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KHL Bans Player Who Brawled With Opposing Team


Russia's top ice-hockey league has temporarily banned a Barys Astana player from competition after he fought with multiple players during a preseason game in the Kazakh capital on August 8.

Barys defenseman Damir Ryspaev essentially took on the entire Kunlun Red Star team, resulting in the cancellation of the game between the two Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) clubs.

Video shows Ryspaev sucker-punching Kunlun Red Star's Tomas Marcinko, who later required hospital treatment.

Finding Marcinko unresponsive, Ryspaev fought with other members of the Chinese team before starting a multiplayer brawl with the Red Star bench.

Ryspaev, a native of Kazakhstan's eastern city of Oskemen (Ust-Kamenogorsk), was banned twice for multiple games in the 2015-16 season, including one in which he punched an opponent who lay helpless on the ice.

The defenseman, who has recorded no points and 194 penalty minutes in 23 KHL games, is considered by the league to be a repeat violent offender.

With reporting by CBS
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