Sporting Digest: Ice Hockey

THE National Hockey League commissioner, Gary Bettman, warned yesterday that the new season would not begin as scheduled on 1 October unless an agreement is reached with the NHL Players' Association on a collective bargaining agreement. Bettman said he feared that NHL players might follow the path of their counterparts in baseball and interrupt the season with strike action if a contract was not signed.

VINCENT DAMPHOUSSE, the Montreal Canadiens left-wing, yesterday signed a four-year deal worth dollars 10m ( pounds 6.5m).