A group of 13 U.S. Senators is trying to ratchet up the pressure on soccer officials to hold next summers FIFA Womens World Cup on a natural grass field instead of on artificial turf. TSN has obtained a copy of a letter the senators sent Nov. 7 to FIFA and the U.S. Soccer Federation to ask for their support after recent efforts by a group of 40 top international players to lobby the Canadian Soccer Association have been met by silence. The players say they are being discriminated against because the mens World Cup has never been played on artificial turf. Turf, they say, increases the risk of injury and overheating. Artificial turf both increases the risk of serious injury and fundamentally changes the way the game is played. FIFA has never used turf fields for the mens World Cup… As members of the United States Senate, we are deeply concerned with FIFAs treatment of these players. We urge you to begin good faith negotiations with these athletes, free of retaliation and with the equal treatment that they deserve, the senators wrote. The letter is signed by Senators including New Yorks Charles Schumer from New York, Californias Dianne Feinstein and Ohios Sherrod Brown. Its unclear how much leverage the U.S. Soccer Federation has over FIFA and the CSA. In a letter sent Nov. 7 to FIFA President Sepp Blatter, the senators wrote: FIFA itself has recognized the inferiority of turf to natural grass. In March, FIFAs weekly magazine published an article titled, How Bad are the Artificial Turf Pitches? in which the author points out that male athletes routinely refuse to play on artificial turf, deeming it unacceptable, and widely regarded as deeply problematic. The letter comes a week after lawyers alleged some of the aggrieved players have been illegally threatened with reprisals for their complaint by groups including the U.S. Soccer Federation. In an Oct. 27 letter to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, obtained by TSN, lawyer David Wright asks for three players to be removed from the list of applicants: Teresa Noyola of Mexico; and Camille Abily and Elise Bussaglia of France. While the reprisal threats are reprehensible and actionable, they have thankfully backfired in terms of reducing the total number of named players in this action, Wright said in his letter. As three have withdrawn, we are now able to list at least 60 current individual applicants. The players complaint over the turf dispute was filed Oct. 1 with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, days after FIFA officials started to inspect the six venues that will host the June 6-July 5 competition. The tournament will be held in Ottawa, Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Moncton and Montreal. A spokeswoman for the Canadian Soccer Association has repeatedly declined to comment, referring questions to FIFA.
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Cheap nfl nike jerseys .C. Now hes squarely in the U.S. capital and helping the Washington Wizards playoff drive. John Wall scored 33 points, Gooden got 11 of his 21 in the final quarter and the Wizards overcame a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit for a 101-94 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday night.
cheap nfl jerseys . Hoffman, the former star closer, will evaluate and help co-ordinate all pitchers at Double-A, Triple-A and the big league team. Byrnes says Hoffman "will be a key part of finishing the development of our younger pitchers.One quarter of the way through the NHL season, its time for an early look at the awards races, along with some advanced stats leaders and trailers. There are some early surprises in the race for the Hart Trophy, but two of the contenders are the leagues biggest stars over the past decade. There are many more players in contention for the awards than just the three that Ive named, and a good or bad week can easily alter the landscape, but