Fall Season - Week Eleven - November 23rd

- Week Eleven started off with Emaan and Ihsan ending in a 1-1 tie in a must win for both teams, Yaqeen defeated Sabr 4-2 with a big second half, Ridha kept their playoff hopes alive by defeating Ikhlas 4-1 and Shukr pulled off an upset by defeating Taqwa 2-1.

Three Stars of The Week for November 16:
1st Star: Yusuf Ingar - Ridha (2 Goals, GWG)
2nd Star: Maaz Haq - Yaqeen (1 Goal, 1 Assist)
3rd Star: Yousuf Chatha - Shukr (1 Goal, GWG)

- With the regular season coming to an end it is time to start thinking about awards. The following awards is solely based on regular season statistics:

• Scoring Champion (most points): current leader - Maaz Haq (Yaqeen) 18 points
• Goal-Scoring Champion (most goals): current leader - Yusuf Ingar (Ridha) 7 Goals
• Lowest GAA: current leader: Yusuf Kapoor 1.33

-The following awards are voted on by the gms:
Regular Season MVP
Best-Defensive Forward
Best-Defenseman
Rookie of the Year
Brotherhood Award
Naseem Buttar General Manager of the Year
Top Goaltender
Playoff MVP

- Kashif Taqiuddin finally guided Shukr to a win last week as Coach K kept his team organized in the system he wants them to play and they defeated Jerusalem division leader Taqwa by a 2-1 score.  The fact that Taqwa was missing some of their key players surely helped Shukr's cause as well.

- The Haya vs Taqwa game gives observers an interesting sideshow as Saqib Khokhar will face his old team as he was traded from Taqwa earlier in the season.  He has found some rhythm as he is averaging a point a game for Haya and given them a huge boost on their second line.

- Sabr finished their regular season last week and left their game, a 4-2 loss to Yaqeen, with the uneasy feeling that while they were likely to make the playoffs they had no control over their own fate and needed other teams to drop points to get a good seeding - a big fall from the perch they held as the core of the team is the Spring Season Champions.

- Taqwa is in the midst of a four-game winless streak, a stark contrast to the start of their season where they opened up undefeated in their first five games.  It isn't obviously clear what is contributing to their slump but with the playoffs around the corner they need to get things back on track and face a tough game against undefeated Haya to close out the regular season.

- Week Ten gives us some key games where each one will impact the final standings, either to lock up a playoff or division title or move up the table to get a better seeding before the playoffs kick off next week:

• Yaqeen vs Ikhlas - While Ikhlas is eliminated they can play spoiler as Yaqeen is in need of a win to lock down the first place, no matter what though they have locked up a top-two seed so will get a bye in the first round
• Taqwa vs Haya - Haya is looking to lock up first overall, Taqwa is looking to lock up the Jerusalem Division title.  A few weeks ago this game was billed as a potential battle of undefeated teams but Taqwa has stumbled of late while Haya has remained undefeated.  
• Emaan vs Shukr - The path for Emaan to make the playoffs is a bit convoluted with them needing to win this game and get help with Ridha/Ihsan ending in a tie where Emaan has a better goal differential than the teams they are chasing.  Shukr is in the playoffs despite their anemic offense and a win combined with a Taqwa defeat will mean it goes to goal differential to determine the Jerusalem division winner
• Ridha vs Ihsan - The game of the night as the winner of this game goes to the playoffs, a tie will likely see Ihsan advance unless Emaan wins their game and ends up with a better goal differential.  Ridha is undefeated in their last five games so they are heating up at the right time while Ihsan is winless in four games. 

With the race to the playoffs intensifying, only Ikhlas has been officially eliminated. Here is a look at the overall standings (top 6 of 9 teams qualify):

RANK	TEAM	GP	WINS	LOSSES	TIES	POINTS	GF	GA	GD
x-M-b	Yaqeen	9	6	1	2	14	32	17	15
x-Me-b	Haya	9	5	0	4	14	21	12	9
x	Taqwa	9	4	2	3	11	20	16	4
x	Sabr	10	3	4	3	9	19	23	-4
x	Shukr	9	3	3	3	9	13	14	-1
	Ihsan	9	2	3	4	8	21	26	-5
	Ridha	9	2	4	3	7	22	24	-2
	Emaan	9	1	3	5	7	21	27	-6
e	Ikhlas	9	0	6	3	3	17	27	-10

x-clinched a playoff spot
Me- clinched Mecca Division
M-clinched Medina Division
J-clinched Jerusalem Division
b- clinched bye to the semi-finals
e-eliminated

Here are the tie-breaker rules:
1. Points
2. Number of Wins
3. Head to Head matchups
4. Goal Differential
5. Fewest Goals allowed

- Registration Details for the next season will be published soon so keep an eye out for the email and make sure to sign up early to guarantee a spot and take advantage of the early-bird rate.

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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