Four-time Olympic ice hockey defender Christian Ehrhoff won the surprising silver medal at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics when the German team was narrowly beaten 4-3 by Russia after overtime. Russia equalised the German 3-2 lead only 56 seconds before the final buzzer. Ehrhoff had previously played at the 2002 Salt Lake City, 2006 Torino and 2010 Vancouver Winter Games.
Ehrhoff was one of the most prominent German hockey players, playing 862 NHL matches, 314 Bundesliga matches, and winning 118 international caps with the German national team. At club level he played with Krefeld Pinguins until 2003, and then moved to North America. He then played with NHL clubs San Jose Sharks (2003-09), Vancouver Canucks (2009-11), Buffalo Sabres (2011-14), Pittsburgh Penguins (2014-15), Los Angeles Kings (2015-16), and finally Chicago Blackhawks (2016), before he returned to Germany with Kölner Haie (2016-18).
In 2003, Ehrhoff won the German national title with Krefeld. In 2011, playing for Vancouver Canucks, they lost the Stanley Cup final in the deciding seventh match 4-3 against the Boston Bruins.