It's opening night in the National Hockey League… more than three months late. An extended lockout — the longest disruption in league history — had raised the spectre of losing the 1994-95 hockey season. With a new collective agreement in hand, NHL players are back on the ice tonight, and fans are back in the seats (and at the concession stands). The return of hockey, albeit for an abbreviated season, has executives and players excited. As we see in this clip, some fans aren't so sure.

• The 1994-95 lockout began on Oct. 1, 1994, the day the regular season was to have begun. A key area of dispute was the NHL's efforts to impose a "tax" — a penalty levied by the league — on salaries that were higher than the average. The NHLPA viewed it as a variation on a salary cap and flatly refused to consider it.

• On Jan. 11, 1995, with a deadline that would have wiped out the entire season fast approaching, an agreement was reached.
• The National Hockey League Players' Association and team owners agreed to play a shortened season of 48 games — the shortest in 53 years, and with no inter-conference games. (The 1995 collective agreement set a regular season at 82 games, down from 84 in the previous agreement.)

• The lockout had lasted 103 days and caused 468 games to be cancelled. Play resumed on Jan. 20.
• In 1993-94 the average salary of an NHL player was $572,000 — double the average just five years earlier.
• That season, 75 players (out of more than 500) made $1 million or more per season, up from three such players in 1988-89.

• Both sides gave up something to reach the settlement. NHL owners withdrew their proposal for a salary tax. The players allowed a salary cap for rookies, but won unrestricted free agency for players age 32 and over (very few players had careers long enough to take advantage of it). Owners believed these provisions would keep player salaries in check.

• "Free agency" is the ability of players to sell their services on an open market. After their contracts with a team expire, free agents have the freedom to sign on with the highest bidder.
• Of the 26 team owners, 19 voted in favour of the players' offer while seven strongly opposed it. The opponents, characterized as "hawks," felt the point of the lockout was to limit player salaries and link them with revenues, and this had not been achieved.

• Among those who lost out financially because of the lockout were bar owners, hotels and concessionaires. Most were just glad the season was back, even if it was short. "Everybody's talking about it," said a bar owner in Winnipeg, "and they're happy now that hockey's back in town."
• Players, too, welcomed the short season: "With a 48-game schedule, it's like the playoffs start with the first game," Montreal goalie Patrick Roy told Maclean's. "There's no time to lose."

• For its part, the NHL soon launched a promotional campaign aimed at luring back angered fans. The campaign's slogan was "Game On." League attendance returned to previous levels, and continued to grow.
• A programming decision by the CBC demonstrated the public hunger for hockey as the lockout came to an end. On Jan. 7, 1995, the network reran a 1979 playoff game between Montreal and Boston, drawing an audience of 1.09 million viewers — nearly as many as a live game would pull in.

• The 1994-95 lockout came on the heels of a milestone hockey strike just two years earlier. Players walked out on April 1, 1992, interrupting the race for the Stanley Cup. The dispute, focusing on salaries, free agency and licensing player images, was the first in the league's 75 years. After several days of negotiations, including a final marathon session, the impasse was resolved on April 10. Thirty games were postponed because of the strike.

• The most devastating professional hockey labour dispute came in 2004-05. The main issue was the league's proposal of a controversial salary cap, which was firmly rejected by the players' union. After five months of very public labour negotiations, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman cancelled the season. The NHL became the only major North American professional sports league in history to lose an entire season to a labour dispute. It was the first time since 1919 that the Stanley Cup was not awarded.

Medium: Television
Program: Prime Time News
Episode: Face Off
Broadcast Date: Jan. 20, 1995
Host: Peter Mansbridge, Reporter: Reg Sherren
Guest(s): Theoren Fleury, Michael Hearn, Keith Tkachuk
Duration: 1:42

Footage: NHL