through the first 20 or so games of the NHL season, this is how the awards races look to me. HART TROPHY Winner: Alexander Steen, LW, St. LouisRunners-up: Alex Ovechkin, RW, Washington; Sidney Crosby, C, PittsburghComment: A career low-percentage finisher (9.8% career shooting percentage), Alexander Steen has been a strong two-way player for much of his time in St. Louis, generating more than three shots per game and playing tough minutes for the last three-plus seasons but, suddenly, this year, he has started scoring at an outrageous rate (17 G, 9 A in 20 GP), thanks both to a career-high 23.3% shooting percentage and career-high 3.65 shots on goal per game. While the shots per game could be sustainable, as his line with David Backes and, often, T.J. Oshie, is one of the leagues best, but when Steens shooting percentage starts to fall, hes unlikely to hold off challengers. Ovechkin recaptured some of his lost lustre last season when he led the league with 32 goals in 48 games (a 55-goal pace in an 82-game season), but hes on fire this season, with 17 goals and 24 points in 19 games. While Ovechin is scoring on a career-high 15.5% of his shots, thats not nearly so far from his career average (12.3%) and his 5.79 shots on goal per game represent the second-best rate of his career. When Ovechkin is generating that many chances, the goals, and points, will follow. Early in the year, this looked like it would be a runaway for Crosby, who is finally healthy and appeared to be at the peak of his powers. A funny thing happened on the way to that coronation, however, as Crosby has endured a bit of a slump. Now, its only a superstar slump, which means nine points in the last 13 games, so its not like hes completely dropped off the map, but when he had 17 points in the first eight games and gave every indication that he would run away with the Hart and Art Ross trophies. NORRIS TROPHYWinner: Erik Karlsson, OttawaRunners-up: P.K. Subban, Montreal; Alex Pietrangelo, St. LouisComment: It has been a trying season for the Ottawa Senators, but Karlsson has been great, scoring a point per game and logging more than 27 minutes of ice time. Not surprisingly, Karlssons top challenger is last years winner, Subban, who has 19 points in 22 games and, despite a manufactured controversy surrounding his ice time, has played a career-high 24:54 per game. This race is a long way from settled, but its kind of cool to have the last two winners off to strong starts again this season. Theres still plenty of time for other defencemen to climb into the conversation. Alex Pietrangelo is playing as well as he ever had, with more offensive production in the early going. Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Duncan Keith are a couple more early contenders to consider. VEZINA TROPHYWinner: Tuukka Rask, BostonRunners-up: Josh Harding, Minnesota; Carey Price, MontrealComment: If not for Tuesdays loss in Montreal, the award would go to Harding, but he surrendered three goals in a little more than 33 minutes, opening the door just a crack for Tuukka Rask to take the lead. With a .946 save percentage in 18 games, Rask is not only handling a heavy workload, but hes playing better than ever before, and thats saying something because from 2009-2010 through 2012-2013, he had the best save percentage among goaltenders with at least 100 games played. Thats not to suggest that Hardings year hasnt been incredible -- hes allowed 23 goals against in 18 games (1.38 GAA) -- but hes just a hair behind Rask today. As for other contenders, Price gets the nod over Kari Lehtonen, who missed time with injury, and Torontos duo of Jonathan Bernier and James Reimer, largely because Price has handled the starters workload. CALDER TROPHYWinner: Tomas Hertl, LW, San JoseRunners-up: Seth Jones, D, Nashville; Torey Krug, D, BostonComment: Hertl, the 20-year-old Czech winger burst onto the scene with six goals in his