The 2008–09 Deutsche Eishockey Liga season was the 15th season since the founding of the

Deutsche Eishockey Liga The Deutsche Eishockey Liga (for sponsorship reasons called "PENNY Deutsche Eishockey Liga") (; English: ''German Ice Hockey League'') or DEL, is a German professional ice hockey league and the highest division in German ice hockey. Founded in ...

( en, German Ice Hockey Leagie). 16 Teams played after the

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

Champion, the

Kassel Huskies The EC Kassel Huskies are a professional ice hockey club based in Kassel, Hessen, Germany. The club currently competes in DEL2, the second level of ice hockey in Germany. The Huskies were founded in 1977 and have competed in the top five levels o ...

received the license to play in the DEL. After 52 rounds and the play-off's, the

Eisbären Berlin Eisbären Berlin (; English: ''Berlin Polar Bears'') is a professional ice hockey team based in Berlin, Germany. The team competes in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL), the highest level of play in professional German ice hockey, and is also one ...

won its 4th German Championship in the last five years.

Teams

In accordance to the cooperation contract between the DEL and the

German Ice Hockey Federation The German Ice Hockey Federation (), commonly abbreviated as DEB, is the governing federation of German ice hockey associations. It was established on 16 June 1963 in Krefeld. Until 1990 it served only the old Federal Republic of Germany and West ...

, and after concluding that necessary reforms where not done in the

, a decision was made not to have playdowns and no teams were relegated. However, after ensuring compliance with the DEL regulations, the

Champions, the

, were allowed to enter the league on July 4, 2008,Grünes Licht für die Huskies
kicker.de (de) expanding the league to 16 teams. This is also the first season where the

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

GP = Games Played, W = Wins, OTW = Overtime win, SOW = Shootout win, OTL = Overtime loss, SOL = Shootout loss, L = Loss
Color code: = Direct Playoff qualification, = Playoff qualification round, = No playoff

Playoffs

Playoff qualifications

The playoff qualifications were played between March 5 and 11, 2009 in the

Best-of-five There are a number of formats used in various levels of competition in sports and games to determine an overall champion. Some of the most common are the ''single elimination'', the ''best-of-'' series, the ''total points series'' more commonly kn ...

mode. RS = Regular season; OT = Overtime

Playoff brackets

Quarterfinals

The quarterfinals were played in the Best-of-seven mode starting March 13 until March 26. RS = Regular season; OT = Overtime

Semifinals

The semifinals were played in the

mode, from March 29 to April 7, 2010. RS = Regular season; OT = Overtime

Finale

The finals were played in the

mode, from April 9, 2010. RS = Regular season; OT = Overtime The

won the title for the 4th time.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:DEL Season 2008-09 2008–09 in European ice hockey leagues 2008-09 2008–09 in German ice hockey