# BeNe League



## hansomreiste

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.


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## El_Loco_Avs

Thus is going to be strange with Tilburg joining the German league


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## EvilDead

What clubs are joining this Belgain-Dutch League?


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## Purple hippo

EvilDead said:


> What clubs are joining this Belgain-Dutch League?




Belgium
Antwerp, Heist-op-den-Berg, Leuven, Herentals*, Turnhout and LiÃ¨ge

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 LiÃ¨ge 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.


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## EvilDead

Purple hippo said:


> 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?


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## Timber

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.


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## EvilDead

Timber said:


> 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.


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## Timber

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


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## Timber

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.


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## Startel

Is this a pro league?


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## PensFan101

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.


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## Montecristo

How good is turnhout? Anyone know?


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## amoboko

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.


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## Timber

*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.


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## Westlander

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! I guess they're second in their group behind Heerenveen. Does anyone else here follow this league at all or go to the games?


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## Rigafan

RadimtheDream said:


> Is this a pro league?




yes it is


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## MullerBrotenVerbeek

Rigafan said:


> yes it is




how brutal is the level of play?


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## Rigafan

MullerBrotenVerbeek said:


> how brutal is the level of play?




It's easily below the standard of the UK Elite League so not great. But its a nice idea to improve hockey in the two countries


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## SoundAndFury

Rigafan said:


> yes it is




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



MullerBrotenVerbeek said:


> 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.


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## Ronobono

Westlander said:


> 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! 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


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## amoboko

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.


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## amoboko

This week it got confirmed there will be a third BeNe league coming next season. 
Fiesta!


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## Rigafan

SoundAndFury said:


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




My fault for being vague with my reply. I just remember talking with 2 of the coaches in the league and they were openly recruiting for import players


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## amoboko

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

Aimas FiÃ…Â¡Ã„Âevas 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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## amoboko

Over in Belgium, icehockey still is a niche market. Some of our youngsters are going abroad, Germany, Sweden, France etc... But are not playing on the highest level. Most locals do combine their normal job with hockey. Altho the overseas player tend to get very easily a coaching job as it allows them to put focus on the sport and become more cemented in their club.


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## Orvald

I wish more sports would create a bene league. Like Volleyball and Basketball.
I think this could help raise the sport in both countries.


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## Go Donbass

I watched some of the Herentaals v Amstel game yesterday. I could've sworn that was an outdoor arena. Anyone a little more familiar with the league confirm whether my eyes were playing tricks on me or not?


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## Albatros

Nowadays there's a roof but no walls.


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## Go Donbass

Albatros said:


> Nowadays there's a roof but no walls.




K thanks, that's what it looked like. Like they were playing in a giant circus tent with no walls.


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## Albatros

Yeah, it's a part of a multifunctional sports areal of the Flemish government that also has an indoor arena, but not with ice-making capability.


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## boltsy

For years it was an outdoor arena without roof, but there were so many games cancelled due to bad weather. That led to placing a 'tent roof' in 2010, 2011 or so. However, Herentals is defenitely one of the best places I've ever been to watch a hockey game. Great atmosphere feeling like you're watching hockey on the pond. I can recommend visiting a game there if you're nearby.


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## HungryFrank

Found this link on another forum.
Basically, there is an idea that 8-10 teams from BeNeLiga would join German Regionalliga West (4th tier) with possibility of promotion to Oberliga (3rd tier, where Tilburg Trappers play). Interesting idea for both Netherlands and Belgium.


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## Justin010

Hallo! With the 18-19 BeNe (and Oberliga/Tilburg) underway, thought I'd post here and see if anyone was still active in these parts. I'm a new transplant to NL (from NYC) and would love to chat/connect with any other Dutch fans/players. Proost.


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## vancouverism

Justin010 said:


> Hallo! With the 18-19 BeNe (and Oberliga/Tilburg) underway, thought I'd post here and see if anyone was still active in these parts. I'm a new transplant to NL (from NYC) and would love to chat/connect with any other Dutch fans/players. Proost.




I live in Amsterdam and have been going to Ti(j)gers games whenever I can over the past three seasons or so. The Tigers are pretty bad this year, though (3-0-1-8 in the Bekertoernooi and 1-0-0-4 in the BeNe-League), so it's going to be a pretty tough season for a team that seems to have no conception of what it means to improve your roster. The games are still fun, though, and the beer prices are great.

