NHL and players’ association discuss proposed agreement

Representatives of the NHL and the players’ association spoke by phone on Saturday to clarify and discuss the proposed collective bargaining agreement the league presented late Thursday. The sides did not arrange a face-to-face bargaining session for Sunday, but it’s possible they will meet late in the day in New York.

“We do plan on continuing [Sunday] morning the ‘informational’ sessions we had today,” NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said Saturday. “Then we will see.”

The NHL’s proposal included a deadline to have a deal in place in time to open training camps on Jan. 12 and start the season on Jan. 19 or the season would be canceled. Commissioner Gary Bettman has said a 48-game schedule is the minimum for a season with “integrity.” After the resolution of a labor dispute that cut short the 1994-95 season, teams played 48 games within their respective conferences. The league lost the 2004-05 season to a labor dispute.

— Helene Elliott

ETC.

Comma To The Top wins Daytona Stakes

Comma To The Top became racing’s newest millionaire with a 13/4-length victory in the $100,000 Daytona Stakes at Santa Anita.

The victory, worth $60,000, increased Comma To The Top’s career earnings to $1,027,696, with 11 wins in 25 starts.

With replacement rider Edwin Maldonado in the saddle, Comma To The Top ran 61/2 furlongs on a wet-fast dirt track in 1:14.55 and paid $5.20, $3.60 and $2.80.

Clubhouse Ride returned $7.40 and $3.40, and Ain’t No Other was another three-quarters of a length back in third and paid $3 to show in the race, which was moved off the downhill turf course because of rain. Capital Account, the 8-5 favorite, finished fourth.

Brandon Roy said he will seek further treatment on the chronic pain in his knees in hopes of continuing his comeback attempt with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Roy issued a statement through the team before they played the Phoenix Suns on Saturday night. He had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee in November after playing in five games and had recently returned to practice. But the guard said he had a setback recently that requires more attention.

Roy spent the last few days contemplating retirement before deciding to keep going.

New York Jets tight end Dustin Keller and wide receiver Chaz Schilens did not travel with the team and will not play in the season finale at Buffalo because of injuries. Backup cornerback Ellis Lankster also did not make the trip Saturday and will miss the game.

Veronika Velez Zuzulova of Slovakia upset the favorites to win a World Cup night slalom at Semmering, Austria, for her first career victory.

She trailed overall World Cup leader Tina Maze by 0.55 of a second after the opening leg but overtook the Slovenian with a near-flawless final run. Velez Zuzulova finished in a combined time of 1 minute, 37.28 seconds. Kathrin Zettel of Austria was 0.10 back. Maze was third, 0.20 behind.

Teenager Mikeala Shiffrin of the United States, who led the slalom standings going into the race, straddled a gate and didn’t finish her second run.

Defending overall champion Lindsey Vonn missed the race while recovering from an intestinal illness, and world slalom champion Marlies Schild of Austria is out for three months after knee surgery.

Kikkan Randall of the United States claimed her second cross-country World Cup victory of the season when she won the prologue event of the Tour de Ski at Oberhof, Germany.

Randall clinched the 3.1-kilometer sprint by leaving Charlotte Kalla of Sweden 4.4 seconds behind. World Cup leader Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland was third.

The tour consists of seven events over nine days in Germany, Switzerland and Italy.

Petter Northug of Norway won the men’s 4-kilometer prologue to stretch his World Cup lead. Northug beat Marcus Hellner of Sweden by 6.1 seconds, while Alexander Legkov of Russia was 7.2 seconds behind.

Hannes Reichelt of Austria and Dominik Paris of Italy shared a downhill victory at Bormio, Italy, in one of the closest races in skiing history, with the top four finishers separated by a mere two-hundredths of a second.

Paris took the early lead by clocking 1 minute 58.62 seconds for his first career win and Reichelt matched him to give Austria its first speed win of the season.

Overall World Cup leader Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway finished third, 0.01 of a second behind — the smallest possible margin. Klaus Kroell of Austria was fourth, missing out on a podium finish despite being just 0.02 behind the winners.

“On a hill as tough as this to have a race that close, that’s surprising,” Svindal said. “The crazy thing is we were fast in different sections.”

The top American finisher was Travis Ganong in seventh for his best career result.

Novak Djokovic retained his title at the World Tennis Championship exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, by rallying past Nicolas Almagro of Spain, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-4.

Almagro, a late replacement at the tournament for Rafael Nadal, rallied from 3-1 down in the tiebreaker to take the first set.

Former Pittsburgh Steelers center and coach Chuck Cherundolo has died in Florida at the age of 96.

His daughtersaid the former player died of heart failure on Dec. 22 in Lakeland, Fla.

Cherundolo played for the Steelers in the 1940s, taking a break to serve in the Navy during World War II. In 2007, the Steelers named him to their legends team, representing the franchise’s best players through 1970.

Cherundolo also coached in the NFL, including many years with the Steelers.