Erich Kühnhackl was the best recognized German ice hockey center in the 1970s and 80s. Born in Czechoslovakia his family moved to Landshut directly after the Warsaw Pact Troops marched into Czechoslavakia to start the Czechoslovakian crisis (The Prague Spring). He began his career at EV Landshut, winning the German Championships four times (1970, 1977, 1979 and 1983), being elected Player of the Year three times (1978, 1980 and 1983), and was named German Ice Hockey Player of the Century in 1999. He played 774 games in the Bundesliga, scoring 724 goals and 707 assists (1,431 points), played 211 international games with the national team, scoring 131 goals, and led the Bundesliga in scoring eight times.
He also played in three Olympics, 1972, 1976 and 1984, winning the bronze medal in 1976, and played in the World Championships in 1976-1978, 1981-1983, and 1985. In 1989 Kühnhackl finished his playing career and began coaching, including 1990-1992 as German National Coach, until he was elected Vice President of the German Ice Hockey Federation in 2008. Besides this function, in July 2009 he was named sport director of the youth department of the Frankfurt Lions. He is a member of the German Ice Hockey Hall of Fame (since 1988), of the International Ice Hockey Hall of Fame (since 1997), and the German Sports Hall of Fame (since 2016). His son Tom also became an ice hockey professional, who won the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016 and 2017.
West Germany