Week Thirteen - May 29th - Spring Finals

- And then there were two - Emaan and Ihsan advance to the finals but with very different paths and will square off for the Spring Season Championship.  Emaan (3rd) and Ihsan (4th) pulled off upsets of sorts to advance and continue the trend of top seeds faltering in the playoffs.

- Haya came into the playoffs as the top seed but injuries eventually caught up as they were without Aazar Zafar and Junaid Mohammad, playing without your top two draft picks will eventually come back to hurt you.

- It should be noted that Ihsan was playing without GM Salman Khalid for both games and Nauman Abbasi for Game Two.  Abbasi promised to have a better showing for his team in Game Two after watching the video recap from Game One.  It wasn't clear if his statement that he would help his team win Game Two meant that his team would be better of playing without him.

- Haya actually roared out to an early 2-0 lead and seemed well on their way to making the finals but Ihsan got a goal in the final minute of the first from Yousuf Soliman who never gave up and his hard work (and a guarantee that his team would win) would pay off as Ihsan scored twice in the final three and a half minutes of the game to force overtime.  The five minutes of extra play solved nothing and Ihsan advanced by outscoring Haya 3-1 in the shootout.

- It takes a great deal of confidence to guarantee a win, Coach K reportedly did it for Emaan with seconds left and up two goals over Shukr - but Yousuf Soliman showed a level of hubris not often seen as on video he guaranteed that despite just minutes left and his team losing 2-1 that they were going to win the game.  The fact that Ihsan managed to pull it off saves him from having that clip thrown in his face but he did rally his team when they needed it the most.  It should be noted that Soliman took a silly hooking penalty late in Overtime and as a result was not eligible to take a penalty shot - fortunately the three Ihsan shooters managed to score and save him from potentially watching his team lose from the box.

- Haya ends their season on a sour note but should hold their heads up high, they started the season on fire and it was more injuries than anything that derailed their season.  Yusuf Kapoor was solid in net once again (as he was for Haya in the Fall Tier-2 Season) and always gave his team a chance to win.

- Shukr was an enigma to deal with, seemingly never strong enough to deliver the knockout punch they ended the season with a 3-1-6 record, the six ties are a new (dubious) league record.  The team drafted goalie Khalid Mufti in the first round and he rewarded them with a strong season and was their rock all year.  Inconsistent attendance from their stars along with those stars not scoring was their undoing.  The team ended the season with the best defence with only 17 goals against but the second worst offence with only 16 goals.  Ibrahim Hindy was solid this year finishing with seven goals and nine points, his end to end game was solid and he led his team by example.

- For the Emaan/Shukr playoff series, Shukr had a chance to steal game one (even though they were missing many of their stars) but collapsed late.  The star of the series though was Waqar Khan who anchored Emaan's top line and ate up Shukr seemingly at will.  Khan finished the series with two goals and four assists.  His wingers also had a big series with Furqan Salam putting up two goals and three assists while Arif Bijabhai put up two goals and an assist.  That's 14 points over two games  for the trio which was a key for their series sweep over Shukr.  The trio (well more Waqar and Arif) always got back defensively and were not on for any goals against - the big difference in the series.

- Emaan almost played Game Two without Bilal Pervaiz who stumbled in as the second half was starting.  Reportedly he intended to take a short nap prior to the game but slept longer than intended, only being awoken near the start of the game by his teammates trying to find out where he was.  Pervaiz managed to get to arena to contribute as he scored (a bit of a lucky goal) on his first shift.  It seems that the additional beauty sleep paid off - well perhaps less beauty and more beast but I digress.

- This will be the first trip to the finals for Emaan's Coach K, Kashif Taqiuddin has had a solid season, leading his teams defense core in scoring and bringing his leadership to the team which has helped them make the jump to the finals.  No doubt Ihsan will look to limit his creativity in breakout plays hoping to disrupt Emaan's offense.  Taqiuddin has talked of his one-on-one work with Furqan Salam, trying to make him a better two-way player as he did for Waseem Bangash in the fall season.

- Ihsan has been here before, three times before to be precise.  In a remarkable show of stability, Ihsan has made the finals in every Spring Season, winning the first one and losing last season after being decimated by injuries.

- The two meetings between these teams saw Emaan win 3-2 and the teams tie 2-2.  Hard to make predictions but this should be a great series with a lot of sub-plots to make it entertaining.  Various Cambridge players are facing off, long-time friends Nadeem Qureshi and Kashif Taqiuddin face off.  Emaan facing a pair of their favourite players to watch in Ahmad Hathout and Yousuf "Drake" Soliman.  This will also be a chance for Waqar Khan to show that he was truly deserving to win the scoring title over Ahmad Hathout who racked up seven points in the final two games against a listless Ikhlas - one of those games shooting on an empty net.

