- Week Eight saw Sabr shutout Ihsan; Emaan retain the #1 seed with a victory versus Haya; Yaqeen and Taqwa battle to a tie; and Haya claiming the last playoff spot over Yaqeen
- Three Stars from Week Eight:
1st: Saleem Malik (Sabr) - 1 goal, 2 assists
2nd: Waqar Khan (Emaan) - 3 assists
3rd: Assad Darr (Haya) - 1 goal, 1 assist, game winner
- Did you know that Sabr has shutout Ihsan in both of their games this season? In fact Sabr has four shutouts this season (ranking 1st) versus: Haya, Yaqeen and Ihsan (twice). Critics were wrong – seems you can find a D when you spell Malik
- Many people felt Sabr ran up the score against a short-benched Ihsan. When asked for a comment, GM Naiem Malik responded, “Are you joking? No one felt sorry for Sabr last season when y’all were racking up points against my squad. Also it should be pointed out that the first time we faced Ihsan we won 6-0, this time only won by four …” The point of contention was Sabr pushing the ball up and Ali Malik scoring with 13 seconds left considering Ihsan was short benched and forced to put a defenseman to play in goal. An observer noted that Ihsan didn't really show any emotion after being embarrassed like that – a bad sign for the teams state of mind as the playoffs approach.
- Ihsan did get one positive out of their game with Sabr, starting goalie Zaid Majoo was not available and in a pinch the team was forced to put a position player in net. Emad Hussain stepped up and despite limited experience as a goalie played well enough to give his team a chance to win.
- Emaan fell behind early last week against Haya and the team seemed to be out of sync but suddenly Waqar Khan seemed to wake up and start to take over the game. What caused his sudden jump start? It was the emergence of his "frenemy" Ahmad Hathout, also known as the Dark Knight or Batman, that seemed to spark Khan. The two have had a long standing rivaly until Hathout moved to Ottawa to bring his crime fighting talents to a the capital.
- Hany Soliman (Ihsan), last week arrived Friday afternoon in Toronto from Umrah and played his game! Hopefully for Ihsan he (and the rest of the Soliman’s) are able to overcome the shift in time zones before the playoffs.
- Many thought Abdu Sharkawy of Emaan was done for the season with a foot/leg injury. Thus, it was a pleasant surprise for the league and for his team to see him playing last week considering he watched his team play the week before in leg cast. No doubt he will be a pivotal cog for TMT’s playoff success.
- Yaqeen’s season ends tonight. It is a major disappointment for last season’s finalist. Players on this team are looking to erase this season from their memory banks as soon as possible. However, a loss tonight and they will forever hold the dubious record of having the fewest wins in a season (0). On paper this looked like a great team but player absences hurt them almost every week as players were forced to play different positions instead of preferred roles.
- Get your popcorn ready Sabr and Emaan battle it out tonight for the number one seed. Sabr has been the best team in the league for the past five weeks with five straight wins and outscoring opponents by a 21-5 margin - also getting shutouts in three of the past four games.
- Inside sources say Haya has decided to give Khalid Mufti the night off tonight so he can be well-rested for the playoffs. No word yet who will be in net for Haya tonight. It is possible that as a win cannot move Haya out of the wildcard game the team may rest some other star players – no word how the League Office will deal with this if it happens.
- Haya will be playing in the wildcard game next week. Depending on tonight’s results their opponents will either be Taqwa or Ihsan.
- With the end of the season that means it is time to talk awards! The first stage is currently underway as your respective GMs are nominating their own players for each of the major award. After the conclusion of tonight’s games voting will begin and will end before the start of the playoffs. These awards are based on how well players performed during the regular season. There are other awards which are not voted on but rather determined by stats:
Overall Scoring Leader: Waqar Khan (Emaan) 16 points - 3 Point lead over 2nd place Dawood Ciombar
Goals Scoring Leader: Dawood Ciombar (Sabr): 9 Goals - 1 Goal lead over 2nd place Adil Patel
- Will both Waqar Khan and Dawood Ciombar hold on and take home these awards?
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