(Credit: Getty) After a lengthy meeting that carried over to early Sunday morning, the NHL and the NHLPA are set to meet once again late Tuesday afternoon.

First off let me apologize, as I am sure that this is about the 237^th CBA related post you have read, but you must understand that there is not much else going on in the world of hockey, hopefully that all changes very soon.

It’s been an up and down—mostly down—roller coaster ride of emotions since the National Hockey League locked out its players on September 15, 2012. There’s been plenty of time for optimism and even more times of fear that a whole season would once again be wiped out, and us hockey fans would have to go an entire winter without the game we love.

The league has already cancelled all games up to December 1, and most recently axed the Winter Classic, the league’s premier out door game.

Word quickly spread late last week that the two sides exchanged conversation through the phone and that enough progress was made to set up a face-to-face meeting. These rumblings were confirmed when NHL deputy commissioner Billy Daily and NHLPA general counsel Steve Fehr met at an undisclosed location this past Saturday. The meeting lasted into the early hours Sunday morning, giving fans optimism once again, and this time this optimism may lead us somewhere promising.

“We had a series of meetings over the course of the day and had a good, frank discussion on the most important issues separating us” said Daily.

Fehr agreed with Daily’s statement, something we have rarely seen in this whole process.

“I agree with what Bill said,” said Fehr. “Hopefully we can continue the dialogue, expand the group, and make steady progress.”

The two sides have agreed to meet once again this afternoon and it is believed that Gary Bettman and Steve Fehr will be joining Daily and Fehr in Tuesday’s meeting which certainly is a good sign. Meetings are also expected to take place Wednesday, but that report has been neither confirmed nor denied.

The two sides have pretty much agreed that Hockey Related Revenue (HRR) would be split 50/50, something that the sides previously couldn’t agree on.

It looks like the two sides are as close to a deal as they have been throughout this whole process and hopefully that leads to a deal.