Nijmegen's two new Canadian signings (R.J. Reed and Branden Eden) both have experience in Sweden's second division, so they're my pick to win it this year.


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## gwiz999

Following the HYC Herentals team from Ontario, Canada.


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## Neptune Towers

This week there will be a discussion about adding three German lower league teams to the BeNe League. Biggest obstacle is the distance/time, since hockey is a part time sport over here. All games are played from friday till sunday, with the occasional midweek game.

Here are the league Tables from the BeNe League:






W 3p, WO, 2p, LO, 1p, L 0p

Heerenveen usually is the team to beat, with Den Haag (Cairox HIJS) as contender. Recently, Nijmegen en Eaters have proved to be contenders too, with Herentals and Liege from Belgium as outsiders. The Belgian teams usually start very strong, only to deteriorate slowly during the season and play-off.


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## Justin010

Pro/Rel is quite the topic all around in NL. The Trappers are pretty clearly the best team in the Oberliga, and yet DEL2 won't accept them, taking instead a team like Deggendorf which is getting waxed at that level. It's a weird situation and I get the reasoning, but with DEL/DEL2 bringing back promotion (in 2 years I believe), it would be a great carrot to dangle for Tilburg. They are definitely caught in between at present. 

BeNe is actually interesting right now. Big variance in GP but far more contenders than usual. And the Bekerfinale next week is sold out.


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## gwiz999

I enjoy watching the games, although there certainly isn't parity among teams in the league. Not really familiar with import rules and player movement so am wondering if some of the players/imports who do well are "scouted" (for lack of better word) for higher division teams in other leagues and countries and if there is much movement at all?


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## SoundAndFury

gwiz999 said:


> I enjoy watching the games, although there certainly isn't parity among teams in the league. Not really familiar with import rules and player movement so am wondering if some of the players/imports who do well are "scouted" (for lack of better word) for higher division teams in other leagues and countries and if there is much movement at all?



BeNe Ligue teams are only allowed 2 imports so there isn't a whole lot of movement since most of the guys playing on the team are just the local lads who settled in the city and don't want to move around a lot. Dutch guys who have inspirations to be pro hockey players play for Tilburg from a very young age. Imports there are mostly journeymen so yes, a spectacular season in BeNe might give you a try-out in French 2nd league, Brittish NIHL or, if you are lucky and really good, German Oberliga. 

The EP has this nice "where are they now" feature for those interested: Elite Prospects - BeNeLiga - Where are they now? , it should give you a nice overview.


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## gwiz999

Thanks for the info! Exciting final for the Belgian Cup this past Saturday. HYC Herentals played a much better defensive game than they typically do. Interesting fact relating to the BeNe top two scorers.- Brothers and Matheson played against each other in Junior B 2011/2012 season.


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## vancouverism

Despite a terrible season for Amsterdam, this past weekend was huge for their playoff chances: Zoetermeer lost twice in regulation (first to Tilburg's Toekomstteam and then to Amsterdam). Amsterdam and Zoetermeer are now level on games played but Zoetermeer has one more point in the standings. Should be a fun end to the season, if nothing else!


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## HungryFrank

BeNe League seems nicely organized, Tilburg gives them opportunity to play professional, so how come Netherlands U20 team played so badly on WJC? Is it a temporary situation (bad generation)?


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## SoundAndFury

HungryFrank said:


> BeNe League seems nicely organized, Tilburg gives them opportunity to play professional, so how come Netherlands U20 team played so badly on WJC? Is it a temporary situation (bad generation)?



They have lacked talent for years. I think it's mostly due to Dutch boys staying at home and playing against weak competition until a very old age and a lot of other countries taking steps forward. Lithuania and Estonia was in a similar situation but our hockey definitely improved when federations started encouraging younger and younger kids to move abroad. Dutch boys are very much still sulking in their own juices.


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## gwiz999

Looking forward to an exciting game today as the Unis Flyers face off against the HYC Herentals for game 4 in the best of 5 series. HYC leads the series 2-1. First game was low scoring and ended in a shoot out that went 9 rounds with Unis Flyers taking that game. Kyle Brothers scored the lone goal for HYC in the game and then went 3/5 in the shoot-out. He has some filthy mitts! HYC took the next two games.


