BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The National Womens Hockey Leagues first transgender player scored a goal in his debut, and finally got an opportunity to hear his name announced over the PA system how he always felt it should.And Harrison Browne got to hear it again after the final buzzer, when Buffalo forward was named the games second star in the Beauts 4-1 loss to the Boston Pride on Friday night.It was unreal, Browne said. Ive never felt something like that before.Thats because up until the season-opening game Friday, the 23-year-old went by the name of Hailey Browne. That changed when he went public in announcing he prefers to be known as Harrison and identifies himself as a male in a story first published by ESPN .I was just excited, said Browne, noting he had previously revealed his gender identity but had not changed his name. Ive been out for a long time. Im not scared about it. Its nothing new to me.Browne initially planned making the medical transition to being a man after completing his college career at Maine. Browne put that on hold in the spring of 2015, when he got an opportunity to play for the Beauts in the four-team NWHLs inaugural season.The only real hiccup on Friday occurred after the game, when Browne was cut off by a Beauts spokeswoman while beginning to answer a question regarding North Carolinas law restricting the rights of LGBT people.Were not going to answer that, the spokeswoman said. Its about Brownie tonight.Asked if he had any issues over whether the NWHL was allowing him to express himself, Browne said: No. I feel good.At that point, the official announced the session was over after 2 1/2 minutes.NWHL Commissioner Dani Rylan said she couldnt comment because she was unaware of Brownes news conference being cut short.Rylan said she is not familiar with North Carolinas transgender law, and added Browne -- who is from Canada -- might not be either.This year, the NBA relocated its All-Star game and the NCAA relocated numerous tournaments out of North Carolina because of the law excluding gender identity and sexual orientation from local and statewide antidiscrimination protections. It also requires transgender people to use restrooms at schools and government buildings corresponding to the sex on their birth certificates.Rylan said she is fully supportive of Brownes decision to announce his gender identity, and hopes he can play a role in educating others.I think what Harrison has done for so many will make it more acceptable and allow others to feel comfortable, she said.Rylan said she is currently working on a policy to address transgender players because the league currently doesnt have a rule. She said the policy would cover both transgender men and women.The best part for Rylan was seeing Browne score on a short-handed breakaway.It felt like the stars were aligning for Harrison, Rylan said, noting how the crowd erupted in cheers. I dont know if it wouldve been as easy for him five years ago.Beauts coach and former NHL player, Ric Seiling, said nothings changed in his approach toward Harrison, noting hes always referred to the player as Brownie.This is Harrisons decision and I support whatever they decide, Seiling said. The team has had no reaction. Its still the same person that walks into that dressing room every day. Its still the same person that puts on his skates the same way. Theres no difference. Wholesale NHL Jerseys . Francis told several hundred members of the European Olympic Committees that when sport "is considered only in economic terms and consequently for victory at every cost . Cheap Ottawa Senators Jerseys . It was Kerbers third final of the year after losing to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia in Monterrey in April and to Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic in Tokyo two weeks ago. 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For all the wishing and waiting over the years for some new faces to rise up and reliably trouble Serena Williams like her sister Venus or Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters used to, the truth is Williams hold on the sport has elevated womens tennis to places its never been.Williams dominance is what made Germanys Angelique Kerber realize if she was ever going to win majors, she had to hunker down and change in dramatic ways and become even fitter, tougher and mentally stronger. Just better in every way.Karolina Pliskova, the upstart across the net from Kerber in their riveting three-set US Open final Saturday, in recent weeks came to understand the same thing.In the end, what their final came down to was a classic clash of styles and a case of the Player of the Year trumping the Player of the Month. Kerber, a three-time Grand Slam finalist in 2016, was already set to eclipse Serena for the No. 1 ranking come Monday morning even if she hadnt outlasted Pliskova, the hottest player in the sport these past three weeks, for a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory that played out Saturday afternoon in sweltering 90-degree heat.But this was about more than just one match. There was a point deep in the third set when their showdown was so good and the switchbacks so hard to predict, you found yourself hoping both of these players can find a way to stick around at the top, troubling Williams at tournaments to come, finding new things in their own games, going to more places theyve never been. Because if this is the level at which womens tennis is going to stay long after Serena, who turns 35 on Sept. 26, is gone, the sport will be in a fascinating place.Williams has been displaced at No. 1 now and then -- by the likes of Victoria Azarenka or Maria Sharapova, who are both off the tour now. But until Kerber, no one has shown the staying power to stitch a few major wins together, let alone established herself as Serenas heir apparent the way Roger Federer so clearly did when he was first chasing Pete Sampras.The dynamic in the womens game during Williams reign is similar to what Federers countryman, Stan Wawrinka, described Friday as the mood in the mens game: Players felt they were going to lose before they ever took the court.Thats not the feeling in womens tennis anymore. Not after this year. Kerber beat Williams in the Australian Open final. Garbine Muguruza beat Williams in the French Open final. Williams beat Kerber for the title at Wimbledon. Then Pliskova beat Serena in the semifinals here, and had Kerber on the run until red-lining in the last two games of the match.In the end it was New Faces 3, Serena 1. But it was interesting to watch -- just in a different way than Williams extraordinary ruun to three of the four Slam titles last year.ddddddddddddI think its a nice change, Pliskova said, as you might expect.I think Im ready to have this pressure [of being No. 1] on my shoulders, Kerber said after their match. I think I get used to all of this, especially after my first Grand Slam in Australia. I had so much pressure after the title. Being No. 1, of course, now everybody will try to beat me and have nothing to lose.I will try to take this challenge.At 28, Kerber isnt exactly a new face in tennis. But she is a new presence at the top. It will be interesting to see how Williams responds to chasing her down now because this is different too: Unlike some of the other times Williams lost the No. 1 ranking, it didnt happen this time because of Williams injuries or indifference.Kerber took it from her by cobbling together a great nine months.And Pliskova? She felt like a revelation here even more than Muguruza did at the French Open. Muguruza played some fearless, powerful tennis that day, but hasnt been able to back it up much since. Just as her title did, the 24-year-old Pliskovas tear to the championship in Cincinnati three weeks ago, and the final here at the Open, raised the question, what took her so long to make this kind of breakthrough?Pliskovas serve and booming forehand give her two of the best weapons in the game. The story making the rounds during her 13-match winning streak she rode into Saturdays final was Pliskova was finally so sick of losing in general, and never getting past the third round of a major in particular after losing early again at Wimbledon in July, she canceled her plans to go to the Olympics for the Czech Republic. She decided instead to concentrate on preparing for the US Open and summer hard-court season in the States. Now look at her.Pliskovas game has the sort of amplitude that draws gasps from the crowd. Her arms and legs are so long, she actually looks taller than her listed height of 6-foot-1, and shes not only powerful -- its an easy power she brings. Her serve sits between 110 and 115 mph and she rarely looks like shes straining to snap off any of her shots. You only get a sense of how hard shes actually hitting from the crack of the ball off her racket, and then the way it accelerates off the bounce and hurries out of reach. Against Kerber, she won 28 of her 38 points at the net, something shes trying to add to her game.If Kerber really is up to the challenge of defending her No. 1 ranking and Pliskova can build on this eye-opening run, they wont be one-year or one-month blips. 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