- Finally, after Emaan's win a player from Shukr suggested that the league should bring in testing for Performance Enhancing Drugs, referencing this picture showing Waqar Khan and Jibran Salam who are either putting in a lot of time in the gym or are getting some help.

When it was questioned why there was no concern about Furqan Salam, there seemed to be confusion as based upon the physique it was thought that it was younger brother Wahhaj Salam in the photo.

- Video Recaps are up for both games, some great highlights (especially for the Ihsan comeback) so make sure to watch!

• Emaan vs Shukr
• Haya vs Ihsan 

Week Twelve - May 15th

- The Playoffs are off and some exciting results from both Game Ones for the Semi-Finals.

- Emaan and Shukr opened the playoffs with a generally tight affair which is what Shukr would want with their low scoring offence.  Shukr actually took the early lead and were up 2-1 with less than five minutes left in the game before the wheels fell off as Emaan scored twice within 23 seconds and added another with 12 seconds left for the 4-2 win.

- Emaan got a boost from "Coach K" who was able to rally his team and create the clutch goals when they needed it to get the win.  Kashif Taqiuddin’s leadership has been a boost for this squad that was knocked out in the Semi-Finals last Spring Season.

- Shukr was kept in the game by goalie Khalid Mufti who was called upon repeatedly to make big saves to give his team a chance in this one.

- Haya got the win in their tilt with Ihsan, roaring out to a 3-0 lead before stumbling and allowing Ihsan to score a pair of goals to make it 3-2.  The game was put away by Akib Malik who scored the insurance marker and allowed Haya to seal the win.

- Ihsan had a glorious chance to tie the game up in the 2nd Period as Ahmad Hathout threaded a beautiful pass to an open Nauman Abbasi at the side of the net, however Abbasi was not able to convert on the open side and hit shot went into Haya goalie Yusuf Kapoor allowing Haya to hold the lead and add an insurance goal a couple of minutes later.

- Haya got a big game from Faisal Malik who finished with three assists and a pair of penalties as he mixed things up on the floor with his physical play on the blue line.

- Ihsan was playing without Salman Khalid and Abdul-Wahab Mohammad, Khalid being a huge loss as he brings a great sense of stability to the defence core of Ihsan.

- Post-game some members of Haya expressed concern that during one play where Rizwan Malik was running at full steam that his knee brace may have come flying off.  Fortunately it did stay on and Malik had a solid outing including a goal early in the game.

- Abdu Sharkawy of Emaan had a solid game, winning big face-offs and setting up a pair of goals, Sharkaway seems to be working hard to make up for his disastrous parade to the penalty box during Emaan’s regular season finale where Emaan barely held on for a tie against Sabr where a loss would have seen Emaan be eliminated from the playoffs.

- Video Recaps are up for both games, some great highlights so make sure to watch!

• Emaan vs Shukr
• Haya vs Ihsan

Week Eleven - May 8th

- The Regular season is over and the wild night we expected last week played out close to what pundits had expected.  Ihsan defeating Ikhlas was expected, Shukr managed to win their game against Haya where both teams were short benched and Emaan barely outlasted Sabr in a game that ended as a tie.

- The Emaan vs Sabr game was a chippy affair with a lot of offsetting penalties for physical play and this one went right down to the wire.  Emaan had an early 2-0 lead and a 3-1 lead with four minutes left in the game but Sabr kept working hard and the combo of Zaid Toorawa and Atif Mian sparked the comeback as the duo set up goals by Mustafa Alam and Azhar Kalair.  But despite the great push from Sabr they could not get the game winner in the final seconds which is what they needed to bump Emaan for a playoff spot.

- Sabr also got a great performance from Zayd Agjee who made some spectacular saves to keep his team in it and give them a chance for the win.  He was a

- The season is over for Ikhlas and Sabr, both face the disappointment for not advancing with very different points of view.  For Ikhlas they were eliminated a couple of weeks ago and the combo of player absenteeism and some blowout losses to start the season doomed them.  Ikhlas was to be featured around All-Star Goalie Ibad Khan who is one of the best around - therein lies the problem as he wasn’t around often enough for his team playing only five games.  Missing arguably your best player is a recipe for disaster which is what the rest of the squad seemed to endure.  Weak performances from some of their top draft picks certainly didn’t help the cause.

