Bobby Orr is calling on National Hockey League Commissioner Gary
Bettman and players union executive director Bob Goodenow to ``get out
of the way'' if they can't solve the impasse that triggered the
cancellation of the NHL's season.

In a column written for the Sunday Eagle-Tribune, the 1970s hockey
star wrote, ``Our sport is in danger of becoming irrelevant unless
both sides immediately put an end to this nonsense.''

Orr said in his column published Sunday that he initially resisted the
urge to comment on the labor dispute and resulting shutdown of the
NHL's season because he believed the two sides would resolve their
differences for the good of the game.

But he said he no longer believes either side was interested in
getting a fair deal done.

Owners and players must demand that Bettman and Goodenow meet
immediately, and keep meeting until they emerge with either an
agreement or a statement that they can't resolve their differences and
they are stepping aside, Orr wrote.

Representatives of the owners and the players union have met better
than three dozen times since their collective bargaining agreement
expired last Sept. 15, the day Bettman declared the lockout that ended
the season. The two sides have failed to resolve differences that made
the NHL the first major sports league in North America to lose an
entire season to a labor dispute.

Orr, 57, still lives in Boston and operates a hockey player sports
agency. The married father of two grown sons remains one of the most
revered figures in hockey. His No. 4 Bruins jersey was retired by the
team in 1979 after a brilliant career cut short by a bad knee.