2018–19 DEL2 season  The 2018–19 DEL2 season was the sixth season since the founding of the DEL2, the second tier of German ice hockey, set below the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. The season ran from 14 September 2018 till 28 April 2019. Löwen Frankfurt was crowned league premiers by finishing top of the regular season standings. Ravensburg Towerstars caused an upset by claiming the championship title by defeating Löwen Frankfurt 4-2 in the final series. Promoted team, Deggendorfer SC, was unable to survive in DEL2 and was relegated after losing the relegation playoffs final 3-4 against Wölfe Freiburg. Fourteen teams competed in the 2018–19 DEL2 regular season. Deggendorfer SC was promoted from Germany's third division, Oberliga. Each team played each other twice in the regular season, home and away, for a total of 52 matches each. The top six teams directly qualified for the championship playoffs, played in a best of seven format. Teams placed seven to ten advanced to the championship playoff qualifiers, which follow a best of three format. The bottom four teams enter the relegation playoffs. The two losing teams from round 1 face off in the relegation final with the losing team being relegated to Oberliga. The DEL2 champion does not automatically get promoted to DEL. In September 2015, the DEL and DEL2 agreed to reintroduce promotion and relegation between the two leagues from the 2017–18 season onwards. The DEL2 champion would then have the opportunity to be promoted, provided it fulfilled the licensing requirements of the DEL, while the last-placed DEL club would be relegated. In 2018, the two leagues signed a new agreement to reintroduce an automatic promotion and relegation system to start in 2020–21. The cross table represents the results of all matches of the regular season. The home team is listed in the middle column, the visiting team in the top row. Note: O Overtime; S Shootout  Points rules: 3 points for regulation win; 2 points for OT or SO win; 1 point for OT or SO loss; 0 points for regulation loss  Tie-break rules: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored. (C) Champions; (P) Premiers; (R) Relegated  Source:  Source: Note: To qualify for this list, goaltenders need to have played a minimum of 20 matches  Source:  The championship play-offs:  The qualifiers for the playoffs ran between 8 March 2019 to 12 March 2019.