Week Nine - December 4th

- Waqar Khan was the story in Week Eight, some good and some bad in a crushing loss to Haya.  Khan was all over the floor playing any and every position his team needed him to, lining up on the point for the power play, killing penalties as a forward - including playing goalie while covering the empty net but more on that later.  Khan’s hustle and forecheck are well known, to teammates and opponents and last game it was his teammates that needed to be on the alert.  A near catastrophe for Ikhlas occurred when Farooq Sani was nearly run over by Khan as both went to collect a loose ball.  Sani seemed to recognize the “search and destroy” look in the eyes of Khan and was forced to do a looping spin jump to get out of the way.  Since losing Zahid Merchant Ikhlas has seemed a bit thin offensively from the blue line so losing Sani would have been a disaster.

- In the same game, Ahmad Ibrahim got caught with an accidental high stick but thankfully the man with more nicknames (“Habibi”, “The Mountain”, “Dirtiest Player in I-Slam”) than goals this season was fine and remained in the game.  A player safety reminder for players that accidents happen so best to have equipment such as a visor to protect you.

- Umair Ashraf has been a frequent source for material in this column and he seems fine with that.  Although he is now trying to change the narrative from his search for a wife to a search for men - specifically for men who are proficient in the world of IT as Ashraf is employed as a recruiter.  So for any guys out there looking for a dinner date, have a chat with Ashraf and let him try to recruit you.

- While Hany Soliman has played well this season, some expected more from the power forward considering he was being united on a line with brothers Osama Soliman and Yousuf Soliman (with Walied Soliman ready to fill in as well).  The trio have been solid but not spectacular, with a fan putting together this video evidence of a penalty shot for Hany Soliman from last years playoffs and last week.

The “evidence” of his struggles as it were are that he no longer sports his picnic table style shorts, his trademark going back many seasons.

- Going back to Waqar Khan, he has been in a struggle to surpass the offensive numbers from Ahmad Hathout of Sabr this season, trailing Hathout in Goals, Assists and Points.  In the final minutes of the Ikhlas vs Haya game, Ikhlas pulled their goalie for the extra forward and left Khan as the safety to prevent an empty net goal.  Umar Muhammad had his first chance at the empty net shut down but just 30 seconds later Salman Khalid threaded a beautiful lob pass over all of Ikhlas to Muhammad (who seemed to be playing a bit too far away from his own net while protecting the lead).  Khan pursued Muhammad as he was about to take a shot at the empty net and his diving defensive play tripped Muhammad and a goal was awarded.  Hathout supporters would later ask if this own goal would count against Khan and have one of his goals subtracted - it will not.

- Haya has made an incredible run as of late having won four in a row and with last weeks win over Ikhlas are now just a point out of second place.  Haya believe that they have a shot at first place which is actually possible as they play Shukr in their last game so if Haya defeats Emaan this week while Shukr lose to Ihsan and that last game could be for first place.

- Shukr are still undefeated for the season but may be concerned as they have tied their last two games, two weeks ago they fought back to tie Emaan and last week they blew a lead as Ihsan scored with just two seconds left as Arsalan Mian snapped in the equalizer.  Shukr face Ihsan again this week and hope to show that last weeks collapse was an aberration rather than a sign of things to come as the playoffs approach.

- Shukr should be concerned about the play of Fahad Mallik who continues to struggle with no points this season.  We’ll give him one last week before we put his face on the milk carton but there are reports that his team is considering sending him on a conditioning stint to get him going.

- As the season winds down with just two games left for all teams in the regular season all games are key but this week will have great impact on the standings as Haya looks to vault into the top two while Shukr hopes to clinch first place and Ikhlas just hopes to fend of Haya and hold onto second.

- All the team match-ups aside, many will be watching Ikhlas vs Sabr for another reason as it pits Waqar Khan and Ahmad Hathout in a head to head meeting which may determine who wins the scoring title this year.  Hathout beat out Khan in the Spring Season, something which we know still burns for Khan so this is his chance to rectify that.