Christoph Brandner

Christoph Brandner was a double Austrian Olympian at Nagano 1998 and Salt Lake City 2002. As an ice hockey right wing he came 14th and 12th with the Austrian team respectively.

Brandner was a physically big winger (196 cm, 98 kg) whose strength was in front of goal. An average skater, he was hard to stop when he drove to the net. In 2003 he became a DEL player of the year and German champion with Krefeld Pinguins, playing for them between 2000-03. Then he tried his luck in the NHL with Minnesota Wild (2003-04) but played only once in the first line and then on fourth line. Brandner was the first Austrian to score a goal in the NHL and only the second Austrian to play in the NHL after goalie Reinhardt Divis.

In January 2004 Brandner suffered a ligament injury during an AHL game at the Houston Aeros (2004-05). He couldn’t skate properly afterwards and was unable to feel his leg as before. Brandner was never again the player he was. Nevertheless, he moved to Sweden to Södertälje SK (2005-06) and then back to Germany to Hamburg Freezers (2006-08) before a return to Austria.

Brandner played 60 international games with the Austrian national team (39 points - 22 goals and 17 assists). He was twice the Austrian champion with Klagenfurter AC (2000 and 2009) for whom he played rom 1994-2000 and 2008-12. Brandner announced his retirement on 1 April 2012 and started a three-year degree to become a physiotherapist. He failed in that quest as he was missing ice hockey too much and became a youth coach at Klagenfurt instead.