Week Fifteen - Spring Season Wrap-Up

- Game Two was winner take all and Emaan came up with some great individual performances and some luck to take the title.  Emaan roared out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to their top line and while Ihsan made it interesting with an early goal in the second period it was a Waqar Khan empty netter that iced the game for a 3-1 final score.

- But before the game was played an important reminder about the larger goal as both teams prayed together, opponents on the floor but brothers before, during and after the game.

Here are your 2015 Spring Season Champions, Emaan:

- The Video Recap for Game Two is up and can be viewed here.

- It was no secret who the playoff MVP was going to be if Emaan won and it came to pass as Waqar Khan earned the honours with a strong playoff showing with 10 points (five goals and five assists) in four games.  He scored when his team needed to and shut down opposing players while out there while leading his team as Captain.  Khan also picked up the Regular Season MVP, finishing with 18 points (8 goals and 10 assists) in 10 games.

- Ahmad Hathout of Emaan was also in the running for both awards that Waqar Khan won, while Hathout was gracious during the presentation, he later released his frustration with this epic yell.

- During celebrations after the game, Umair Ashraf can clearly be heard proclaiming that with the win he is now ready for marriage (don’t believe me - click here).  His statement also adds a new layer to those that witnessed his last shift of the game where he danced humming “Put a Ring on it” and pointed to his finger - many assumed he was celebrating a championship ring (even though he received a medal) but he was likely letting everyone know he was looking forward to his next challenge and is on the market.

- He described himself as a stabilising force all season for Emaan and with a championship it is hard to argue but Coach K picks up his first championship ring in his third trip to the finals (twice as a player and once as a coach).

- Some controversy during the Medal Presentation as with the exception of three players, the rest of Ihsan left the floor as this video shows  - with some commenting that it seemed fitting that a team in Red Jerseys would leave the floor rather than watch their opponents celebrate as Russia did recently in the World Hockey Championships.  In this case it seemed to be a misunderstanding and Ihsan had their full team return to the floor to participate in the trophy presentation.

- During the same Medal Presentation there was a touching moment as Furqan Salam insisted that he be allowed to put the medal around Waqar Khan.  This was the first championship for Salam who sobbed as he showed respect to Khan who finally got him a ‘chip.

- Emaan also got a strong performance from Sadiq Rehman in the playoffs who had a GAA of 2.00 and in the final game made some spectacular saves to hold his teams lead.  Rehman also got some help from the post as Ihsan hit the post or crossbar a total of five times in the game - a mind boggling statistic which shows how close this series could have gone the other way.

- One of the story lines of the finals was the “I Quit” retirement challenge between Nadeem Qureshi and Kashif Taqiuddin with the latter winning the title and forcing the former to hang it up.  Qureshi had an awkward moment in the post game ceremonies waving goodbye to players that did not seem to recognise that this was his swan song and then running around an empty arena.  Things only got more awkward when Rayhan Taqiuddin came out of the stands to sing “End of the Road” to Qureshi as he walked off the floor.  In the post game press conference, Qureshi stated that he never shook hands on the deal and would be discussing the future of his career with his family in the off-season; that said he still seemed stunned with the loss and said after defeating Shoaib Bhatti in a retirement game last year he never thought it would happen to him.

- When the playoffs finish teams tend to disclose injuries that players have been playing through, Ihsan noted that Hany Soliman still has discomfort with his injured ankle and his loss in the final game was a huge blow to his team.  Emaan lost Abdu Sharkawy for the final game with a dislocated jaw and concussion after colliding with Nauman Abbasi in Game One, a loss that Waqar Khan was able to offset with his strong play at Centre.  Emaan also reported that Furqan Salam was playing hurt but was unclear as to what his injury was as they initially reported it as a conditioning problem then indicated that he pulled a muscle trying to lift at the gym.

- For all of the success that Waqar Khan had this season, Kashif “Coach K” Taqiuddin stepped in to take some of the credit as he seemed to be channelling his inner “Skip Bayless” when he claimed that he called out Khan towards the middle of the season to step up which resulted in his MVP season.  A dubious claim considering Khan was leading the league in scoring at the halfway mark but anything is possible.  Taqiuddin is reportedly working on an autobiography titled, “The long road from Behar to the Championship"

- Emaan went into the final game missing players and needed to make adjustments, the absence of Wahhaj Salam (who was reportedly up north attending an Arts & Craft camp) was big but despite being short on the blue line Emaan refused to move Bilal Perviaz back.  It isn’t clear whether it was because there was a lack of confidence in Pervaiz on D or they felt that his three goals on forward during the regular season was too good to pass up.