first three games, then went through a bout of mediocrity, scoring four points in the next 11 games, but hes picked up again and with 12 goals and 18 points in 21 games, hes having a lot of success on Joe Thorntons wing. Hes on a 47-goal pace and, sure its not likely to continue, but thats where we are through the first quarter of the season. Jones has been handling a heavy workload, 24 minutes per game, and is facing tough matchups as he frequently pairs with Shea Weber on the Predators top pair. He may not score enough to hold voter interest (see Jonas Brodin last season), but Jones appears to be on the fast track to stardom. A defenceman who may score enough, Krug, is quarterbacking the Bruins power play and has scored half of his 12 points with the man advantage, but he holds his own at even strength to rank ahead of Calgarys Sean Monahan and Detroits Danny DeKeyser. Some rookies that didnt start the year in the NHL, including the Rangers Chris Kreider and the Kings Tyler Toffoli, are close for consideration already, despite playing fewer games. SELKE AWARDWinner: Patrice Bergeron, C, BostonRunners-up: David Backes, C, St. Louis; Dave Bolland, C, TorontoComment: Some things dont change and both Bergeron and Backes have continued in their roles, taking on the toughest matchups for their respective teams, while still controlling puck possession. Keeping the puck away from other teams best players is a great way to defend, by the way, and the continued excellence of Bergeron and Backes in their roles makes for a great competition. If not for suffering his ankle tendon injury, Torontos Dave Bolland would be a challenger because, in addition to tough matchups, Bolland has started a lot of shifts in the defensive zone (a product of the Maple Leafs territorial play). Some others of note early in this season: Vancouvers Chris Higgins, Ottawas Kyle Turris and Columbus Brandon Dubinsky. JACK ADAMS AWARDWinner: Patrick Roy, ColoradoRunners-up: Dave Tippett, Phoenix; Mike Yeo, MinnesotaComment: Always a difficult call because there are many great candidates and we dont know how much of a teams performace is necessarily coaching-related, but Roys start with the Avalanche is too strong to ignore. Fortunately, hes a Hall of Famer goaltender, so no one will be ignoring anything that happens with the Avalanche. Tippett is in contention every year and even if the Coyotes arent the buckled-down defensive team that hes favoured in past seasons, theyve also lost just four games in regulation through the first 21. The reason for including Yeo is a nod towards the Wilds change in style of play towards a stronger puck-possession game, going from below average last season to among the league leaders in Fenwick Close, a metric for possession when the game is most closely contested (ie. within one goal in the first two periods and tied in the third period and overtime). For a team to make such a shift has to come, in some manner, from the coaching staff and how they want their team to approach the game. Jon Cooper and Barry Trotz are deserving candidates as well. For those that have been reading my work for a while, its no secret that I like digging into the advanced stats at
www.behindthenet.ca,
www.extraskater.com and stats.hockeyanalysis.com, so here are just a couple of interesting stats leaders/trailers at this point in the season (minimum 12 games played). All of these stats are linked via