- For their season finale, Ikhlas was forced to call Ahmad Mobin to fill in for them between the pipes, it wasn’t clear if Ikhlas brass were hoping Mobin could carry them as he did last Spring Season where he almost repeatedly stood on his head to bail them out long enough to steal a win but that didn’t happen this day.  Mobin faced more shots than he may have expected after a long layoff and made some big saves but wasn’t able to recreate last season’s magic for Ikhlas.

- Sabr came within a goal of making the playoffs but came up just short and looking back there were some close losses that hurt them but the loss to Ikhlas (for that teams only win of the season) has to particularly sting.  Sabr had great balance on paper and coming out of the draft (assisted by Waseem “the Dream” Bangash) things looked up but little mistakes along the way cost them their chance at a championship.  The team got great individual performances from Zaid Toorawa (2 goals, 7 assists) and Atif Mian (2 goals, 6 assists) and the growth of those two should be something to watch for next season.

- After their gruelling game with Sabr last week, an Emaan player summed up the effort with a simple, “we did enough to get it done and derail the TooToo train” in a veiled reference to Sabr’s Zaid Toorawa.

- Shukr ground out a win over Haya in a game where both teams had a short bench, Shukr with three subs and Haya with two subs.  Shukr got a massive effort from Arssal Shahabuddin who was forced to play the entire game on D and scored his teams first goal on a spectacular solo effort.

- Ahmad Hathout wins the scoring title with 6 goals and 14 assists; edging out Waqar Khan from Emaan (8 goals, 10 assists).  Players from Emaan felt their captain got robbed pointing to Hathout picking up 7 points in the final two games against last place Ikhlas and one of those game without a goalie.

- Playoff match-ups are set and should provide some great action.

• Shukr will face Emaan in what will be a great contrast in styles as Emaan’s high octane offence will face Shukr’s defensive approach to games.  Emaan’s defence is solid as well while Shukr’s offence is anemic having scored almost half as many goals as Emaan did this season.  Emaan has struggled in their last few games but they have a deep team and high ball hockey IQ.  In the regular season, Emaan won the first meeting 6-1 while the second meeting ended in a 1-1 tie.
• Haya will face Ihsan in another solid match-up.  Haya swept the season series with 3-2 and 5-3 wins.  Haya struggled in their final two regular season games (tie and a loss) while Ihsan comes in hot (a pair of 6-1 wins) but considering Haya locked up a playoff spot long ago they didn’t have much to play for whereas Ihsan was in a battle to grab the final playoff spot.  This one will down to a battle of the Malik’s vs the tag team of Soliman/Hathout’s.

- Emaan Captain Waqar Khan stated he expects a big playoff performance from Umair Ashraf who has had a notable season with various mentions in this column.  Hopefully he doesn’t take another tumble like this one.

Week Ten - May 1st

- Nine weeks completed and few would have predicted the roller coaster we have in store for the final week of the season.  Let’s start with what is fact to this point: Haya will finish first and Ikhlas will finish last.  That means that the remaining four teams are all pushing to lock down the final three playoff spots.

- For Playoff seeding when teams are tied, the ranking goes first by most wins, then head-to-head, then goal differential and then finally fewest goals allowed.  With four teams in play for the remaining three spots every game this week will have an impact on the final standings which will make for an exciting night.  Here are the match-ups and the potential impacts:

• 8pm - Ikhlas vs Ihsan: We already know that Ikhlas is done and Ihsan is currently clinging to the final playoff spot.  If Ihsan wins they are in for sure, a tie and they are waiting until the 10pm game as if Sabr wins they would claim fourth (more wins)
• 9pm - Shukr vs Haya: We know that Haya is locked into first place, Shukr is tied for second with Emaan and a win or even a tie will guarantee a playoff spot.  A loss and they are hoping for an Ihsan or Sabr loss to advance.
• 10pm - Sabr vs Emaan: Sabr is currently in fifth and only a win gets them as a tie combined with an Ihsan loss would still see Sabr out as Ihsan swept the season series and owns the head-to-head tie breaker.  Emaan is in the unbelievable position (considering the talent in their lineup) of needing a point to clinch; having just lost to Sabr last week the pressure is on Emaan now.

- Ikhlas is out but can play spoiler in this last week of the season as they look to disrupt Ihsan and their playoff push.  Ikhlas came out of the draft with the best goalie in Ibad Khan and a lot of great pieces to work with but things went sideways after being demolished in their first game by Emaan (aka Cambridge 2) and followed that up with another lopsided loss to Sabr.  With a rough start and numerous player absences along the way Ikhlas never really got going and some off years from key players hurt - their top three draft picks combined for a goal and an assist over the first nine games.

