Skip to content
Flyers
Link copied to clipboard

Sports in Brief: No talks between NHL, players

All is quiet between the NHL and the players' association, and there is no sign the sides will talk even by phone before Christmas.

All is quiet between the NHL and the players' association, and there is no sign the sides will talk even by phone before Christmas.

"Nothing today," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told the Associated Press in an e-mail Sunday night. "Don't know whether we will speak before the holiday."

Daly and players' association special counsel Steve Fehr spoke to each other Saturday, but nothing of note came out of those discussions. The union declined to comment Sunday, the 99th day of the NHL lockout.

The sides haven't met face to face since Dec. 13.

All games through Jan. 14 have been called off, and if a new collective bargaining agreement isn't reached by then, the remainder of the schedule could be canceled, too. So far, 625 games - more than 50 percent of the schedule - have been wiped out, along with the Winter Classic and the All-Star Game.

CYCLING: The Sunday Times is suing Lance Armstrong for more than $1.5 million over the cyclist's successful libel action regarding doping allegations.

The British newspaper paid Armstrong 300,000 pounds (now about $485,000) to settle a case after it printed allegations in 2004 that he took performance-enhancing drugs.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency concluded this year that Armstrong led a massive doping program on his teams.

The Sunday Times said in its latest edition that it has issued legal papers against Armstrong "demanding a return of the settlement payment plus interest, as well as its costs in defending the case."

The paper says the claim "is likely to exceed" 1 million pounds ($1.6 million).

SOCCER: The Colorado Rapids traded forward Omar Cummings to the Houston Dynamo for midfielder Nathan Sturgis and allocation money.

Manchester United's five-game winning run in the English Premier League ended at Swansea as the leader was held to 1-1. Alex Ferguson's side is just four points ahead of Manchester City, which beat Reading, 1-0.

SKIING: World champion Kelsey Serwa of Canada won her first ski cross race since returning from an injury, ending Swiss rival Fanny Smith's run of three straight victories to open the season.

Serwa won the opening two World Cup races at San Candido, Italy, last season, then injured her knee.

She dominated the quarterfinal and semifinal, then rallied from last to first in a wild final, which saw Swiss standout Katrin Mueller spin out and French veteran Ophelie David disqualified.

Canadian teammate Georgia Simmerling finished second, and Mueller ended up third.

In the men's final, Switzerland's Alex Fiva got his first victory this season, finishing ahead of Germany's Daniel Bohnacker and Sweden's Victor Oehling Norberg.

- Associated Press