www.extraskater.com. First up, penalty differential, from Extra Skater. RANK PLAYER TEAM POS. DRAWN TAKEN PEN. DIFF/GM 1. T.J. Galiardi Calgary LW 16 6 0.48 2. Matt Duchene Colorado C 11 2 0.47 3. Viktor Stalberg Nashville LW 8 2 0.40 4. Logan Couture San Jose C 8 0 0.38 5. Scott Hartnell Philadelphia LW 11 5 0.38 4. Alexander Steen St. Louis LW 12 5 0.35 7. Teemu Selanne Anaheim RW 7 1 0.33 8. Andrew Shaw Chicago RW 12 5 0.32 9. Devin Setoguchi Winnipeg RW 9 2 0.32 10. Mark Scheifele Winnipeg C 9 2 0.32 And the trailers... RANK PLAYER TEAM POS. DRAWN TAKEN PEN. DIFF/GP 526. Tom Wilson Washington RW 9 18 -0.39 527. Radko Gudas Tampa Bay D 10 19 -0.39 528. Trevor Daley Dallas D 1 9 -0.40 529. Kimmo Timonen Philadelphia D 0 8 -0.dddddddddddd0 530. Grant Clitsome Winnipeg D 0 8 -0.42 531. Mike Fisher Nashville C 0 6 -0.43 532. Chris Neil Ottawa RW 5 14 -0.43 533. Henrik Tallinder Buffalo D 0 8 -0.44 534. Jonathan Ericsson Detroit D 0 6 -0.50 535. Dave Bolland Toronto C 1 9 -0.53 Next, a look at 5-on-5 shot attempt ratio (aka Corsi%). Naturally, its much better for your team to have more shots at the opponents goal than on your own, so better to be on the plus side of 50% instead of below. Those Kings arent bad, not bad at all. From Extra Skater. RANK PLAYER TEAM POS. CORSI% 1. Justin Williams Los Angeles RW 65.2% 2. Jake Muzzin Los Angeles D 65.0% 3. Dustin Brown Los Angeles LW 63.7% 4. Anze Kopitar Los Angeles C 63.5% 5. Loui Eriksson Boston RW 62.9% 6. Mikko Koivu Minnesota C 61.4% 7. Andrew Shaw Chicago RW 60.7% 8. Jonathan Toews Chicago C 60.7% 9. Zach Parise Minnesota LW 60.5% 10. Vladimir Tarasenko St. Louis RW 60.3% And the trailers... RANK PLAYER TEAM POS. CORSI% 526. Rasmus Ristolainen Buffalo D 38.9% 527. Brian McGrattan Calgary LW 38.7% 528. Trevor Smith Toronto C 38.4% 529. Mikhail Grigorenko Buffalo C 37.8% 530. Marc-Andre Cliche Colorado RW 37.7% 531. Mike Weber Buffalo D 37.5% 532. Tom Sestito Vancouver LW 37.4% 533. Mike Brown San Jose RW 36.7% 534. Cody McCormick Buffalo LW 36.3% 535. Jay Rosehill Philadelphia LW 35.1% Next up, a measure for quality of competition, via Extra Skater, reveals which players are taking on the toughest matchups. RANK PLAYER TEAM POS. QUALCOMP 1. Henrik Zetterberg Detroit LW 30.8 2. Pavel Datsyuk Detroit C 30.8 3. Dion Phaneuf Toronto D 30.7 4. Logan Couture San Jose C 30.7 5. Patrick Marleau San Jose LW 30.7 6. Jonathan Toews Chicago C 30.6 7. Chris Kunitz Pittsburgh LW 30.6 8. Carl Gunnarsson Toronto D 30.5 9. Sidney Crosby Pittsburgh C 30.5 10. Bryan Little Winnipeg C 30.4 And the trailers, who are being utilized very strategically, to avoid bad matchups. RANK PLAYER TEAM POS. QUALCOMP 526. Brett Sutter Carolina LW 25.7 527. Krystofer Barch Florida RW 25.7 528. Marc-Andre Cliche Colorado RW 25.7 529. Zenon Konopka Minnesota C 25.5 530. Jay Rosehill Philadelphia LW 25.5 531. Cody McLeod Colorado LW 25.5 532. Aaron Volpatti Washington LW 25.3 533. Paul Bissonnette Phoenix LW 25.3 534. Patrick Bordeleau Colorado LW 25.0 535. Colton Orr Toronto RW 25.0 Another statistic relevant to a players output is zone starts. Those that start more shifts in the offensive zone are more likely to generate shots on goal (and points) because of that relatively advantageous location. In some cases, its merely playing to an individual players strengths as an offensive or defensive player, but it might also reflect a coachs level of trust in that player since theres greater risk if something goes wrong in the defensive zone. These per Extra Skater. RANK PLAYER TEAM POS. O-ZONE% 1. Jordan Nolan Los Angeles RW 73.1% 2. Bryan Bickell Chicago LW 72.7% 3. Michal Rozsival Chicago D 71.4% 4. Brad Richards N.Y. Rangers C 71.1% 5. Vladimir Tarasenko St. Louis RW 69.3% 6. Patrick Kane Chicago RW 69.1% 7. Nail Yakupov Edmonton RW 68.9% 8. Alec Martinez Los Angeles D 68.6% 9. Brandon Pirri Chicago C 68.3% 10. Ryan Callahan N.Y. Rangers RW 67.2% And the trailers... RANK PLAYER TEAM POS. O-ZONE% 526. Ben Smith Chicago RW 29.9% 527. Brian Boyle N.Y. Rangers C 28.9% 528. Tom Sestito Vancouver LW 28.8% 529. Paul Gaustad Nashville C 28.4% 530. Zenon Konopka Minnesota C 27.7% 531. Marcus Kruger Chicago C 27.3% 532. Brandon Bollig Chicago LW 24.8% 533. Adam Hall Philadelphia C 22.6% 534. Boyd Gordon Edmonton C 19.0% 535. Jay Rosehill Philadelphia LW 14.3% 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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