I-Slam Ball Hockey News and Rumours: January 2019

Friday 25 January 2019

Spring Season - Week Three - January 25th

- Week Two opened with Yaqeen laying a beating on Shukr by a 6-3 score, Sabr dominating but only getting a 1-1 tie with Haya, Ihsan defeating Emaan 5-3 and Ridha getting a 3-1 win over Ikhlas.

Three Stars of the Week for January 18th:
1st Star: Farooq Khan (Ihsan): 2 Goals and 3 Assists
2nd Star: Emmad Khawaja (Yaqeen): 2 Goals, GWG
3rd Star: Adil Patel (Yaqeen): 2 Goals, 1 Assist

- While he is no longer producing the Hamidi Report, Samad has been providing his insight into the state of the league:
- He believes that after their first two games, Ridha will be looking to upgrade blue line as they are thin on the back, something he hopes his Sabr squad will be able to exploit tonight
- Hamidi praised the Sabr style of play thus far as last week they went to a full trap game which resulted in a dominant game against Haya and while they were not rewarded with the win it is a great sign for their prospects this season
- Naeem Akhtar has vowed to Hamidi that he will win the scoring title
- Hamidi is also predicting that Arslan Mian and Farooq Sani will be traded soon based upon his 6th sense

- Speaking of the Hamidi Report, this season the "H Report" posted a third video and many players have found the format to be a great improvement with more analysis for upcoming games

- The Black Panther persona of Ahmad Ibrahim quieted after a difficult last season, but with an Oscar Nomination announced Sabr will be hoping that Ibrahim has gotten his mojo back and expect a big game this week

- Sabr made some interesting adjustments on the fly last week as they pushed defensemen Emad Hussain and Samad Hamidi to play forward, the intent was to add some defensive grit to their third line and the plan seemed to work as Haya was unable to generate much offensively and struggled with the physical Sabr forwards

- Arif Khan is likely to miss another week due to pneumonia, in his own words he reportedly tried to inject himself with an anti-aging hormone that said "sorry, lost cause, we are outta here"

- There are reports that Sufyan Shaikh has recovered from the injury that sidelined him towards the end of last season and is planning to return for Week Three, a big boost for Shukr that took a beating last week against Yaqeen

- Haya currently has the lowest scoring offence in the league, part of that is they have been sitting Maaz Haq with a lower body injury. They did consider dressing him for their game last week against Sabr but thought better of it knowing that the physical play of their opponent and Samad Hamidi starting to evolve his game to include more of the "dark arts" presented too large a risk

- Emaan managed to track down one of their missing star players as Farooq Sani made an appearance and had an impact with an assist in his first game back. Now they have to locate Arif Bijabhai who may still be celebrating his Championship winning goal for the Fall Season

- Many players, mainly Haya to be honest, were shocked when Waqar Khan showed up for his game last week seeing as it was his birthday, no word on what his plans were for his birthday weekend but his teammates were overheard singing him Happy Birthday in the dressing room after the game

- Farooq Khan of Ihsan had a big game against Emaan last week with 2 Goals and 3 Assists, his five-point outburst was something his teammates from last season on Shukr were surprised to see after he went the season without a goal.

- Sabr will get a boost for their game against Ridha as they will start off with a powerplay thanks to the young GMs of Ridha neglecting to submit their recap for their win over Ikhlas in Week Two.

- Much has been made of Ridha and their lack of established defensemen but they have made it work thus far as they have the second lowest goals against in the league and whenever Salman Khalid is available they have the ability to shut down opposing goal-scorers.

- The game between Sabr and Haya gave observers the chance to try and measure up the trade the two teams made prior to the draft which gave Haya a more top-heavy team and Sabr a more balanced approach. The trade saw Sabr move their 1st, 2nd, 7th, 11th and 12th round picks to Haya for the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 8th and 9th round picks. You can put names into those picks now (recognizing that the GMs may have selected differently) and evaluate the trade as Sabr getting Adeel Awan, Sadat Malik, Vasim Kagzi, Yusuf Kapoor and Fahad Panchbhaya in exchange for Arssal Shahabuddin, Farrukh Khan, Zuhair Fancy, Khizer Lakhanpal and Wasel Kabir. Both teams picked up strong defensemen with the first two picks and Sabr got a strong goalie as well as a versitile player in Kagzi so it seems as though they won this deal.

