HOCKEY

‘No movement’ on major labor issues as NHL lockout passes its 67th day

Negotiations aimed at ending the NHL lockout broke up for the day Wednesday in New York. Union head Donald Fehr said that talks produced “no movement” on the major issues. The lockout has lasted 67 days, and a slate of games in December could be canceled soon.

Earlier, players gave management a new proposal that the union said left sides less than $40 million apart annually over a five-year contract.

More than a quarter of the regular season already has been canceled, with no new date set for talks.

SOCCER

NEW LEAGUE: Another pro women’s league will try to succeed where two previous attempts have failed.

The currently unnamed eight-team league will launch in the spring, U.S. Soccer announced.

The sport draws fans for the World Cup and Olympics, but has yet to find a foothold as a pro sport in the U.S.

WUSA folded in 2003 after three seasons and Women’s Professional Soccer folded this year after three seasons.

COACH FIRED: Roberto Di Matteo’s reign as Chelsea manager ended when he was fired six months after guiding the Blues to an unlikely Champions League title and replaced by Rafa Benitez.

Russian owner Roman Abramovich got rid of Di Matteo with Chelsea on the verge of becoming the first defending champion to be eliminated from the group stage.

MLS: FC Dallas midfielder Daniel Hernandez is retiring from professional soccer and will move into a coaching role. Hernandez, 36, a Southern Methodist University graduate, has played for five MLS teams over 13 seasons.

CYCLING

RESCINDED: Tufts University in Medford, Mass., rescinded Lance Armstrong’s honorary degree. A university spokeswoman said the school’s trustees voted unanimously at their meeting this month to rescind the doctor of humane letters bestowed upon Armstrong in 2006.

GOLF

AGAINST THE ODDS: Two club golfers playing The Lakes, site of the Australian Open on Dec. 6, hit consecutive holes-in-one on the par-3, 136-yard ninth hole. One of the golfers, Jonathan Cook, said “the whole place went nuts.”

The National Hole in One Registry website quotes the odds of two players from the same foursome acing the same hole as 17 million to one.

TENNIS

ATP: The Farmers Classic men’s tennis tournament at UCLA has been discontinued, and its ATP sanction has been sold to a group in Bogota, Colombia.

The event struggled economically in recent years with revolving sponsorships and a lack of American men’s stars, tournament director Bob Kramer said.

— From news service reports