Spring Season - Week Twelve - May 12th

- Last week Emaan came out firing on all cylinders with an impressive 6-2 victory over Sabr.  Emaan now leads the best of 2 series 1-0 and this result makes it three straight wins for them over Sabr.

Three Stars of the Week:
1st: Waqar Khan (Emaan) - 2 Goals, 2 Assists, 1 PP Goal, 1 SH Goal
2nd: Umair Awan (Emaan) - 2 Goals, 1 Assist
3rd: Saleem Malik (Sabr) - 1 Goal, 1 Assist

- Will the curse of Salman Alvi come to an end tomorrow?  For a refresher, Salman Alvi has yet to reach the summit of I-Slam glory. Skill and effort are never in doubt with Alvi as he has played a pivotal part in many successful teams throughout the years. However lady luck hasn’t been on his side. Has his fortunes finally turned?  Hey why not?  We have witnessed Leicester City, Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Cubs and even Donald Trump.  So this might be the year where the unpredictable is the predictable

- On the flip side, Rizwan Malik of Sabr has gone as far as to publicly guarantee a win for his team in Game Two on Facebook.  When asked, many of his teammates agreed and said that they would make the greatest comeback in league history.

- Firasath Ali notched a goal for Emaan last week leaving critics perplexed as to why he hasn’t considered playing up as a forward more often.  Sure Salman Khalid did a lot of the heavy lifting going coast to coast and creating the chance but Ali was able to provide the finish.

- Sabr’s Ahmad Mobin has vowed to better this week after surrendering 6 goals on 11 shots.  In 2014 he haunted TMT in the semi-finals but fast forward to 2017 TMT has made him look like a ghost in net.  He will need to rewind the clock to help support Rizwan Malik's bold prediction

- Postgame, Sabr seemed stunned by the result but confident about what needed to happen to win this series.  A common sentiment was that the team owed their fan base more after the poor Game One performance but they would make good as "A Malik always pays his debts."

Here are the Finalist for the 2017 Spring Awards (in alphabetical order):
*Awards to be handed out before the finals so if you are a finalist please show up!

THE NASEEM BUTTAR GENERAL MANAGER’S AWARD:
- Emaan GMs: Adeel Awan & Furqan Salam
- Sabr GMs: Saleem Malik & Naiem Malik
- Taqwa GMs: Yasir Hussain & Saajid Bhayat

BEST DEFENSEMAN:
- Adil Patel - Taqwa
- Luqman Arshad - Sabr
- Salman Khalid - Emaan

BEST GOALTENDER:
- Ahmad Mobin - Sabr
- Khalid Mufti - Haya
- Yusuf Kapoor - Emaan

PLAYER'S CHOICE AWARD:
- Dawood Ciombar - Sabr
- Naqeeb Shaikh - Taqwa
- Yusuf Kapoor - Emaan

REGULAR SEASON MVP:
- Adil Patel - Taqwa
- Dawood Ciombar - Sabr
- Waqar Khan - Emaan

PLAYOFF MVP: * subject to change
- Ali Malik - Sabr

- Dawood Ciombar - Sabr

- Saleem Malik - Sabr

- Umair Awar - Emaan

- Waqar Khan - Emaan
- Yusuf Kapoor - Emaan

We already know the winners of the following awards:
Overall Points Leader: Waqar Khan (Emaan) 19 points
Overall Goals Leader: Adil Patel (Taqwa) & Dawood Ciombar (Sabr) 10 Goals
Khalid Raheem Lowest GAA Award: Yusuf Kapoor (Emaan) 1.30

Let’s not forget about the one trophy that will have everyone’s attention... As it stands at the moment, it is closer to Cambridge and might be there at the end of the night unless Sabr makes good on their guarantee.

Spring Season - Week Eleven - May 5th

- Week 10 saw Ihsan punch their way to the semi-finals by grinding out a win over Haya; Sabr doubling up against Taqwa to win by a score of 4-2; Emaan taking care of business against their rivals and defending champions Ihsan with a dominant 4-0 win.

