- Welcome to the 2018 I-Slam Hockey Winter Season. For those
new to the league, gloves and a CSA certified helmet are mandatory. A visor or cage are strongly recommended. Teams should be ready to play as
early as 10 minutes before the scheduled start time of your game. As
well, if you have the 11pm game the facility has stressed that we must leave the
arena before 12:30 am
- This season is looking to be the most competitive season we have had to date. With the increased level of competition along with eight teams all battling for the I-Slam Cup. The eight teams are split into two conferences which were randomly assigned - Mecca (teams that had the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th picks) and Medina (teams that had the 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th picks)
Mecca:
1. Emaan - Orange (Yousuf Soliman & Osama Soliman)
2. Ikhlas - Green (Luqman Arshad & Akib Malik)
3. Shukr - Red (Fahad Mohammad & Maaz Haq)
4. Yaqeen - White (Yasir Hussain & Emaad Khwaja)
- This season is looking to be the most competitive season we have had to date. With the increased level of competition along with eight teams all battling for the I-Slam Cup. The eight teams are split into two conferences which were randomly assigned - Mecca (teams that had the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th picks) and Medina (teams that had the 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th picks)
Mecca:
1. Emaan - Orange (Yousuf Soliman & Osama Soliman)
2. Ikhlas - Green (Luqman Arshad & Akib Malik)
3. Shukr - Red (Fahad Mohammad & Maaz Haq)
4. Yaqeen - White (Yasir Hussain & Emaad Khwaja)
Medina:
1. Ihsan - Teal (Humza Chaudhry & Arslan Mian)
2. Ridha - Blue (Shaukat Khan & Mohammad Bilal)
3. Haya - Grey (Abdul Wahab Mohammad & Humza Ali)
4. Sabr - Yellow (Yousaf Sowdagar & Waqar Khan)
- In terms of the overall regular season schedule each team plays the other three teams within their conference twice (3 x 2= 6 games) and play the four teams from the opposing conference once (6 + 4 = 10 games).
- Playoff Format: the two teams that finish last in the Mecca and Madina conferences after the 10 game regular season will not qualify for the playoffs. Afterwards, similar to the NHL and NBA playoff format there are two sides of the bracket (in their case it is East and West, for us it is Mecca and Medina). The top teams in the Mecca and Madina conferences get a bye straight to the semi-finals. Teams finishing second and third within their respective conference will play a single game elimination wildcard game. The winner of the wildcard game moves onto the semifinals and then we eventually get our two finalists (one from the Mecca conference and the other from the Medina conference). So this is how it looks like:
1. Ihsan - Teal (Humza Chaudhry & Arslan Mian)
2. Ridha - Blue (Shaukat Khan & Mohammad Bilal)
3. Haya - Grey (Abdul Wahab Mohammad & Humza Ali)
4. Sabr - Yellow (Yousaf Sowdagar & Waqar Khan)
- In terms of the overall regular season schedule each team plays the other three teams within their conference twice (3 x 2= 6 games) and play the four teams from the opposing conference once (6 + 4 = 10 games).
- Playoff Format: the two teams that finish last in the Mecca and Madina conferences after the 10 game regular season will not qualify for the playoffs. Afterwards, similar to the NHL and NBA playoff format there are two sides of the bracket (in their case it is East and West, for us it is Mecca and Medina). The top teams in the Mecca and Madina conferences get a bye straight to the semi-finals. Teams finishing second and third within their respective conference will play a single game elimination wildcard game. The winner of the wildcard game moves onto the semifinals and then we eventually get our two finalists (one from the Mecca conference and the other from the Medina conference). So this is how it looks like:
Medina
Playoff Bracket:
Wildcard (single game): 2 seed from Medina conf. vs 3 seed
from Medina conf.
Semi-finals (best of 2): winner of Medina Wildcard vs 1 seed from Medina conf.
Winner of Semi-finals moves onto the finals (best of 2)
Semi-finals (best of 2): winner of Medina Wildcard vs 1 seed from Medina conf.
Winner of Semi-finals moves onto the finals (best of 2)
Mecca
Playoff Bracket:
Wildcard (single game): 2 seed from Mecca conf. vs 3 seed
from Mecca conf.
Semi-finals (best of 2): winner of Mecca Wildcard vs 1 seed from Mecca conf.
Winner of Semi-finals moves onto the finals (best of 2)
Semi-finals (best of 2): winner of Mecca Wildcard vs 1 seed from Mecca conf.
Winner of Semi-finals moves onto the finals (best of 2)
* NOTE: to be eligible for the playoffs, you must play
minimum three games during the regular season. It is your responsibility to ensure
that your attendance has been noted on the game sheet. If there is a
discrepancy, please inform your GMs.
