2003–04 Deutsche Eishockey Liga season

The DEL 2003/04 season was the tenth season of the German Ice Hockey League. The regular season began on 4 September 2003, the play- off round was played on March 10. German masters were the Frankfurt Lions, wolves promoted Freiburg had to go to a play- down defeat against Hannover Scorpions go back to the 2nd Bundesliga.

• 2.1 Final Table
• 2.2 Rankings

• 4.1 Play-off Tree
• 4.2 quarterfinals
• 4.3 Semi-finals
• 4.4 final

Requirements

Participant

Mode and rules

While the top eight teams in the preliminary round for the play- offs qualified, the two last placed played in a play -down round against relegation. For the teams ranked nine to twelve the season had ended after the first round.

Preliminary round

Final Table

Abbreviations: Sp = Matches, W = Wins, SOS = Wins after the shootout, SON = Losses after the shootout, L = Losses, (M) = titleholder, (N) = newbie Notes: = qualifying for the play-offs, = season ended, = Play -downs

Rankings

Play -downs

The two bottom club Hannover Scorpions and wolves Freiburg played from 10 March in a play -down serial mode " Best of Seven" against relegation. Hanover was the first home right which then changed in each game due to the better main round placement.

The wolves Freiburg had thus descend directly back to the 2nd Bundesliga after their first DEL season.

Play-offs

Play-off - tree

Quarterfinals

The quarter-final was played on 10 March 2004 at the " Best of Seven" mode. The best-placed team in the main round, the polar bears Berlin, met the eighth-placed DEG Metro Stars, the second-place Nürnberg Ice Tigers on the Seventh ERC Ingolstadt, the third party, the Hamburg Freezers on the sixth-placed Adler Mannheim and the fourth-placed Cologne Sharks on the Frankfurt Lions who completed the main round in fifth place.

Semifinal

The semi-finals were held on March 26 and as the finale in the " Best of Five" mode. The highest ranked team in the first round still remaining met the schlechtplatzierteste while the Zweitbestplatzierte the first round hit the Drittbestplatzierten.

Final

The final series was played from April 8. Polar bears Berlin had the first home right because of their better placement in the main round.

The Frankfurt Lions were for the first time in their history German masters, although they are still in the previous year and were only staying athletic left by the withdrawal of the license Schwenningen ERC Wild Wings in the league.

Squad of the German Master

Goalkeepers: Ian Gordon, Marc Dillmann,

Defender: Peter Ratchuk, Paul Stanton, Francois Bouchard, Jonas Stöpfgeshoff, Mikael Magnusson, Sebastian Klenner, Markus Jocher, Daniel Peters, Michael Bresagk

Attacker: Patrick Lebeau, Jesse Belanger, Jason Young, Dwayne Norris, David Gosselin, Martin Reichel, Mike Harder, Michael Hackert, David Sulkovsky, Christian Kohmann, Mark Etz, Robert Francz

Head Coach: Rich Chernomaz