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NHL, players' union end two days of talks with mediators

Mediators determined no progress possible through mediation at the moment, NHL says

Labor impasse has canceled a third of the NHL's season so far

The season should have started October 11

CNN  — 

Two days of mediation have failed to end the National Hockey League’s lockout of its players, the league and the players’ union said Thursday.

Representatives of the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association met Wednesday and Thursday with the Washington-based Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, aiming to break a labor impasse that so far has canceled a third of the NHL’s season.

The mediators “concluded that the parties remained far apart, and that no progress toward a resolution could be made through further mediation at this point in time,” NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said.

“We are disappointed that the mediation process was not successful,” Daly said in a statement issued to the media Thursday afternoon.

The mediators “indicated that they would stay in contact with the league and the NHLPA, and would call the parties back together when they thought the time was right,” the union’s executive director, Don Fehr, said Thursday.

The league and the NHL Players’ Association have not been able to reach a collective bargaining agreement, prompting a lockout that threatens to wipe out an entire NHL season for the second time in eight years.

The season did not begin as scheduled on October 11, and the league has canceled groups of games as the calendar progressed with no deal. Last week, the league said that the All-Star game and the regular season through December 14 had been called off.

CNN’s Jason Durand contributed to this report.