Spring Season - Week Eleven - March 29th Playoffs!

- Week Ten saw Ihsan defeated Yaqeen 4-1 to lock up first overall, Ikhlas dominated Haya for a 3-1 win, Ridha crushed Sabr 5-0 and Emaan vs Shukr ended in a 2-2 tie.

Three Stars of the Week for March 22nd:

1st Star: Zubair Wahid (Ikhlas): 2 Goals,1 Assist

2nd Star: Imran Lakhanpal (Ihsan): 2 Goals, GWG

3rd Star: Sufyan Kazi (Ridha): 2 Goals, 1 Assist

Here are the Divisional Standings after Week Ten:

Mecca Division

RANK	TEAM	GP	WINS	LOSSES	TIES	POINTS	GF	GA	GD
1	Haya	10	5	2	3	13	23	21	2
2	Ikhlas	10	5	3	2	12	26	20	6
3	Ridha	10	5	4	1	11	27	18	9
4	Sabr	10	1	5	4	6	20	33	-13

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

Medina Division

RANK	TEAM	GP	WINS	LOSSES	TIES	POINTS	GF	GA	GD
1	Ihsan	10	6	2	2	14	30	16	14
2	Shukr	10	3	2	5	11	24	25	-1
3	Yaqeen	10	4	4	2	10	30	30	0
4	Emaan	10	0	7	3	3	21	38	-17

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

- Player health and safety is a top priority for the league and there is talk that half visors may be mandatory for all players in future seasons.  The recent incident that has spurred this debate was last week where an errant clearance attempt saw a ball hit Emmad Khawaja of Yaqeen in the face.  He was taken to hospital for additional care and InshAllah will make a full recovery.  Despite each player taking care with their stick accidents happen so a request to all players to invest in a visor (at the least) to protect yourself.

- The Social Media team posted podcast for a Wilcard Preview, check it out here!  Arif Khan of Sabr and Hannan Ghafoor of Ihsan give their opinions on the Ridha vs Ikhlas and Shukr vs Yaqeen games.

- Congrats to the following players who based upon statistics locked up Regular Season Awards:

• Razi Ahmed (Ihsan): Points Champion with 20 points
• Emmad Khawaja (Yaqeen): Goal Scoring Leader with 9 goals
• Ali Khwaja (Ridha): Lowest Goals against with a GAA of 1.64

- Emaan had a chance for their first win, up 2-0 and then 2-1 late with a penalty shot awarded to Sulmaan Azmat but he was unable to convert and a late goal from Shukr had the game end in a tie.  An unfortunate ending to their final game and particularly unfortunate for Azmat who has been playing at a high level since his fiancée showed up to support him recently.

- Looks like Kashif "Coach K" Taqiuddin has a plan for how best to deploy Ikhlas as his gameplan dominated Haya and earned Ikhlas the 2nd seed and the advantage of being the Home team for the elimination game against Ridha.  His strategy against Ridha in their Week Nine game was a masterclass as Ikhlas dominated for a 4-1 win.  With Coach K scouting Ridha for their past three games it will be an uphill climb for the young squad who will need to have a good gameplan against the Ikhlas veterans.

- Emaan GM Naeem Akhtar went down with the ship as despite his teams struggles he showed up each week and tried to help his team get the win.  Something not lost on his squad who noticed and praised him for his positive attitude despite the teams struggles.

- Many players were discussing the final "H Report" (which you can check out here) for the regular season where "H" removed his mask to reveal it had been Samad Hamidi all along.  No word if this gambit resulted in a rating increase or if there will be further evolutions - only time will tell.

- Sabr ended their season with a 5-0 thumping at the hands of Ridha who took little mercy on Sabr hoping to end their season on a positive note.  The game featured the debut of Arif Khan who was acquired at the trade deadline but missed the first two games with his new team.  Khan helped to create a number of chances for his new line mates who were happy to have the crafty veteran joining them but none of the opportunities were converted into goals.

