Week Eight - November 7th

- Sabr's struggles have seen them fall from a tie for first into last in just two weeks and things won't get easier this week against Emaan who are starting to find their stride; Sabr also goes into this game missing various players due to suspension and injury so if their bench doesn't step up their playoff hopes could take a big blow.

- Taqwa will be glad that they don’t have to face Emaan again (regular season that is) as in three games between the teams Taqwa was only able to get a tie and the last game were routed.

- Lack of chemistry seems to be cited for the major reason why 1st rounders Talib Contractor and Nadeem Qureshi were exchanged in a monster trade. Talib, the 1st overall pick, had only 2 points after 5 games played for Shukr while Nadeem had only 1 point in 3 games for Ridha. Both teams are hoping the new players will fit right in and light up their offense.

- How things change. We reported before how we were looking forward to the next showdown between Nadeem Qureshi and Captain Mohammad Hamoud when they exchanged "pleasantries" in their last game. Now the two won't have to wait for the rematch as they can go at it in the locker room as teammates following the big trade. However, we anticipate these two teddy bears will just end up hugging and making up.

- The battle of Emaan was on last Friday when Yaqeen and Haya faced-off. Actually it was more like Maulana Belal Ahmed "The Grey" of Haya versus Imam Abdul-Aziz Rasoul "The White" of Yaqeen. The two wizards called up their most special du'aas so their teams would be victorious. It would be Belal "The Grey" that would be left standing as the victor by the end of the night.

- Speaking of forward Belal Ahmed, he was teased by his team prior to last week's game as he was the only one without any points. Belal responded to the pundits with a stellar game and two points.

- Generating goals seems to be a major problem for the teams in the bottom half of the standings. After 5 games played both Shukr and Yaqeen have scored only 8 goals while Ridha has scored merely 7 goals. It doesn't look good when you realize Waseem Bangash of Haya has scored 8 goals himself. On the other hand, Shukr is doing the job on defense and has a goal differential of just -3 whereas Yaqeen's porous defense has a whopping -14 goal differential

- It was no secret that Ridha wanted to draft Talib Contractor and it seemed as though when they missed out on him in the draft their draft strategy didn't gel so now that they have managed to acquire their coveted piece let's see how their team performs.  Farooq Sani is pointless so far and if he lines up on forward with Contractor then he may finally get his offensive game going because Ridha desperately needs it.

- Nadeem Akhter's bid for MVP continues strong as the "Zdeno Chara" of I-Slam notched another point. He stands now in 2nd place in points; however, the defenseman's presence and contribution on the floor are worth more to the team.

Ikhlas comes into their game in third place and have a tough game against Zuhd who they barely defeated to open the season, Zuhd has been steadily improving while Ikhlas seems to have been regressing

- A point of comedy (for opponents anyhow) is that Ikhlas has taken a Too Many Men penalty in every one of their games this season, what seemed comical at first has turned into a point of frustration with what can only be poor communication on the bench to keep having the same issue each game

- Shukr will get a chance to test out their new line-up in a big game against Haya, the pressure will be on Nadeem Qureshi to make an impact for his team but having played with Coach K and Rayhan Taqiuddin for many years they have a good insight on how to shut him down so if he isn't able to find a way to give Shukr's anemic offense a boost their grip on the final playoff spot could slip further.

- Haya continues their domination of Tier-2 and if it were not for a five-minute collapse at the end of their game with Zuhd they would be undefeated for the season.  Coach K has them demolishing opponents and they are getting good D and even better goaltending from Yusuf Kapoor who shut out Yaqeen in his last game.