |
| Hamburg Freezers | Hamburg | Color Line Arena | 7.1 | 7,949 | 6,660 |
| Hannover Scorpions | Hanover | TUI Arena | 7.1 | 7,949 | 6,660 |
| ERC Ingolstadt | Ingolstadt | Saturn Arena | 6.2 | 3,346 |
| Iserlohn Roosters | Iserlohn | Eissporthalle Iserlohn | 4.5 | 3,864 |
| Kassel Huskies | Kassel | Eissporthalle Kassel | 3.1 | 4,071 |
| Kölner Haie | Cologne | Lanxess Arena | 6.5 | 10,342 |
| Krefeld Pinguine | Krefeld | König Palast | 4.1 | 4,491 | 7,819 |
| Adler Mannheim | Mannheim | SAP Arena | 8.0 | 11,756 | 12,237 |
| Sinupret Ice Tigers | Nuremberg | Nuremberg Arena | 4.8 | 4,322 | 7,976 |
| Straubing Tigers | Straubing | Eisstadion am Pulverturm | 3.7 | 4,226 |
| Wolfsburg Grizzly Adams | Wolfsburg | Eisarena Wolfsburg | 4.5 | 2,328 | 2,560 |
In accordance to the cooperation contract between the DEL and the German Ice Hockey Federation, and after concluding that necessary reforms where not done in the 2. Bundesliga, a decision was made not to have playdowns and no teams were relegated. However, after ensuring compliance with the DEL regulations, the 2. Bundesliga Champions, the Kassel Huskies, were allowed to enter the league on July 4, 2008, expanding the league to 16 teams. This is also the first season where the Eisbären Berlin played in the brand new O2 World arena.
The number of regular seasons rounds was reduced to 52 from 56 in the previous season. The 6-best placed teams qualified for the playoffs, the teams in 7-10th position where to play a qualification round.
The average team budget was estimate at Euro € 5.24 million, raising the league total to Euro € 84.3 million from Euro € 78.7, mainly due to the addition of 1 team.

## Regular season

| | Team | GP | W | OTW | SOW | OTL | SOL | L | Goals | Points |
| 1. | Eisbären Berlin | 52 | 31 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 214:143 | 105 |
| 2. | Hannover Scorpions | 52 | 30 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 14 | 173:151 | 101 |
| 3. | DEG Metro Stars | 52 | 24 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 17 | 159:134 | 88 |
| 4. | Adler Mannheim | 52 | 22 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 18 | 144:131 | 85 |
| 5. | Sinupret Ice Tigers | 52 | 23 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 20 | 153:142 | 85 |
| 6. | Krefeld Pinguine | 52 | 24 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 20 | 167:140 | 84 |
| 7. | Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg | 52 | 25 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 20 | 180:141 | 83 |
| 8. | Hamburg Freezers | 52 | 22 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 19 | 158:147 | 82 |
| 9. | Frankfurt Lions | 52 | 21 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 20 | 152:152 | 80 |
| 10. | Augsburger Panther | 52 | 24 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 22 | 156:178 | 80 |
| 11. | Iserlohn Roosters | 52 | 15 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 18 | 171:187 | 71 |
| 12. | ERC Ingolstadt | 52 | 18 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 24 | 144:155 | 68 |
| 13. | Straubing Tigers | 52 | 17 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 25 | 144:164 | 68 |
| 14. | Kassel Huskies | 52 | 15 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 25 | 147:171 | 65 |
| 15. | Kölner Haie | 52 | 15 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 23 | 147:166 | 63 |
| 16. | Füchse Duisburg | 52 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 36 | 118:225 | 40 |

## Playoffs
### Playoff qualifications

The playoff qualifications were played between March 5 and 11, 2009 in the Best-of-five mode.
| | | | Series | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | RS |
| Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg | – | Augsburger Panther | 3:1 | 1:2 | 4:1 | 1:0 | 4:3 OT | – | [2:2] |
| Hamburg Freezers | – | Frankfurt Lions | 3:2 | 3:4 | 1:2 | 2:1 | 2:1 OT | 4:2 | [1:3] |

### Playoff brackets

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Finals | Finals | Finals |
| 1. | Eisbären Berlin | 4 | | | | | | |
| 8. | Hamburg Freezers | 0 | | | | | | |
| 8. | Hamburg Freezers | 0 | 1. | Eisbären Berlin | 3 | | | |
| | | | 4. | Adler Mannheim | 1 | | | |
| 4. | Adler Mannheim | 4 | 4. | Adler Mannheim | 1 | | | |
| 5. | Sinupret Ice Tigers | 1 | | | | | | |
| 5. | Sinupret Ice Tigers | 1 | | | | 1. | Eisbären Berlin | 3 |
| | | | | | | 3. | DEG Metro Stars | 1 |
| 2. | Hannover Scorpions | 4 | | | | | | | 3. | DEG Metro Stars | 1 |
| 7. | Wolfsburg Grizzly Adams | 2 | | | | | | |
| 7. | Wolfsburg Grizzly Adams | 2 | 2. | Hannover Scorpions | 2 | | | |
| | | | 3. | DEG Metro Stars | 3 | | | |
| 3. | DEG Metro Stars | 4 | 3. | DEG Metro Stars | 3 | | | |
| 6. | Krefeld Pinguine | 3 | | | | | | |

### Quarterfinals

The quarterfinals were played in the Best-of-seven mode starting March 13 until March 26.
| | | | Series | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | RS |
| Eisbären Berlin | – | Hamburg Freezers | 4:0 | 5:3 | 3:2 OT | 7:2 | 4:1 | − | − | − | [3:1] |
| Hannover Scorpions | – | Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg | 4:2 | 2:1 | 2:3 OT | 2:3 | 4:3 OT | 4:3 | 2:0 | − | [1:1] |
| DEG Metro Stars | – | Krefeld Pinguine | 4:3 | 2:3 | 4:3 OT | 1:2 | 5:4 OT | 2:1 | 3:4 | 5:0 | [3:1] |
| Adler Mannheim | – | Sinupret Ice Tigers | 4:1 | 5:0 | 3:5 | 3:2 | 2:1 | 5:2 | − | − | [0:4] |

### Semifinals

The semifinals were played in the Best-of-five mode, from March 29 to April 7, 2010.
| | | | Series | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | RS |
| Eisbären Berlin | – | Adler Mannheim | 3:1 | 4:0 | 1:6 | 4:0 | 6:4 | – | [2:2] |
| Hannover Scorpions | – | DEG Metro Stars | 2:3 | 5:2 | 2:4 | 6:3 | 3:4 OT | 1:3 | [1:1] |

### Finale

The finals were played in the Best-of-five mode, from April 9, 2010.
| | | | Series | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | RS |
| Eisbären Berlin | – | DEG Metro Stars | 3:1 | 3:2 | 1:3 | 5:1 | 4:2 | – | [3:1] |
The Eisbären Berlin won the title for the 4th time.