Friday 28 October 2016

Week Four - October 28th

- Week Three saw Ikhlas continue to dominate as they rolled their record to 3-0, Emaan bounce back from a Week Two loss to rout shorthanded Ikhlas and Sabr get their first point of the season against Haya making their debut

- Haya had the unusual schedule with being off the first two weeks of the season and may have worked against them as while Sabr has struggled to start the year they have two games under their belt to built some chemistry and built a 2-0 lead in the first half.  The second half saw Haya make a comeback as their top line of Aazar Zafar, Hisham Ali and Mehmed Rizvanovic impose their will as the line scored to goals to tie the game up.

- Haya got a better effort from rookie goalie Imran Merchant who is making a transition from being a star softball player.  Merchant is known for his great glove and arm in softball along with being a power switch hitter but only one of those skills will help him in goal.

- Ikhlas knew that going into their game against Emaan it was going to be tough missing two key defensemen in Salman Khalid and Umair Ashraf and it showed especially during the second half when Emaan broke the game open.  Khalid is reportedly overseas in Spain to audition as Cristiano Ronaldo's stunt double.  The absence of Ashraf is unclear as he was said to be in Chicago fulfilling the obligations of his beard modelling contract but rumours circulated that after he advised his team that he intended to take a knee during the opening talk in solidarity with his Cambridge friends and that games opponents he became a healthy scratch.

- Emaan got a big game from Waqar Khan who posted a hat trick against Ikhlas, after his first goal, a teammate commented that Khan looked like he was a video game player who was on speed burst after blowing by the defense to score.  Furqan Salam had a big game with a goal and three assists while Zaid Toorawa added a goal and two assists as Emaan's top line did all of the damage in this game.

- Ikhlas has seen their offense struggle out of the game with only three goals in their first three game, observers are looking for Atif Mian to provide a greater spark to the team but he has come into the season with conditioning issues.  When he first joined the league he was described as being two years away from being two years away so he should have blossomed into a star by now.

- Lost in the winless start for Ikhlas has been the play of Rahil Ahmed who has kept his team from being blown out in all their games and while the scoreline last week may not reflect it, Ahmed kept his team in it until the second half where Emaan scored multiple breakaway goals or converted odd man rushes.  Ahmed came into the season as one of the stronger goalies and gives his team a chance to win any night.

- Yaqeen came into the season with a a number of talented young players with strong veterans to support them and the result has been a dominant 3-0 start to the season.  In their game last week, Humza Chaudhry, Arslan Mian and Sajjid Ayubi were a force as they tore through the Shukr defense for chance after chance.

- Shukr were missing some depth on defense but their system along with the play of Kaunain Saiyed kept the game within reach the entire way.  Kashif "Coach K" Taqiuddin was the player of the game for his team as he carried his teams defense core once again.

- Next week sees Yaqeen on a bye as all other teams hope the break cools them off, Ikhlas faces Haya where a win gets Ikhlas out of the basement.  Emaan faces Sabr where the former looks to jump into a first place tie with a win.  Ihsan faces Shukr where Ihsan is also looking to jump into a first place tie with a win -Coach K has stated that he will hold Ihsan's Amir Multani in check tonight.

- Finally a reminder that home teams are responsible for recaps, for players that complain they don't see their name in lights enough consider this an opportunity to tell everyone how great you are.

