2020–21 DEL2 season

The 2020–21 DEL2 season was the eighth season since the founding of the DEL2, the second tier of German ice hockey, set below the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). The season began on a delayed start date of 6 November 2020 after being rescheduled from 2 October 2020, and concluded with the end of the playoffs on 22 May 2021. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, DEL2 along with DEL and DEB agreed to a set of health rules and guidelines to ensure a safe and consistent work environment for everyone involved with hockey in Germany. Fans were excluded from attending matches. The DEL2 board agreed to suspend relegation to the Oberliga for the season, resulting in no relegation play-offs being contested. The season also marked the first time the league implemented promotion to DEL. 
==Format==
Fourteen teams competed in the 2019–20 DEL2 regular season that ran from 6 November 2020 to 11 April 2021. No team was promoted or relegated to Oberliga. Each team played each other twice in the regular season, home and away, for a total of 52 matches each. The top eight teams qualified for the championship playoffs, played in a best of five format.
For the first time in DEL2 history, sporting promotion to DEL was introduced. Relegation from DEL to DEL2 was suspended for the season. Financial account examination was an additional requirement for the DEL2 champion to obtrain a DEL licence to secure promotion. Löwen Frankfurt, EC Kassel Huskies and Bietigheim Steelers all applied for their financial accounts to be examined.
==Regular season==
Pos	Team 	Pld	W 	OTW	OTL	L 	GF 	GA 	GD 	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1 	EC Kassel Huskies 	49 	32	6 	4 	7 	210	108	+102	112	2021 DEL2 Championship Playoffs
2 	Tölzer Löwen 	50 	28	1 	6 	15	210	153	+57 	92 	2021 DEL2 Championship Playoffs
3 	EHC Freiburg 	49 	23	8 	4 	14	177	149	+28 	89 	2021 DEL2 Championship Playoffs
4 	Bietigheim Steelers 	49 	26	4 	3 	16	183	165	+18 	89 	2021 DEL2 Championship Playoffs
5 	Löwen Frankfurt 	49 	22	8 	5 	14	158	141	+17 	87 	2021 DEL2 Championship Playoffs
6 	ESV Kaufbeuren 	50 	22	6 	2 	20	181	187	−6 	80 	2021 DEL2 Championship Playoffs
7 	Ravensburg Towerstars 	50 	20	2 	8 	20	155	161	−6 	72 	2021 DEL2 Championship Playoffs
8 	Heilbronner Falken 	49 	20	3 	2 	24	173	175	−2 	68 	2021 DEL2 Championship Playoffs
9 	Eispiraten Crimmitschau	49 	17	6 	3 	23	156	166	−10 	66 	
10 	EV Landshut 	50 	15	4 	7 	24	162	191	−29 	60 	
11 	EC Bad Nauheim 	49 	16	4 	4 	25	156	187	−31 	60 	
12 	Lausitzer Füchse 	50 	15	3 	7 	25	141	175	−34 	58 	
13 	Dresdner Eislöwen 	49 	12	7 	6 	24	140	184	−44 	56 	
14 	Bayreuth Tigers 	50 	12	4 	5 	29	145	205	−60 	49 	
==Playoffs==
Due to the ongoing coronavirus situation, the relegation play-offs were suspended for the season. The championship play-offs saw the DEL2 champion qualify for promotion to DEL for the first time, as long as the winning team also met financial requirements to obtain a DEL licence.
===Championship===
The championship playoffs reference:
The championship playoffs ran from 22 April 2021 to 22 May 2021. The top eight teams from the regular season qualified and played best-of-five series. Teams were reseeded following the quarter-finals, which meant that Ravensburg, the only lower seed to advance, had to face top seed Kassel in the semi-finals. In the finals, Bietigheim came back from two games down to win the series and the DEL2 championship, 3 games to 2. 
Note: All numbers represent series results, not a match score
==References==
==External links==
* Official website
* Official Facebook
* Elite Prospects home
Category:2021 in ice hockey