Amur Khabarovsk was almost certainly going to lose Monday’s game against Moscow Dynamo, trailing 5-1 late in the third. That’s when head coach Alexander Gulyavtsev lost his composure.
Down by four goals with just over six minutes to play, Gulyavtsev went beyond just questioning the calls on the ice. He started making threats.
“I’ll set your car on fire,” Gulyavtsev said, loosely translated, to the referee.
In response, he was hit with a two-minute minor for abuse of officials and unsportsmanlike conduct.
“Я тебе машину сожгу!”
Тренер “Амура” угрожал судье во время матча КХЛ pic.twitter.com/V44NwLzJVk
— Александр (@optaluna) October 21, 2019
Prior to Gulyavtsev’s threat, penalty calls were even, with ten penalty minutes to each team. Curiously, Amur were on a power play at the time of the coach’s remarks.
Referees for the game were Nikolai Akuzovsky and Viktor Gashilov. Linesmen were Nikita Vilyugin Nikita and Dmitry Golyak.
No word on whether additional security was sent to the parking lot, but we wouldn’t blame the officials for catching a ride with someone else.
UPDATE: Gulyavtsev has been fined 300,000 rubles – approximately $4,700 – for his comment.
“I just said car,” said Gulyavtsev, who claimed he was only making a joke. “It’s not as if I said apartment.”