Day International at Wellington. National Hockey League: Despite 6½ hours of talks between the league and its players union today, the two sides were unable to come to an agreement to end the current lockout. The current season remains canceled, now with no hope of resurrection. (AP/Yahoo!) Boxing: Bernard Hopkins makes a successful 20th defense of his middleweight title with a one-sided unanimous decision over Howard Eastman in Los Angeles. Hopkins becomes the first Middleweight champion in boxing history to defend that category's title twenty or more times, and joins Joe Louis and Abe Attell, among few others, in the exclusive group of boxers with 20 or more title defenses in one division. (AP/Yahoo!)(Boxing Central) Curling: The 2005 Scott Tournament of Hearts, Canada's national curling championship for women begins play at Mile One Stadium in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. Team Canada's Colleen Jones, the defending champion is upset by Jenn Hanna of team Ontario. Elsewhere, former Scott champion Cathy King of Alberta loses both her games. British Columbia's Kelly Scott and Saskatchewan's Stefanie Lawton both are undefeated at 2–0 while Manitoba's Jennifer Jones, Nova Scotia's Kay Zinck, New Brunswick's Sandy Comeau in addition to Hanna are at 1–0. (CBC sports) 18 February 2005 (Friday) American football: New England Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi suffers a stroke. Hockey: Reportedly, the National Hockey League and its players' union, the NHL Players Association, have reached agreement on a deal that would allow a shortened season to be played, despite the league's announced cancellation of the season. Reports, denied by both sides, were that a deal would be signed tomorrow. (AP/Yahoo!) Update: The sides met on 19 February, but talks failed. 17 February 2005 (Thursday) Cricket: Australia (214 for 5) defeat New Zealand (170) by 44 runs in the first ever international Twenty20 cricket match. (BBC) Football UEFA Cup, round of 32, first leg: (UEFA.com) Dynamo Kyiv 0 – 0 Villarreal Grazer AK 2 – 2 Middlesbrough Fenerbahçe 0 – 1 Real Zaragoza FC Basel 0 – 0 Lille Alemannia 0 – 0 AZ Heerenveen 1 – 2 Newcastle United CSKA Moscow 2 – 0 Benfica Olympiacos 1 – 0 Sochaux 16 February 2005 (Wednesday) Football UEFA Cup, round of 32, first leg: (UEFA.com) Partizan Belgrade 2–2 Dnipro Shakhtar Donetsk 1–1 Schalke 04 Ajax 1–0 Auxerre Panathinaikos 1–0 Sevilla Parma 0–0 Stuttgart Sporting Lisbon 2–1 Feyenoord Valencia 2–0 Steaua Bucharest Austria Vienna–Athletic Bilbao: postponed,