- There was a lot of trade activity that occurred during the week. So much that some previews for certain teams might not reflect the most up to date roster changes. Here is the transaction log of what went down the past week:
Trade 1: Ihsan trades #2 and #15 picks to Haya for #6 and #10 picks
Trade 2: Sabr trades Saleem Malik (pick #25) to Shukr for Abdu Sharkawy (pick #37)
Trade 3: Emaan trades Idrees Deen (pick #1) to Yaqeen for Hany Soliman (pick #10)
Trade 4: Haya trades Naveed Mohammad (pick #53) to Shukr for Zuhair Fancy (pick #59)
Trade 5: Emaan trades Jaudat Wasty (pick #81) to Ikhlas for Fahad Siddiqui (pick #83)
Trade 6: Sabr trades Abdu Sharkawy (pick #37) to Ridha for Saajid Bhayat (pick #20)
Waiver Wire: Sabr put in a waiver request for Shuaib Hussein to replace injured Adeel Awan (pick #9). Hussein did not clear waivers as he was claimed by Ikhlas. Sabr chose to take Sadat Malik (pick #35) from Ikhlas as compensation.
Trade 7:
Ridha receives: Farrukh Khan (pick #6), Shehryar Khan (pick #11), Ahmad Ibrahim (pick #47), AK (pcik #82) and Bilal Khan (pick #95)
Ihsan receives: Ijaz Chaudhry (pick #4), Tayyab Kalair (pick #29), Faraaz Alvi (pick #36), Idris Kalair (pick #61) and Humza Amin (pick #100)
- There was a lot of trade activity that occurred during the week. So much that some previews for certain teams might not reflect the most up to date roster changes. Here is the transaction log of what went down the past week:
Trade 1: Ihsan trades #2 and #15 picks to Haya for #6 and #10 picks
Trade 2: Sabr trades Saleem Malik (pick #25) to Shukr for Abdu Sharkawy (pick #37)
Trade 3: Emaan trades Idrees Deen (pick #1) to Yaqeen for Hany Soliman (pick #10)
Trade 4: Haya trades Naveed Mohammad (pick #53) to Shukr for Zuhair Fancy (pick #59)
Trade 5: Emaan trades Jaudat Wasty (pick #81) to Ikhlas for Fahad Siddiqui (pick #83)
Trade 6: Sabr trades Abdu Sharkawy (pick #37) to Ridha for Saajid Bhayat (pick #20)
Waiver Wire: Sabr put in a waiver request for Shuaib Hussein to replace injured Adeel Awan (pick #9). Hussein did not clear waivers as he was claimed by Ikhlas. Sabr chose to take Sadat Malik (pick #35) from Ikhlas as compensation.
Trade 7:
Ridha receives: Farrukh Khan (pick #6), Shehryar Khan (pick #11), Ahmad Ibrahim (pick #47), AK (pcik #82) and Bilal Khan (pick #95)
Ihsan receives: Ijaz Chaudhry (pick #4), Tayyab Kalair (pick #29), Faraaz Alvi (pick #36), Idris Kalair (pick #61) and Humza Amin (pick #100)
- The second trade of the season saw Abdu Sharkawy reunited with some former teammates from last Spring Season including Waqar Khan. Some questioned if it was a balanced deal but Sabr was pleased with the move saying that Sharkawy was a great fit for their team and a great locker room presence.
- The Facebook live stream was well viewed with players celebrating their new times, strangely enough a pair of comments ended up being invalidated by the above trade. Rizwan Malik mentioned that he was excited to play with Abdu Sharkawy while Saleem Malik mentioned he was looking forward to playing with Waqar "Boom Boom" Khan. Ironically the two were traded for each other making their initial excitement an ironic footnote for the draft aftermath.
- Abdu Sharkawy's excitement was short lived as just a few days after being moved from Shukr to Sabr he was shockingly moved again. This time Sabr dealt him to Ridha in exchange for Saajid Bhayat. An observer noted that Sharkawy was being treated like a ladoo plate at a party the way he was getting passed around as Ridha is his third team and the season has not even started yet.
- Sulmaan Azmat commented during the live feed that Saqib Sheikh needed cue
cards and greater presence. Sheikh seemed to take that comment to heart as he traveled to Philadelphia and made the iconic run up the Philadelphia Museum of Art as was done in Rocky. Sheikh indicated that this inspirational moment was going to be fuel for him this coming season and any media related work that he does.
- We have some new GMs this season which include some returning players, some early questions around the duo of Shaukat Khan and Mohammed Bilal who have not participated in the league in a few years. For those who are not familiar with his work, here is a Player Profile Video of Mohammed Bilal to showcase some of his skills.
- This season seems to be the season of family with teams making drafts or draft picks to keep family together. There are a surprising number of father/son combos this season as well which always a fun experience to witness.
- We have some new GMs this season which include some returning players, some early questions around the duo of Shaukat Khan and Mohammed Bilal who have not participated in the league in a few years. For those who are not familiar with his work, here is a Player Profile Video of Mohammed Bilal to showcase some of his skills.
- This season seems to be the season of family with teams making drafts or draft picks to keep family together. There are a surprising number of father/son combos this season as well which always a fun experience to witness.
Make sure to follow us and
get your friends to follow us as well (this is another way you can help grow
the league!):
Facebook: I-Slam Hockey
Twitter: iSlamHockey
Instagram: IslamHockeyCanada
Youtube: IslamBallHockey
Facebook: I-Slam Hockey
Twitter: iSlamHockey
Instagram: IslamHockeyCanada
Youtube: IslamBallHockey