- Ihsan got a big 6-1 win last week over Ikhlas until you notice that they played against an empty net all game.  Kudos to Ikhlas for trying to keep it close and the various players that tried to cover the net.  Rayhan Taqiuddin was observed blocking a few shots and surely takes solace in that he shut down longtime friend Nadeem Qureshi who did not pick up a point in the game.  Ahmad Hathout however put up a four-point night to take over the scoring leader from Waqar Khan of Emaan.

- Last week Shukr did what they do best - tie games.  Haya came in with just three subs and after Luqman Arshad had a redirected shot hit him in the face, Haya was down to just two players on the bench for about 10 minutes while Arshad got patched up.  With the numerical advantage, Shukr was still unable to break Haya as Yusuf Kapoor made some big saves and Shukr managed to waste other opportunities with wide shots or turnovers deep in the offensive zone.

- The Emaan vs Sabr game had a scary moment when Umair Ashraf collided with a Sabr player and as he didn’t see his opponent had the wind knocked out of him.  After receiving some medical attention and a massage from Kashif Taqiuddin he was helped to his bench and received a round of applause.  He was able to finish the game in a limited capacity and Emaan will need him at full strength for the regular season finale.

- Sabr was in trouble a week ago, needing some help to give them a chance to make the playoffs, a week later they control their own fate as a win over Emaan in the last game of the season will get them in.  Emaan took an early lead and seemed poised to hold on and end Sabr’s season but then Zaid Toorawa took over.  Sure he got into a shouting match with teammate Mustafa Alam over an errant pass but Toorawa stepped up to score the go ahead goal for Sabr and then sealed the win with an empty netter from inside the defensive zone.  There were conflicting reports on his reaction after the goal as initially it was said he was calm but later reports suggested he turned to his teammates and stated “That’s why they got me here!  That’s what I do!”

- Many observers (including Emaan themselves) were shocked to discover that the team not only had yet to clinch a playoff spot but was in real danger of missing the playoffs entirely.  Winless in their last three games and now the team is feeling the pressure.

- Sabr was able to exploit the spacing of Emaan’s defensive set-up as they frequently had Atif Mian running slants through the neutral zone and with his speed he was able to create multiple offensive opportunities for his team.

- Back to Toorawa, Emaan Captain Waqar Khan noted that Toorawa plays the role of pest well and provided a game changing performance.  Toorawa has come a long way from the media circus he created around himself last season with this debacle.

Week Six - March 27th

- The undefeated streak for Shukr is over and not in a good way after a 6-1 mauling at the hands of Emaan.  Shukr started the game with only two subs (ended with four) and managed to take a surprising 1-0 lead before the wheels fell off.  Players veered from the strategy of protecting the ball and the results of that were anything but a surprise.  So just like that Shukr went from being undefeated to being the only team without a win.

- Waqar Khan was unstoppable as Emaan's captain led the way for his team.  He went into the corners, was first on every ball and crashed the net.  The net result of his effort was a three goal and three assist night.

- Haya continued their great start to the season as they rolled over Ikhlas to put their record at 5-0.  Rizwan Malik opened the scoring and set a goal later to continue his celebrated return but he continues to refuse to speak to the media postgame.

- Back to Emaan, some questioned how it was possible that Waqar Khan had six points and one of his wingers in Bilal Pervaiz had four points yet the other winger in Furqan Salam had nothing.  Salam uncharacteristically tight-lipped post game as he was unable to explain how he was shut down in a blowout game.

- The Ikhlas struggles continue, this time with a loss to 1st place Haya, Ikhlas held a 2-1 lead in the first before allowing a goal in the final minute of the half and then a goal in the opening minute of the second half to turn the game.  With the talent available on their roster their struggles are hard to understand but they need to turn things around before the season is lost.

- With the first half of the season gone, the standings are quite the story as with the exception of Haya who is far ahead at the top of the table, the separation between 2nd and 5th is just two points leaving little room for error for teams jostling for a playoff spot.

- In a strange twist, Emaan players watched the Ikhlas vs Haya game and were vocal in their support of Ikhlas, their Cambridge rival whom they demolished in both games this season.  Emaan was chirping various Haya players with Naeem Akhtar (or Naeem Malik as they were calling him) receiving the brunt of the jeers.

- Some observers commented that they were worried about Emaan goalie Sadiq Rehman who faced only nine shots from Shukr and seemed lonely in his crease with all the action consistently on the other side of the floor.  Rehman has played well this season but (with the exception of Haya) generally has not been tested this season to see how his wrist has healed from a pre-season injury.

