The Munich Barons were a professional ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 team between 1999 and 2002 run by the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG)

Anschutz Entertainment Group

The Anschutz Entertainment Group is a sporting and music entertainment presenter and a subsidiary of The Anschutz Corporation. It is the world's largest owner of sports teams and sports events, the owner of the world’s most profitable sports and entertainment venues, and under AEG Live the world's...

 in the German Ice Hockey League (German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

: Deutsche Eishockey Liga - DEL ). The best year the team had was in 2000 when they won the German championship

German champions (ice hockey)

- 1912-1948 :- 1949-58: Oberliga in West Germany :- 1958-94: Bundesliga:* Until 1990, the Bundesliga covered only West Germany. After the reunification of the country, East German clubs took part in the competition to.- 1995 - current: DEL :...

.

After long negotiations between 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 was carried over from the debt-ridden Landshut Cannibals

Landshut Cannibals

The Landshut Cannibals are a professional ice hockey team based in Landshut, Bavaria. Currently they are members of the 2nd Bundesliga. The team was founded in 1948 as Eislaufverein Landshut , but since 2002 the professional team is organised as “Landshut Cannibals”. The EVL is still responsible...

. The team played its home games in the Olympia-Eisstadion. The name and logo of the Barons was 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-Offs, the team surprised all doubters and eventually became German champions

German champions (ice hockey)

- 1912-1948 :- 1949-58: Oberliga in West Germany :- 1958-94: Bundesliga:* Until 1990, the Bundesliga covered only West Germany. After the reunification of the country, East German clubs took part in the competition to.- 1995 - current: DEL :...

. In spite of this success, the number of spectators at game was lower than expected (regular season: 2,800; Play-offs: 4,900). In the 2000/2001 season, the Barons finished third place in the regular seaons. In the Play-offs, they reached the finals, but lost a hard fought battle against the eventual champions, the Mannheim Eagles. 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 had accumulated substantial debts. In the 2001/2002 season, the Barons placed first in the regular season, in spite of injuries plagueing the team. In the play-off semifinal, the Barons lost to the eventual champions, Kölner Haie

Kölner Haie

The Kölner Haie are an ice hockey club based in Cologne, Germany that plays in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. The team was one of the founding members of the DEL.The team colours are red and white....

. Although by this time the number of spectators had begun to increase slightly, the Anschutz-Group decided to move the team to Hamburg for financial reasons on the 3 June, 2002. There had been rumours of a move, but the sudden move came surprisingly nonetheless. Since 2002, the Munich Barons play as Hamburg Freezers

Hamburg Freezers

The Hamburg Freezers are a member of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga that play their games in Hamburg, Germany. Originally known as the Munich Barons from 1999 until 2002, team owner Philip Anschutz relocated the franchise to Hamburg for financial reasons on 3 June 2002, and renamed the team the...

 in Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

 in the DEL.
!Season
!Plays
!Gates
!Points
!Place on the table
!Play-Offs
|-
|valign="top" align="center"|DEL 1999/2000
|valign="top" align="center"|56
|valign="top" align="center"|208:155
|valign="top" align="center"|109
|valign="top" align="center"|2.
|valign="top" align="center"|German champion
|-
|valign="top" align="center"|DEL 2000/01
|valign="top" align="center"|60
|valign="top" align="center"|175:150
|valign="top" align="center"|104
|valign="top" align="center"|3.
|valign="top" align="center"|Finale
|-
|valign="top" align="center"|DEL 2001/02
|valign="top" align="center"|60
|valign="top" align="center"|182:138
|valign="top" align="center"|121
|valign="top" align="center"|1.
|valign="top" align="center"|Semi-final
|}>