On Thursday, the National Hockey League announced the cancelation of all of the games up until January 14th. The fact that there is little progress in the deliberations between the players and owners leaves many fans distressed at the prospect of missing an NHL season.

On Thursday, December 20, 2012, the National Hockey League announced that all of the games up until January 14, 2013 are to be canceled. These cancelations are the most recent in a series of game cancelations that included the Winter Classic and has resulted in doubt as to whether or not there will be a hockey season this year.

The lockout is a result of a financial disagreement between the owners of the hockey teams and the players. The owners claim that they are losing money under the current contracts and want to pay the players less. The players aren’t willing to take a pay cut though, resulting in such a long delay in the making of a new contract between the owners and the NHL Players’ Association.

The NHL is the only professional sports league in America that has ever missed a whole season due to a lockout, and the prospect of missing another season is very real at this point. Fans are hoping that the NHL can work out its problems like the NBA and NFL have in recent years, but right now it looks like the only hockey we will be watching this year is Harriton Ice Hockey.