NHL, players back to table Monday

Just over a week since the last set of failed negotiations, the NHL and the locked-out players’ association will return to the bargaining table Monday.

Conversations that restarted Friday between NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly and NHLPA special counsel Steve Fehr produced enough positive movement to set up another face-to-face meeting that the sides hope will lead to an agreement to save the hockey season.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman had suggested to union executive director Donald Fehr that the sides take two weeks off from negotiations. The union maintained its desire to keep talking, and now bargaining is back on. Cross country: The Stanford women’s cross-country team placed third in the NCAA Championships in Louisville, Ky., the Cardinal’s highest national finish since winning the title in 2007. Paced by sophomore Aisling Cuffe (21st in 20 minutes, 3.8 seconds), Stanford’s top four finished within 15 seconds of each other. The Cardinal men, ranked No. 2 entering the meet, finished 16th. Tennis: The Czech Republic won the doubles to take a 2-1 lead over defending champion Spain in the Davis Cup final, moving one victory away from its first title as an independent nation. Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek rallied to beat Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez 3-6, 7-5, 7-5, 6-3. Swimming: Sun Yang won a third gold at the Asian Swimming Championships in Dubai, taking the 1,500-meter freestyle in a championship record time of 14:44.10. Speedskating: South Korea’s Sang-Hwa Lee won her second 500-meter World Cup race of the season, finishing in a time of 37.92 seconds at Heerenveen, Netherlands. Heather Richardson was second in 38.13. Figure skating: Ashley Wagner of the United States and Takahito Mura of Japan had strong free programs to win the Trophee Bompard at Paris. Bobsled: Alexander Zubkov put together two solid runs to win a World Cup four-man event, depriving Park City, Utah, native Steven Holcomb of a gold-medal sweep on his home course.