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INDIANAPOLIS -- Indianapolis Motor Speedway officially opened for the month of May with a chaotic road course race that started with a wreck, saw Canadian James Hinchliffe and the mayor of the city injured by flying debris, and, finally, Simon Pagenaud celebrate a fuel-mileage victory. Joel Iyiegbuniwe Bears Jersey . Pagenaud won the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis on Saturday, the first IndyCar Series race on IMS road course, by stretching his fuel the final 29 laps. The Frenchman was one of several drivers to gamble on gas, and he took the lead when Oriol Servia had to stop with four laps remaining. Pagenaud managed to make it to the finish for his third series victory despite having to keep an eye on his mirrors. Ryan Hunter-Reay was second and Helio Castroneves third on his 39th birthday. "Man I didnt know what we were asking for, but we made fuel," Pagenaud said in Victory Lane. "The fuel saving was amazing. It was nerve-wracking. I was worried about RHR coming back, and I didnt know what Helio was doing here. I dont like racing off throttle." Sebastien Bourdais and Charlie Kimball rounded out the top five. Hinchcliffe, of Oakville, Ont., was taken from the track on a stretcher and transported to a hospital, where he was diagnosed with a concussion after he was hit in the head with debris. A replay appeared to show debris from a car in front of him flew into his cockpit following a restart. IndyCar said hell have to be re-evaluated before hes cleared again to drive. Preparations begin Sunday for the Indianapolis 500, with qualifying scheduled to begin next Saturday for the May 25 race. IndyCar policy in the past has been to hold a driver with a concussion out of the car a minimum of seven days. Andretti Autosport said EJ Viso will be the standby driver for Hinchcliffe. "Im a little stiff and sore and Id love to be back in the car tomorrow, but I suppose I should probably let the doctors make that decision," Hinchcliffe said in a statement. Hunter-Reay said he drove by Hinchcliffes car and couldnt figure out what happened. "I was actually next to him on track and all of a sudden debris went everywhere and he slowed up," Hunter-Reay said about his teammate. "It was something that happened in front of him and he was hit." The race began with a violent wreck when pole-sitter Sebastian Saavedra stalled on the standing start. He was hit by multiple cars, and debris struck Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard as he waved the green flag. Saavedras car simply didnt go when the lights went out and, after Hunter-Reay frantically darted around him, Saavedra was clipped by Carlos Munoz and then hit hard from behind by Mikhail Aleshin. "We just followed protocol at the start," Saavedra said. "As soon as I released the clutch, it went from 11,000 rpm to zero. This should not have happened, unfortunately." The initial hit from Munoz didnt seem too bad, but Aleshins direct hit sprayed debris all over the track, sending spectators and track workers standing along the wall scrambling for cover. Saavedra was seen in his cockpit with his arms in the air anticipating a potential collision as cars tried to weave their way around his stalled KV Racing car. He was visibly upset after the accident as he talked to his team on his pit stand. He had won the first pole of his career -- in part because Hunter-Reay had his two fastest laps disallowed for causing a caution in Fridays qualifying -- and was looking for a strong finish at the famed race track. "Man, we had an opportunity to be at the front of the pack in this amazing place. We wanted to bring it home in the same place," he said. "To not even get a chance because of a freaking electrical thing ..." It had many drivers complaining about the standing starts, which have been problematic since IndyCar began using them at some tracks last season. The incident damaged several cars one day before teams begin practice for the May 25 Indianapolis 500. "I think IndyCar has had like two good standing starts since we started them last year," said driver/owner Ed Carpenter, who saw Mike Conway have to take his car to the garage for repairs after the accident. "Havent been a fan, still not a fan." Drivers also grumbled about the way race control was restarting the races, with the leader having to use a late restart zone. Graham Rahal said he was victimized when he was run into from behind by Juan Pablo Montoya. "These restarts are pretty stupid. You cant see back there because the rear wings are so big, and the officials, we need to work with them to try to change this because theres going to be a lot of accidents," Rahal said. "I said the restart before, I said to my dad, Somebodys going to get hurt out here because you cant see. "They need to let the leader go earlier. Right now, the way it is, theyre trying to be like NASACAR and this isnt NASCAR. We cant just bump-draft each other." Roquan Smith Bears Jersey . The 42-ranked Czech saved seven break points while converting his one chance, and defeated the No. 3 seed in 1 hour 46 minutes. Rosol, who lost in the final in Stuttgart against Roberto Bautista Agut on Sunday, awaits the winner between Philipp Kohlschreiber or 2011 champion Gilles Simon. Trey Burton Jersey . "It was awesome," he said. Coming off an ugly three-game sweep at the hands of the Yankees, Toronto found itself in a deep hole early after the Reds put an eight spot up on starter Liam Hendriks (six runs in 1 2/3 innings pitched) and Todd Redmond in the second. http://www.bearsauthoritystore.com/Authentic-Bennie-Fowler-Iii-Bears-Jersey/ . MORITZ, Switzerland -- Latvia won a four-man World Cup bobsled race Sunday, while the U.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. James Daniels Jersey. 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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