- For all of the praise for Emaan, it is amazing to consider that they did not lock in a playoff spot until the season finale and even then it was by the skin of their teeth as they barely fended off Sabr in a game that ended as a 3-3 tie.  A loss would have seen Emaan eliminated and Sabr in so something to keep the Emaan players humble.

The final bit of business is the 2015 Spring Season Awards, the nominees were announced previously and here are the winners:
Scoring Champion - Ahmad Hathout
Goal Scoring Champion - Waqar Khan
Regular Season MVP - Waqar Khan
Brotherhood - Ahmad Ibrahim
Best Defenseman - Naeem Akhtar
Best Defensive Forward - Ibrahim Hindy
Best Goalie - Yusuf Kapoor
GM of the Year - Emaan (Waqar Khan, Furqan Salam, Jibran Salam, Arif Bijabhai, Bilal Pervaiz)
Playoff MVP - Waqar Khan

Congratulations again to Emaan and thank you to everyone who participated this season.
InshAllah we will see everyone back for the fall season so stay tuned for registration details in August/September.

Week Fourteen - June 5th - Spring Finals

- Game One is in the books and it ended a wash as neither side has an advantage going into Game Two.  The first period was scoreless and the four goals scored in the second resulted in a 2-2 tie.

- There were standout performances from a few players, Ihsan goalie Abu Mamooji made some big saves throughout the game to keep his team in it including some spectacular saves in the final minutes to preserve the tie.  The captains for both squads also had a notable performance as Ahmad Hathout put up a pair of goals while Waqar Khan was a force throughout and salvaged a tie for Emaan with his goal.

- Ahmad Hathout wanted a strong performance to rebut the "Martin Gelinas" comparisons of his game made by members of Emaan, it was never clear if the comment was meant as a compliment or not - we suspect not...

- Both teams had their full squads for this one as Salman Khalid (travel) and Nauman Abbasi (AWOL) were back and for Emaan they made sure to give Bilal Pervaiz a wake up call hours before game time to ensure his beauty sleep did not run too late as it did during the Semi-Finals.

- Pregame, there was an interesting moment between Kashif Taqiuddin of Emaan and Nadeem Qureshi of Ihsan, both are in the twilight of their careers and the longtime friends have discussed turning the finals into an "I Quit" match.  Some caution for Taqiuddin as Qureshi had a similar arrangement with Shoaib Bhatti last fall season in which he prevailed.  Qureshi has talked this season of hoping for a sendoff like this one when he finally does retire and take one last lap around the arena.

- Back to Hathout for a moment, he has also been criticized for using a junior sized stick (or child stick as Emaan put it).  It is not clear if this shorter stick give him an advantage but considering all the time he has put into the gym it seems strange that he would be trying to play with as light equipment as possible.

- Speaking of the gym, Furqan Salam was reportedly upset with the gym photo published last week with teammates showing the results of their workouts - or in his case lack of results.  Salam has indicated that he will be skipping all post-game media events in protest.

- Waqar Khan seemed exhausted at the end of the game and actually had to skip a shift, the result of having to penalty kill a long period of time after some undisciplined penalties from his team.

- Emaan was clearly feeling down after the game and stated that they were the better team and allowed Ihsan to escape with a tie.

- Coach K is reportedly preparing a speech to give to his team in the hopes of inspiring them to win the championship, he knows that he is just a win away from his first championship and is desperate to get it.  He talked again of how he has worked to bring his schemes to Emaan and the success they have had to get the team to the finals.

- The Spring Season awards will be presented tonight after the finals, but a pair of winners have already been determined based upon the final regular season statistics.
Scoring Champion is Ahmad Hathout who put up 20 points in 10 games.
Goal Scoring Champion is Waqar Khan who scored 8 goals in 10 games.

Here are the rest of the Nominees:

Regular Season MVP Nominees:
Ahmad Hathout - Ihsan
Naeem Akhtar - Haya
Shuaib Hussein - Shukr
Waqar Khan - Emaan

Brotherhood Award Nominees:
Ahmad Ibrahim - Sabr
Farooq Sani - Ihsan
Rizwan Malik - Haya
Saqib Khokhar - Ikhlas

Best Defenseman Nominees:
Arssal Shahabuddin - Shukr
Naeem Akhtar - Haya
Salman Khalid - Ihsan

Best Defensive Forward Nominees:
Akib Malik - Haya
Ibrahim Hindy - Shukr
Waqar Khan - Emaan

Best Goalie Nominees:
Khalid Mufti - Shukr
Yusuf Kapoor - Haya
Zayd Agjee - Sabr

Best GM Nominees:
Emaan
Ihsan 
Haya 
Sabr

Playoff MVP - To be determined after the Finals

- The Video recap for Game One is up and can be viewed here