Here are the Divisional Standings after Week Two:

Mecca Division

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

* 4th place in the Division does not make the playoffs

Medina Division

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

* 4th place in the Division does not make 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 along with our Podcasts:
- Pre-Draft GM Interviews

- 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!):
Facebook: I-Slam Hockey
Twitter: iSlamHockey
Instagram: IslamHockeyCanada
Youtube: IslamBallHockey

Friday 18 January 2019

Spring Season - Week Two - January 18th

- The season opened with all teams in competition and all four games being tight affairs. Shukr opened the season with a 2-1 win over Ihsan, Yaqeen defeated Emaan 3-2, Haya downed Ridha by a 2-1 score and Ikhlas scored in the final minute to escape with a 3-3 tie

Three Stars of the Week for January 11th:
1st Star: Waqar Khan (Sabr): 2 Goals + 1 Assist
2nd Star: Humza Ali (Haya): 1 Goal + 1 Assist
3rd Star: Arslan Mian (Yaqeen): 2 Goals

- There is chatter around the league after Samad Hamidi emerged from the locker room pre-game with an "A" on his jersey. Was he finally given recognition for something he believed he deserved or was he the last person to get in the locker room day and was given the last jersey? Only time will tell

- Friday was a big night as it also featured all divisional games, with the top three (out of four) teams making the playoffs getting the win is huge. With three one-goal games and a tie it is clear that execution will be what separates teams as they all have talented rosters.

- Shukr features a number of players making their return to the league after some time away, Osman Buttar is one of those big names and he kicked off his season with a pair of assists, while Rizwan Kalair contributed an assist. It was Zaid Toorawa that had a big impact as he scored the winning goal with just over three minutes left in the game.

- Emaan lost their opener by a 3-2 score but had to feel positive knowing that they were missing some of their key players, notably Farooq Sani and Arif Bijabhai. Sani has not been seen since Game One of the finals last season so Emaan brass will be hoping he has been staying in shape while away from the arena.

- Haya took a 2-0 lead in their game and were 48 seconds away from a shutout win before a breakdown in their zone allowed Ridha to score and made the end of the game a nervy affair for their squad. Maaz Haq was held pointless which is a rare occurrence although he seemed to be nursing an injury and played limited minutes.

- Ridha were missing some key players, notably Salman Khalid forcing them to juggle their lines a bit, the result was their offence seemed a bit disjointed so they will be hoping for a better showing against Ikhlas tonight.

- Sabr and Ikhlas felt like a wide-open game with the teams trading chances early and often, Ikhlas managed to break out to a 2-0 lead early but were unable to control Waqar Khan who carried his team back to take a 3-2 lead with just over a minute left to play. Ikhlas stole a tie as Arslan Mian rifled a shot in for his second of the game.

- The full season schedule has been posted, it features Weeks 1-3 as divisional games, Weeks 4-7 will be cross divisional games and Weeks 8-10 will round out the season off with divisional games again.

- Back to Arslan Mian, when he was selected by Ikhlas during the draft there was a lot of speculation that the pick had been thrown away as Mian has often struggled to play without close friend and linemate Humza Chaudhry (one of the GMs of Shukr). Mian seems intent to quiet the whispers and got off to a great start in that regard with a two-goal performance for his new team on Ikhlas. There was some joking that if Shukr was hoping to make a trade to acquire Mian that the price went up after that performance.

- Sabr seems to have found some great chemistry for Waqar Khan as they placed Ahmad Ibrahim on his wing and while Khan ended with a pair of goals and an assist, Ibrahim managed to tally a pair of assists. His size and speed combined with Khan will make them a difficult line to match up against for opponents.

- All players are reminded that while visors or a full face shield is not required it is strongly encouraged to prevent any accidents.

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 along with our Podcasts:
- Pre-Draft GM Interviews

Friday 11 January 2019

Spring Season - Week One - January 11th

Welcome to the 2019 Spring Season!

The draft was completed on January 5th with eight GM groups filling out their rosters, we had some trades and some surprise selections and now we move onto what counts as the season begins. Great teams on paper have fallen apart when the ball drops and teams of what pundits deem to be oddballs end up pulling together to win a title.

Reminder to all players to wear appropriate protective equipment, a CSA Approved helmet and hockey gloves are required, it is strongly suggested that players wear a protective visor or cage as well as a jock.

For new players be aware of the swearing rule as we hold players to a high standard of conduct, any profanity during the game will have a 2-minute penalty assessed.

Teams were divided into two pools:
Medina Division is: Emaan, Ihsan, Yaqeen and Shukr
Mecca Division is: Ikhlas, Haya, Sabr and Ridha

The playoff format is simple, top three teams in each division make the playoffs with fourth place in each division is eliminated. The 1st place team in each division gets a bye and will play the winner of 2nd vs 3rd of their division.

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 along with our Podcasts:

- Pre-Draft GM Interviews

- 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!):
Facebook: I-Slam Hockey
Twitter: iSlamHockey
Instagram: IslamHockeyCanada
Youtube: IslamBallHockey

Fall Season - Wrap-Up

- The Fall Season ended with an exciting finish as Haya defeated Yaqeen in Game Two of the finals which forced Overtime. After five minutes where both teams had chances the Championship had to be settled with a shootout. The teams exchanged shootout goals early but the title was settled when Arif Bijabhai scored to give Yaqeen the Championship.

Your 2018 Fall Season Champions: Yaqeen

- Maaz Haq was the playoff MVP, his performance was electrifying throughout the season and all the way through to the Championship game.

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.