to attend the New York meeting, the players chose en masse to withdraw from the charity event. The decision resulted in widespread outrage by the team's fans, though Flames' management diplomatically expressed only regret that the players could not attend. The team offered to refund all participants' $2,500 entry fee as a result. Only one sponsor accepted, and was replaced by another. The backlash led the players to reverse their position within a day. Ten players, from the Flames active roster along with prospects, chose to attend the event. The NHL locked out its players when the CBA expired at 10 pm Mountain Time on September 15. Flames captain Jarome Iginla expressed regret that negotiations failed to resolve the impasse, and suggested that he would have been willing to miss an entire season if that was what it would have taken for the union to receive a "fair deal". At the same time, several members of the Flames, along with their counterparts of the Edmonton Oilers, challenged the NHL's right to lock the players out, filing a complaint with the Alberta Labour Relations Board (ALRB). The board, however, rejected the players' application. The ALRB described the petition as an "unhelpful distraction" from the negotiating efforts of the league and its union. While they waited for a resolution to the dispute, several Flames chose to play in Europe. Mikael Backlund returned to his hometown of Västerås, signing with VIK Västerås HK of the Swedish second division. He appeared in 23 games with the team and scored 30 points. Newcomer Roman Cervenka played first with Slavia Prague in the Czech Extraliga, and later Lev Prague of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), but left both teams due to injury. Two other players also went to the KHL: Anton Babchuk skated for HC Donbass while Jiri Hudler also played with Lev Prague. The league and the players' union reached an agreement on January 7, 2013, that allowed for a shortened 48-game season. Both management and players expressed their regret to the fans for the length of the dispute. Team president Ken King and the team's union representative Matt Stajan apologized to the fans, while Iginla stated that "a simple apology doesn't cut it", and expressed his hope that the team could give the fans an exciting and entertaining product. Regular season The abbreviated season opened with five games in January and four of them