- The undefeated streak for Shukr is over and not in a good way after a 6-1 mauling at the hands of Emaan. Shukr started the game with only two subs (ended with four) and managed to take a surprising 1-0 lead before the wheels fell off. Players veered from the strategy of protecting the ball and the results of that were anything but a surprise. So just like that Shukr went from being undefeated to being the only team without a win.
- Waqar Khan was unstoppable as Emaan's captain led the way for his team. He went into the corners, was first on every ball and crashed the net. The net result of his effort was a three goal and three assist night.
- Haya continued their great start to the season as they rolled over Ikhlas to put their record at 5-0. Rizwan Malik opened the scoring and set a goal later to continue his celebrated return but he continues to refuse to speak to the media postgame.
- Back to Emaan, some questioned how it was possible that Waqar Khan had six points and one of his wingers in Bilal Pervaiz had four points yet the other winger in Furqan Salam had nothing. Salam uncharacteristically tight-lipped post game as he was unable to explain how he was shut down in a blowout game.
- The Ikhlas struggles continue, this time with a loss to 1st place Haya, Ikhlas held a 2-1 lead in the first before allowing a goal in the final minute of the half and then a goal in the opening minute of the second half to turn the game. With the talent available on their roster their struggles are hard to understand but they need to turn things around before the season is lost.
- With the first half of the season gone, the standings are quite the story as with the exception of Haya who is far ahead at the top of the table, the separation between 2nd and 5th is just two points leaving little room for error for teams jostling for a playoff spot.
- In a strange twist, Emaan players watched the Ikhlas vs Haya game and were vocal in their support of Ikhlas, their Cambridge rival whom they demolished in both games this season. Emaan was chirping various Haya players with Naeem Akhtar (or Naeem Malik as they were calling him) receiving the brunt of the jeers.
- Some observers commented that they were worried about Emaan goalie Sadiq Rehman who faced only nine shots from Shukr and seemed lonely in his crease with all the action consistently on the other side of the floor. Rehman has played well this season but (with the exception of Haya) generally has not been tested this season to see how his wrist has healed from a pre-season injury.
Thursday 26 March 2015
Thursday 19 March 2015
Week Five - March 20th
- Just as quickly as Ikhlas seemed to be turning things around, another meeting with their Cambridge rivals ended with a 6-0 beating where they were outshot 26-9 and were under siege all game. Despite the humbling loss, Ikhlas continues to refer to Emaan as "Cambridge Two" under the guise that until Emaan wins a championship they are mere pretenders.
- Waqar Khan was a force in the battle of Cambridge, racking up two goals and two assists and leading his team to a dominant win. The leadership of Khan combined with "Coach K" may prove to be fruitful after last games display
- Haya continues to roll as they defeated Ihsan to up their record to 4-0 to start the season, Naeem Akhtar and Junaid Mohammad have been key to their hot start, Akhtar producing some highlight reel goals along the way.
- Haya has also received some great play from (fill in the blank) Malik, although Rizwan Malik has stood out a bit more when he is not battling the media
- Shukr has had an interesting start and depending upon your perspective they are either:
> Undefeated (Glass half full)
> Winless (Glass half empty)
- Regardless of your perspective the fact is that Shukr is both of those adjectives, they have four ties in all four of their games so as Ihsan described them a few weeks ago, "they always bend but never break." Shukr needs to get things going because right now they are tied for the lowest goals scored with Ikhlas. Shuaib Hussein with a goal in four games and Gehad Al-Hundi with just an assist in three games won't do - that said if these two can get going then Shukr will surely be a threat to actually win a game
- After a quirky start to the schedule where the first four weeks saw home and home series, week five has teams face a new opponent so time for some new rivalries to start up
- Waqar Khan was a force in the battle of Cambridge, racking up two goals and two assists and leading his team to a dominant win. The leadership of Khan combined with "Coach K" may prove to be fruitful after last games display
- Haya continues to roll as they defeated Ihsan to up their record to 4-0 to start the season, Naeem Akhtar and Junaid Mohammad have been key to their hot start, Akhtar producing some highlight reel goals along the way.
- Haya has also received some great play from (fill in the blank) Malik, although Rizwan Malik has stood out a bit more when he is not battling the media
- Shukr has had an interesting start and depending upon your perspective they are either:
> Undefeated (Glass half full)
> Winless (Glass half empty)
- Regardless of your perspective the fact is that Shukr is both of those adjectives, they have four ties in all four of their games so as Ihsan described them a few weeks ago, "they always bend but never break." Shukr needs to get things going because right now they are tied for the lowest goals scored with Ikhlas. Shuaib Hussein with a goal in four games and Gehad Al-Hundi with just an assist in three games won't do - that said if these two can get going then Shukr will surely be a threat to actually win a game
- After a quirky start to the schedule where the first four weeks saw home and home series, week five has teams face a new opponent so time for some new rivalries to start up
Thursday 5 March 2015
Week Four - March 6th
- The big story of last week was likely Ikhlas getting their first win of the season after being dominated in their first two games. A bigger feat considering that Ibad Khan was missing again. Attendance has been a challenge for Ikhlas this season as Hammad Khan has yet to play a game and he was expected to help anchor the teams defense core.
- Haya came away with another win over Emaan but this one was more convincing than the first. Ali Malik potted the game winner with some hard work and using his speed to his advantage. Haya picked up Malik in a trade which has more than worked out for them as his game continues to grow.
