Hockey fans protest lockout outside NHL offices in Manhattan

A couple dozen hockey fans — holding picket signs and posters — protested the impending NHL lockout Saturday afternoon by picketing outside the league's offices in mid-town Manhattan.

With the lockout looming at midnight and the labor dispute at a standstill, the angry fans sided with the players and  held up signs criticizing the owners and commissioner Gary Bettman.

One sign read: "Greedy owners killing NHL" and another had Bettman's face Photoshopped on a picture of The Count from "Sesame Street" with the words: "One Two Three Lockouts." An NHL lockout would be the third lockout to hit a major sports league in the last 18 months — after the ones in the NFL and NBA.

The protesting fans — many wearing NHL team jerseys — waved their homemade signs and chanted against the league.  Some even posed for pictures with passing sightseers outside the offices and NHL store located at Sixth Avenue and 47th Street.

One man, wearing a New York Rangers jersey, held up a sign which read: "Lockout #the players lockout#fans."

The lockout deadline is midnight Saturday.  The NHL says there will be no bargaining with the union, according to The Associated Press.