BET ON BETTMAN, GOODENOW NO GOOD.

Byline: MATT McHALE

The National Hockey League was boarded up for the season on Wednesday. And probably saved in the process.

The cancellation announcement was a gloomy, but predictable, affair. Long faces everywhere, even from the usually cheery Luc Robitaille out on the patio of his home near Beverly Hills.

But on the day this season officially died, it was pretty chilling the way commissioner Gary Bettman stepped to center ice and broke the union's nose.

Bettman stood at a podium in New York and calmly outlined why he could not accept a $49 million salary cap from the players association, saying owners would wind up losing more money than the $225 million they lost last year.

During most of the lockout, Bettman was criticized as some out-of-touch lawyer bent on reinventing the hockey wheel. He was Bud Selig with a better haircut, Paul Tagliabue without the billion dollar TV deal.

On Wednesday, we learned Bettman is an assassin. He never raised his voice, never moved off the message he has been sending since Sept. 15, when the lockout began. He didn't care if you completely understood. He didn't really care that you've been missing those $12 beers at Staples Center.

He wants a deal, then he'll worry about winning you back.

In Toronto, union chief Bob Goodenow presented a far different image. He was angry and frustrated and personal. He said he gave the owners what they wanted: a salary cap.

But Goodenow was thinking this was 1994, the last time owners locked out players. He was hoping if he could keep the talks close, the romantics in the owners group would seize the day and put the boys back on skates by the weekend.

Goodenow failed to realize there are no more romantics among the owners. Losing $8 million-$10 million a year will do that. There are 24 new owners in the 30-team NHL since 1994 and none who rely solely on hockey to make a living.

The guys who thought anything could be solved by signing Wayne Gretzky no longer exist. The guys who signed a flawed agreement 10 years ago that led to a salary explosion don't have their finger on the button anymore.

Even Gretzky, now part-owner of the Phoenix Coyotes, can see the cracks. He has a low-budget, warm-weather team that is nowhere close to competing. Last week, he told the Daily News he was just a young owner learning from his elders. He suggested talking to another future Hall of Famer, Mario Lemieux, who is a player/owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

What Gretzky failed to mention was that Lemieux's Penguins have the lowest payroll in the NHL. Without a cap, Pittsburgh will never be competitive again.

Goodenow thought he was doing what was best for his players when he finally relented on a salary cap. Instead, he sent a huge mixed message to his players, causing a crack that might be impossible to repair.

Players are livid that they were not in on the plan. A month ago they were not told before Goodenow proposed to cut salaries 24 percent across the board to settle the lockout.

Goodenow's original message was maintaining the status quo. But one Buffalo Sabres player reacted Wednesday in a voice that was representative of all the players: ``Why didn't you offer that in September so we could be playing?''

It might be difficult to understand why the two sides couldn't just split the difference on the owners' $42.5 million cap and the union's proposal of $49 million.

In many cases, that $6.5 million gap represents the difference between making money or losing money. More accurately, it represents the difference between losing money and totally crushing the bottom line.

Goodenow was trying to do what union bosses do, avoid giving anything back at the table. But his biggest skeptics now are his players.

Meanwhile, Bettman was saying all the right things Wednesday by saying all the same things from last summer.

He lamented the lost season and the players we may never see again, players such as Robitaille, who turns 39 today, Lemieux (39), Mark Messier (44), Steve Yzerman (39) Brett Hull (40), Ron Francis (41), Dave Andreychuk (41) and Chris Chelios (43).

``This is a tragedy for the players,'' Bettman said. ``Their careers are short and this is money and opportunity they'll never get back.''

So what's next? The NHL could seek the declaration of an impasse, which allows it to implement its last offer, open training camps in September and invite players back. The players' association would likely respond with a strike.

The bigger question is whether the players will follow. Gary Bettman's position seems like the only way out of this mess. And Bob Goodenow looks pretty bloody.