The 1995âÂÂ96 Deutsche Eishockey Liga season was the 2nd season of the (German Ice Hockey League).
As a replacement for the Maddogs München, the SC Riessersee moved up from the 2nd Bundesliga. However, continuing the financial unrest in the German Ice Hockey, SC Riessersee, as well as ESG Sachsen WeiÃÂwasser and EC Hannover had to leave the league. Düsseldorfer EG won the German championship by becoming the second DEL champion.
The corporate sponsor, the Krombacher Brewery, continued their engagement, albeit now less prominently featured on the league logo. The sponsorship agreement ended after this season.
The league used a regular season format of 50 games, consisting of a double round-robin for the first 34 games, and then another double round-robin between the nine odd-positioned and the nine even-positioned teams respectively for 16 games. After this, the play-off round of the last sixteen in the mode best of seven took place. The semi-finals and final were played in the mode best of five. The hope to be able to avoid the troubles of the old Bundesliga by stricter financial controls did not materialise in the first season. EC Hedos München, the Bundesliga's last champion, now renamed Mad Dogs Munich, folded on 18 December 1994.
GP = Games played; OTL = Overtime Loss; GF:GA = Goals for and against<br/> Color code: = Playoffs, = Season end
All playoff rounds were played in as a best-of-five series.
The even the chances, and enable the worse-placed team two home-games, the games were played in a Home-Away-Away-Home-Home series. This led to the Frankfurt Lions having only 1 home game, despite being the better placed team.
OT = Overtime; SO = Shootout
OT = Overtime; SO = Shootout
OT = Overtime; SO = Shootout
OT = Overtime; SO = Shootout
With the last game, Düsseldorfer EG became the second DEL Champion and German Champions for the 8th time in the club history.