| Straubing Tigers | |
|---|---|
 | |
| City | Straubing |
| League | Deutsche Eishockey Liga |
| Founded | 1941 |
| Home arena | Eisstadion am Pulverturm (capacity: 5,635) |
| Colours | |
| General manager | Jason Dunham |
| Head coach | Craig Woodcroft |
| Captain | Mike Connolly |
| Website | straubing-tigers.de |
| Franchise history | |
| Straubing Tigers | |
TheStraubing Tigers are a professional men'sice hockey team, based inStraubing,Germany, that competes in theDeutsche Eishockey Liga. Straubing plays its home games at theEisstadion am Pulverturm, which has a capacity of 5,635 spectators.
Promoted to the DEL in 2006, and operating with one of the league's smallest budgets, the team could finish no better than twelfth before the2011–12 DEL season, when it reached the semi-finals of the playoffs. Their greatest success so far is the qualification for theChampions Hockey League seasons 2020–21 (cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic), 2022-23 and 2024-25. In 2022-23, Straubing finished first in the CHL group stage and reached the round of 16 against Frölunda HC.
In 1941, the then 14-year-old Max Pielmaier and his friends Max Pellkofer and Harry Poiger founded the first hockey team in Straubing.[1] The first official game took place on the first of February 1942 in Hof, which Straubing lost by a score of 0:1. In the following year there were several games against other Bavarian teams. The game againstLandshut on 31 January 1943 was the last game during theSecond World War, as the younger players had to join the military after that.
After the end of the war the players of Bann Straubing decided to join the TSV 1861 Straubing. Their home games were played on a pond near the medieval Pulverturm (powder tower) in Straubing where the ice stadiumEisstadion am Pulverturm is located today.
The construction of theEisstadion am Pulverturm began in 1967 and consisted of an open ice rink surrounded by stands. The first game in the new arena was played on the 13. November 1967 against Preussen Berlin. The TSV Straubing started their first season in the Kunsteis-Bayernliga where they finished in second place. The TSV Straubing rose to the Regionalliga (3. league) in 1970 and the Oberliga (2. league) in 1971, but had to go back to the third league when the2nd Bundesliga, which replaced the Oberliga, was founded with fewer teams than the Oberliga had. They got back to the2nd Bundesliga in 1975 when they won the playoff finals against EV Regensburg.
EHC Straubing was founded when the hockey team split from the TSV Straubing in 1981. The ice hockey stadium has belonged to the city of Straubing since the foundation of EHC Straubing. Although EHC finished in 7th place in the 1982/83 season, they had to start again in the 4. league because of financial problems. The EHC Straubing adapted the nickname "Die Tiger" (the tigers) in 1994 and mainly played in theOberliga (third league) until they rose back to the2nd Bundesliga in the year 2000. The professional section split from EHC Straubing when it had to declare bankruptcy in April 2002 and the Straubing Tigers AG was founded. Since then EHC trains the junior teams of the Straubing Tigers, and also includes a recreational team.
After Straubing lost the finals of the2nd Bundesliga againstEV Duisburg in 2005, they won the championship in 2006 and were promoted to theDEL for the first time in history. Straubing is by far the smallest town which has a team in the DEL and also has one of the lowest budgets in the entire league. When the Straubing Tigers reached a playoff rank for the first time in 2012 they miraculously won the quarter-finals against theGrizzly Adams Wolfsburg with a sweep and got to the semi-finals where they lost to the later German championEisbären Berlin. With one of the lowest budgets in the entire league Straubing regularly manages to get to the playoffs since 2012 and even qualified for theChampions Hockey League when they finished in the top three in the2019–20 season. Their first season in the CHL was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic but they qualified again for the season 2022-2023, where they won the group stage and played against Frölunda HC in the round of 16.
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| Season | Games | Won | OTW | SOW | Lost | OTL | SOL | Points | Goals for | Goals against | Rank | Playoffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006–07 | 52 | 12 | 4 | 4 | 28 | 3 | 1 | 56 | 135 | 189 | 12 | No playoffs |
| 2007–08 | 56 | 12 | 0 | 4 | 34 | 4 | 2 | 50 | 132 | 197 | 14 | No playoffs |
| 2008–09 | 52 | 17 | 3 | 4 | 25 | 1 | 2 | 68 | 144 | 164 | 13 | No playoffs |
| 2009–10 | 56 | 18 | 3 | 2 | 27 | 0 | 6 | 70 | 149 | 193 | 13 | No playoffs |
| 2010–11 | 52 | 15 | 5 | 4 | 24 | 3 | 1 | 67 | 145 | 159 | 13 | No playoffs |
| 2011–12 | 52 | 20 | 4 | 4 | 20 | 1 | 3 | 80 | 161 | 151 | 6 | Lost in semi-finals |
| 2012–13 | 52 | 21 | 2 | 2 | 23 | 2 | 2 | 74 | 133 | 145 | 9 | Lost in first round |
| 2013–14 | 52 | 17 | 2 | 1 | 23 | 3 | 6 | 63 | 136 | 153 | 12 | No playoffs |
| 2014–15 | 52 | 10 | 1 | 4 | 32 | 2 | 3 | 45 | 103 | 168 | 13 | No playoffs |
| 2015–16 | 52 | 22 | 1 | 2 | 24 | 2 | 1 | 75 | 147 | 159 | 9 | Lost in first round |
| 2016–17 | 52 | 18 | 3 | 0 | 24 | 4 | 3 | 67 | 147 | 168 | 9 | Lost in first round |
| 2017–18 | 52 | 17 | 0 | 2 | 27 | 2 | 4 | 61 | 137 | 177 | 13 | No playoffs |
| 2018–19 | 52 | 21 | 3 | 3 | 19 | 5 | 1 | 81 | 159 | 151 | 8 | Lost in wild card |
| 2019–20 | 52 | 26 | 4 | 4 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 98 | 175 | 136 | 3 | Cancelled due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[2] |
| 2020–21 | 37 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 1 | 3 | 53 | 103 | 102 | 8 | Lost in quarterfinals |
| 2021–22 | 54 | 29 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 3 | 4 | 96 | 188 | 158 | 4 | Lost in quarterfinals |
| 2022–23 | 56 | 25 | 5 | 4 | 17 | 2 | 3 | 98 | 190 | 166 | 4 | Lost in quarterfinals |
| 2023–24 | 52 | 25 | 5 | 2 | 15 | 1 | 4 | 94 | 167 | 130 | 3 | Lost in semifinals |
| 2024–25 | 52 | 21 | 3 | 3 | 24 | 0 | 1 | 76 | 159 | 158 | 7 | Lost in quarterfinals |
Updated 2 April 2025.[3]
(in German)
