- Taqwa was missing offensive dynamos Osman Buttar and Mohammad Bilal as well as Captain Naveed Mohammad for Game One so winning the game while missing key players was big. A lot of credit for the win should be given to their third line of Danial Umar, Erfan Bhanapatel and Zaid Toorawa who manufactured the teams first goal with a great bit of hustle on the forecheck. The trio was sound defensively and gave Taqwa a boost when they needed it most.
- Ihsan will be left looking for answers after dropping Game One, they had all their key players except for Mustafa Alam who booked his trip to Disneyland to celebrate a championship a bit too early. In the penalty shootout Sajjid Ayubi and Usama Mahmood were both stopped which is not something you would expect.
- The Tier-2 playoff picture settled with each game played impacting the standings.
- Haya demolished Ikhlas by a 7-3 final score, with the win Haya jumped to first
- Ridha defeated Shukr by a 1-0 score to clinch the final playoff spot
- Zuhd defeated Yaqeen by a 3-1 score to jump into second place
- The Ridha vs Shukr game had a large crowd in attendance last week, Ridha was missing Imran Lakhanpal and Faheem Kotwal but still managed to grind out the 1-0 win. The added nuance to this game of Talib Contractor vs Nadeem Qureshi (who were traded for one another between the teams earlier in the season) did not disappoint - for Ridha anyhow. Contractor worked to create the only goal of the game by using his size and speed to go into the corner with the ball and go behind the net where he centered it for Shan Abbasi who made no mistake. Qureshi was not able to manufacture a goal for his team and Shukr is now done for the season.
- Looking at Shukr its difficult to understand how they missed the playoffs because coming out of the draft (and after their first game) they looked like a solid team destined for a playoff run. Sadly the wheels fell off quickly after game one where they did not win a game for the rest of the season. While some seemed to think goaltending may have been where they would struggle, it was in fact Sadiq Rehman who kept Shukr from crashing out of the playoffs and giving his team a chance to make it right to the end. Rehman posted the highest save percentage among goalies and it was in fact the Shukr offense that was the big letdown. With so many talented offensive players it is shocking that the team averaged just 1.5 goals per game. The team lost three games by a goal and tied four others, a better offensive performance with a goal here and there and Shukr takes those games and makes the playoffs. If there was a game that (figuratively) broke their back it would be the November 21st game against Haya where they started the game shooting on an empty net but ended the game in a 1-1 tie.
- Yaqeen is another team that should have done better based on their draft but could not put it together - no secret on why they missed the playoffs though. As good a team as they were on paper they actually needed players to show up to compete. Yaqeen had one of the poorest attendance records over the season, missing players for almost every game which put them at a disadvantage before the game had started. A great example was the final game of the season with just ten players showing up and then losing Qamar Mian to an injury early in the second - the rest of the game was a predicable loss for Yaqeen with another short bench.
- It seemed that all of Haya was watching the Ridha vs Shukr game and openly cheering for Ridha to get the win. They explained it simply that as much as Shukr has struggled they have the players for an upset whereas Ridha would be easy to defeat and get Haya into the finals. Considering that Haya crushed Ridha twice during the regular season and tied both games with Shukr so the logic makes sense. With Haya already making plans for the finals they expected to face Zuhd there who they struggled against in the regular season but making for a great finals match-up.
- A lot has been made of Haya and "Coach K" but as he said, the results speak for themselves. Haya took first place and only lost one game all season. They scored the most goals by far, have the best goal differential and five of the top eight point scorers and five of the top eight goal scorers.
- Speaking of the top scorer, Waseem Bangash tied for the scoring lead with Amir Multani of Ikhlas and tied for the goal leader with Naeem Akhtar of Zuhd as well as teammate Aazar Zafar. Bangash had a big game in Haya's season finale against Ikhlas with a goal and three assists (Note: there was some dispute about one of those assists). Also, there was some question about Haya's display of sportsmanship as Bangash played heavy minutes towards the end of the match which was already a run-time blowout game.
- Naeem Akhtar on the other hand played the final game of the night and showed little interest in personal glory and did not push to get points against a depleted team in Yaqeen who had a short bench and came in knowing their season was over.
- The "Retirement Game" that Ridha's Shoaib Bhatti was potentially playing last week was delayed by his teams defeat of Shukr and advancing to the playoffs. Now in a daunting match-up with Haya the question has been raised will Bhatti hang it up? Rayhan Taqiuddin of Haya has already stepped up to say he's looking forward to shutting down Bhatti and ending his playing career.
- Yaqeen is another team that should have done better based on their draft but could not put it together - no secret on why they missed the playoffs though. As good a team as they were on paper they actually needed players to show up to compete. Yaqeen had one of the poorest attendance records over the season, missing players for almost every game which put them at a disadvantage before the game had started. A great example was the final game of the season with just ten players showing up and then losing Qamar Mian to an injury early in the second - the rest of the game was a predicable loss for Yaqeen with another short bench.
- It seemed that all of Haya was watching the Ridha vs Shukr game and openly cheering for Ridha to get the win. They explained it simply that as much as Shukr has struggled they have the players for an upset whereas Ridha would be easy to defeat and get Haya into the finals. Considering that Haya crushed Ridha twice during the regular season and tied both games with Shukr so the logic makes sense. With Haya already making plans for the finals they expected to face Zuhd there who they struggled against in the regular season but making for a great finals match-up.
- A lot has been made of Haya and "Coach K" but as he said, the results speak for themselves. Haya took first place and only lost one game all season. They scored the most goals by far, have the best goal differential and five of the top eight point scorers and five of the top eight goal scorers.
- Speaking of the top scorer, Waseem Bangash tied for the scoring lead with Amir Multani of Ikhlas and tied for the goal leader with Naeem Akhtar of Zuhd as well as teammate Aazar Zafar. Bangash had a big game in Haya's season finale against Ikhlas with a goal and three assists (Note: there was some dispute about one of those assists). Also, there was some question about Haya's display of sportsmanship as Bangash played heavy minutes towards the end of the match which was already a run-time blowout game.
- Naeem Akhtar on the other hand played the final game of the night and showed little interest in personal glory and did not push to get points against a depleted team in Yaqeen who had a short bench and came in knowing their season was over.
- The "Retirement Game" that Ridha's Shoaib Bhatti was potentially playing last week was delayed by his teams defeat of Shukr and advancing to the playoffs. Now in a daunting match-up with Haya the question has been raised will Bhatti hang it up? Rayhan Taqiuddin of Haya has already stepped up to say he's looking forward to shutting down Bhatti and ending his playing career.
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