- While Ihsan managed to have two of their stars lead the league in scoring it was noticed that their open play approach to score goals ended up surrendering some unnecessary ones - a move that cost their goalie as Zayd Agjee ended with a GAA of 1.67 which was just short of the League Leader in GAA Ali Khawaja who finished with 1.64.

- Haya may be taking their approach to "Load Management" too far as in their game against Ikhlas last week they rested Maaz Haq and Farrukh Khan while Humza Ali showed up just at gametime so some speculated that he was also supposed to sit the game out.  The team only had four players participate in all ten regular season games so it will be interesting to see how they manage a full bench when the playoffs kick off.

- Mohammad Khandwala of Yaqeen will be hoping to have the same playoff success as his brother, Abdul-Matin Khandwala who was part of a Championship team in I-Slam Basketball recently.  Family bragging rights and honour are on the line!

- Shukr had to face Ahmad Mobin three times this season, twice where he was in net for Emaan and unexpectedly when he had to suit up as an emergency goalie for Haya when Fahad Mohammad was involved in a car accident on the way to the game.  Strangely all three games between Mobin and Shukr ended up in ties.  That said it won't matter now as Shukr booked their playoff tickets while Mobin booked a plane ticket to start his vacation early.

- With the hot play of Imran Lakhanpal of Ihsan, the pressure is on Khizer Lakhanpal and Saqib Khokar to demonstrate that they can perform when the pressure is on too.  Their elder cousin already defeated them both in the head-to-head games so playoffs are the only place they can reclaim some pride now.

- There have been some whispers with people curious if Shukr had some buyers remorse in the trade that brought them Arslan Mian who has not managed a point in four games compared to the 7 points in 6 games he had for Ikhlas.  Worse is watching the players they traded away in Sufyan Shaikh (3 goals in 3 games) and Zaid Toorawa (1 assist in 2 games) have success.

- Last week Emaan was referred to as resembling the Fyre Festival, prompting an observer to comment that Sulmaan Azmat was the Ja Rule character in that analogy.  

- Ridha in a generous mood going into the playoffs as they submitted their game recap late (again) and will start their playoff game against Ikhlas with a penalty.

- Looking at the playoff match-ups it will be a tight affair for both games.  In the two regular season games between Ikhlas and Ridha, the teams each won a game with Ridha taking the first meeting 3-1 and Ikhlas winning the second meeting 4-1.  Between  Shukr and Yaqeen things were not as balanced with Yaqeen dominating the first game 6-2 and the teams ending in a 3-3 tie the second time around.  

- The Shukr vs Yaqeen game has another family divided element as Shukr goalie Yasir Hussain will be facing his brothers who play for Yaqeen along with many of his Malton friends.  

- When reached for a comment last night by Bleacher Report about his confidence going into the Ridha vs Ikhlas game, Kashif Taqiuddin simply responded with:

- With their seasons over a few of the players from both Sabr and Emaan have inquired about becoming a GM for the upcoming Summer Season, details about what is to come next will be shared soon but be ready for a summer season starting soon after Ramadan ends.

- Curious about the playoffs?  You should be since that's what these games are leading up to!  Playoffs start on March 29th with the QuarterFinal games for each division in a one-game elimination between 2nd and 3rd for each division.  April 5th and 12th will feature the Semi-Finals for each division with 1st vs the winner of 2nd/3rd in a two-game series.  April 19th and 26th will be the Finals in another two-game series.

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
- Listen in on Podcast Three featuring Arif Khan and Hannan Ghafoor discussing the 2019 Wildcard Playoff games

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

Spring Season - Week Ten - March 22nd

- Week Nine saw Shukr and Yaqeen end in a 3-3- tie, Ikhlas come up with a huge win over Ridha, Ihsan demolish shorthanded Emaan and Haya escape with a win over Sabr.

