TORONTO -- International Ice Hockey Federation President Rene Fasel feels better about the chances of having NHL players compete at the 2018 Olympics in South Korea than he did earlier this year. The league doesnt sound nearly as confident and may be looking six years ahead to China instead.In May at the IIHF world championship, Fasel said he thought there was a 60 percent chance the NHL and NHL Players Association would pass on the opportunity to participate in a sixth straight Olympics. Whether the best hockey players in the world go to South Korea in about 16 months is up to the league and union, though Russian star Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals has said he will go no matter what .I think it is 50-50 chance, Fasel told The Associated Press on Tuesday ahead of Game 1 of the World Cup of Hockey final.NHL officials, however, sounded an ominous tone.Time is very short to make a decision and Im not sure there has been a lot of progress made in the past six months, and Im not sure theres any prospect for progress being made, Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said. On the basis on that, Im more negative today than I was two weeks ago.Money is a big factor in the deliberations.NHL players have not and will not get paid for participating in the Olympics, but their travel expenses and insurance have been covered in the past. The International Olympic Committee is not expected to pay for travel and insurance costs to get NHL players to the previous five Olympics.The IOCs position, obviously, didnt make it any easier, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said.The IOC spent about $14 million to cover travel and insurance costs for NHL players for the 2014 Olympics. Fasel expects the bill would be about $10 million for the next Olympics because he said it wont be necessary to charter planes to South Korea as it was to get players to Sochi, Russia.While the league doesnt sound eager about going to South Korea, it does sound very interested in tapping into Chinas huge market in 2022.When the IOC awarded the Beijing Games, it certainly created a bigger opportunity than we thought existed potentially before, Daly said. But it is also possible that you dont go to one Olympics and you do go to the other. I dont think anybody has ruled that out as a possibility.Fasel, saying he is simply at fan at the World Cup of Hockey in Toronto, intends to beg for $10 million to cover expenses for NHL players to be at the 2018 Olympics.He hopes to persuade national Olympic committees and hockey federations to donate the funds to keep the games best players on the biggest stage in sports. To make up the shortfall, Fasel acknowledged the IIHF could possibly use some of the $40 million it gets from the IOC every four years and make cuts from its development programs for boys and girls.Our job at the IIHF is find solution, Fasel said. I will go everywhere and anywhere to beg for the money. That is my job.Fasel said he had Olympic-related discussions with Bettman and NHLPA Executive Director Don Fehr on Sept. 19 in Toronto, and plans to meet with them again in November.Gary would like to make decision before end of the year, Fasel said.Mike Babcock, who has led Canada to gold at the last two Olympics and is hoping to add a World Cup of Hockey title to his collection of accomplishments this week, made his preference clear before the puck dropped Tuesday night.The World Cup is great. Its not the Olympics, Babcock said in an unsolicited comparison of the two events. Lets not get confused.---Follow Larry Lage at www.twitter.com/larrylage and follow his work at www.bigstory.ap.org/content/larry-lage Sadio Mane Jersey Liverpool . Duchene scored two goals and had an assist, helping the Colorado Avalanche beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 on Friday night to match the best 10-game start in team history. Cheap Liverpool Shirts . 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MIAMI -- Don Mattingly was a New York Yankees minor-leaguer when Thurman Munson died in a plane crash on Aug. 2, 1979.Munson was the Yankees 32-year-old star catcher -- a seven-time All-Star, a three-time Gold Glove winner, a two-time World Series champion and a former Rookie of the Year and American League MVP.The Miami Marlins, the team Mattingly now manages, suffered a horrific tragedy of their early own early Sunday morning when 24-year-old pitcher Jose Fernandez -- already a two-time All-Star -- died in a high-speed boat crash.Mattingly said he can see the correlation to what the Yankees lost in Munson and what the Marlins lost in Fernandez.It feels like that, Mattingly said. The way we talk about Jose and his personality, you are not going to forget that. Jose will have a presence in this organization even after were long gone.Fernandezs tragic death seemed to inspire the Marlins (78-78) on Monday in a 7-3 win over the New York Mets. It was the Marlins first game after Fernandezs body was discovered and after the scheduled Sunday game against the Atlanta Braves was cancelled.The Mets (83-74) clearly ran into a team determined to honor Fernandez, but whether that emotion can carry over to Tuesday is another question.New York will start right-hander Noah Syndergaard, whose turn was moved back a couple of days due to step throat.Syndergaard, whose fastball consistently clocks at 100 mph, is 13-9 this year with a 2.63 ERA. He has been fairly consistent alll year, winning six games at home and seven on the road and posting a 2.dddddddddddd56 ERA before the All-Star break and a 2.75 ERA after the Midsummer Classic.However, given his electric stuff, he probably hasnt been as dominant as the Mets would like, especially with the team in a tight playoff race. New York sits in the first NL wild-card position, a half-game above San Francisco (82-74). The St. Louis Cardinals (81-75) are a game behind the Giants.Miami will counter Syndergaard with right-hander Tom Koehler, who is 9-12 with a 4.02 ERA.Koehler will make his ninth attempt this season at getting his 10th win. He is 0-4 in his past eight starts and hasnt won a game since Aug. 9 vs. the Giants.Against the Mets for his career, he is 2-7 with a 4.37 ERA. This year against New York, he is 0-2 with a 5.63 ERA.Mets manager Terry Collins, though, is clearly concerned that his team will once again get caught up in the emotion of what is happening with the Marlins and their loss of Fernandez.It was a tough night (on Monday), but we have to move on, Collins said. I saw some real emotion (before the game). You can understand that from their team, but you saw some of our guys who were touched by the whole thing, too.We are all going to miss (Fernandez) for a long time. He will be in our minds forever. But we have to get back to business now. ' ' '