Ice hockey: One month after Olympic silver: Ehrhoff ends his ice hockey career

Christian Ehrhoff has ended his ice hockey career exactly one month after winning the Olympic silver medal in Pyeongchang.

A few hours after the end of the DEL play-offs with the Cologne sharks, the 35-year-old announced his resignation via the social media.

“Today my professional career ends! 19 years as a professional is a long time. Thanks to my teams, players, coaches, coaches, physios, doctors and of course to the fans for their support and countless wonderful moments and memories,” wrote Ehrhoff. He presented a picture from his childhood in ice hockey outfit under the Christmas tree.

Ehrhoff is one of the most successful players in German ice hockey history. In the North American professional league NHL, the native of Moers played 862 games as defender for the San Jose Sharks, the Vancouver Canucks, the Buffalo Sabres, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Los Angeles Kings and the Chicago Blackhawks.

With Vancouver, Ehrhoff, once the world’s most expensive defender, made it to the Stanley Cup final in 2011, but lost to Boston.

He started his professional career with the Krefeld Penguins, in 2016 Ehrhoff returned from the USA to the German Ice Hockey League and has since played for the Cologne Sharks. In his last match he lost to Nürnberg Ice Tigers 1-5 in the play-off quarter-finals on Sunday. The Rhinelanders lost the series 2:4.

Ehrhoff had carried the German flag at the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics in South Korea on the day of the final defeat against Russia (3:4 after extra time). Ehrhoff is father of three daughters.