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

- 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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