NHL Lockout Drags On; U20 World Champs Reach Finale

(ATR) Players and owners are without a collective bargaining agreement as the NHL lockout hits its 111th day.

After talks stretched late into Wednesday night, the two sides took the bulk of Thursday off before suiting back up Friday in New York, albeit alone.

According to an Associated Press report, both the NHL and NHL Players’ Association made plans to meet separately with a federal mediator in the morning, but are so far avoiding any real return to the bargaining table with a week left to salvage a 48-game regular season.

That’s the minimum Commissioner Gary Bettman has said the NHL will consider after all games through Jan. 14 – or more than half the season – were cancelled late last month.

At stake in the negotiations for a new CBA is, among other issues, whether the league would break for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi and – for that matter – 2018 in PyeongChang. Neither is an easy destination to fly in athletes for the two-week tournament, traditionally a highlight of the Winter Games.

International Ice Hockey Federation President Rene Fasel tells Around the Rings he's heard no updates from Bettmann as of late Friday, admitting the situation is "not easy" for hockey.

Previous lockouts yielded a 48-game season in 1995 and none in 2004-2005, a dubious distinction among U.S. sports leagues.

Despite the stoppages, NHL players have competed at every Olympics since 1998, the first in which they were allowed to play.

IIHF U20 World Champs

USA and Sweden face off Saturday in the finals of the IIHF U20 World Championships in Ufa, Russia.

The hosts will play Canada earlier in the day for the bronze medal.

Written by Matthew Grayson.

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