Ehrhoff says hard work is key for Sharks

The biggest German moment in NHL history was Uwe Krupp’s triple overtime, Stanley Cup-winning goal for Colorado in Game Four of the 1996 Stanley Cup finals versus Florida. But Krupp, currently coaching his country’s national team, could see his “title” challenged if the San Jose Sharks win their first Cup in 2008, as many pundits expect. With a German backup goalie (Dimitri Patzold), defenseman (Christian Ehrhoff), and forward (Marcel Goc), the Bay Area franchise boasts more Teutonic flavor than any of its league rivals.

Ehrhoff, in his fourth NHL campaign, is expected to play the biggest role of the three. The 6-2, 205-pound Moers native is coming off a career season in 2006-07 with 10 goals and 23 assists, and this year, he’s averaging over 20 minutes a game alongside partner Kyle McLaren.

“I want to get more ice time than I had last year,” Ehrhoff told HockeyAdventure.com. “With Scott Hannan gone, I certainly want to work toward getting some of the ice time he would have had, like killing penalties. I want to show up every night and work hard and see what happens.”

Evidently, coach Ron Wilson’s message has registered with this 25-year-old. Walk into the San Jose dressing room and you’re likely to see a strict reminder plastered across the whiteboard: “Talent is never enough. With a few exceptions, the best players are the hardest workers.”

Many consider Ehrhoff one of the NHL’s best skaters. But in his opinion, who’s the fastest player on a Sharks team laden with speedsters?

“Probably Milan Michalek or Patty Marleau. They can really fly.”

Marleau, San Jose’s captain, is a familiar name to fans NHL-wide, and 2006 Hart and Art Ross Trophy winner Joe Thornton, 2006 Rocket Richard Trophy winner Jonathan Cheechoo, and starting goalie Evgeni Nabokov always get their fair share of attention.

However, someone like Michalek still doesn’t have that instant recognition factor, despite notching 66 points last year. Ditto for forwards Steve Bernier and Joe Pavelski and defensemen Matt Carle and Marc-Edouard Vlasic. If any of those young talents played in Montreal or New York, they’d be making headlines regularly.

Ehrhoff concurs: “Last year when Craig Rivet came over from Montreal, he didn’t know a lot of the guys on the team. After a couple of weeks here, he said: ‘Wow, it’s too bad I never heard of these talented guys before.’ We’ve got a really special group. The roster is very deep. In training camp there were a lot of good players that didn’t quite make it. But I think the future looks pretty good for the Sharks.”

Much of that is due to an amazingly successful draft record under scouting director Tim Burke. Out of the 25 players currently on San Jose’s roster, 15 were originally drafted by the club. With an average age of 27, the Sharks are the fourth-youngest team in the league and, incidentally, also the heaviest, averaging 213.5 pounds.

As the Sharks build up toward surpassing the second-round exits they suffered in each of the last two playoffs, Ehrhoff is enjoying his life away from the rink in San Jose too, even if it’s not as glamorous as the bright lights of New York or Hollywood.

“It’s just a pretty quiet place to live. You’ve got lots of stuff to do, and the weather is good all year around. It’s not a long way for me to drive to practice, either, and you rarely end up stuck in traffic. I really enjoy living there. When I get a day off I usually do something with my wife Farina, because when we are on the road, she’s alone at home. We like to go to the movies and stuff like that.”

Ehrhoff, who got married this summer, gave his honeymoon in Mallorca a thumbs-up as well: “It was a great week to relax and get some energy for the long season.”

Now it’s time for this 2001 fourth-round pick to deliver on all his potential and experience some genuine team success. That should jack up the traffic at Ehrhoff.com, which currently has a traffic ranking of 7,252,644 on Alexa.com.

“We were pretty close the last couple of years,” said Ehrhoff. “We had great teams, but we just couldn’t finish off. Hopefully we’ve learned from that and this year will be better for us. But we’ve got to bring 100 percent work ethic every night. That’s the main thing for us. We have a really talented group, and we just have to work hard. Then we should be fine.”

Watch out, Herr Krupp–coming through!