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NEW YORK -- Canadian speedskater Anastasia Bucsis, who announced she was gay via Twitter earlier this month, is joining the fight against Russias anti-gay laws. She is teaming with Athlete Ally, an advocacy group focused on ending homophobia and transphobia in sports. The organization has denounced the anti-gay laws recently passed by the Russian government and is circulating a petition that urges world leaders to put pressure on the Russians to eliminate the law, which prohibits promotion of "non-traditional" sexual relations. The law has drawn harsh criticism since it was passed in June with some activists calling for a boycott of next winters Sochi Olympics. Bucsis is one of only a handful of openly gay Olympic-calibre winter athletes around the world. While her family knew she was gay, Bucsis came out publicly during Calgarys gay pride parade in early September. "Im proud to be from Calgary, Im proud to be an athlete, and Im proud to be gay," she tweeted. On Wednesday, she said taking on an advocacy role "seems natural" because she is proud of who she is. "I started speedskating at the age of four, and wasnt aware of any other gay skaters when growing up," she said in a statement. "During my coming out I was very anxious and lonely because I lacked having an out athletic role model. I didnt have any other gay athletic friends, or any mentors that I could readily turn to for advice or support. I am ready to help any athlete out there who is considering coming out of the closet. Its the best decision I ever made." Australian snowboarder Belle Brockhoff has also joined Athlete Ally. "One of the reasons I came out was because I wanted people to find inspiration in me coming out globally," she said. "It was important for me to show in-the-closet gays and lesbians that theyre supported and loved all over the world." Bucsis and Brockhoff join New Zealand speedskater Blake Skjellerup and American figure skater Johnny Weir as the only Olympic-calibre winter sports athletes in the world who publicly identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transsexual, according to Athletes Ally. "Four athletes is actually a record number," said Hudson Taylor, executive director of Athlete Ally. "Belle and Anastasia showed great courage when they came out in response to Russias gay propaganda laws, and now they are exemplifying the leadership necessary to help change the world." Both Brockhoff and Bucsis hope the number of out Olympic hopefuls will grow with awareness and support. "Having more LGBT athletes come out before the Sochi Olympics will help promote the positive message of acceptance and equality within sport," said Bucsis. "Sport is a human right and everyone deserves the ability to participate and play; I believe and support the Olympic Charter and the idea of the Olympic Spirit. Having more LGBT athletes come out during the lead-up to Sochi will promote acceptance, awareness and education regarding gay athletes and their contribution to sport." Mark Gastineau Jersey . Horford is out 3-to-4 months with a torn pectoral muscle for the Hawks, who have won two straight and five of six games. Atlanta improved to 2-0 on the residency with Saturdays 93-91 triumph over Minnesota, as Ivan Johnson scored his teams final four points, including the game-winning free throw with 4. Custom New York Jets Jerseys . -- Nelson Cruz has only two hits in 15 at-bats against the Kansas City Royals this season. http://www.authenticnyjetspro.com/Dennis-byrd-jets-jersey/ . The incident occurred at 6:28 of the first period in Anaheims 6-3 home win over Dallas on Sunday. Garbutt left the penalty box and skated at Penner before leaving his skates to deliver a check. Wesley Walker Jersey . Dane Dobbie and Shawn Evans each had two goals and two assists for the Roughnecks (8-5), who outscored Minnesota 6-2 in the fourth quarter after being tied through 45 minutes. Curtis Dickson scored once and set up three more for Calgary and Dan MacRae, Geoff Snider, Tor Reinholdt, Karsen Leung and Matthew Dinsdale. Jamal Adams Jersey . After all, the No. 8 seed is chasing far loftier goals. Raonic, from Thornhill, Ont., defeated American Jack Sock 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in Wimbledons second round on Thursday.With a new NHL season upon us, hopefully this will be a refreshed blog, with plans to post every day Monday-Friday, and include stats, lineup notes, injuries and other details from the night before. Im also going to try to use it as an outlet for responding to e-mail and Twitter questions, and -- please note -- Ill be doing chats on TSN.ca every Friday. So come with questions, whether they involve fantasy hockey or analytics and lets have a great season. Today, its Grabovski making a point, Eller in fine form, Troubas instant impact and some recommendations for stats-oriented hockey fans. 1. After one game for the Washington Capitals, it turns out that Mikhail Grabovski is still a pretty decent hockey player. Grabovski scored three goals, added and assist while starting more of his shifts in the offensive zone, at least compared to last year, when his usage was drastically different in Toronto. Its only one game, of course, but its notable that Grabovski was among the Capitals leaders in offensive zone starts and hes being used in an offensive capacity, which plays to his strengths. This comes on the heels of Maple Leafs coach Randy Carlyle saying that he wants the Leafs to be more of a puck possession team this year, as though the decisions made in the summer (like buying out Grabovski and re-signing Tyler Bozak, for example) have no bearing on the teams ability