The Munich Barons were a professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

team between 1999 and 2002 run by the

Anschutz Entertainment Group The Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), also known as AEG Worldwide, is an American global sporting and music entertainment presenter and a subsidiary of The Anschutz Corporation. It is the world's largest owner of sports teams and sports even ...

(AEG) in the German Ice Hockey League (''

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

: Deutsche Eishockey Liga - DEL''). The best year the team had was in 2000 when they won the German championship. After long negotiations among the Anschutz Group, the ice hockey teams Landshut Cannibals, ESC Munich and the Olympiapark Munich GmbH, the creation of the Munich Ice Hockey Club GmbH was announced on the 1 June 1999. The license for the

DEL Del, or nabla, is an operator used in mathematics (particularly in vector calculus) as a vector differential operator, usually represented by the nabla symbol ∇. When applied to a function defined on a one-dimensional domain, it denotes ...

was carried over from the debt-ridden

Landshut Cannibals EV Landshut, also known as EVL Landshut Eishockey and formerly known as the Landshut Cannibals, are a professional ice hockey team based in Landshut, Bavaria, Germany. They currently play in Deutsche Eishockey Liga 2, the second level of ice h ...

. The team played its home games in the Olympia-Eisstadion. The name and logo of the ''Barons'' were unveiled in the middle of June of that year. Despite a poor start, the Munich Barons team – whose players were brought together from several other teams – was able to come together and finished in second place in their first season in the DEL. In the

play-off The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

s, the team surprised all doubters and eventually became German champions. In spite of that success, the number of spectators at game was lower than expected (regular season: 2,800; playoffs: 4,900). In the 2000–2001 season, the Barons finished in third place in the regular season. In the playoffs, they reached the finals, but lost a hard-fought battle against the eventual champions, the Adler Mannheim. Despite the continued good showing of the team, the number of spectators remained low. Because of the expensive player contracts and the lack of sponsors, the Barons accumulated substantial debts. In the 2001–2002 season, the Barons placed first in the regular season, in spite of injuries plaguing the team. In the play-off semifinal, the Barons lost to the eventual champions,

Kölner Haie The Kölner Haie (English: ''Cologne Sharks'') are an ice hockey club based in Cologne, Germany that plays in the professional Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). The team was one of the founding members of the DEL. The ''Kölner Haie'' play their hom ...

. Although by this time the number of spectators had begun to increase slightly, the Anschutz Group decided to move the team to

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

for financial reasons on 3 June 2002. From then, the Barons played as the Hamburg Freezers in Hamburg in the

until 2016, when the Anschutz Group ceased operations due to financial reasons.

Standings

References

1999 establishments in Germany 2002 establishments in Germany Hamburg Freezers Ice hockey clubs established in 1999 Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 2002 Ice hockey teams in Germany Sport in Hamburg Sport in Munich {{Germany-sport-stub