( CNN ) -- Let the games begin -- finally . The National Hockey League season will officially get under way Saturday , three months later than scheduled , the league announced on its website . The NHL Players ' Association ratified a new collective bargaining agreement Saturday , ending the lockout that began September 15 . The agreement came after a sometimes acrimonious process to retool the labor deal between the players ' association and the league . During on-and-off negotiations , the NHL scrapped its preseason , all games through 2012 and threatened to scratch the entire season if a deal could n't be reached . But on January 6 , the league and the players announced they 'd struck a tentative agreement after a 16-hour negotiating session . The league 's board of governors approved the deal Wednesday , but it was n't official until Saturday . Hours after the players ratified the agreement , leaders from the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding about the terms of the new 10-year labor deal . Training camps begin Sunday , the NHL said . Three games will open the truncated regular season at 3 p.m . ET on Saturday : Pittsburgh at Philadelphia , Ottawa at Winnipeg and Chicago at Los Angeles , the reigning Stanley Cup champion . The season will be 48 games , down from the standard 82 . The regular season ends April 27 . The last time the league had labor strife , the entire 2004-05 season was eliminated .
NHL owners locked out their players and sought a new labor deal . They reached a tentative deal last weekend , and it was finalized on Saturday . The league 's teams will play a 48-game regular season .