Three Stars of the Week for March 15th:

1st Star: Sufyan Shaikh (Ikhlas): 2 Goals, GWG

2nd Star: Humza Ali (Haya): 2 Goals, GWG

3rd Star: Osman Buttar (Shukr): 1 Goal, 2 Assists

Here are the Divisional Standings after Week Nine:

Mecca Division

RANK	TEAM	GP	WINS	LOSSES	TIES	POINTS	GF	GA	GD
1	Haya	9	5	1	3	13	22	18	4
2	Ikhlas	9	4	3	2	10	23	19	4
3	Ridha	9	4	4	1	9	22	18	4
4	Sabr	9	1	4	4	6	20	28	-8

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

Medina Division

RANK	TEAM	GP	WINS	LOSSES	TIES	POINTS	GF	GA	GD
1	Ihsan	9	5	2	2	12	26	15	11
2	Yaqeen	9	4	3	2	10	29	26	3
3	Shukr	9	3	2	4	10	22	23	-1
4	Emaan	9	0	7	2	2	19	36	-17

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

- Week Ten wraps up the regular season, the playoff teams may be locked in but their seeding is not so the last set of games will impact Playoff Match-Ups.

- For the Medina division, both Yaqeen and Shukr had a chance to put themselves into a great position to grab first place however they ended up in a tie which was the best scenario for division Leader Ihsan.  Yaqeen probably came out worse as had they defeated Shukr then their Week Ten game against Ihsan would have have required a simple win to take first whereas now they need to win by a large margin to jump into first place now.

- Ridha is another team that dropped a chance to take first place as their loss to Ikhlas combined with Haya's win locked up the Mecca Division.  Ridha had some issue with players showing up on time that resulted in some early challenges but Ikhlas had a great gameplan drawn up by Coach K and they stuck to it.  The result was Ridha being unable to generate much offensively and managed a mere 10 shots on net.

- Emaan was already eliminated going into their game against Ihsan with only pride left to play for but seems like for many pride was worth defending last Friday as a handful of players showed up to bravely try and match-up against the first place team.  The first half was close with Ihsan up 1-0 and two minutes into the 2nd half it was a 2-1 game before the wheels came off and Ihsan scored five goals in a row.  Some questioned the sportsmanship of some of the Ihsan players who were trying to pad their stats.  Notably ex-Emaan players Arif Bijabhai tried to take it easy on his ex-team by putting up a goose-egg.

- Haya pulled off another smash and grab job against Sabr as the latter controlled much of the play being desperate for a win but late in the second and the game tied at 2-2 Sabr had to pull their goalie allowing Haya to score an empty netter to grab the win.

- Emaan got crushed but one of their players impressed the crowd as Sulmaan Azmat was a man possessed on the floor putting up a Goal and an Assist and stood out for his team.  After the game Emaan GM sullenly noted that he made a mistake by not getting Azmat's fiancée to come out to more games as clearly he could have gotten a MVP performance from his teammate if she was in the crowd.

- With their loss to Haya, Sabr is now officially eliminated from the post-season and has to look back and wonder what might have been.  A good team on paper they let games slip away early in the season and ending up with four ties (although their loss last week to Haya should have ended up in a tie had they not pulled the goalie so make it five ties) shows how close they were. If they managed to turn two of those into wins they would be a point out of a playoff spot.

- Ihsan has been on fire of late and it appears to coincide with their acquisition of Adeel Awan from Sabr (via Emaan).  Awan gave his new team a versatile player with leadership skills and they are undefeated since he joined their team, amassing three wins and two ties.

- Arif Khan makes his return tonight as he is planning to join the Sabr lineup.  He was out of the country when he was dealt and  was moved three times this season so he may show up at 8pm just to cover his bases if he is not sure what team he is currently on.

- After watching the bludgeoning that Ihsan handed to Emaan, an observer noted that Emaan resembled the Fyre Festival, lots of anticipation and looked great on paper but when it came time for the product it was a disaster of epic proportions.  Ironically enough, one of the Emaan GMs in Fahad Mallik is traveling to  is this seasons version of the Fyre Festival, it looked good on paper but when it came time to put the team into action...a catastrophe of epic proportions.

- The scoring race is up for grabs still, after the big game for Ihsan where Razi Ahmed ended with 7 Points and Farooq Khan finished with 6 Points they are the top two in the league with 17 and 16 points respectively.  Humza Ali has had another strong season and is tied for third with Osman Buttar with 14 points each.

