Week Eleven – November 28th

- The Tier-2 Trade deadline passed without a move, in part because some of the top teams seemed content with their rosters and partially because other teams seemed to forget that the deadline was upon them and could not come to an agreement at the 11^th hour.  A blockbuster was in the works between two teams but ran out of time to complete.

- The roller coaster season for Sabr continues as they looked on the outs a few weeks ago but a critical win over Ihsan last week has put them in a position where is they defeat Emaan this week then they will grab the last playoff spot.  If Emaan wins or the game ends in a tie then it is Emaan who will move onto the post season. 

- The season series is tied with each team getting a win and tie so hard to predict what will happen in this one.  One would expect Sabr to have the edge with their experience but Emaan has played well and it was their miraculous comeback win over Sabr on November 7^th where they scored three times in the last 100 seconds to take the win that most will remember going into this game. 

- Looking at these two teams, they each have one star who has struggled this season, and we are talking about Yousuf Sowdagar of Sabr and Furqan Salam of Emaan.  Sowdagar has zero points in eight games while Salam has just two assists in nine games.  Much more is expected of both of these players who have had a rough go this season, let's see who can be found first:

- The other Tier-1 game this week features Ihsan and Taqwa, both have clinched a playoff spot already with Ihsan taking first and getting a 1^st Round bye while Taqwa will await the survivor of the Sabr/Emaan tilt.  With all that said there doesn't seem much to play for here, or is there?  Scoring titles are probably the main focus in this one, Sami Choudhry leads the league with 15 points with teammate Shaukat Khan sitting at 14 points.  Meanwhile Sajjad Ayubi leads the league with 7 goals with teammate Usama Mahmood and Taqwa's Mohammad Bilal each have 5.  With team goals already met let's assume the focus will shift here to personal accomplishments so look for a wide open affair as players try to grab some personal glory.

- The Tier-2 Playoff picture is starting to clear up as Haya and Zuhd have already clinched spots while Ikhlas needs just a point from their last three games to grab the third spot.  That leaves Shukr, Ridha and Yaqeen all fighting for the final spot so let's break it down for each:

• Shukr – Two games left against Ikhlas and Ridha, both will be tough games if you go with the glass half full approach with Shukr winless in their last seven games and the glass half full approach isn't much better with undefeated in their last three with three ties. 
• Ridha – A tough loss to Ikhlas last week but they still control their own fate with games against Zuhd, Yaqeen and Shukr left.  This may all boil down to their final game of the season against Shukr which would be a delicious match-up considering the teams traded their stars to each other in an earlier blockbuster deal this season.
• Yaqeen – It's been a tough season for a team many expected to be much better than they have played.  That said they still have a chance to make the playoffs but must win their final three games against Ikhlas, Ridha and Zuhd and get help with Shukr and Ridha losing all their remaining games.  It will not be easy but this is their path to the playoffs.

- Shukr goalie Sadiq Rehman was disappointed in his play for his team last week, an observer noted that his team has tied their last two games by a 1-1 score and he has been the lone bright spot in both.  Shukr has struggled offensively as of late and were it not for the heroics of Rehman would not be holding onto the final playoff spot.

- Haya has been steamrolling teams all season but their last two games both ended in a tie so perhaps some tweaking is required.  That said they have been missing a number of players over the last few weeks yet are still winning so likely nothing to worry about.  Coach K was away for the last two games so when he returns, Haya will likely start blowing opponents out again.

- The Tier-2 scoring race has gotten interesting, Waseem Bangash was head and shoulders ahead of the competition but Naeem Akhtar has come on strong as of late with 9 points in his last 4 games.  The result is that both Bangash and Akhtar have 8 goals and 14 points this season but Akhtar has an extra game so anything can happen.

- In the Haya vs Shukr game last week, Haya was already playing short some of their stars (and star coach) and started the game without a goalie.  Just to make things even more interesting they took a penalty just 7 seconds into the game giving Shukr a power play and shooting onto an empty net.  Yet from all of this, in stepped Haya defenseman Rayhan Taqiuddin who protected the empty net for the first five minutes of the game only allowing a single goal to Nadeem Qureshi.  It's never easy to cover an empty net but Taqiuddin got the job done until Yusuf Kapoor finally arrived.  Taqiuddin then shifted back onto his regular position on defense and helped his team shut down the Shukr forwards.