2015–16 DEL2 season

The 2015–16 DEL2 season was the third season since the founding of the DEL2, the second tier of German ice hockey, set below the Deutsche Eishockey Liga.
The regular season started on 11 September 2015 and was completed on 1 March 2016, followed by the play-offs, which finished on 22 April 2016 with EC Kassel Huskies winning the league title.
==Modus==
Fourteen teams played a regular season where each team played the other twice home and away. The teams placed first to sixth directly qualified for the play-offs while the teams placed seventh to tenth played a pre-play-off in the best-of-three format. The remained of the play-offs were staged in a best-of-seven format. The teams placed eleventh to fourteenth qualified for the play-downs, also played in the best-of-seven format with the losers of the first round advancing to the second. The loser of the second round was relegated.
The league champion does not have the right for direct promotion to the Deutsche Eishockey Liga but, in September 2015, the DEL and DEL2 agreed to reintroduce promotion and relegation between the two leagues from the 2017–18 season onwards. The DEL2 champion would then have the opportunity to be promoted, provided it fulfilled the licensing requirements of the DEL, while the last-placed DEL club would be relegated.
After DEL club Hamburg Freezers returned their licence in May 2016 the Fischtown Pinguins announced that they had applied for a DEL licence and were interested in taking up Hamburg's place in the league, with the DEL intending to keep the number of clubs in the league at 14.
==Regular season==
The regular season saw one new club in the league, EHC Freiburg while the Heilbronner Falken, originally relegated at the end of the 2014–15 season, remained in the league after EV Landshut was relegated for financial reasons.
Pos	Team 	Pld	W 	OTW	OTL	L 	GF 	GA 	GD 	Pts	Qualification
1 	Bietigheim Steelers 	52 	34	3 	3 	12	207	130	+77	111	Advanced to playoffs
2 	Fischtown Pinguins 	52 	31	7 	4 	10	203	135	+68	111	Advanced to playoffs
3 	Ravensburg Towerstars 	52 	24	10 	0 	18	202	136	+66	92 	Advanced to playoffs
4 	EC Kassel Huskies (C) 	52 	23	8 	7 	14	201	164	+37	92 	Advanced to playoffs
5 	Löwen Frankfurt 	52 	26	3 	5 	18	181	146	+35	89 	Advanced to playoffs
6 	EC Bad Nauheim 	52 	24	4 	8 	16	158	158	0 	88 	Advanced to playoffs
7 	Dresdner Eislöwen 	52 	23	6 	5 	18	193	164	+29	86 	Advanced to pre-playoffs
8 	Starbulls Rosenheim 	52 	21	6 	5 	20	176	124	+52	80 	Advanced to pre-playoffs
9 	SC Riessersee 	52 	18	5 	6 	23	165	176	−11	70 	Advanced to pre-playoffs
10 	Eispiraten Crimmitschau	52 	20	1 	4 	27	158	188	−30	66 	Advanced to pre-playoffs
11 	Lausitzer Füchse 	52 	15	5 	5 	27	121	166	−45	60 	Advanced to play-downs
12 	ESV Kaufbeuren 	52 	15	1 	9 	27	153	199	−46	56 	Advanced to play-downs
13 	EHC Freiburg 	52 	14	4 	5 	29	128	179	−51	55 	Advanced to play-downs
14 	Heilbronner Falken (R) 	52 	7 	6 	3 	36	131	225	−94	36 	Advanced to play-downs
==Playoffs==
===Pre-Playoffs===
*Dresdner Eislowen - Eispiraten Crimmitschau 2:1 (2:1 OT, 1:4, 1:0 OT)
*Starbulls Rosenheim - SC Riessersee 2:1 (5:3, 1:4, 3:1)
===Championship===
The championship play-offs:
===Relegation===
The relegation play-offs:
==References==
==External link==
* Official website
Category:2015 in ice hockey
Category:2016 in ice hockey