Week Seven - November 18th

- After Yousuf Soliman’s outstanding deke and goal on Ikhlas goalie Rahil Ahmed, Ahmed suffered an undisclosed lower body injury and was forced to leave the game.  With no other option, Ikhlas was forced to suit up a player as a goalie, the first time ever in I-Slam history! Usamah Rao was given the difficult task to transition from a forward position to goalie mid-game.  Rao had just earned an assist 30 seconds before stepping into goal where he made 11 saves and allowed just one goal, earning him the 3rd star in Week Six.  At the beginning of Usamah’s debut as a goalie, Ikhlas lacked confidence of this idea but slowly gained momentum as Usamah Rao kept Ikhlas in the game.  Ikhlas were able to score with 17 seconds remaining to tie the game and get their first point of the season

- Uncharacteristically, Yaqeen lacked discipline in their last game which ultimately led to their demise; Shukr capitalized on two of their three power play chances and out-paced Yaqeen in shots 19-7

- Unfortunately for Yaqeen, they wasted Yusuf Kapoor’s stellar effort as he stopped 16 out of the 19 shots he faced. He made some outstanding saves to keep the game close.

- Ahmad Ibrahim of Shukr left last week with an undisclosed injury and remains sidelined for his team’s next game against Emaan, Shukr will hope that "The Mountain" will be fit and ready to play as soon as possible

- Other injury notes to pass your way include initial assessments indicate Rahil Ahmed may be done for the season. If these rumors are true, then this is a huge blow for Ikhlas’ playoff hopes as they drafted Rahil in the first round hoping he would be the backbone of their team. This has left Ikhlas exploring all options including perhaps requesting a trade with Emaan either for their goaltender Ahmad Mobin or Sadiq Rehman (who is playing as a defenseman this season). One would think Umair Ashraf (Ikhlas) would be a part of these conversations. Antother possibility is perhaps Ikhlas goes with what worked and keep Rao in net. By the way he is now the leading vote-getter to start the all-star game as a goalie!

- Haya’s Naem Akhtar has been called out for his poor play. It has been speculated that being separated from Fahad Malik has negatively impacted his game. Last week, he was saved by the heroics of Hisham Ali (1^st Star) who had 2 goals and 1 assist

- After six weeks Ikhlas and Sabr both still remain win-less. Now in Week Seven they face each other in what is clearly a crucial game to help secure a playoff spot. Advantage for now is with Sabr as it remains unknown who will be in net for Ikhlas.

- Haya’s Aazar Zafar has been showing up to his games late. He has an important role for this team but constantly coming well into the first half of games is probably wearing thin on his teammates.   

- Over the past two weeks Arif Bijabhai (Shukr) has been the league’s hottest player; Fresh from coming over 1^st star honors in Week 5, with 2 goals he is the week’s 2^nd star.

- Umair Ashraf may not be available for his team this week in a crucial game as his beard modelling tour has reportedly taken him to Washington DC.  

- A couple of weeks ago, Ihsan made a memorable comeback against Emaan as Sajid Khan scored with 2:48 left to tie the game and then again with six seconds left to give his team the win.  Yousuf Soliman was ecstatic with the comeback win and seemed to relish it over his rivals who teased him leading up to the game, calling him by his nickname of “Drake” and referring to the #ViewsFromSixth Spring Season, Soliman in turn referred to Emaan being flat in the final minutes of the game as their take on the #MannequinChallenge and now video has surfaced showing the final goal which you can view here.  Emaan may not have won any #MannequinChallenge but they need to move with more urgency if they want to win games.