- Week Fourteen featured the second game of the SemiFinals with Shukr dominating Ihsan to advance to the finals after a 5-2 win while Haya won Game Two over Ikhlas to force Overtime where Ikhlas got the most fortunate of bounces to steal a win and advance to the finals.
Three Stars of the Week for April 12th:
1st Star: Erfan Bhanapatel (Shukr): 4 Goals,GWG
2nd Star: Humza Chaudhry (Shukr): 3 Assists
3rd Star: Fahad Mohammad (Haya): 14 Saves
- A reminder again about Player Health and Safety and the need for players to wear a visor or cage while playing, accidents will happen and we want to ensure that everyone participates in a safe environment.
- When Shukr needed it the most their star players stepped up as Erfan Bhanapatel lit up the Ihsan defence for four goals while Humza Chaudhry was a force picking up three assists. With their stars picking up their play Shukr has to be confident going into the finals.
- After being written off by all the pundits, Haya put up a great effort in Game Two where they controlled a lot of the play but were not rewarded for their efforts until the final seconds when Humza Ali poked in a loose ball to give Haya a 1-0 win and force overtime. Fate can sometimes be cruel as Haya had chances early in overtime but did not convert and after a tripping penalty was called on Arssal Shahabuddin, Ikhlas got the space they needed to try and get a goal. Tahir Maarouf made the veteran play to shoot the ball wide of the net to avoid getting blocked but had his shot hit the partition and go towards the net where Fahad Mohammad had to try and awkwardly deal with the shot - it hit the rim of his glove and deflected into the net giving Ikhlas the win.
- Both semifinal games had some unfortunate injuries, Faraaz Alvi of Shukr took an unexpected hit from an Ihsan player with the ball trying to create space and went down with what was believed to be a mild concussion and neck injury. To be safe paramedics were called to make sure nothing worse had happened. For Ikhlas, Luqman Arshad and Abu Manjra collided with both players going down and pair of scary injuries, thankfully Abdu Sharkawy of Haya there to treat the players, for Alvi making sure that no further damage could happen before paramedics arrived while in the latter case patching up Arshad who sustained a nasty cut. Sharkawy suggested that both players in the Ikhlas incident sit as both were visibly shaken but Kashif "Coach K" Taqiuddin was having none of that as he pushed both players back out onto the floor as soon as possible seeing that Ikhlas was on their heels.
- Ikhlas had some injury issues during the game but Haya had their own problems to deal with as Abdu Sharkawy was playing through a back and calf issue while right before the second period Haya also lost defensemen Omar Essawi who had to rush to the hospital as his wife went into labour. He got there in time and mother and daughter are doing well which was good news to his teammates who insisted he go knowing that it would leave the team short on the backline.
- Many Ikhlas players seemed unaware of the rules around the Semifinals as after Haya scored in the final seconds to win Game Two, Ikhlas players derided their celebrations saying that Haya was still going to lose the series since Ikhlas won Game One by a 3-1 score. Mohammed Hamoudi was seen laughing at Haya until he was reminded by the refs that the series was not a two-game aggregate score like Champions League Soccer and the series was about to go to overtime. Suffice to say the Ikhlas mood right before the overtime period reflected their shock and explained their poor play where they seemed destined to lose.
- For Haya's equalizing goal, Zaid Toorawa made costly turnover while trying to shoot on an empty net, that allowed Haya to get possession back and ended up with them scoring with seconds left. Before Overtime started all of his teammates took turns chewing him out before Coach K took him to the side and gave him a final dressing down before leaving him in the corner of the bench alone. A moment captured here.
- The winning goal for Ikhlas was actually captured on video by some of the passionate fans of Ikhlas who positioned themselves behind Fahad Mohammad to heckle him hoping to make a difference for Ikhlas. No word if they did in fact do that but they managed to get the winner seen here.
- Ihsan will look back at what might have been this season as they entered the playoffs as the top seed, the top two scorers in the league and one of the best goalies. Their open style of play focused on scoring worked well in the regular season but left them exposed in the playoffs where they could not protect their goalie in front and saw them bow out.
- It may not be March anymore but with the top two seeds getting knocked out of the playoffs suffice to say many pundits have their brackets broken at this point.
- Looking to the finals there are a number of interesting storylines at play as these are two teams that seem to have multiple links to one another:
- Erfan Bhanapatel will be facing against his brother-in-law Abu Manjra
- Zaid Toorawa and Sufyan Shaikh will be facing their former team Shukr while Arslan Mian goes against Ikhlas. Mian has not fared well since leaving Ikhlas and the boo-birds that he faced and Coach K leading a "We Don't Need Him" chant seemed to rattle the young winger.
- Another clash amongst family as Ahmar Wasif of Ikhlas will face Ahsan Wasif on Shukr.
