-Week Five saw the defending champions Ihsan get their second straight win against Haya, Yaqeen struggles continue with a 4-0 loss to Sabr while an under-manned Taqwa team humbled Emaan 2-0.
-Three Stars from Week Five:
1st: Yasir Hussain (Taqwa) - 19 saves, shutout
2nd: Ahmad Mobin (Sabr) - 16 saves, shutout
3rd: Akib Malik (Sabr) - 3 assists
- What’s going on with Yaqeen? Last season’s finalist is having a disastrous spring season. For the third consecutive week they have been shutout (Ihsan, Taqwa and now Sabr). In fact Sabr scored more goals against Yaqeen last week (four) than Yaqeen has scored all season (three). The spotlight will be shinning heavy on their first overall pick Mohammed Hamoud to justify his draft ranking and also on Humza Chaudhry to show some consistency.
- Right now, Yasir Hussain and Adil Patel of Taqwa are the hottest duo in the league. Patel has scored in every one of his team’s games while logging heavy minutes against the opposition’s top line. Not to be upstaged by his teammate, Hussain has turned away everything he has faces the past two games.
- Emaan got stunned by Taqwa last week; they looked like a much different team when Salman Khalid isn’t in their lineup. They are facing a demoralized Yaqeen group tonight, a team they put up a league high seven goals back in Week Two.
- That Emaan loss came at the hands of Taqwa who did not even have enough players for two lines as only nine showed up last week. Adil Patel was forced to log heavy minutes along with Naveed Mohammad providing some veteran leadership for the forwards. There are reports that after a game where he was forced to double-shift regularly, Mohammad will be resting for at least one week to keep him fresh for the playoffs.
- Yaqeen's struggles are obvious, with Zafir Rashid in the lineup their defense has been solid but when he has been absent, which is all four losses, the team struggles to move the ball up the floor. A trade may be what the team needs to shake things up and help on D is the biggest need. A ball moving defender would be preferred but getting even a physical defenceman would allow Kashif Taqiuddin to be free to push up more on rushes to generate offense.
- Changing of the guard? I guess no one stays at the top forever and every empire eventually crumbles; Waqar Khan (Emaan) has company atop the scoring leader board with the unfamiliar face of Ali Malik (Sabr). Khan is now pointless in his last two games, he is still working hard at both ends of the rink but needs some help from his wingers to create space for him in front of the net.
- Forget about the Sabr team you knew from the fall season, it is probably safe to say this is a much different team. League Leaders in goals scored (19) and tied for fewest goals against (7) they are emerging as a serious contender for the number one seed with three of the top four scorers in the league.
- Don’t sleep on the champs quite yet as they are creeping up in the standing. If they can get two points against Taqwa tonight they might finish 2nd overall once all games are completed. Osama Soliman has led this team to back-to-back wins.
- Changing of the guard? I guess no one stays at the top forever and every empire eventually crumbles; Waqar Khan (Emaan) has company atop the scoring leader board with the unfamiliar face of Ali Malik (Sabr). Khan is now pointless in his last two games, he is still working hard at both ends of the rink but needs some help from his wingers to create space for him in front of the net.
- Forget about the Sabr team you knew from the fall season, it is probably safe to say this is a much different team. League Leaders in goals scored (19) and tied for fewest goals against (7) they are emerging as a serious contender for the number one seed with three of the top four scorers in the league.
- Don’t sleep on the champs quite yet as they are creeping up in the standing. If they can get two points against Taqwa tonight they might finish 2nd overall once all games are completed. Osama Soliman has led this team to back-to-back wins.
- Did we mention Ali Malik leads the league in scoring? He is arguably the best Malik on Sabr right now.
- Trade Deadline is set for April 4th at 8:00 pm so look for trade talk to heat up for the next week while teams try to tweak their rosters for the playoffs.
- Trade Deadline is set for April 4th at 8:00 pm so look for trade talk to heat up for the next week while teams try to tweak their rosters for the playoffs.
- This will be the last week of just three games in one night as after that we will be back to four-game nights and the strategy of teams managing double-headers.
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