COLOGNE – The Disciplinary Panel at the 2010 IIHF World Championship has assessed Ernst Höfner, one of the assistant coaches of the German national team, a two-game suspension following physical action against Swiss defenceman Timo Helbling in the minutes after the end of the Switzerland-Germany quarterfinal the Germans won 1-0.

Höfner will be banned from the bench for the semi-final game against Russia on Saturday (18:00) and for the medal game on Sunday.

Höfner and Helbling both received match penalties after a brawl that involved players from both teams and members of the Team Germany staff.

As the Swiss national team is out of the tournament, the cases of Helbling and Martin Plüss will go to the regular IIHF Disciplinary Committee following the tournament. Helbling was also involved in the brawl while Plüss was given a five-minute major and game misconduct for spearing against Germany’s Christian Ehrhoff in the first period.