Week Seven - October 31st

- Sabr entered Week Six in a tie for first and ended in third place and hurting with various injuries.  Sabr lost Hani Soliman to an ankle injury a couple of weeks ago and he was hopeful that he would return for the end of the season but it has now been confirmed that he will in fact miss the remainder of the season which is a big blow considering that he is tied for the team lead in goals and gave their forwards a strong physical presence around the net.  The injury woes got worse when during their game against Taqwa last week, Yousuf Sowdagar separated his shoulder and there is no word on his status coming into Week Seven.

- Speaking of injuries, Danial Umar replaced Camran Baig (who had to withdraw after a wrist injury) but in his first game Umar injured his hamstring, post-game he said he would be fine but something to watch

- In Taqwa's win over Sabr, the game was sealed by an empty net goal from Safi Ahmed who flipped a shot in from near his blue line, a skill his teammates commented that he has been working on for years and finally proved useful.

- Ihsan moved into first place after a solid 2-0 win over Emaan last week, they were led by some great chemistry from their 2^nd line as Yusuf Ingar, Ali Wadee and Omar Husain were a constant threat and the trio combined for two pretty goals with Ingar being the goal scorer on both.  

- Emaan needs to start playing desperate as they are currently in last and have only four games left in the season.  They face Taqwa this week whom they have already defeated in Week Three and fought back for a tie a couple of weeks ago with a last minute goal.  Furqan Salam had a strong Spring Season with 23 points in 10 games but only has an assist to show in six games this season.

- Emaan has had discipline issues as silly penalties have put them in the position of having to kill more penalties than any other team in Tier-1 so making sure they don't allow their aggressive style to get out of control is critical

- Another potential candidate for defenseman of the year is Fuzail Thakur. Although registered as a forward, Fuzail volunteered to fill the gaping blue line for Haya.  Halfway through the season he has clearly stood out as the top d-man on the team earning praise from Coach K for his ability to move the ball and stop the opposition from entering the zone

- Waseem Bangash continues to lead Tier-2 in scoring; despite the excellent man coverage by Ikhlas they weren't able to shut him out as he finally lit the lamp on an empty netter with just one second remaining.  Incidentally an Ikhlas player questioned whether Bangash would receive the same criticism as Wakaas Khan did the week before for attempting to score in the final seconds of a game

- Speaking of Waseem Bangash, we predict he will score 2 goals in his next game? Why do you say? Taking a look at his first five games his score line looks like this: 1,2,1,2,1,... just follow the trend

- With their crushing defeat of Ikhlas, Haya stands alone at the top of Tier-2, their offense has been overwhelming opposing teams and Coach K has them operating like a well-oiled machine which has resulted in Haya having four of the top six scorers in Tier-2

- After getting the monkey off their back with their first win last week, Yaqeen has the daunting challenge of trying to make it two in a row against Haya who mauled them 6-3 earlier this season. 

- Shukr is on a bye this week and needs to figure out how the wheels feel off as after opening the season with a big 5-0 win, they are winless in their past four games and are barely holding onto the final playoff spot