Fehr maintains NHL, players were close to deal

The NHL Players' Association executive director repeated earlier remarks that an agreement appeared to be within reach Thursday night when the league rejected the union's latest proposal and rescinded its own. ''My comments from a couple of days ago

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The day after labor negotiations between the NHL and the players' union imploded, the face of the league, Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby, strongly hinted he would not return to the talks, and former Flyers winger Scottie Upshall harshly criticized the

''It's a shame things turned out the way they did,'' he said. ''At this point, though, nothing surprises me. They get everybody's expectations up and then dash them. It's unfortunate. It's a shame we're not playing this game at the Joe or anywhere else