BeNe League

hansomreiste

Registered User
Sep 23, 2015
1,625
237
Ankara
So the league, composed of Belgian and Dutch teams, starts today. Sadly, I guess there is almost no interest in this tournament and the quality is also low. But anyway, just wanted to leave it here, so maybe some Dutch or Belgian friends can shed light on this newly-founded league. :)
 

Purple hippo

Registered User
Jan 3, 2010
732
0
Louvain-la-Neuve
What clubs are joining this Belgain-Dutch League?

Belgium
Antwerp, Heist-op-den-Berg, Leuven, Herentals*, Turnhout and Liège

Netherlands
Limburg*, Eindhoven*, Tilburg, Nijmegen, Heerenveen, 's-Hertogenbosch, Amsterdam, Zoetermeer, Den Haag, Dordrecht

*Former Eredivisie


All the Belgian clubs are from the former Elite League, they lost out on Hasselt who choose to drop down to the National League due to results they had during the play-offs last season. Figured they were too outmatched against Antwerp, Leuven and Liège so thought it would be best to try later. The Tilburg club is the second unit, the main one, which forced the change in the two countries, is now in the Oberliga.

Currently the clubs are split into two Groups, if everything goes according to plan, the BeNe-League will split into two leagues after this season.
 

EvilDead

Shop smart. Shop S-Mart.
Nov 6, 2014
9,696
8,201
Taiwan
Currently the clubs are split into two Groups, if everything goes according to plan, the BeNe-League will split into two leagues after this season.

Why split the league? Does the two nation league not help Belgium and the Netherlands' player development or something?
 

Timber

Registered User
Oct 29, 2015
16
2
The difference between the strong and weak teams is too big as of now.

The plan is to divide the strong and weak teams next season to create more interesting games.

Players don't develop when they win games with 10-0.

Don't get it wrong, there will still be Belgian and Dutch teams in the top league, but only less, the plan for 2016-2017 season is 8 at the moment (the top 4 of each group), but there will be an evaluation in January.
 

EvilDead

Shop smart. Shop S-Mart.
Nov 6, 2014
9,696
8,201
Taiwan
The difference between the strong and weak teams is too big as of now.

The plan is to divide the strong and weak teams next season to create more interesting games.

Players don't develop when they win games with 10-0.

Don't get it wrong, there will still be Belgian and Dutch teams in the top league, but only less, the plan for 2016-2017 season is 8 at the moment (the top 4 of each group), but there will be an evaluation in January.

I see. Thanks for clarifying. :)
 

Timber

Registered User
Oct 29, 2015
16
2
A small update:

Almost halfway through the regular season (teams play 22 matches in the regular season, 14 against teams from the same group, 8 against other group)

Group A
Heerenveen, Herentals and Den Haag are likely to take the first 3 playoffs-spots, with Herentals looking to be the title favorite. There is an interesting fight for spot 4 between Zoetermeer and Amsterdam.

Group B
Tilburg II and Limburg have a strong lead, but the gap between the third and sixth team is only 3 points.

Full standings and stats available on Eliteprospects:
http://www.eliteprospects.com/league_home.php?leagueid=703
 

Timber

Registered User
Oct 29, 2015
16
2
Update: the BeNeLiga will continue in its current form in season 2016/2017, altough groups might be rearranged and there could be a few team changes. No split of strong and weak teams as was originally the plan.
 

PensFan101

Forever Champions.
Apr 23, 2007
2,123
411
Owen Sound
Got to see Geleen/Limburg play Dordrecht in October, was a surprisingly close game considering Dordrecht's record and on ice talent. To say it's a pro league is an awful stretch. The top teams like Geleen certainly look like a low end pro team, but Dordrecht on the opposite end looked like a team my beer league team in Canada could play tight.

With everything that has happened to Tillburg in the last year I'm still very interested in watching how Dutch hockey, and this league as a whole, continues to develop.
 

amoboko

Waikato Junglist
Jun 24, 2015
356
135
Belgium
Turnhout is a decent club, but they didn't really deliver this season.
The rink that they use for home games is also closing this year so no idea what will happen with the team. Maybe use the facilities of Herentals (HYC).

I found this topic way too late, but I went to see all the home games of Leuven ( Chiefs) and have to say that the BeNe league was really good fun. Some good games, some better games and if we can keep on developing hockey like this I will become a very enthusiastic season ticket holder.
 

Timber

Registered User
Oct 29, 2015
16
2
BeneLiga 2016-2017

Update: Info has come out for next season

- There will be 14 teams instead of 16
- 3 teams left: Turnhout, Heist op den berg and Dordrecht
- 1 new team: Groningen
- There will be two groups of 7 with a bit of shuffling compared to previous season (in bold the teams that switched from group):

Group A: Antwerp, Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Herentals, Nijmegen, Tilburg, Zoetermeer
Group B: Den Haag, Groningen, 's-Hertogenbosch, Heerenveen, Leuven, Liege, Limburg.
 

Westlander

the olden time
Aug 31, 2004
721
207
The Netherlands
Hi everyone, I've been to a couple of Hys Den Haag games this season, easy enough with the rink a 10 minute bike ride away. They played before a full house both times, it seemed like a real cult following but at the same time the fans weren't all that involved a lot of the time. That may have been due to the fact that both games were blowouts 7-1 and 10-0 for Den Haag!:laugh: I guess they're second in their group behind Heerenveen. Does anyone else here follow this league at all or go to the games?
 

SoundAndFury

Registered User
May 28, 2012
11,309
5,283
yes it is

Not really. Maybe 10% of the players are professional.

how brutal is the level of play?

Well, I hope this paints a picture. Danielius Nomanovas was not a star, just a solid Latvian league player (that's a semi-pro league) and he's scoring over 2 PPG in the BeNe League this season. So the level is very, very low. Riga fan is saying it's easily below EIHL but it's easily below EPIHL as well. Belgian NT is basically a BeNe League team and they just got destroyed 1-9 by Romanians who were missing half their best players.

Long story short, anyone aspiring to play professional hockey easily dominates this league.
 

Ronobono

Registered User
Sep 1, 2014
12
0
Netherlands
Hi everyone, I've been to a couple of Hys Den Haag games this season, easy enough with the rink a 10 minute bike ride away. They played before a full house both times, it seemed like a real cult following but at the same time the fans weren't all that involved a lot of the time. That may have been due to the fact that both games were blowouts 7-1 and 10-0 for Den Haag!:laugh: I guess they're second in their group behind Heerenveen. Does anyone else here follow this league at all or go to the games?

haha, i follow it but it hurts big time. My team is GIJS Groningen :cry:
 

amoboko

Waikato Junglist
Jun 24, 2015
356
135
Belgium
It's a fun league to follow, they have 3 home games a month ( my local team Leuven Chiefs) and a seasonholder ticket is 50 EUR ( this year) can't go wrong with that. Buying a single entry fee is 8 EUR. And for me it's a 10 minute bike ride.
 

amoboko

Waikato Junglist
Jun 24, 2015
356
135
Belgium
I think every team is only allowed 2, however some of those guys have dual citizenship so we had 3 this year, one Latvian, one American and one Czech.
 
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SoundAndFury

Registered User
May 28, 2012
11,309
5,283
Aimas FiÅ¡ÄÂevas is going to play hockey to Island due to his old connection with the current coach of Bjornin (spelling?) but he shared some insight into BeNe league by saying that conditions that were offered to him are similar to those in the Netherlands or Norway's 2nd division - club finds you a job which you can combine with playing hockey. So that's how it is, calling it a pro league is a massive stretch.
 

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