ICE Juniors League
The new season of the ICE Juniors League starts with the Qualification Round, introduced last season, where two regional groups will first fight for the top group in phase two of the basic round.
In two groups to move into the top-8
The Juniors League starts again this year with the Qualification Round, in which the battle for a place in the top 8 is fought. In Group A (West), eight Austrian teams will duel each other. In Group B (East) eleven teams from Hungary are registered.
In two groups of eight to playoff collection
After the Qualification Round, the top 4 teams are united in a top group (Pool A). The teams ranked in the QR five to eight play in pool B. Within the groups, the teams meet three times and also play a game against the teams from their country. Then the top 6 of the A-group qualify for the playoffs. The last two teams of the top group compete against the two best teams in the B-group in the pre-playoffs for the remaining two places in the postseason. The pre-playoff will be decided in a home and away game (7th group A vs. 2nd group B and 8th group A vs. 1st group B). Then the playoffs take place. The quarterfinals will be played "best-of-3", semifinals and finals "best-of-5".
"In the ICE Juniors League, we deliberately applied a mode change last season in order to allow the participating teams to play even more interesting and balanced matches at the respective level. The change has resulted in higher quality and more exciting games," Commissioner Michael Suttnig said.