- With the trade deadline now passed and rosters frozen, many players on Ikhlas are breathing a bit easier knowing that GM Ahmad Ibrahim won’t be able to make any more deals. He was by far the most active GM this season in working the phone lines.
- Another week and the same problems for Emaan and Sabr contributed to their losses. For Emaan another short bench while for Sabr it was being forced to put in a back-up goalie - in this case Umer Buksh who took one for the team and filled in admirably.
- Shukr got a bit of a scare falling behind to Emaan 3-1 last week but stuck with the game plan and managed to grind out a 3-3 tie to keep them alone in first place and undefeated for the season.
- Shukr was without Sulayman Azmat and Salman Alvi but have done a great job in getting production from all players, the opening goal was put in by Mohamed Sattaur who has scored in back to back games. As for Alvi, the veteran has been out of the lineup with an injury to his wrist since the start of the season and as he nears a return will be a great boost for an already deep team.
- The challenges Ihsan has had with staying out of the penalty box this season (well really only Rayhan Malik) were noted last week and the team decided to try him on forward - which seemed to pay off where his hustle helped to create chances on the forecheck and perhaps more importantly he didn’t hurt the team with careless penalties.
- Back to Shukr for a moment, as great as the team has been performing it has to be a concern that they are getting nothing from Fahad Mallik as he still has yet to register a point. We’ll give him another week before his face appears on the milk carton that Furqan Salam made famous.
- Haya is hoping for some good news on the health front as goalie Rizwan Ali is currently out after a collision a couple of weeks ago. We all hope for a speedy recovery for the veteran goalie who will be counted on by Haya to backstop them for a championship run.
- Ahmad Hathout of Sabr potted a pair of goals in a losing effort last week and while his team may be in last place with only one win, Hathout has been strong this season thus far and leads the league in Points, Goals and Assists. In each category he is just ahead of “frenemy” Waqar Khan. There has been some grumbling that Hathout seems to always have great games against weak opponents and empty nets but those comments are sounding more like sour grapes. Hathout has a point in all seven games this season for 15 points in total while being the only consistent source of offense for his team.
- Umair Ashraf of Ikhlas sought to clarify something from the recent Spring Season, the issue in question was his comments during the celebrations for winning the championship. News and Rumours from that season noted the following comment, “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).” Ashraf is now stating that his comment was misconstrued and his full statement as he was hugging Waqar Khan was “Waqar you are now ready to get married” the video does not seem to fully support that claim so feel free to view it and judge for yourself. That said he is single so if you know someone…
- Despite being replaced, Zahid Merchant showed up to coach his former team Ikhlas. No word if he wants to be referred to as “Coach Z” going forward but he surely had a positive influence in his teams win last week as they keep in the hunt to take first place.
Thursday 19 November 2015
Friday 13 November 2015
Week Seven - November 13th
- "Don't call it a comeback, I been here for years!” well maybe not but due to the demand of a few current players along with Amir Multani who while he isn't playing this year indicated that he missed reading about himself on a weekly basis.
- The scoring leaders have the usual suspects with Ahmad Hathout and Waqar Khan but some were surprised to see Atif Mian there in 3rd. Mian has come a long way since his debut in the league. Well known for his speed and offensive potential, Mian has put things together this season in a big way averaging two points per game and is currently tied for the league lead in goals.
- Ihsan has had plenty of struggles this season, primarily with attendance but it is still a surprise to see them struggle considering the team has Coach K behind the bench. In a way it may be Coach K who is at fault as he put this team together and after he claimed successes with building up Waseem Bangash and Waqar Khan over the past two seasons he may have bitten off more than he could chew with the selection of Rayhan Malik. Malik has the tools to be an impact player but not the discipline. Coach K seemed to think he could turn Malik into an all-around star but so far things have not worked out.
- Ikhlas was forced to replace Zahid Merchant and though the waiver process ended up with Firasath Ali, a rugged defenseman who will give them another experienced player on the blue line although he is not as offensively gifted as Merchant. Emaan also fits into this picture as they nabbed Zuhair Fancy off the waiver wire in perhaps a risky gamble, hoping the aging defenseman has something left to help them turn things around - the experts don't see that happening but anything is possible.
- A common challenge for the teams in the bottom half of the standings has been attendance, missing key players and for more times this season than ever before missing the goalie. There have been a pair of instances where another player was forced to step in to play goalie for the first time (Umer Buksh for Sabr and Baseer Khan for Emaan) or the team just went with an empty net the entire game.
- Yasser Malik is trying his hand at becoming a two-sport star in I-Slam, playing in both Hockey and Basketball currently and in an interesting factoid, playing on Team Ikhlas in both leagues.
- With just four games left the race to the playoffs is heating up, Shukr and Ikhlas and both still vying for first place but both are in great shape for a top-two finish leaving the rest to grind it out for a better position going into the playoffs.
- The scoring leaders have the usual suspects with Ahmad Hathout and Waqar Khan but some were surprised to see Atif Mian there in 3rd. Mian has come a long way since his debut in the league. Well known for his speed and offensive potential, Mian has put things together this season in a big way averaging two points per game and is currently tied for the league lead in goals.
- Ihsan has had plenty of struggles this season, primarily with attendance but it is still a surprise to see them struggle considering the team has Coach K behind the bench. In a way it may be Coach K who is at fault as he put this team together and after he claimed successes with building up Waseem Bangash and Waqar Khan over the past two seasons he may have bitten off more than he could chew with the selection of Rayhan Malik. Malik has the tools to be an impact player but not the discipline. Coach K seemed to think he could turn Malik into an all-around star but so far things have not worked out.
- Ikhlas was forced to replace Zahid Merchant and though the waiver process ended up with Firasath Ali, a rugged defenseman who will give them another experienced player on the blue line although he is not as offensively gifted as Merchant. Emaan also fits into this picture as they nabbed Zuhair Fancy off the waiver wire in perhaps a risky gamble, hoping the aging defenseman has something left to help them turn things around - the experts don't see that happening but anything is possible.
- A common challenge for the teams in the bottom half of the standings has been attendance, missing key players and for more times this season than ever before missing the goalie. There have been a pair of instances where another player was forced to step in to play goalie for the first time (Umer Buksh for Sabr and Baseer Khan for Emaan) or the team just went with an empty net the entire game.
- Yasser Malik is trying his hand at becoming a two-sport star in I-Slam, playing in both Hockey and Basketball currently and in an interesting factoid, playing on Team Ikhlas in both leagues.
- With just four games left the race to the playoffs is heating up, Shukr and Ikhlas and both still vying for first place but both are in great shape for a top-two finish leaving the rest to grind it out for a better position going into the playoffs.
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