Three Stars of the Week:
1st: Furqan Salam (Emaan) – 2 Goals, 1 Short-handed, Game Winning Goal
2nd: Osama Soliman (Ihsan)- 2 Goals, Game Winning Goal

3rd: Ali Malik (Sabr) - 1 Goal, Game Winning Goal

- Emaan has seen the injuries pile up as the season has progressed, some more obvious with GM Adeel Awan and Abdu Sharkawy moving with crutches but they have been paying a price for their recent wins.  Waqar Khan was supporting a large welt on his arm after blocking a shot, Zuhair Fancy was knocked out of the semi-final game after being hit from behind into the end boards and failing medical clearance to return to the game.  Umair Ashraf has been battling fitness issues while Samad Hamidi and Sadiq Rehman have been playing with lower body injuries.  Winning comes with a price and Emaan has been paying their bills on a weekly basis.

- The finals will be a match-up of the top two teams from the regular season along with the usual game within a game match-ups.  Akib Malik is one of the best two-way players in the league and will likely be counted on to cover Waqar Khan.  Yusuf Kapoor and Ahmad Mobin have been in a duel for the top goalie all season with Kapoor getting the edge in Wins, Goals Against and Save Percentage but its the Championship that they are both vying for now.

- Sabr wanted to face Taqwa in the semi's rather than Ihsan, feeling that it was a better match-up for them so winning their semi-final spared the team from a great deal of criticism for dropping the game against what they perceived to be a weaker opponent.

- Emaan managed to finally defeat their rivals Ihsan in the semi-final with a dominant 4-0 win despite being in penalty trouble for much of the game.  The last four regular season meetings had Ihsan winning two and getting a tie in the other two so Emaan had to be pleased with finally getting the win.  They made a point to "Controlla" Yousuf Soliman and keep him from making an impact on the game.

- After locking in their spot for the finals and watching Ihsan get eliminated, players from Sabr could be overheard proclaiming that the Soliman dynasty was over, and this was the dawn of the "Age of the Malik's"

Awards - 2017 Spring Nominations (in alphabetical order):

Regular Season MVP:
1. Adil Patel (Taqwa)
2. Akib Malik (Sabr)

3. Dawood Ciombar (Sabr)
4. Furqan Salam (Emaan)
5. Junaid Mohammad (Yaqeen)
6. Mehmed Rizvanovic (Haya)
7. Naeem Akhter (Haya)
8. Waqar Khan (Emaan)
9. Yousuf Soliman (Ihsan)

Top Goaltender:
1. Ahmad Mobin (Sabr)

2. Kaunain Saiyed (Yaqeen)

3. Khalid Mufti (Haya)

4. Yasir Hussain (Taqwa)
5. Yusuf Kapoor (Emaan)

6. Zaid Majoo (Ihsan)

Best Defensemen:
1. Adil Patel (Taqwa)
2. Arssal Shahabuddin (Haya)
3. Jibraan Salam (Emaan)
4. Junaid Mohammad (Yaqeen)
5. Farrukh Khan (Ihsan)
6. Naeem Akhter (Haya)
7. Naiem Malik (Sabr)
8. Luqman Arshad (Sabr)
9. Salman Khalid (Emaan)

Player’s Choice Award:
1. Aamir Hanif (Sabr)
2. Aazar Zafar (Haya)
3. Abdu Sharkawy (Emaan)
4. Ahmad Kaiss (Ihsan)
5. Ahmad Mobin (Sabr)
6. Dawood Ciombar (Sabr)
7. Farooq Sani (Taqwa)
8. Jibraan Salam (Emaan)
9. Mohammed Hamoud (Yaqeen)
10. Munaf Nathalia (Taqwa) Write-In
11. Naqeeb Shaikh (Taqwa) Write-In
12. Sadiq Rehman (Emaan)
13. Saqib Khokhar (Taqwa) Write-In
14. Sulmaan Azmat (Haya)
15. Usamah Rao (Sabr)
16. Yusuf Kapoor (Emaan)

General Managers of The Season:
1. Emaan: Furqan Salam & Adeel Awan
2. Haya: Naeem Akhtar & Fahad Mallik

3. Ihsan: Yousuf Soliman & Farrukh Khan

4. Sabr: Saleem Malik & Naiem Malik

5. Taqwa: Saajid Bhayat & Yasir Hussain

6. Yaqeen: Arslan Mian & Humza Chaudhry

As the season is drawing to the end we would like to thank the GMs, all of the volunteers and
players who made continue to make this league a success.