Bavarian ice hockey leagues
| Bavarian ice hockey leagues |
|---|
| Nation |
 Germany
|
 |
| State |
 Bavaria
|
| Promotion To |
| Oberliga Süd |
| Levels |
| Bayernliga (IV) |
| Landesliga (V) |
| Bezirksliga (VI) |
| Number of leagues |
| 9 |
| Number of teams |
| 80 |
| Current Champions 2007-08 |
| EHC Waldkraiburg |
The Bavarian ice hockey leagues are part of the German ice hockey league system and form the tiers four to six of the league system in the state of Bavaria. The leagues are operated by the Bayrischer Eissport Verband, the Bavarian association for ice sports.
The league system in Bavaria consists of three separate tiers, these being the Bayernliga (IV) (English:Bavarian League), Landesliga (V) (English:State League) and Bezirksliga (VI) (English:County League). The overall system has remained unchanged for a lengthy period of seasons.
The number of clubs, especially in the lowest tier, the Bezirksliga, can fluctuate due to teams joining and other teams leaving the league. This is mostly due to lack of players, or, the other extreme, an over supply of players and the need to form a reserves team. Occasionally, clubs fold, reform or re-enter the league system. In the current Bayernliga season, the EC 2000 Ulm/Neu-Ulm folded in December 2007, being unable to pay their players.
The Bayernliga champion earns the right to gain promotion to the Oberliga. At the end of the 2006-07 season, the runner-up was also promoted, which is an exception.
Until the end of the 1999-2000 season, the Bayernliga was only the fifth tier of the league system. The league between Oberliga and Bayernliga, the Regionalliga, was disbanded after this season and the majority of its clubs integrated into the Oberliga.
The Bavarian Eissport Verband (BEV) is the largest regional ice hockey association in Germany with 14.000 registered players in over 90 clubs. Apart from the 79 senior teams playing in its league system for the 2007-08 season, there is also eight women's teams and 284 junior teams. For this reason, the Bayernliga is the only statewide league whose champion directly qualifies for the Oberliga, all other leagues, the Regionalligas (English:Regional Leagues) cover larger areas or have to go through a promotion play-off round.
Above the BEV there is currently four Bavarian teams in the DEL (German Ice Hockey League) (I), three in the 2nd Bundesliga (II) and ten in the Oberliga (III). This means, 17 of 45 clubs in the first three divisions of German ice hockey currently come from Bavaria.
Bavaria, especially the southern, mountainous region of it, is the "cradle" of German ice hockey with many former German internationals coming from there. Historically, the German championship was dominated by clubs from Bavaria and Berlin. Nowadays however, Bavarian teams rarely win a championship. The situation is actually very similar to the Canadian teams in the NHL, who provide the majority of players but win a minority of titles.
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Wikipedia