Spring Season - Week Four - February 16th

- Week Three saw Haya open the night with a 4-3 win over Ihsan, Sabr dominate for a 4-2 win over Ridha, Shukr hold on for a 3-1 win over shorthanded Emaan and Yaqeen defeat Ikhlas 2-0.

- Week Three saw the end of the first round of divisional games with some surprises in both conference:

Mecca Conference :

RANK	TEAM	GP	WINS	LOSSES	TIES	POINTS	GF	GA	GD
1	Shukr	3	2	0	1	5	8	4	4
2	Yaqeen	3	2	1	0	4	9	3	6
3	Emaan	3	1	2	0	2	4	10	-6
4	Ikhlas	3	0	2	1	1	3	7	-4

Note: 4^th place does not qualify for the playoffs  

Medina Conference:

RANK	TEAM	GP	WINS	LOSSES	TIES	POINTS	GF	GA	GD
1	Sabr	3	2	1	0	4	8	6	2
2	Haya	3	2	1	0	4	6	7	-1
3	Ridha	3	1	2	0	2	6	5	-1
4	Ihsan	3	1	2	0	2	6	8	-2

Note: 4^th place does not qualify for the playoffs    

- For Mecca, Shukr is at the top of the table and even more shockingly, Ikhlas is at the bottom with no wins.  For Medina things are tight and Haya has defied the pundits to be in a tie for first while highly regarded Ridha is tied for last and on a two game winning streak.

- Shukr was glad to have Emad Hussain back in the lineup last week after he missed their Week Two game while hanging out with the New York Rangers as MSG.

- Haya stormed out to a quick 4-0 lead in their game against Ihsan in the first half only to have their opponents storm back in the second half with three straight goals to make the final minutes tense but the veterans of Haya closed the door for the win.  Their second in a row after being destroyed in their opening game of the season.  Even more improbably the team sits in a tie for first place in their division which seemed unlikely after being humiliated by Ridha to open the season.

- Ridha has struggled in their past two games, missing players has been the primary cause for their poor play - notably the absence of GM Shaukat Khan whose offense cannot be replaced.

- Ihsan got some bad news a few days before their game against Haya as they learned that Humza Chaudhry would be lost for the season with a knee injury.  They were able to replace him with Ahmad Chaudhry to keep it all in the family as the veteran will be needed to bring some offense to replace his the scoring of his nephew.

- Yaqeen got back to their winning ways with a strong game against Ikhlas where they scored an early goal and then demonstrated great defensive abilities as they shut down the offense of Ikhlas and scored a goal in the final minute to seal the deal.  In their two wins they have demonstrated the ability to blow a team out (6-0 win against Emaan) and play a tight game (2-0 win over Ikhlas) which demonstrates the varied strengths of this team.

- Emaan went into their game against Shukr with just two subs on the bench and missing many key players but their strategy to play a tight defensive game and try and catch Shukr in transition worked as they were down just 2-1 going into the final minutes of the game.  After a great individiual effort where a faceoff deep in their own zone turned into a partial breakaway, Mohammed Hamoud drew a double minor penalty and a penalty shot on the same play.  With 24 seconds left and his team down by one, Hamoud took his penalty shot (video) but was stuffed by some great goaltending from Fahad Mohammad.  Shukr managed to get an empty netter in the final seconds to ice the win but a lost opportunity for Emaan to steal a win after a great effort considering how short their team was.

- Haya was thought to be the weakest team coming out of the draft and many felt this opinion validated after the week one loss to Ridha but Haya had defied the experts with two straight wins.  GM Abdul Wahab Mohammad went with a different strategy to draft veterans and make the key move to trade up in the draft to select Farooq Sani which surprised many but he has been rewarded as Sani has been key for the team in their wins.  Mohammad has reportedly referred to himself as the "Special One" among GMs for using his own approach which is paying dividends.

- Back to the Shukr vs Emaan game, right before the Mohammad Hamoud penalty shot, Mehmed Rizvanovic can be heard on the video guaranteeing that his goalie Fahad Mohammad would come up with the save - his goalie backed him up on that claim.

- Week Four starts the cross divisional round of games with perhaps the highlight being top ranked Sabr facing surprise Mecca Conference leader Shukr.

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