Week Five - March 20th

- Just as quickly as Ikhlas seemed to be turning things around, another meeting with their Cambridge rivals ended with a 6-0 beating where they were outshot 26-9 and were under siege all game.  Despite the humbling loss, Ikhlas continues to refer to Emaan as "Cambridge Two" under the guise that until Emaan wins a championship they are mere pretenders.

- Waqar Khan was a force in the battle of Cambridge, racking up two goals and two assists and leading his team to a dominant win.  The leadership of Khan combined with "Coach K" may prove to be fruitful after last games display

- Haya continues to roll as they defeated Ihsan to up their record to 4-0 to start the season, Naeem Akhtar and Junaid Mohammad have been key to their hot start, Akhtar producing some highlight reel goals along the way.

- Haya has also received some great play from (fill in the blank) Malik, although Rizwan Malik has stood out a bit more when he is not battling the media

- Shukr has had an interesting start and depending upon your perspective they are either:
> Undefeated (Glass half full)
> Winless (Glass half empty)

- Regardless of your perspective the fact is that Shukr is both of those adjectives, they have four ties in all four of their games so as Ihsan described them a few weeks ago, "they always bend but never break."  Shukr needs to get things going because right now they are tied for the lowest goals scored with Ikhlas.  Shuaib Hussein with a goal in four games and Gehad Al-Hundi with just an assist in three games won't do - that said if these two can get going then Shukr will surely be a threat to actually win a game

- After a quirky start to the schedule where the first four weeks saw home and home series, week five has teams face a new opponent so time for some new rivalries to start up

Week Four - March 6th

- The big story of last week was likely Ikhlas getting their first win of the season after being dominated in their first two games.  A bigger feat considering that Ibad Khan was missing again.  Attendance has been a challenge for Ikhlas this season as Hammad Khan has yet to play a game and he was expected to help anchor the teams defense core.

- Haya came away with another win over Emaan but this one was more convincing than the first.  Ali Malik potted the game winner with some hard work and using his speed to his advantage.  Haya picked up Malik in a trade which has more than worked out for them as his game continues to grow.

- Sabr got a boost last week with the return of Yousuf Sowdagar from an ankle injury.  While he looked a bit rusty in his first action back, when he gets going it will be a big boost for Sabr who are already looking solid so far this season despite their loss to Ikhlas last week.

- Shukr continues to have penalty problems this season which has disrupted their flow with the constant penalty kills so better discipline is required if they plan on creating any type of consistent offensive pressure

- It's early in the season but already Furqan Salam has more points (4 points in 3 games) than he did in the entire Fall season (2 points in 11 games).  Good to see him back on track but if he starts to struggle, expect to see various meme's analyzing his struggles

- Shukr has had an anemic offensive showing thus far, with just 4 goals scored in their first three games, a combination of players not clicking along with trying to do make too pretty a play have hurt their goal-scoring but its only a matter of time before they start to put everything together - or at least that's what they keep telling themselves

- Umair Ashraf is either the most interesting man in the world or just enjoys seeing his name in this column (I am not complaining - I have a page to fill).  He recently talked of his enjoyment of listening to Backstreet Boys (with Facebook posts to support his devotion) and how he likes to sing their songs while playing to throw off opponents.  No word if this strategy works or not...its definitely different...it's not really hurting anyone...just annoying which is the point.

- Speaking of music, during the Spring Season draft Haya considered drafting Zayn Malik of One Direction in their transparent attempt to grab as many Malik's as possible but decided against it worrying that they had already filled their pretty boy quota when they selected Rizwan Malik

- The standings are pretty tight thus far with just one point separating 2nd from 6th place, only Haya has come out of the starting gate flying

- Big game this week with Ikhlas vs Cambridge Two (AKA Emaan) as Ikhlas tries to avenge their humbling 5-2 defeat to open the season which was kind to how badly they were dominated as they were outshot 43-13 and were overwhelmed

- Haya had a surprise guest last week as Naiem Malik showed up to support his family, he reportedly gave a riveting pre-game speech about taking the body and playing a tight conservative game.  Haya listened to what he said and went out and did the exact opposite resulting in a 5-2 win...

- Speaking of Rizwan Malik, there was some controversy as the I-Slam Hockey twitter account noted that Naiem Malik  was attempting to pull Rizwan Malik to another team, which Saleem Malik took exception too and released the following statement, "I'm fed up with how the media treats Riz.  It's not his fault he hurt his knee.  Rizwan is a heart and soul player and doesn't deserve to be treated this way.  You guys should be ashamed, you owe him an apology."  No word is a lawsuit is pending so stay tuned