Week Five - March 18th

- Week Four saw the top two teams win again while the remaining four teams failed to break apart from each other.

- For the first time this season, all six teams were in action all teams in action in the same night gave teams an opportunity to check out the competition.  Many raved about Emaan’s offence and particularly their top line that seemed unstoppable.

- Ihsan was pumped for the debut of Amir Multani whom they acquired off waivers, Multani was touted as the boost their offense needed to get going but the results were far from that.  Against Sabr they got shut out and managed only 11 shots on net as a team.  GM Fuzail Thakur said that he was not concerned after the game but perhaps he should be, two goals in three games for an offense that was considered one of the best just won't do

- Ikhlas came in with a short bench and struggling and despite a good start, collapsed against Haya and ended up on the wrong end of a 7-1 rout.  Yusuf Kapoor stood on his head early, robbing Waqar Khan on a breakaway and then stoning Ozair Naveed and Azhar Kalair.  Kapoor's heroics kept his team in the game until early in the 2nd half when his team in front of him finally let fatigue catch up and Haya went to work with their forwards left unmarked in front and able to pop in rebounds for easy goals

- Shukr continues to struggle with injuries, last game missing Aazar Zafar who went down with the flu.  The fact that Coach K has kept his team in third place despite so many key players being unavailable is a positive sign for this team for when they finally get everyone healthy

- Haya clearly found their offensive touch last week against Ikhlas, the output from Waqar Khan of a hat-trick was not a surprise, but the boost from the second line was what broke the game open as Asim Gauhar (2 goals, 1 assist), Usamah Rao (1 goal, 2 assists) and Shoaib Bhatti (three assists) were a force all game.  Their hard work early in the game resulted in many chances that Yusuf Kappor turned away but their perseverance paid off in the 2nd half by which time the Ikhlas defense core was running on fumes.

- Emaan's top line continues to set the pace this season, Gehad Alhundi leads the league with 13 points while Yousuf Sowdagar has 11 points and Ibrahim Hindy has 7 points.  This week Sabr has the unenviable task of trying to shut down this dynamic trio.

- Back to the Ihsan, Ahmad Hathout still has yet to record a point this season let alone make good on his statement that he would set the record for fastest goal to start a game - he’s 0/3 for those keeping track.  Hathout has all the tools to turn this around so many are baffled as to the reason for his slow start; one theory is that he is worn down after carrying Sabr to the championship in the recent fall season

- Some observers were curious about Haya and why the full team was not wearing their league jerseys, a team spokesman advised that there was an issue with jersey sizes (Haya along with some other teams) as rather than Ball Hockey Jerseys the team received much larger Ice Hockey Jerseys.  After his big game last week, Asim Gauhar may want to keep wearing his Joe Sakic Nordiques jersey rather than his league jersey whenever it comes back from the manufacturer in the correct size

- Coach K has announced that Sadat Malik will be making his debut and not a moment too soon, fitting him into the Coach K system on the fly will be a challenge but he is a veteran shut-down defenseman who will fit right in.

- Reports indicate that Ahmad Hathout has been trying to motivate his team by impersonating Batman during pre-game chats; going so far as to state: “I’m the hero that Ihsan needs, but not the one it deserves.  Opposing defensemen hunt me, because i can take it. Because I’m your hero.  A silent guardian.  A watchful protector.  A Dark Knight."

- Week Five has some added drama with reports of three teams potentially missing their goalie as Yasir Hussain, Sadiq Rehman and Fraz Khan are not available.  Shukr has already stated that they will be dressing Akib Malik who is one of the best defensive forwards as their goalie in another out of the box move from Coach K as he keeps his team together.  As for Sabr and Ihsan their goalie plans are not clear but one will likely use Zaid Majoo.  Reports indicate that both teams reached out to Sheraz Mahmood to dress for them but Sheraz Bhai declined indicating he had a prior commitment.

