BRIEFLY.

Byline: Daily News Wire Services

Hockey talks on hold

The NHL owners' insistence that total annual player costs not exceed 54 percent of the league's hockey-related revenue has become the sticking point in the philosophical divide in negotiations with the players that threatens to cancel what's left of this season, according to the New York Daily News.

At Thursday night's meeting in New York, NHL executive vice president Bill Daly presented NHL Players Association representatives with a fairly comprehensive proposal for a new collective-bargaining agreement.

After spending four hours meeting with Daly, New Jersey Devils CEO Lou Lamoriello, Calgary part-owner and NHL board of governors chairman Harley Hotchkiss and an attorney Thursday night in New York, the players' three-man team returned Friday to Toronto with no new talks scheduled.

Another feature of the NHL offer reportedly was a $6 million annual cap on individual player salaries.

FIGURE SKATING: Russia's Irina Slutskaya, returning after a year off from competition, won the women's short program at the European championships in Turin, Italy. If she wins the gold in today's free skate, she will match the six titles of Sonja Henie and Katarina Witt.

SOCCER: German referee Robert Hoyzer told prosecutors he was paid more than $65,000 to fix three games and implicated other referees and players leading to four arrests in the country's biggest soccer scandal in more than 30 years.

--Costa Rica national team veteran Douglas Sequeira will be on loan for a year to Major League Soccer's new Chivas USA entry, which will play in Carson.

HORSE RACING: Florida-bred Midas Eyes is a 3-1 morning-line favorite for today's $1 million Sunshine Millions Classic at Gulfstream Park as the sprinter trained by Bobby Frankel attempts to stretch out to 1 1/8 miles.

California-breds are favored in five of this afternoon's eight Sunshine Millions races - four to be run at Santa Anita and four at Gulfstream near Miami - as California tries to reverse Florida's domination of the $3.6 million event's first two years.

California-bred Bear Fan is the heaviest favorite of the day at 6-5 in the Filly & Mare Sprint at Gulfstream. California's Yearly Report (Distaff), Areyoutalkintome (Sprint) and Memorette (Oaks), and Florida's Silver Tree (Turf) are favored in the races at Santa Anita.

- Kevin Modesti

FOOTBALL: North Hollywood High running back Marlon Lucky is one of 50 national Players of the Year chosen by Old Spice. The Nebraska-bound Lucky was chosen from a pool of more than 4,500 candidates.

Lucky earned All-Daily News recognition as a senior by scoring an area- best 47 touchdowns and rushing for 2,453 yards.

- Matthew Kredell

--A Kent, Wash., judge ruled that the lawyers for former University of Washington coach Rick Neuheisel can present evidence in an upcoming trial showing NCAA president Myles Brand ignored advice to stop talking publicly about an NCAA investigation into Neuheisel's gambling.

If Neuheisel wins his lawsuit, he can seek to recover the roughly $6.5 million left on his contract when he was fired for participating in an office NCAA basketball tournament pool.

--Longtime NFL assistant Marc Trestman was hired by North Carolina State as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

TENNIS: Jennifer Capriati underwent surgery on her right shoulder, injured in November, and could begin rehabilitation within a week, her spokeswoman said.

BOXING: World-ranked Jose Aguiniga of Oxnard won a unanimous 10-round decision over Phillip Payne of St. Louis in a super bantamweight fight in Oxnard.

Aguiniga, who weighed 122 pounds, is 26-0 with 12 knockouts. He's ranked in the top 10 worldwide in his weight division.

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Photo:

IRINA SLUTSKAYA

Russian won the women's short program at the European Figure Skating Championships and can claim her sixth overall title tonight.