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NEW YORK, N.Y. — A tentative agreement was reached Sunday between the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players' Association, according to a report by ESPN.

The National Hockey League season may have been saved as a possible deal is close.

The National Hockey League season may have been saved as a possible deal is close.

Photo Credit: National Hockey League

The 2012-13 NHL season has been delayed by a dispute about the expired collective bargaining agreement between owners and players.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and National Hockey League Players Association Executive Director Donald Fehr announced  Sunday morning that a framework was in place for a new collective bargaining agreement.

"We still have a lot of work to do," Bettman said in a statement, "but it's good to be at this point."

Any deal will require language clarification, legal fine-tuning and ratification from both sides, although the parties said a verbal agreement has been reached on the major points.

Nearly half of the scheduled 80-game regular season already has been canceled due to the dispute.

After almost four months of the lockout, the league is expected to play a 50-game schedule starting Jan. 19 if this deal were approved.

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