After 113 days… it’s time.

It’s official: THE NHL LOCKOUT IS OVER.

At 4:40 this morning, the two sides came to an agreement concerning the CBA Talks, making a formal statement to the media at around 6AM. Yea, we’re a few hours behind, but we don’t see 6AM on the weekends.

“Don Fehr and I are here to tell you that we have reached an agreement on the framework of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, the details of which need to be put to paper,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “We have to dot a lot of I’s and cross a lot of T’s. There is still a lot of work to be done, but the basic framework has been agreed upon. We have to go through a ratification process and the Board of Governors has to approve it from the League side and, obviously, the players have to approve it as well. We are not in a position to give you information right now about schedule, when we are starting. It’s early in the morning and we have been at this all day and all night, obviously. But, we will be back to you very shortly, hopefully, later today with more information in that regard.”

The schedule has yet to be announced, but we will update you once it is posted. We do know, however, that a 50-game schedule will begin on January 15th, and a 48-game schedule will start January 19th.

After 113 days, it feels like Christmas morning all over again. We are just relieved both the NHL and NHLPA have come to an agreement before the season was completely lost (though it shouldn’t have gotten to this point).