Teams from the DEL have always had their place in the Champions Hockey League right from the inaugural 2014/15 season of the competition. Over the past six seasons, eleven German teams have participated in the CHL – some stayed for just a short stint, whilst others have been in the League from day one. Here is our pick of teams that have made their presence in the CHL known over the past years.
Adler Mannheim
When looking for the best of the DEL, no list is complete without Adler Mannheim. Die Adler are an ever-present team in the CHL and have participated in all but one of the past six seasons. They are known as a heavy-hitting team that score a lot of goals and let very few in – in the first four games of last season they scored a league high of 18 goals whilst only letting three into their own net! One of the keys to their success could possibly be their fans, as die Adler have the second highest CHL all time average home game attendance – over 6500 fans have been at each home game on average over the years.
Last season was the best in club history. They topped a very competitive Group F that included eventual Semi-Finalists Djurgården Stockholm, but their promising season was cut short after the very first elimination round by eventual Finalists Mountfield HK. This has been a common theme for die Adler, as despite their tough-guy reputation, the eight-time German champions have never made it past the Round of 16. They’ve been so close on so many occasions that it’s even been dubbed a curse. Luckily for them, they are qualified for the upcoming 2020/21 season – will they finally be able to break it?
Red Bull Munich
Red Bull Munich are without doubt the first German team that come to mind when picturing “The Best”. The Bavarian giants are clearly one of the top teams in the CHL and regularly appear in the CHL All-Time Statistics. They are in fifth place on the All-Time Points Leaderboard with 43 points in total and have recorded the third highest number of wins in CHL history (25). Additionally, their 43 games played make them the sixth highest appearance maker in the League’s history, despite missing the 2014/15 season all together!
In their five seasons in the CHL they have never missed out on the Playoffs and back in the 2018/19 season they became the first German team to make it to the Final. They lost to the Frölunda Indians but put DEL hockey on the map for all of Europe to see.
Munich have never ended a season with a sub 50% win percentage, but their best season stats wise was by far in 2017/18. Back then, they exited the competition in the Round of 16 after losing just a single game in the Group Stage and ended their season with a win-loss record of 6-2 and a win percentage of 75%.
Last season, the three-time DEL Champions topped their Group and easily dealt with Yunost Minsk in the Round of 16 to make it to the Quarter-Finals, all whilst keeping a season long perfect home win record in both the CHL and the DEL. But two heavy blows from Djurgården later not only ended their perfect record but also left the Germans out of the title race just one year after their Finals appearance.
Eisbären Berlin
In a time before Munich’s run to the Final in 2018/19, it was Eisbären Berlin who were regarded as one of the top teams in Germany. Although they aren’t the first club that come to mind, the Berlin based club have been crowned the Champions of Germany 22 times, winning seven DEL titles since 2005! They became the first DEL club to make it to the Round of 16 back in the 2015/16 season and repeated their success the following year when they recorded their highest ever win percentage of 50% from a total of eight games played.
For a long time no German team seemed to be able to make it further than them, until their record was broke in 2018/19. They have made four appearances over the past six seasons and qualified for the upcoming 2020/21 season, so you’ll definitely be seeing more from the Eisbären.
Honourable mention: Augsburger Panther
Whilst the Augsburger Panther definitely aren’t a contender for The Best German Team in CHL History, they are a club that deserve a different kind of praise. Last season, Augsburg made their CHL debut alongside the two biggest names in German hockey – Adler and Munich, who both geared up for their fifth season on Europe’s biggest stage. Usually, the debuting teams are overshadowed by their experienced fellow countrymen, but this small Bavarian club fully embraced the CHL experience taking each game at a time, playing their own exciting style of hockey, all whilst enjoying immense support from their amazing fans both at home and on the road.
Their hard work earned them a playoffs spot and after another fantastic performance they found themselves in OT against EHC Biel-Bienne fighting for the Quarter-Finals. Sadly, it wasn’t their night, but they ended their first ever CHL season with a 50% win percentage and a win-tie-loss record of 4-2-2. All whilst playing some of the most intense hockey on display all season. Take note debuting teams!
So, what do you think? Do Munich’s impressive stats and 2018/19 Final run really make them the standout DEL team in the CHL? Or does an exciting debuting team like the Augsburher Panther truly showcase what German hockey is all about? Let us know!