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.