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## Gert Van der Velde

Neptune Towers said:


> This week there will be a discussion about adding three German lower league teams to the BeNe League. Biggest obstacle is the distance/time, since hockey is a part time sport over here. All games are played from friday till sunday, with the occasional midweek game.
> 
> Here are the league Tables from the BeNe League:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> W 3p, WO, 2p, LO, 1p, L 0p
> 
> Heerenveen usually is the team to beat, with Den Haag (Cairox HIJS) as contender. Recently, Nijmegen en Eaters have proved to be contenders too, with Herentals and Liege from Belgium as outsiders. The Belgian teams usually start very strong, only to deteriorate slowly during the season and play-off.




HYC Herentals and the Unis Flyers are both top teams in the BeNe League. HYC Herentals has now won this League twice and the Unis Flyers Heerenveen and The Hague once.


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## Gert Van der Velde

BeNe League Champions 

2016 HYC Herentals
2017 Unis Flyers Heerenveen 
2018 Hijs Hokij Den Haag
2019 HYC Herentals


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## Gert Van der Velde

Now the fourth season of the BeNe League is finished and it has been exciting with some decent games, and for the first time in this new league, there where 6 teams in the running for the Championship, with some very close games in the Playoffs and high intensity and speed. The final was eventually won by HYC Herentals, in a best of five it beat the Unis Flyers from Heerenveen ( 3-1 ) . HYC Herentals won their second Championship, with top players as Vincent Morgan,Mitch Morgan, Preston Shupe, Kyle Brothers and Peter Bartek... in his younger years he played in the Tipsport Liga.


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## Gert Van der Velde

SoundAndFury said:


> BeNe Ligue teams are only allowed 2 imports so there isn't a whole lot of movement since most of the guys playing on the team are just the local lads who settled in the city and don't want to move around a lot. Dutch guys who have inspirations to be pro hockey players play for Tilburg from a very young age. Imports there are mostly journeymen so yes, a spectacular season in BeNe might give you a try-out in French 2nd league, Brittish NIHL or, if you are lucky and really good, German Oberliga.
> 
> The EP has this nice "where are they now" feature for those interested: Elite Prospects - BeNeLiga - Where are they now? , it should give you a nice overview.




Players like Vinny,Mitch and Preston can handle the level of DEL2.


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## SoundAndFury

Gert Van der Velde said:


> Players like Vinny,Mitch and Preston can handle the level of DEL2.



Depends on your definition of "can handle". If they were German, sure, they would probably stick there. But as imports - no way..


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## Gert Van der Velde

If they were Germans, these players would definitely play in the DEL2, so you can say these guys aren't
so bad on the ice.Dennis Swinnen plays at Bietigheim Steelers and is no better than these guys, but of course has a German-Belgian nationality.Remember that a Mitch Morgan received his training in cologne. The statistics of a Preston Shupe are not bad and you can compare them with some imports in the DEL2 ... of course there are better imports in the DEL2, but Preston Shupe and Kyle Brothers are far too good for the BeNe League, but hope that they stay in Herentals, if it depends on the board, then they will stay and the salary is not bad either.


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## Gert Van der Velde

There is indeed a big difference between the few top players who can go higher but usually stay and the average or lesser players in the BeNe League. This should be better in the future ... but we can't have everything in just 4 years of BeNe League.


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## amoboko

Gert Van der Velde said:


> If they were Germans, these players would definitely play in the DEL2, so you can say these guys aren't
> so bad on the ice.Dennis Swinnen plays at Bietigheim Steelers and is no better than these guys, but of course has a German-Belgian nationality.Remember that a Mitch Morgan received his training in cologne. The statistics of a Preston Shupe are not bad and you can compare them with some imports in the DEL2 ... of course there are better imports in the DEL2, but Preston Shupe and Kyle Brothers are far too good for the BeNe League, but hope that they stay in Herentals, if it depends on the board, then they will stay and the salary is not bad either.




I hope so as well, when Chiefs Leuven faces HYC, that's the must see game of the season. HYC brings such an entertaining hockey


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## amoboko

For me the only downside in the BeNe league is that the federation is not protecting clubs from players (eg. Vachal) leaving during the season. They should stand up and say a contratc is a contract.
This saeson has been grant.
Amazing hockey, good vibes


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## gwiz999

I like that I was able to watch live HYC games here in Canada via Youtube. I agree that Preston and Kyle are both not challenged enough in the league. Would love to see Brothers playing in North America but after a very successful season, I can see Brothers going back to HYC and the BeNe league.


