KHL Goes Full Circus As Player Gets Bitten By Police Dog At Center Ice

This feels very on brand for the KHL for some reason…

PublishedNovember 20, 2025 4:50 PM EST•UpdatedNovember 20, 2025 3:22 PM EST

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I’ve said it before, and I will say it again: the Russian KHL is pretty much the bizarre NHL.

You’ve got some talent at the sharp end of the stat sheet who could play in the NHL, but the league itself is so full of crazy nonsense, you almost can’t believe it.

Like, could you ever imagine an NHL player getting bitten by a police dog after a ceremonial puck drop?

I can’t, but it happened in the KHL.

READ: KHL GONNA KHL: RUSSIAN HOCKEY PLAYER DROPS HIS PHONE ON THE ICE DURING GAME

It happened on Thursday as CSKA Moscow — which is the same as the old Red Army Team that played occasional games against NHL teams during the Cold War — took on Dinamo Minsk.

As is the case before many hockey games, there was a ceremonial faceoff, which was handled by a police woman wearing some kind of giant helmet and her dog.

That too has been done many times, and while the faceoff between CSKA’s Pavel Karnaukhov and Dinamo Minsk’s Andrei Stas went off without a hitch, it quickly went off the rails when Stas tried to pet the dog.

Someone needs to train that dog.

You bite the visiting player’s hand, not the home player’s hand.

What a strange moment. I still can’t figure out why Stas didn’t just pull his hand out of the glove after the first eight to ten seconds of having it trapped in the jaws of an attack dog. The second I felt an ounce of downward pressure, I’d have my hand out of the glove, and I’d be down the tunnel before you could even blink.

READ: INSANE KHL GOALIE FIGHT FEATURES EX‑RANGER THROWING HANDS IN 6‑1 BEATDOWN

But, this may have turned out to be a good luck charm for Dinamo Minsk.

They defeated CSKA by a score of 5-2, and while I’m not saying someone has to get bitten by a dog before every game, I am saying it may not hurt.