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!):
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