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## amoboko

I don't agree completely with you, HYC is a top team where they manage to always keep their core. Preston and Kyle were just the icing on the cake. Other BeNe teams (Heereveen) also have some quality imports but they lacked the chemistry. 

Anyway, I hope they stay and entertain us even more next season.


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## amoboko

Some early signings and trade news:

Zoetermeer Panthers: Dean Versteeg is joining the club after leaving Amsterdam Tigers
Heereveen: Trevor Petersen is joining the club where Todd Ratchford is leaving after one season.
nijmege: Gielen en Willems (Luik Bulldogs) have signed


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## gwiz999

Looks like Matheson and Brothers are headed to the same team in Sweden. Kiruna AIF - Ishockey - A-laget

What is the hockey like in that league compared to BeNe?


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## Albatros

There are some pretty weak teams in Hockeyettan too, but generally it's more than a tier above so BeNe domination will be hard to replicate.


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## Gert Van der Velde

gwiz999 said:


> Looks like Matheson and Brothers are headed to the same team in Sweden. Kiruna AIF - Ishockey - A-laget
> 
> What is the hockey like in that league compared to BeNe?




Slightly better than the BeNe League.


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## Albatros

Gert Van der Velde said:


> Slightly better than the BeNe League.




The only Dutch player in the Hockeyettan last season was national team starting goaltender Martijn Oosterwijk and he was entirely pedestrian as a backup there. In 2016/17 Dutch national team forward Max Hermens recorded 3 points and in 2014/15 national team forward Raphael Joly lasted for 3 games (0+0=0 after recording 48+53=101 points in the BeNeLiga the previous season). The difference in quality is fairly large.


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## Gert Van der Velde

Statistics don't always say everything. You can score a lot of points against the lesser opponents in the BeNe League.


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## Albatros

Sure, but as the league's scoring leader one should still be good enough to at least survive in another league if the difference in level is not that big. Tilburg Trappers as the most prominent Dutch team play (with success) in the German third league, and even from there it's still quite a leap to the Swedish third league where you have plenty of clubs that are producing high end SHL and NHL talent. Anyway interesting to see how Brothers and Matheson will do, they were decent NCAA div. 3 players before going to Belgium and at least some Swedish college players have returned to Hockeyettan from there before.


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## Vandalay Industries

How come in 2018 the Dutch team in the World Championship was almost all Tilburg players, but in 2019 there were only a few Tilburg-players and as far as I could tell they were missing most of the best Dutch Tilburg players?? Is there a rift between Tilburg and the National Association/National team?

If you go back 30 years The Netherlands were much better than Denmark and Belgium were even worse. Denmark moved a whole lot, but what has happened to The Netherlands?? Really should have followed Denmark in level, but totally vanished in the 90's end the 00's....


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## TomB

Vandalay Industries said:


> How come in 2018 the Dutch team in the World Championship was almost all Tilburg players, but in 2019 there were only a few Tilburg-players and as far as I could tell they were missing most of the best Dutch Tilburg players?? Is there a rift between Tilburg and the National Association/National team?
> 
> If you go back 30 years The Netherlands were much better than Denmark and Belgium were even worse. Denmark moved a whole lot, but what has happened to The Netherlands?? Really should have followed Denmark in level, but totally vanished in the 90's end the 00's....




Tilburg was still playing in the Oberliga playoffs when the tournament started. The Tilburg guys that were on the roster joined late.


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## KTl

Six Teams from BeNeLeague and six teams from German fourth tier Regionalliga West will play the Inter-Regio-Cup. Actually its just six games for each side, but will be interesting to see how the teams compare.

Dinslakener Kobras, Hammer Eisbären, Herforder EV, Neusser EV, EG Diez-Limburg, EHC Neuwied (Germany), Eaters Geleen, Heerenveen Flyers, Nijmegen Devils (Netherlands), HYC Herentals, IHC Leuven und Luik Bulldogs (Belgium)


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## HungryFrank

Why don't Eindhoven and Amsterdam participate in BeNeLiga?


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## TheWhiskeyThief

gwiz999 said:


> Looks like Matheson and Brothers are headed to the same team in Sweden. Kiruna AIF - Ishockey - A-laget
> 
> What is the hockey like in that league compared to BeNe?



HockeyEttan has skilled players, just that most of them are too small to play up a level.


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