Serious refereeing blunder

In the first minute of the second period of Monday’s game in Chelyabinsk between Traktor and Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, some controversy arose when the visitors appeared to have seven players out on the ice during the move which led to them taking a 2-1 lead.

The KHL Competitions Department has studied the episode and confirmed that a serious error was made by the officials, who should have disallowed the goal and awarded a minor penalty against Lokomotiv for having too many players on the ice.

At a meeting on Tuesday, the KHL Refereeing Department announced it was suspending the referees, Alexei Anisimov and Sergei Belyayev, for three games, while the two linesmen, Evgeny Petrov and Ivan Fateyev, will take no further part in the KHL Championship for the rest of the 2012/2013 season, and instead will be officiating in the lower league, the VHL.