- For Goalies, Zayd Agjee has a slight lead in GAA over Fahad Mohammad of Haya so tonight will decide the winner.

- Sufyan Kazi has almost wrapped up the dubious "brass knuckles" award for leading the league in penalties, he has managed to take at least one penalty in each game he has played this season.

- The playoffs will have a number of new faces to it this time as guys who are counted on to make a deep playoff run like Waqar Khan, Ahmad Ibrahim and Ahmad Mobin are all eliminated.

- The (unofficial) Playoff Picture for the Teams breaks down as follows:
Mecca Division:
Haya - Clinched first in the Mecca Division, a win in Week Ten locks up first overall for the playoffs
Ikhlas - A win in Week Ten gives them second place
Ridha - A disappointing defeat to Ikhlas cost them second, a win and some help can get them back into the second spot
Sabr - Playoffs are out of the question but playing spoiler to Ridha and pride is enough to motivate Sabr for their last game

Medina Division:
Ihsan - Need a win or tie over Yaqeen to lock up first in the Medina Division,
Yaqeen - A win by five goals over Ihsan should give them first place as it would go through multiple tie breakers and be settled on Goals Scored
Shukr - A win combined with Yaqeen loss gives them second
Emaan - Playoffs are out of the question but playing spoiler to Shukr and pride is enough to motivate Emaan for their last game, hopefully the drubbing at the hands of Ihsan will wake them up; they also do not want to end the season without a win

- Curious about the playoffs?  You should be since that's what these games are leading up to!  Playoffs start on March 29th with the QuarterFinal games for each division in a one-game elimination between 2nd and 3rd for each division.  April 5th and 12th will feature the Semi-Finals for each division with 1st vs the winner of 2nd/3rd in a two-game series.  April 19th and 26th will be the Finals in another two-game series.

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

Spring Season - Week Nine - March 15th

- Week Eight saw Yaqeen defeat Emaan 3-2, Ikhlas defeating Sabr 4-1, Haya stealing one against Ridha 2-1 and Ihsan and Shukr ending in a 1-1 tie.

Three Stars of the Week for March 8th:

1st Star: Zubair Waheed (Ikhlas): 2 Goals

2nd Star: Maaz Haq (Haya): 1 Goal, GWG

3rd Star: Yusuf Memon (Emaan): 2 Goals

Here are the Divisional Standings after Week Eight:

Mecca Division

RANK	TEAM	GP	WINS	LOSSES	TIES	POINTS	GF	GA	GD
1	Haya	8	4	1	3	11	19	16	3
2	Ridha	8	4	3	1	9	21	14	7
3	Ikhlas	8	3	3	2	8	19	18	1
4	Sabr	8	1	3	4	6	18	25	-7

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

Medina Division

RANK	TEAM	GP	WINS	LOSSES	TIES	POINTS	GF	GA	GD
1	Ihsan	8	4	2	2	10	17	13	4
2	Yaqeen	8	4	3	1	9	26	23	3
3	Shukr	8	3	2	3	9	19	20	-1
4	Emaan	8	0	6	2	2	17	27	-10

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

- Week Nine continues with critical divisional games as the playoff picture continues to firm up, so far only Emaan has been mathematically eliminated.

- Fun Fact that when looking back at the Cross Divisional games, it was the Mecca Division that flexed their muscle to get the better record as they finished with Seven Wins, Five Losses and Four Ties whereas the Medina Division ended with Five Wins, Seven Losses and Four Ties.

- Osman Buttar of Shukr celebrated his birthday at the arena last Friday, he helped to set up Shukr's only goal against Ihsan where the game ended in a 1-1 tie.  Not to be outdone, Farooq Khan of Ihsan played the game while planning his wedding for two days later!  Khan is a romantic at heart and if you need proof check out his cellphone's ringtone.