- With a tough game against Haya this week, Ihsan GM Fuzail Thakur has guaranteed a big game from Amir Multani

Week Four - March 11th

- Week Three saw one top team stumble in Shukr while another top contender in Emaan dominated.

- Ihsan went into their game with high hopes for their offense with the addition of newly acquired Amir Multani but he was not dressed for this game his teams offense came out flat as a result.  The pressure is on Multani to show up and get Ihsan on the right track.  Reportedly he has been working out twice a day to get into shape for the season.

- Shukr took a surprise loss last week, although with all the injuries the team was facing they had a large challege to overcome.  Yet while this was the first regular season loss for Shukr this season, this was the first regular season loss for Aazar Zafar in two seasons as who was part of the undefeated Shukr team from the last fall season.

- Haya had their full line-up available for their game against Shukr - sort of.  Ozair Naveed left a private box at the Toronto Raptors vs Cleveland Cavaliers game early to make his game however while he arrived to the arena on time he quickly realized he forgot his helmet.  ozair lefts raptors game to get to his game, forgot helmet and missed first half of his game racing home to retrieve it.  Unconfirmed reports indicate that Haya Captain Waqar Khan will be providing his team with an equipment checklist to review before each game as for the same game Huzaifa Shahid forgot his shorts and played in his track pants.

- The Shukr loss ruined the evening for Nadeem Qureshi who was celebrating his birthday that night.  Coach K gave a touching birthday toast post game to try and take some of the sting of the loss away.

- Going into Week Four, the pressure is on Sabr and Ihsan who face each other with both teams looking for their first win.  No word on whether either team is looking to make a move but if the losing doesn't end, both teams could try to shake things up via a trade to get going.

- Shukr got a massive effort from Kashif Taqiuddin who worked to cover for the missing players in his lineup.  During the game he took on the challenge of shutting down Haya's leader Waqar Khan and was successful in the head-to-head match-up.  In one instance, using his veteran guile to knock the net off just as Khan snapped in a loose rebound.  Post game, Coach K showed off the scars from his effort with a pair of open cuts.

- To say that Emaan dominated their game is an understatement, Gehad Alhundi finished with six points, Yousuf Sowdagar with five points and Ibrahim Hindy had four points.  If their top line keeps putting up strong efforts like this they will be hard to stop.

- Haya had a minor injury scare as during their game against Shukr, Shoaib Bhatti came off a shift with a lower body injury that he later said was minor and not a long term concern.

- Despite the loss, Coach K praised the effort of Jaudat Wasty who made a strong debut for Shukr.  With his experience playing in the Coach K system, Wasty was expected to fit in well and that he did logging big minutes against Haya.

- Ahmad Hathout once again missed out on breaking the fastest goal record as he promised before his season started.  More alarming for Ihsan is that the League's Regular Season scoring leader is without a point after two games.

- The injuries for Shukr have been mentioned but in addition to the season ending injury to Humza Hussain, the multiple games that Sadat Malik is expected to miss and the knee injury to Ali Malik. Saleem Malik who played through a painful hand injury to give his team a chance to win.

- Games for March 4th were cancelled due to the arena mistakenly double booking the night, those games have been moved to later in the season.  That said there were a few interesting theories as to why the games were delayed, with some of the most entertaining being:

• Coach K trying to stall a week to help Shukr get over their numerous injury issues
• Ahmad Ibrahim of Ihsan getting his game cancelled so he could celebrate his birthday
• Sabr worried that Sheraz Mahmood may have put too much pressure on himself going into his game against Haya where he was filling in for the night and eager to face off against some of his friends - Sheraz Bhai had guaranteed a shutout
• Amir Multani trying to get his game cancelled after failing a pregame fitness test

Player of the Game videos have been posted:
Haya vs Shukr - Azhar Kalair with the Game Winning goal
Emaan vs Ihsan - Gehad Alhundi (he was not available to the media post-game)