Wednesday 13 January 2016

Week Thirteen - January 15th - Playoffs

- Then there were two as Ikhlas and Sabr now remain and will meet in the finals to decide this seasons champion.  A brief summary of the Semi-Finals:

  • Sabr came in as the 6th seed against 1st seed Shukr but you wouldn't have known it as the game progressed.  Shukr had a flurry of chances early which they were unable to convert and Sabr managed to build a 2-1 lead at the half.  Shukr dominated parts of the second half with good possession and movement but were never able to make the final pass to get a great scoring chance.  Despite two power plays in the final seven minutes Shukr couldn't get the goal they needed to tie and an empty netter for Sabr in the final seconds iced it.
  • Ikhlas came out flying against Ihsan and an early goal from Farrukh Khan set the tone as they managed to pin Ihsan deep and limit their offensive chances.  A goal by Farooq Sani put them up 2-0 and they locked it up the rest of the way.

- The Shukr upset loss comes as a surprise but at the same time does it?  Once again the first place team in the regular season has failed to win, continuing the dubious streak of regular season success not translating to post season glory.  This Shukr team had it all, three strong forward lines, solid defense and great goaltending.  They went undefeated in the regular season and seemed poised to win it all but just could not get their offense going - ironic considering they had the most goals scored in the regular season.

- Sabr now has as many wins in the playoffs (two) as they did all regular season and have toppled the third and first seeds and will now face the second seed in the finals.  An opportunity to take out the top three seeds to win the championship is an unusual path to a title to say the least.

- Post-game after Ihsan's loss, Coach K noted that Waqar Khan was instrumental for Ikhlas, commenting, "He used everything I taught him last season against me this night."

- Amir Multani made a surprise appearance on Friday and took a position behind the Ikhlas bench acting as their coach, his contributions seemed dubious at best considering he didn't seem to do or say much but he took credit for the win none-the-less.

- Sabr seems to be embracing their role as underdogs, before their game against Shukr they joked about breaking playoff brackets and after the win captain Huzaifa Manjra excitedly yelled "How you like us now?  I told you i'm Cinderella" apparently meaning that Sabr is a Cinderella Team.

- During his teams celebrations for their win over Ihsan, Umair Ashraf of Ikhlas was careful to not make any statements about being ready for marriage this time....what will happen after the finals is anyone's guess.

- Looking towards the finals, Ikhlas and Sabr split their regular season series with Ikhlas winning the first meeting 6-2 and Sabr getting a 3-2 win in the second match-up.

- The key match-up will be Waqar Khan vs Ahmad Hathout who have finished 1-2 in scoring the past two seasons and met in the Spring Season finals where Khan emerged as the winner.

- Video Recap for the Quarter Final game between Emaan vs Ihsan has been posted
- Video Recap for the Quarter Final game between Haya vs Sabr has been posted

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