Week Sixteen - Spring Season Wrap-Up

- Game Two of the finals ended regulation in a 2-2 tie and pushed to Overtime where Yousuf Sowdagar scored with just 41 seconds left to give Emaan the Championship.  Haya built a 2-0 lead off goals from Farooq Sani and Waqar Khan but Emaan kept up the pressure and a power play goal from Huzaifa Manjra with just under 10 minutes left in regulation gave them a lifeline leading to Gehad Al-Hundi scoring the equalizer with just over a minute left to tie it up.

- Both teams had their full squads out for the championship game, for Haya this included injured players Rayhan Malik and Ozair Naveed, both key players for the Haya who shuffled players around to cover the gaps.  An observer noted the atmosphere for Haya was great to have injured players continue to attend games in street clothes to coach/cheer their teammates on.

Here are your 2016 Spring Season Champions, Emaan:

- Emaan made a great comeback in this game but had some breaks go their way as Haya missed a chance from their third line to make it 3-1 late in the game as some great cycling of the ball resulted in a pair of open chances in front of the net that Khalid Mufti turned away.  Then to open overtime, Azhar Kalair had his one-timer graze the outside of the post.

- Arif Bijabhai wins back to back Spring Season championships and both times with Emaan.  A bit of a rocky start to his season after being the top pick in the draft and being dealt after his early season struggles but he bounced back as expected to contribute to Emaan's championship.

- An interesting season comes to a close, some unforgettable story lines over the season kept us entertained and Ihsan was the source of much of the material.  With Ahmad "Batman" Hathout and Amir Multani working hard to get their names in the headlines week after week.  The fall of the Dark Knight was noted last week as he took playoff elimination hard, this week it was discovered that Multani has taken refuge here to try and discover how to get his game back on track.

Award Winners for the season were announced after the Championship Game and here they are:
Islamic Relief Regular Season MVP: Yousuf Sowdagar
Best Defensive Forward: Farooq Sani
Best Defenseman: Luqman Arshad
Top Rookie: Idris Deen
Most Improved Player: Jaudat Wasty
Top Forward: Yousuf Sowdagar
Best Goaltender: Zaid Majoo
Naseem Buttar General Manager Award: Zuhair Fancy
Brotherhood Awards: Ahmad Ibrahim and Azhar Kalair
Playoff MVP: Khalid Mufti

Congratulations again to Emaan and thank you to everyone who participated this season and to players who were teased here and took it in stride.  InshAllah we will see everyone back for the Fall Season so stay tuned for registration details later in the summer.