The Winter Classic, pitting Detroit against Toronto on Jan. 1 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, became the latest casualty of the NHL's lockout.

"The logistical demands for staging events of this magnitude made today's decision unavoidable," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Friday. "We simply are out of time."

Don Fehr, the players' union executive director, called the decision "unnecessary and unfortunate, as was the owners' implementation of the lockout itself."

The NHL said it will schedule the next Winter Classic at the stadium. Among other things, the event called for a winter festival in nearby Detroit and the construction of two outdoor rinks for college and youth teams.

The labor dispute, which began Sept. 16, has already forced 326 games to be wiped out from Oct. 11 through Nov. 30. The league and its players haven't held any labor talks since Oct. 18, when the players' union countered a league offer with three proposals that were quickly rejected by the NHL.

Daly said cancelling the sixth Winter Classic doesn't necessarily mean more regular-season games -- or the All-Star game Jan. 27 in Columbus, Ohio -- will be wiped out soon.

"I don't foresee any further

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cancellation announcements in the near term," Daly wrote in an email.

Motor sports

NASCAR Sprint Cup points leader Jimmie Johnson won the pole for Sunday's race at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth after a fast lap of 191.076 mph. It's his second week in a row as pole-sitter, and he won last week at Martinsville (Va.) to take the points lead with three races left. Brad Keselowski, two points behind Johnson in the standings, qualified eighth. Greg Biffle, who won April's race at the 1.5-mile oval, qualified second at 190.382 mph. Johnson was the runner-up in April.

  • Johnny Sauter regained the lead with 11 laps to go and went on to his second NASCAR Truck Series victory this season, both coming in Fort Worth. Sauter made the winning pass around runner-up Parker Kligerman, who took only two tires his last stop and couldn't hold on to the lead.

    Tennis

    Qualifier Jerzy Janowicz reached the semifinals of the Paris Masters when a dizzy and fatigued Janko Tipsarevic stopped playing while trailing 6-3, 1-6, 1-4. Janowicz faces Gilles Simon, who beat Tomas Berdych 6-4, 6-4. Also, David Ferrer ousted Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-2, 7-5, and Michael Llodra beat Sam Querrey 7-6 (4), 6-3.

  • Nadia Petrova beat Tsvetana Pironkova 5-7, 6-1, 6-3 -- a victory that earned her first in the Sredets Group of the Tournament of Champions in Sofia, Bulgaria. In the semifinals, Caroline Wozniacki plays Pironkova, and Petrova faces Roberta Vinci.

  • Venus Williams beat her sister Serena 6-4, 7-5 in an exhibition match in Lagos, Nigeria.

    Cycling

    The World Anti-Doping Agency accepted the decision that stripped Lance Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles, saying it was the "right and proper sanction." Last week, the International Cycling Union accepted the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's sanctions, wiping Armstrong's name from the Tour winner's list, banning him for life and asking him to return his prize money.