Czech defenseman Dominik Mašin has been given a four-game suspension in the Finnish Liiga for pushing an opponent’s unhelmeted head into the ice during an altercation on Friday night.

Mašin, who plays for Kärpät Oulu, got into a post-whistle scrum with JYP Jyväskylä center Nate Schnarr. Both players were lying on the ice and Scharr, who was on his back, had lost his helmet. While a linesman was attempting to restrain him, Mašin started to get up but then punched Schnarr’s face with his gloved hand, driving the back of Schnarr’s head into the ice.

The video below shows several angles of the incident and gives the explanation for the suspension (in Finnish).

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IakAw3cQuCI[/embed]

“The act was clearly committed after the play was stopped and also when the aftermath had already calmed down,” is a partial translation of the video text. “The disciplinary delegation has decided that an appropriate punishment for the act is a suspension of four games.”

Scharr went to the dressing room after the incident but did return to finish the game and played again on Saturday.

Scharr, 25, was a third-round pick of the Arizona Coyotes in 2017. The Waterloo, Ont native played junior hockey for the OHL’s Guelph Storm and played four seasons in the AHL for the farm teams of the Coyotes, New Jersey Devils, Montreal Canadiens and Los Angeles Kings. Notably, Schnarr went the other way in the 2019 trade of Taylor Hall. 

This is Schnarr’s second season in Finland after playing last year for the Lahti Pelicans, where he had 57 points in 68 regular-season and playoff games. He has six points in 11 games this season after Saturday.

Mašin was a second-round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. In North America, he played two years of junior hockey for the OHL’s Peterborough Petes, then spent four full seasons with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch but was never promoted to Tampa Bay.

Since returning to Europe in 2020, Mašin has played for Amur Khabarovsk in the KHL, Ilves Tampere in the Finnish Liiga and started this season playing for Sparta Prague in the Czech Extraliga.

After earning three points and 10 penalty minutes in 17 games, he was granted his release from Sparta so he could sign with Kärpät. Mašin has one assist in 10 games with Kärpät and now 31 penalty minutes, thanks to the 25 earned on Friday.

The next game Mašin will be eligible to play in will be Dec. 13 against HPK in Hämeenlinna.

Perhaps anticipating the suspension to Mašin, Kärpät signed free-agent Swedish defenseman Marcus Björk on Saturday.