Week Three - October 21st

-Home Teams are responsible for recaps. Week 3 Home Teams: Haya, Emaan and Yaqeen
-Trade deadline has been set to November 23rd at 7:00 pm. Will a gm be bold enough to break up their core group if it means giving their team a better shot at the championship?
-Contrary to popular belief, all teams don’t make the playoffs. The last place team goes home. Also the first two teams get a bye.
-There has been talk of doing an all-star game with another league. This is to first and foremost reward attendance (need to play at least 7 games to qualify) and top performers of the regular season. Talks have been preliminary so keep making dua!
-How good has Hany Soliman (IHSN) been? 2 straight weeks being selected by the refs as one of the three stars; Week 1’s First Star and Week 2’s Third Star. Scoring 4 of his teams 5 goals. Nothing seems to be slowing him down so maybe being off in Week 3 does the rest of the league a favour
- WEEK 2 2ND STAR: YAQEEN- Humza Chaudry 3G, GWG
- WEEK 2 1ST STAR: Shukr- Idris Deen, 3G & 1 A
-You snooze you lose Mr. Soliman. Yaqeen’s Hamza Chaudry gets a chance to take the lead in the goal scoring race.
-As mentioned in the previews Yaqeen has been one of the most if not the most impressive teams we seen so far this season.
-On that note, we haven’t see Haya. Welcome to the show! What you have for us? Huzaifa Manjra ran the table last year picking up two I-slam championships. He begins the quest to remind the league that this is still his kingdom.
-I feel obliged to mention that Ihsan’s Zaid Majoo came up with 2 break away saves to help preserve the victory for Ihsan. You probably didn’t read about it though because of the jerk move. Another friendly reminder that Home teams are responsible for recaps.
-Emaan’s Zaid Toorawa and Umair Awan has notched 2 goals in 2 games.
-This team seems to be drawing a lot of penalties; After going 0-5 on the PP in Week 1, Emaan had some success on the PP in Week 2.
-Ikhlas’ Salman Khalid will be in Spain. Huge blow to Ikhlas this week
-Shukr put up 6 goals against Sabr. The most by any team so far.
-Sabr has had a poor star. Luckily for them they Ikhlas also haven’t won either. Both teams are desperate to get out of the basement and get their seasons back on track.

Week Two - October 14th

-At the draft goaltenders were at a high premium 5 of the 7 goaltenders gone by round 3.

-Konain Saiyed (Shukr) down but not out came up with a ridiculous glove save

-Waqar Khan (Emaan) had a game to forget with an own goal almost costing his team. Lucky for him, team mate Zaid Toorawa capitalize on a poor clearing attempt from Shukr.

-Gotta feel bad for Shukr, sometimes the better team does not necessarily win; outplayed Emaan in Week 1 but ultimately lost the game

- Imran Merchant (Sabr) had a rough start to his I-Slam career. Again chicken or the egg? Did the Sabr defense support him well enough?

-Arif Bijabhai (Shukr) is this year’s 1st overall pick. There is a lot of pressure that comes with it. Not only are you a targeted player but you need to out-perform the entire league to justify that tag. Held pointless in Week 1

-Shukr is hoping Arif Bijabhai & Idris Deen , the first two picks in this year’s draft are able to become a dynamic duo
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-According to a survey administered shortly after the draft, voters believe Ihsan is well poised to host the championship in a couple of months. Some believe, Emaan, Yaqeen & Haya are also contenders. Being written off at the start are Shukr, Ikhlas and Sabr, all three lost their opening game.

-Player that have new teams:
1) Ikhlas trades Walied Soliman to Ihsan for Hasan Khalid
2) Haya trades Tayyab Kalair & Asim Hussain to Yaqeen for Rehan Rehan Majid Lakhani & Munaf Nathalia

3) Mubashir Malik clears waivers, he replaces Ali Malik on Sabr

-Ahmad Hathout made a special appearance and after watching Waqar Khan (Emaan) play it was off in his batmobile to save Gotham.

-Sabr needs to be better, 11 shots won’t cut it. Likewise for Ikhals, THREE shots in a half, there is no excuse/

-Seriously, it goes against all logic... how did Emaan win against Shukr?

-If Week 1 is any indication Week ONE 3RD STAR Rahil Ahmed goaltender for Ikhlas will be a busy man this season

- WEEK ONE 2ND STAR: Sajjid Ayubi (YAQEEN) putting up 1G & 2A against Sabr

- WEEK 1 1ST STAR- Hany Soliman (IHSAN)- 2 Goals with one being the GWG