Salon.com > Ira Podell

NHL lockout reaches tentative agreement

Sun, 06 Jan 2013 14:52:00 +0000

NEW YORK (AP) -- Hockey is back, and it took nearly four months and one long night to get the game back on the ice.

With the season on the line, the NHL and the players' association agreed on a tentative pact to end a 113-day lockout and save what was left of a fractured schedule.

Commissioner Gary Bettman and union executive director Donald Fehr ceased being adversaries and announced the deal while standing side by side near a wall toward the back of the negotiating room and showing a tinge of weariness.

"I want to thank Don Fehr," Bettman said. "We went through a tough period, but it's good to be at this point."

A marathon negotiating session that lasted more than 16 hours, stretching from Saturday afternoon until just before dawn Sunday, produced a 10-year deal.

"We've got to dot a lot of Is and cross a lot of Ts," Bettman said. "There's still a lot of work to be done, but the basic details of the agreement have been agreed upon."

Even players who turned into negotiators showed the strain of the long, difficult process.

"It was a battle," said Winnipeg Jets defenseman Ron Hainsey, a key member of the union's bargaining team. "Gary said a month ago it was a tough negotiation. That's what it was.

Americans top Swiss, moving into hockey semifinals

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:25:00 +0000

It's not quite a miracle, but this American run to the Olympic hockey semifinals sure is surprising.

Swiss goalie Jonas Hiller did his best to send the Americans home earlier than they hoped with an array of saves and stops through two-plus periods. Zach Parise finally figured him out with a pinballing deflection that gave his club the only offense it needed in a 2-0 win Wednesday.

Entering the tournament, U.S. general manager Brian Burke was quick to say that no one was betting on the Americans to win a medal in Vancouver. He wore the underdog role as a badge of honor and a call to arms.

After all, the U.S. left Turin, Italy, four years ago with one win and no medal. In Vancouver, they're perfect.

"If you had said at the beginning of the tournament that we'd be 4-0 and the number one seed, everybody would say you are (crazy) or something," U.S. coach Ron Wilson said.

The U.S. earned a Friday date with Finland with a spot in the gold medal game on the line. Finland knows all about the pressures of the medal round. The Finns skated off with silver in 2006 and have their sights set on the top prize after knocking out the Czech Republic with a 2-0 victory of their own Wednesday night.