Russian hockey officials on Monday hit Andrei Nazarov, the head coach of KHL team Vityaz Chekhov, with a two-match ban for grabbing a hockey stick and slashing it wildly into a stand full of angry spectators.
The incident occurred Sunday at the end of a KHL league game against Dinamo Minsk in Belarus. Home fans threw plastic bottles onto the ice, disgruntled at what they saw as dirty tactics used by Vityaz players.
In response, Nazarov seized a nearby hockey stick and appeared to attempt to strike several fans with it over the glass. He didn’t appear able to reach them, smashing the stick in half on the glass before snatching a second stick from a player and repeating the attempt.
Security personnel appeared to eventually shepherd the fans away.
Nazarov confirmed the ban to RIA Novosti but refused to comment on his behavior at the game, which ended 3-2 to Dinamo.
Three Vityaz players were also handed disqualifications for what the KHL called the “initiation of several conflicts on the ice.”
Canadian left wing Kip Brennan got a four-match ban, U.S. center Nick Tarnasky got 2 games, while Russia’s Artemi Panarin sits out one match.
Vityaz and Dinamo play in the Western conference’s Tarasov division. Vityaz, based in the Moscow region town of Chekhov, have had a rotten start to the campaign, last in the division with four wins and 13 defeats. Dinamo lie in second with 10 wins and five losses, trailing SKA St. Petersburg.
