Hockey

• NHL lockout looms as players, owners travel to NYC: NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly says the owners and players are both to blame for their failure to reach a new collective bargaining agreement before the Saturday deadline for a work stoppage. Daly wrote in an email to The Associated Press that he hoped both sides would meet before Saturday. “But to this point, we have received no indication that the union has anything new to say to us. And right now, we have nothing new to say to them," he wrote Tuesday. “It’s unfortunate, but it’s the reality of the situation." The NHL’s labor contract expires at midnight Saturday night, and a lockout appears certain. It would be the league’s fourth work stoppage since 1992. More than 250 players are set to attend the NHLPA meetings today and Thursday to discuss the current state of CBA negotiations. The board of governors will meet Thursday at the NHL offices and could authorize Commissioner Gary Bettman to proceed with a lockout on Saturday if a new collective bargaining agreement hasn’t been reached.