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Bruising Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference, an involved union participant during labor talks, tells ESPN.com's Katie Strang about the memorable marathon session, his thoughts on the 2013 season and more in the New York Minute.

Tuukka Rask stopped 20 shots for Boston in his first game after taking over for two-time Vezina Trophy winner Tim Thomas, and the Bruins beat the New York Rangers 3-1 in the lockout-delayed season opener on Saturday night.

NHL players finally are headed back to work.

NHL players began the process of ratifying the new labor agreement on Thursday night and will have until early Saturday morning to vote.

NEW YORK -- Never again. OK, that's a little naive. But let's not see a labor dispute like this in this sport for at least a couple of decades. The NHL needs labor peace for a long, long time, not just the 8-10 years this freshly minted tentati...

A tentative agreement has been reached between the NHL and NHL Players' Association.

The NHL and NHLPA appear to be inching closer to a deal.

A federal mediator has finally been able to get the NHL and the players' association back together Saturday for their first face-to-face meeting since talks broke down two days earlier.

NEW YORK -- At its very elemental level, this labor dispute between the NHL and its locked-out players is about cash. Who gets to have it and who gets to control it. No surprise there. But as the two sides ambled through a second straight day w...

The NHL and NHLPA went a second straight day without a formal in-person negotiating session, although the two sides remain engaged in mediation.

The NHLPA began another vote to reauthorize the executive board the right to disclaim interest, a source confirmed to ESPNNewYork.com, as the union and league spent Thursday without any formal labor negotiations.

The self-imposed midnight deadline for the NHLPA to file a disclaimer of interest, which would dissolve the union, came and passed Wednesday evening as negotiations continued into Thursday morning.

The NHL and the union's main negotiating teams met for 30 minutes before ending talks for the evening.

After weeks of limited contact between the NHL and NHLPA over the holidays, the two sides are now back to swapping proposals.

There was no formal negotiating session following Sunday's round of informational discussions between the NHL and NHLPA, although the two sides plan to meet again Monday, according to the union.

It's a game, people, something that most involved seem to have conveniently forgotten over the past months. It's time to play it. Before it's truly too late, writes Scott Burnside.