By IRA PODELL
AP Sports Writer

TORONTO (AP) -- The NHL players' association entered ratification mode Thursday
morning, the last step before approving a tentative deal reached last week
between the union and league.
Talks went well into the night Wednesday, with players still milling about with
each other well past 1 a.m. Just hours later, the approximate 225 players in
attendance got together for a communal breakfast before resuming discussions at
8:30.

The ratification meeting began around 10 a.m., and was due to wrap up following
lunch.

"Hopefully things are moving smoothly upstairs and we are able to get some good
results and get back to work," St. Louis defenseman Chris Pronger said as he was
leaving the hotel.

Many players are unhappy that a full season was lost and the union ended up
accepting a salary cap anyway. They came to Toronto to find out why, and look
forward.

Surely, many of the 700-plus players voiced displeasure over the deal after
finally seeing it on paper. Those not in attendance will be able to vote via the
Internet.

"When this is done, we're all going to be on the same side I hope," St. Louis
center Doug Weight said. "It's OK to have questions and it's OK to be heated
about them. This is our livelihood, after all."

If the deal passes, as expected, there will be no remaining obstacles in this
labor war. The lockout will end soon after, and hockey talk will go back to
which team is best instead of who came out ahead at the negotiating table.

"For people to judge whether we won or lost this deal, I think is ridiculous,"
Carolina forward Jeff O'Neill said. "We all got in this together and then some
guys started piping off and maybe showed a few cracks in us as a group. But
we're still in this together now."

The players' discussion of the collective bargaining agreement began in earnest
around dinnertime Wednesday. Lots of information was exchanged before the vote
that would determine the fate of next season.

Fans who sought autographs in the hotel lobby from hockey stars they've missed
for a year will have to wait a little bit longer for some good news.

It looks as though it's coming.

"We had to stand up for what we thought we could get and that's the nature of
the business. Now we have to move on," Weight said.

Players' association executive director Bob Goodenow took on the NHL and vowed
not to take a salary cap or have player compensation linked to league-wide
revenues.

By all accounts, this deal contains both.

"As far as I'm concerned, he's done what we asked him to do," O'Neill said.
"He's led us and I think he's done the right things.

"Maybe as a group we underestimated how strong the owners were going to be. But
we were all behind Bob and we were all in this together."

No doubt, the long night and day of internal talks brought out opposing
opinions. That is what makes this meeting and vote so crucial and intriguing. It
isn't even known if Goodenow will still be in charge of the union once the dust
settles.

Some of those entrusted to negotiate a deal for the players are fellow players
that make up the executive committee - headed by president Trevor Linden of the
Vancouver Canucks.

It might not be the deal they wanted, but this is the one that will get the
league back in action.
Hockey loyalty stretches beyond the 30 NHL rinks.

"You're not going to please everyone all the time, it's going to be good for
some and bad for others, but it's a deal we have to live with at this stage,"
Pronger said. "(The executive committee) has been locked in a room for the last
12 weeks hammering this down. They deserve a lot of credit for getting an
agreement with the league."

So all signs point to a ratification by the players. If that happens,
commissioner Gary Bettman will join his adversary Goodenow at a podium in a
Toronto hotel and announce that the NHL is back in business.

The league's board of governors will hold a ratification vote Friday during a
meeting in New York, but that ballot is really just a formality. Bettman was
sent out by the owners to get "cost certainty" - a hard salary cap tied to
league revenues - and he has it.

That vote by the 30 teams is so much of a sure thing to pass that the league has
already planned the televised draft lottery for Friday and an announcement on
new rules changes for next season.

But for now, the biggest change is in how teams pay their players. The union
liked the deal that stood in place for 10 years, following the previous lockout,
and Bettman and the owners made it their mission to overhaul the system.

"I think it's unfair for guys to start to point the finger," New York Islanders
forward Michael Peca said. "It is what it is. Any deal that we would have gotten
was going to be significantly worse than the one we came off from.

"We tried to go in a certain direction, and at a certain time the executive
committee tried to make the best of the situation they were in. I think they did
that. I think they did a nice job."

Bettman's news conference Friday to announce the relaunch of the league won't
have representatives from the players' association there, as the union will
still be holding a meeting with agents to go over the CBA - a document numbering
600 pages.

Pending ratification, teams will have six days - beginning Saturday - to buy
players out of their contracts to free cap space and nine days to negotiate with
their unrestricted free agents.




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