- Sabr got a boost last week with the return of Yousuf Sowdagar from an ankle injury. While he looked a bit rusty in his first action back, when he gets going it will be a big boost for Sabr who are already looking solid so far this season despite their loss to Ikhlas last week.
- Shukr continues to have penalty problems this season which has disrupted their flow with the constant penalty kills so better discipline is required if they plan on creating any type of consistent offensive pressure
- It's early in the season but already Furqan Salam has more points (4 points in 3 games) than he did in the entire Fall season (2 points in 11 games). Good to see him back on track but if he starts to struggle, expect to see various meme's analyzing his struggles
- Shukr has had an anemic offensive showing thus far, with just 4 goals scored in their first three games, a combination of players not clicking along with trying to do make too pretty a play have hurt their goal-scoring but its only a matter of time before they start to put everything together - or at least that's what they keep telling themselves
- Umair Ashraf is either the most interesting man in the world or just enjoys seeing his name in this column (I am not complaining - I have a page to fill). He recently talked of his enjoyment of listening to Backstreet Boys (with Facebook posts to support his devotion) and how he likes to sing their songs while playing to throw off opponents. No word if this strategy works or not...its definitely different...it's not really hurting anyone...just annoying which is the point.
- Speaking of music, during the Spring Season draft Haya considered drafting Zayn Malik of One Direction in their transparent attempt to grab as many Malik's as possible but decided against it worrying that they had already filled their pretty boy quota when they selected Rizwan Malik
- The standings are pretty tight thus far with just one point separating 2nd from 6th place, only Haya has come out of the starting gate flying
- Big game this week with Ikhlas vs Cambridge Two (AKA Emaan) as Ikhlas tries to avenge their humbling 5-2 defeat to open the season which was kind to how badly they were dominated as they were outshot 43-13 and were overwhelmed
- Haya had a surprise guest last week as Naiem Malik showed up to support his family, he reportedly gave a riveting pre-game speech about taking the body and playing a tight conservative game. Haya listened to what he said and went out and did the exact opposite resulting in a 5-2 win...
- Speaking of Rizwan Malik, there was some controversy as the I-Slam Hockey twitter account noted that Naiem Malik was attempting to pull Rizwan Malik to another team, which Saleem Malik took exception too and released the following statement, "I'm fed up with how the media treats Riz. It's not his fault he hurt his knee. Rizwan is a heart and soul player and doesn't deserve to be treated this way. You guys should be ashamed, you owe him an apology." No word is a lawsuit is pending so stay tuned
- Haya came away with another win over Emaan but this one was more convincing than the first. Ali Malik potted the game winner with some hard work and using his speed to his advantage. Haya picked up Malik in a trade which has more than worked out for them as his game continues to grow.
- Sabr got a boost last week with the return of Yousuf Sowdagar from an ankle injury. While he looked a bit rusty in his first action back, when he gets going it will be a big boost for Sabr who are already looking solid so far this season despite their loss to Ikhlas last week.
- Shukr continues to have penalty problems this season which has disrupted their flow with the constant penalty kills so better discipline is required if they plan on creating any type of consistent offensive pressure
- It's early in the season but already Furqan Salam has more points (4 points in 3 games) than he did in the entire Fall season (2 points in 11 games). Good to see him back on track but if he starts to struggle, expect to see various meme's analyzing his struggles
- Shukr has had an anemic offensive showing thus far, with just 4 goals scored in their first three games, a combination of players not clicking along with trying to do make too pretty a play have hurt their goal-scoring but its only a matter of time before they start to put everything together - or at least that's what they keep telling themselves
- Umair Ashraf is either the most interesting man in the world or just enjoys seeing his name in this column (I am not complaining - I have a page to fill). He recently talked of his enjoyment of listening to Backstreet Boys (with Facebook posts to support his devotion) and how he likes to sing their songs while playing to throw off opponents. No word if this strategy works or not...its definitely different...it's not really hurting anyone...just annoying which is the point.
- Speaking of music, during the Spring Season draft Haya considered drafting Zayn Malik of One Direction in their transparent attempt to grab as many Malik's as possible but decided against it worrying that they had already filled their pretty boy quota when they selected Rizwan Malik
- The standings are pretty tight thus far with just one point separating 2nd from 6th place, only Haya has come out of the starting gate flying
- Big game this week with Ikhlas vs Cambridge Two (AKA Emaan) as Ikhlas tries to avenge their humbling 5-2 defeat to open the season which was kind to how badly they were dominated as they were outshot 43-13 and were overwhelmed
- Haya had a surprise guest last week as Naiem Malik showed up to support his family, he reportedly gave a riveting pre-game speech about taking the body and playing a tight conservative game. Haya listened to what he said and went out and did the exact opposite resulting in a 5-2 win...
- Speaking of Rizwan Malik, there was some controversy as the I-Slam Hockey twitter account noted that Naiem Malik was attempting to pull Rizwan Malik to another team, which Saleem Malik took exception too and released the following statement, "I'm fed up with how the media treats Riz. It's not his fault he hurt his knee. Rizwan is a heart and soul player and doesn't deserve to be treated this way. You guys should be ashamed, you owe him an apology." No word is a lawsuit is pending so stay tuned
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