Canada's Lee pulled onto Czech Republic bench during hockey game

Feb. 17 (UPI) -- The Czech Republic hockey team had some fun with a Canadian player Saturday, pushing him onto their bench at the Winter Olympics.

Canadian defender Chris Lee was skating near the Czech bench during a power play for his team. He rubbed shoulders with Czech Republic forward Martin Erat all the way to the entrance to his foe's bench.

Then Czech Republic defender Michal Jordan came up and pushed Lee from behind, through the entrance gate to the bench. A referee attempted to separate the two, but the sequence was just beginning.

Jordan went into the bench and continued to push Lee back toward his teammates. Erat grabbed Lee with his left arm and pulled him in even deeper.

Jordan closed the door as Erat stood face-to-face with Lee. Both teams started laughing, before Lee pushed himself away from the Czech Republic players. Lee finished off the back-and-forth with a big right-handed shot to Jordan's face before jumping over the wall and getting back onto the ice. There was 14 seconds left on the power play when returned to the action.

The horseplay resulted in an interference call, giving Canada a five-on-three opportunity. But the Canadians were unable to convert, hitting the crossbar on one attempt.

The Czech Republic won the game 3-2 in a shootout at Kwandong Hockey Centre. Jan Kovar scored the game-winning goal. The win means the Czech Republic now tops Group A, with Canada sitting in second place.