Fall Season - Week Five - October 12th

- Week Five saw Emaan build an early lead and ride it for a 5-3 win over Ikhlas, Haya grind out a 4-3 win over Ridha after losing star Waqar Khan to injury, Taqwa building a lead to defeat Yaqeen 4-3 and finally Ihsan crushed Sabr by a 7-3 score.

Three Stars of the Week for October 5th:
1st Star: Mudasser Hussain (Emaan) - 2 Goals and 2 Assists
2nd Star: Huzaifa Manjra (Ihsan) - 1 Goal and 3 Assists
3rd Star: Humza Ali (Taqwa) - 3 Goals

- When Ikhlas lost a player for the season a few weeks ago their GM Braintrust selected friend Brian Beauvais as the replacement and put him through waivers.  Beauvais had not played in a while and felt all the hype around Emaan grabbing him was an overblown story but he has shown he still has great hands and it all came together against his friends (and possible team had Emaan not intervened) as he torched Ikhlas for 2 goals and and an assist.  Nothing like watching a player that got away come back and burn you.

- Emad Hussain has been taking on a mentor role for Emaan, especially with rookie D-men Emran Singh, teaching him about the floating blue-line among other things.  It seem to work as Singh picked up his first career point last week and has been a late round boost for Emaan.

- After Sabr was torched last week allowing seven goals in a loss to Ihsan, Hannan Ghafoor went to an Escape Room to try and get his mind off hockey, no word if he made it out but if he doesn't show up tonight assume he was not able to solve the necessary clues to escape.

- Back to Emaan, Munaf Nathalia is reported to be bringing in a some pickle juice for his Emaan teammates. It seems to work as Emaan has steadily been improving throughout the season - although it is unclear if they are drinking pickle juice to win or if drinking it was the consequence if they lose.  Better we do not know perhaps.

- Of the four games last week, three teams took a similar path of building a large lead early in the game and riding it the rest of the way for the W: Emaan up 4-0 vs Ikhlas after the first half; Taqwa up 3-0 vs Yaqeen after the first half and Ihsan up 3-0 vs Sabr after the first half

- Speaking of offensive outbursts, so far three players have posted a hattrick: Maz Haaq against Emaan, Sufyan Kazi against Ridha and Humza Ali against Yaqeen

- Some fans were asking what the delay was in posting the Hamidi Report for this week, Samad advised his passionate fanbase that he got tied up at the dentist and did not get it done earlier in the week as he hoped.

- Shukr felt that their tie to Ihsan in their last game was as good as a loss primarily because Ihsan was forced to start the game with an empty net as their goalie was running late but Shukr was unable to take advantage.  They will need to do better this week against Ikhlas who have been close in all of their games and are pushing for their first win of the season.

- As all players should be aware at this point, Waqar Khan was clipped by an accidental high stick that came millimetres from seriously injuring his eye.  Thankfully teammate Salman Khalid was present to assess the injury and treat it.  A somber reminder to players to wear a visor to help protect themselves from accidents that may happen.  The following message was sent to all players so a reminder regarding this important issue:
"Dear I -Slam Friends and All Participating Brothers,

Last night one of our players was accidentally injured by an accidental errant stick.   The injury though initially concerning, after further evaluation is a large cut dangerously close to the eye.   Alhamdulillah there will be complete recovery after the brother received medical care and stitches.

This is a stark reminder that, without appropriate protection and precautions,  even in a brotherly league such accidents can result in severe injuries. This case we avoided a life altering injury by mere inches. We all have careers and families to return to after hockey.  

A face shield / visor will always decrease the risk of this type of an injury. We would advise all of our participating brothers to consider obtaining one.   

Secondly being careful with our own sticks and avoiding reckless use will also result in a decrease risk in injury.   

In this particular case the brother who’s stick caused the injury was extremely apologetic and concerned (as we all were) and it was purely an accident.   

Please continue to be careful and responsible, and please do your best to protect yourself as needed.

Jazakallah I-Slam OC"

- Shukr has some reported friction in the dressing room after Kashif "Coach K" Taqiuddin sent his teammates messages about the rather large and unhealthy meal he ate before their last game.  This seemed to annoy teammate Belal Hafeez who is an avid proponent of eating healthy and taking care of ones body.  The two had a side conversation and it can only be assumed that Coach K will be seeing more green on his plate going forward.

- Taqwa has won all three games thus far this season, perhaps something that is making them a bit overconfident as they did not submit their game recap for last week which will result in their team having to start the game with an administrative penalty - no word if they are trying to make

- Back to Waqar Khan for a moment, if Khan shows up for his game this Friday we may have to consider retiring his current nickname Boom Boom and hence forth refer to him as the “Wolverine” for his quick recovery - something everyone is praying for.

Here are your updated Divisional Standings after Week Four:

Medina:

RANK	TEAM	GP	WINS	LOSSES	TIES	POINTS	GF	GA	GD
1	Yaqeen	4	2	1	1	5	12	7	5
2	Ihsan	3	1	0	2	4	10	6	4
3	Emaan	4	1	2	1	3	10	14	-4

  

Mecca:

RANK	TEAM	GP	WINS	LOSSES	TIES	POINTS	GF	GA	GD
1	Sabr	4	2	1	1	5	9	10	-1
2	Haya	3	1	0	2	4	7	6	1
3	Ikhlas	4	0	2	2	2	8	11	-3

  

Jerusalem:

RANK	TEAM	GP	WINS	LOSSES	TIES	POINTS	GF	GA	GD
1	Taqwa	3	3	0	0	6	11	7	4
2	Shukr	3	1	1	1	3	4	4	0
3	Ridha	4	0	4	0	0	9	15	-6

- Some interesting races in play as teams jostle to win their division to grab a top seed going into the playoffs.   

Make sure to follow us and get your friends to follow us as well (this is another way you can help grow the league!):

- If you somehow missed it, here are some of the Video clips the league has put up to start the season:

- Live Draft

- Post-Draft Analysis
- Draft Behind the Scenes

- Listen in on our First League Podcast! Belal Hafeez of Shukr drops in with some health and fitness tips.

- Listen in on Podcast Two featuring Abdu Sharkawy and Ahmad "Black Panther" Ibrahim who weigh in on a number of topics

Make sure to follow us and get your friends to follow us as well (this is another way you can help grow the league!):
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