It was a quiet weekend for the NHL and the players' association.

There were no meetings, e-mail, or phone calls between the sides. Also missing were signs that the league is set to pull the plug on the season that has yet to start.

The NHL and the players' association have not been in contact since talks broke off before the weekend, two sources close to the negotiations told The Associated Press on Sunday on condition of anonymity.

The sides parted ways Friday after three straight days of negotiations.

There are no plans to meet again, and the season is dangerously close to being canceled. So far, the NHL board of governors hasn't set up a meeting, but that is not a necessary step for the season to be called off, one of the sources said.

Through Sunday, the 41/2-month lockout has wiped out 791 of the 1,230 regular-season games and the All-Star game.

The sides have a major stumbling block: a salary cap. The NHL has insisted on a link between league revenues and player costs, and the players' association has steadfastly refused that as a solution.

Commissioner Gary Bettman and players' association executive director Bob Goodenow rejoined the negotiations Thursday after sitting out the previous five bargaining sessions. The sides met for 13 hours during the last two days of talks.

On Wednesday, the players' association quickly rejected the league's latest proposal because it included a salary cap. But right after that meeting, the union invited the league back to the table and wanted the leaders there.

No major league in North America has lost an entire season to a labor dispute. The Stanley Cup has been awarded every year since 1919, when a flu epidemic wiped out the final series between Montreal and Seattle.

But the fear that this season could go down the tubes worries Philadelphia Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock.

"I just look at, what happens if (the season) does drop, and that feeling makes me sick," he said from his quiet office at the Flyers' practice rink in Voorhees, N.J. "That's the feeling that almost makes you stop in traffic when you're thinking that way 'If that happens, what's going to happen? Where the hell is our game going to go.

"That's the troubling part for me. When I think like that I change my thought process right away because that literally takes the wind out of me. It takes my breath away."

Instead of running his team through drills, he started a clinic with area adults who want to learn how to play the game.

"Being able to do this stuff has been great for me," Hitchcock said. "It's kept my enthusiasm up for the game."