Kulyash banned for 3 games, Koksharov banned for 2

Incidents from three of Saturday’s games have come under the scrutiny of the KHL Disciplinary Committee.

In the penultimate minute of the game in Novokuznetsk between Metallurg and Avangard, Omsk defenseman Denis Kulyash was sent to the locker room after aiming a blow to the head of Metallurg attacker Ansel Galimov. The Committee supports the referee’s decision to punish the foul with a major plus game misconduct penalty (5+20 minutes) for checking to the head and neck area and has disqualified Kulyash for three games.

In the 37th minute of the game between Vityaz and Donbass Donetsk, the Moscow Region forward Yury Koksharov was also judged to be guilty of checking to the head and neck area in a challenge on the Ukrainian side’s defenseman, Gennady Razin. As with Kulyash, the Committee upheld the major plus game misconduct penalty (5+20 minutes) handed to Koksharov, but imposed an additional ban of two games.

The third incident for review occurred in the 28th minute of Medvescak Zagreb’s visit to Dynamo Moscow, when the visiting forward, Boyd Kane, was sent off for the remainder of the game for kneeing Andrei Mironov, and right after that the Muscovites’ defenseman Maxim Solovyov was given the same penalty for spearing Boyd Kane.

Having studied the episode, the Committee decided that:
- Solovyov’s major plus game misconduct penalty (5+20 minutes) should remain, but the foul does not merit further disciplinary action;
- Kane’s major plus game misconduct penalty (5+20 minutes) should remain, but the foul should be recorded as one of injuring an opponent by charging, rather than by kneeing, also without any further disciplinary action.