- Coach K is riding a high as his beloved Islanders swept the Penguins out of the NHL playoffs and his confidence as a result is at an all time high. When asked about what his plans are for Ikhlas in how they will shut down Shukr he noted that he has played with Humza Chaudhry for many years and knows his game and what it will take to lock him up. For Arslan Mian he felt that he has already done enough to throw the winger off his game and the stats prove it as Mian has struggled since joining Shukr.
- When Shukr needed it the most their star players stepped up as Erfan Bhanapatel lit up the Ihsan defence for four goals while Humza Chaudhry was a force picking up three assists. With their stars picking up their play Shukr has to be confident going into the finals.
- After being written off by all the pundits, Haya put up a great effort in Game Two where they controlled a lot of the play but were not rewarded for their efforts until the final seconds when Humza Ali poked in a loose ball to give Haya a 1-0 win and force overtime. Fate can sometimes be cruel as Haya had chances early in overtime but did not convert and after a tripping penalty was called on Arssal Shahabuddin, Ikhlas got the space they needed to try and get a goal. Tahir Maarouf made the veteran play to shoot the ball wide of the net to avoid getting blocked but had his shot hit the partition and go towards the net where Fahad Mohammad had to try and awkwardly deal with the shot - it hit the rim of his glove and deflected into the net giving Ikhlas the win.
- Both semifinal games had some unfortunate injuries, Faraaz Alvi of Shukr took an unexpected hit from an Ihsan player with the ball trying to create space and went down with what was believed to be a mild concussion and neck injury. To be safe paramedics were called to make sure nothing worse had happened. For Ikhlas, Luqman Arshad and Abu Manjra collided with both players going down and pair of scary injuries, thankfully Abdu Sharkawy of Haya there to treat the players, for Alvi making sure that no further damage could happen before paramedics arrived while in the latter case patching up Arshad who sustained a nasty cut. Sharkawy suggested that both players in the Ikhlas incident sit as both were visibly shaken but Kashif "Coach K" Taqiuddin was having none of that as he pushed both players back out onto the floor as soon as possible seeing that Ikhlas was on their heels.
- Ikhlas had some injury issues during the game but Haya had their own problems to deal with as Abdu Sharkawy was playing through a back and calf issue while right before the second period Haya also lost defensemen Omar Essawi who had to rush to the hospital as his wife went into labour. He got there in time and mother and daughter are doing well which was good news to his teammates who insisted he go knowing that it would leave the team short on the backline.
- Many Ikhlas players seemed unaware of the rules around the Semifinals as after Haya scored in the final seconds to win Game Two, Ikhlas players derided their celebrations saying that Haya was still going to lose the series since Ikhlas won Game One by a 3-1 score. Mohammed Hamoudi was seen laughing at Haya until he was reminded by the refs that the series was not a two-game aggregate score like Champions League Soccer and the series was about to go to overtime. Suffice to say the Ikhlas mood right before the overtime period reflected their shock and explained their poor play where they seemed destined to lose.
- For Haya's equalizing goal, Zaid Toorawa made costly turnover while trying to shoot on an empty net, that allowed Haya to get possession back and ended up with them scoring with seconds left. Before Overtime started all of his teammates took turns chewing him out before Coach K took him to the side and gave him a final dressing down before leaving him in the corner of the bench alone. A moment captured here.
- The winning goal for Ikhlas was actually captured on video by some of the passionate fans of Ikhlas who positioned themselves behind Fahad Mohammad to heckle him hoping to make a difference for Ikhlas. No word if they did in fact do that but they managed to get the winner seen here.
- Ihsan will look back at what might have been this season as they entered the playoffs as the top seed, the top two scorers in the league and one of the best goalies. Their open style of play focused on scoring worked well in the regular season but left them exposed in the playoffs where they could not protect their goalie in front and saw them bow out.
- It may not be March anymore but with the top two seeds getting knocked out of the playoffs suffice to say many pundits have their brackets broken at this point.
- Looking to the finals there are a number of interesting storylines at play as these are two teams that seem to have multiple links to one another:
- Erfan Bhanapatel will be facing against his brother-in-law Abu Manjra
- Zaid Toorawa and Sufyan Shaikh will be facing their former team Shukr while Arslan Mian goes against Ikhlas. Mian has not fared well since leaving Ikhlas and the boo-birds that he faced and Coach K leading a "We Don't Need Him" chant seemed to rattle the young winger.
- Another clash amongst family as Ahmar Wasif of Ikhlas will face Ahsan Wasif on Shukr.
- Coach K is riding a high as his beloved Islanders swept the Penguins out of the NHL playoffs and his confidence as a result is at an all time high. When asked about what his plans are for Ikhlas in how they will shut down Shukr he noted that he has played with Humza Chaudhry for many years and knows his game and what it will take to lock him up. For Arslan Mian he felt that he has already done enough to throw the winger off his game and the stats prove it as Mian has struggled since joining Shukr.
- 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
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
- 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
- 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
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