to play an improved puck possession game. Even after being put into a defensive role last season, Grabovskis puck possession numbers have been better than those recorded by Bozak over the past three seasons. Why compare Grabovski specifically to Bozak? Because the decision to buy out Grabovski only came into play because the Maple Leafs were choosing to re-sign Bozak, who was an unrestricted free agent in the summer. If they let Bozak leave, Grabovski would fit in an open scoring centre slot, not unlike the one hes found in Washington. While Grabovskis buyout doesnt affect the Maple Leafs cap, it still required more than $14-million and I dont care how much revenue pours in to MLSE, no one likes paying a player $14-million to play somewhere else, especially if turns out that he could be better than the guy theyve agreed to pay $21-million over the next five seasons. 2. Now, in the interest of fair play, it should be pointed out that Bozak scored a shorthanded breakaway goal and took 27 (winning 15) of the Maple Leafs 55 face-offs against Montreal Tuesday, his 21:13 of ice time leading all Maple Leafs forwards. His possession numbers werent ideal but, again, this is one game and Grabovski did much of his damage (two goals and one assist) on the power play, so his even-strength possession numbers werent great either. At the same time, these comparisons are going to get made. When teams choose one player over another, especially at the same position, its inevitable. 3. The Canadiens had a productive game out of what is ostensibly their third line -- C Lars Eller (2 G, 1 A, +2, 6 SOG) , LW Alex Galchenyuk (2 A) and RW Brendan Gallagher (1G). The oddity of it all is that Montreal didnt seem to use Galchenyuk and Gallagher as much as they could. The sophomore wingers played 13:23 and 11:26, respectively. Brandon Prust and Travis Moen both played more than 12 minutes against Toronto, so there was more of an emphasis on the physical game, it appears. For Eller, whose 2013 season ended when he was knocked out by Senators D Eric Gryba, it was an ideal return to action from an individual standpoint, showing that he is strong, healthy and capable of being productive right awway.dddddddddddd 4. Jets rookie D Jacob Trouba announced his presence in his first NHL game. After one year at Michigan, the 9th overall pick from 2012 stepped into the Jets lineup, played 25:02 to lead both teams, and scored his first NHL goal along with an assist. If hes a top four (or even top pair) defenceman right out of the gate -- he was paired with Zach Bogosian -- then Trouba can be a difference-maker for the Jets. 5. Blackhawks sophomore LW Brandon Saad (1 G, 2 A, +2) opened the season on Chicagos third line, with Andrew Shaw and Jimmy Hayes, but was still plenty productive. Bryan Bickell, who has the top line left wing spot, alongside Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, had one shot on goal in 15:05. 6. Capitals RW Alex Ovechkin (1 G, 1 A, -2, 9 SOG) had a strong opening game. In 126 games over the previous two seasons, hed registered nine shots or more twice, so doing it in Chicago, against the Blackhawks, seems like a decent initial indication that hes on his game. 7. Oilers LW, er, C Taylor Hall played 23:30 against Winnipeg, a threshold hed crossed twice in 171 previous NHL games. Playing primarily with Ryan Smyth and Ales Hemsky, they took puck possession lumps against the Jets. 8. Were going to wrap up todays blog with a few recommendations. First, for anyone interested in hockeys advanced stats or simply taking a different look at the game, this seasons Hockey Prospectus is a must-read. I wrote the Foreword to the HP annual a couple of years ago, emphasizing that hockey analytics should be a growth industry, and appreciate the work that some very smart people put into the analysis every year. Ive been fortunate enough to meet some of them at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, including editor Timo Seppa and Brian Macdonald. Ive worked on a few things with Rob Vollman (who published his own, also recommended, Hockey Abstract this summer too) and have chatted with a few more on Twitter, including prospect ace Corey Pronman and I appreciate people challenging the status quo when it comes to player and team analysis. Its good stuff. 9. Not to be confused with TSNs Fantasy Hockey League Manager (which is also great!), Ive started playing Franchise Hockey Manager, a hockey simulator presented by OOTP, makers of Out of the Park Baseball. Ive played their baseball game and enjoyed it, but was anxious for their release of the hockey product. I spent way too much time in my youth playing Hockey League Simulator II and loved the idea of picking my teams, setting lines, making trades etc -- this was really before fantasy hockey had taken hold online -- and you could play through a season in a night. Maybe a long night, but it could be done. The amount of detail involved is great -- they have rosters and prospects for all NHL teams, but also for junior and European leagues -- and its still fun to mix and match line combinations. If youre into that kind of stat-nerdy thing, give it a look. 10. Finally, research is the heart of this job. I watch and I listen and I read and I dig for more and there are many websites that I turn to in order to have a handle on whats happening in the NHL. These are some that I will link to a lot throughout the season: www.behindthenet.ca www.capgeek.com www.leftwinglock.com www.hockey-reference.com stats.hockeyanalysis.com www.extraskater.com www.hockeyfights.com www.hockeydb.com Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. 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