- Trade deadline was wild with some teams completing so many trades that the Week Eight game felt like Game One of the season with players introducing themselves

- He may be injured but Yusuf Sowdagar still involved with Sabr as he took control of the bench last week for Sabr, Ikhlas was in a similar situation as Kashif "Coach K" Taqiuddin is week-to-week with a hamstring injury.  It ended with the two facing each other as bench managers for their respective teams - Coach K game up with a master gameplan to contain and then break down Sabr's defense which lead to a 4-1 win for Ikhlas.

- Ridha outplayed Haya but not able to get win as the latter managed to get a pair of fortunate goals early in the game and then relied of their goalie Fahad Mohammad to bail them out the rest of the way.

- Tahir Maarouf of Ikhlas seems confident in his teams chances of not only locking down a playoff spot but making a push to grab one of the top two seeds in the Mecca Division.

- Ihsan's offence seemed a bit flat in their tie with Shukr; that said it wasn't much of a surprise considering they were missing Mohammad Bilal and Imran Lakhanpal who has been on fire of late.

- Emaan the first team eliminated from the post season, their late trades gave them a big boost and they gave Yaqeen a run but came up just short.  Their final two games will be important to the team who want a win to avoid the dubious distinction of going a season winless.  Also getting a chance to play spoiler for teams in their division jostling for a better playoff position gives them something to play for.

- Good deeds often have a way of repaying themselves and the situation Shukr found themselves in last week demonstrated that.  During their February 8th game against Haya, the latter found themselves in a jam when goalie Fahad Mohammad (and Maaz Haq) were involved in a car accident while on their way to the arena.  In this emergency situation (and with no goalie equipment present) Shukr agreed to allow Ahmad Mobin fill in for Haya to avoid spoiling the game.  Fast forward to Shukr's March 8th game against Ihsan and with regular goalie Yasir Hussain out of the country Shukr was using substitute Mohammad Sibtain.  During the game Sibtain suffered an injury and while Haya's Abdu Sharkawy made sure the goalie was not seriously injured he ended up being pulled from the game - Mohammad ended up finishing the game for Shukr paying back their sportsmanship they showed his team a month earlier.

- Sabr may have the leagues leading scorer in Waqar Khan but is in danger of missing the playoffs.  They went all in with some big deals at the Trade Deadline but that approach may have actually hurt then as all three players they acquired from Emaan were not in the lineup for their critical game against Ikhlas.  Farooq Sani is reportedly going to be available this Friday while Arif Khan is gone for another week and no word on the status of Aazar Zafar.

- Coach K was seen scouting the Ridha vs Haya game, clearly coming up with a gameplan for Ikhlas to knock off the top two teams in the Mecca Division.

- The (unofficial) Playoff Picture for the Teams breaks down as follows:
Mecca Division:
Haya - Clinched a playoff spot, three points in their last two games locks up first place in the division
Ridha - A win or a tie in their last two gets them to the postseason, still a chance to take first overall
Ikhlas - Need a in in one of their last two games to clinch a playoff spot
Sabr - Still a chance, need to win their last two games and then have Ridha lose both their games or Ikhlas to get nothing more than a tie in their final two games

Medina Division:
Ihsan - Clinched, three points in their last two games locks up first place in the division
Yaqeen - Clinched, win both games and Ihsan gets nothing more than a tie and Yaqeen takes first
Shukr - Clinched, win both games, Ihsan and Yaqeen get nothing more than a win in their final two games

- Week Nine has some interesting games on tap, Shukr opens the night against Yaqeen where a win could vault them into first place in the Medina Division, Ikhlas faces Ridha with the team separated by a point so another key game, Ihsan plays a now playoff eliminated Emaan who move into spoiler mode and the night ends with Haya against Sabr where the latter is in playoff mode now needing to win their last two games and get help if they want to make the postseason.

- Curious about the playoffs?  You should be since that's what these games are leading up to!  Playoffs start on March 29th with the QuarterFinal games for each division in a one-game elimination between 2nd and 3rd for each division.  April 5th and 12th will feature the Semi-Finals for each division with 1st vs the winner of 2nd/3rd in a two-game series.  April 19th and 26th will be the Finals in another two-game series.

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