Lockout over; season to begin on Jan 19

The National Hockey League lockout is officially over and a condensed 48-game season will begin next week, the league said on Saturday after signing a memorandum of understanding with the NHL Players' Association.

Training camps will open league-wide on Sunday and the long-awaited regular season will begin on Jan 19 with 13 games, the NHL said.

The memorandum of understanding, essentially an abridged version of the collective bargaining agreement that spells out the terms under which the league and players will operate, was the last obstacle standing in the way of ending the lockout.