Donald Fehr, the executive director of the players union, had just finished a news conference Thursday in which he described the union’s latest offer to end the N.H.L. lockout, and how he believed it provided a “clear outline” for ending the dispute. Players like Sidney Crosby and Brad Richards were expressing guarded optimism to reporters about returning to the ice.

That was when Fehr’s brother Steve, the union’s special counsel, checked his voice mail.

It was N.H.L. Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, rejecting the union’s proposal.

“We were advised in a voice mail message that the moves the players made were not acceptable,” Donald Fehr said a few minutes later after reconvening the news conference, “and that something, everything — that’s not clear — was off the table.”

It was another twist in what Commissioner Gary Bettman later described as the “emotional roller coaster” of the 82-day lockout, and a rancorous end to a week that started with optimism on both sides that a settlement was within reach.