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.

Week Six - November 11th

- Talk of an All-Star game is heating up!  InshaAllah we will have a game with another league, that said for teams that haven’t done recaps I wouldn't get too excited with this news

- For some teams the season is 50% done so it is time to start thinking about the playoffs.

• Last place team does not make it
• First two teams earn a bye to the semis
• 3 v 6; 4 v 5 , one game knockout
• Semis, one game knockout
• Finals, best of 2

Three Stars from Week Five:
1st Star: Arif Bijabhai (Shukr) dropping four goals against Haya
2nd Star: Sajid Khan (Ihsan) scoring goals goals in the dying minutes against Emaan to get the victory for his team
3rd Star: Imran Merchant (Sabr) a huge reason why his team was able to pick up a point against Yaqeen

All three games for Week Six features rematches from earlier on in the season:
Ihsan beat Ikhlas 2-1 in Week One
Yaqeen shut out Shukr 3-0 in Week Three
Haya and Sabr didn’t decide anything in a 2-2 tie

Emaan’s Waqar Khan’s stay at the top of the scoring ladder might be short-lived as his team has the week off.  A big night by Sajid Ayubi against Shukr seems like the most probable situation to dethrone Khan from the top of the leader-board.

-Speaking of Emaan, they were minutes away from winning against Ihsan claiming the league’s top spot then seconds away from a tie to keep them in the top two spots. Now they have a week to figure out where it all went wrong and try to recover from such a massive collapse

-Ihsan earlier relied on Hany Soliman to cover them in the offensive department, but now their scoring has been more evenly distributed throughout their lineup as evident last week as they got three goals from two defensemen in Rayhan Malik and Sajid Khan

-Haya had a 2-0 lead until Idris Deen and Arif Bijabhai went to work leading Shukr to a 5-3 victory

-Ikhlas and Sabr are still searching for their first win. Sabr has less pressure on them as they were able to pick up two points along the way in the forms of ties. Ikhlas on the other hand are coming off a bye week where they have the monumental task of trying to get Win Number One against a team that has yet to lose thus far in Ihsan

-Atif Mian now a member of Emaan, cannot buy a win this season going from winless Ikhlas and losing in his Emaan debut

Week Five - November 4th

- Week Four saw Haya pick-up their first win over a winless Ikhlas, Emaan ride a strong second half for the win while Ihsan dominates Shukr to remain undefeated.

- There has been a lot of “messages” exchanged between members of Ihsan and Emaan with many references to the 2014 Spring Season Championship team (pictured below):

So we decided to do an I-Slam version of ‘Who he play for?’

-Ahmad Ibrahim: plays for Shukr and has 2 assists on the campaign
-Imdad Ali: also plays for Shukr and patrols their blue line
-Zahid Merchant: hasn’t been signed by any teams this season.  But you might be more familiar with his brother Imran Merchant who plays in net for Sabr this season and has been improving each week

- Asad Darr: decided he has nothing left to prove and is enjoying his time off

-Usamah Rao: is in unfamiliar territory now suits up for the winless Ikhlas
-Atif Mian: a late bloomer on the ball-hockey scene is also on winless Ikhlas

-Ahmad Mobin: after a two-year hiatus he is putting up impressive numbers for Emaan

-Ali Murtaza: the gifted forward has yet to register a point for Emaan this season

-Wakaas Khan: also plying his trade for Emaan this season,

-Umair Awan and brother Adeel Awan are part of the GM core for Emanate

-Farrukh Khan and Sajid Khan (no relation) are the main reason to why Ihsan has only allowed 35 shots through three games.

-Zia Ali: bringing his grit and positive energy to Ihsan.

 Thanks for playing!

- A quick point on Shukr, they have been shut out in two straight weeks, first by Yusuf Kapoor of Yaqeen and then by Zaid Majoo of Ihsan; both goalies are having stellar seasons only letting two and three goals respectively in and sporting a save percentage above .900 % (the gold standard)

- Ikhlas is on a bye week and they could use it, the past three weeks they have been out-scored by a 12-3 tally! They have difficulties in scoring goals and their team defense has been struggling which has left goalie Rahil Ahmed exposed without help; something needs to change and they have a week to regroup

- Hany Soliman of Ihsan was held off the scoresheet last week for the first time this season, that said, while the powerforward may not have helped score his hard work kept the focus on him and gave his teammates more space to work with

- While Sabr is still looking for their first win this season, along with Ikhlas, they seem to be improving as in their last two games they had the lead in both games

- After their comeback win over Sabr, there was a strange hissing noise heard from Emaan's dressing room, no word on what was going on in there at this time

- Just so we are all on the same page, there is only one timeout per game.  So get your team to the arena on time to review strategy so burning an early timeout to talk about the plan with latecomers.

- Yousuf Soliman of Ihsan has been working hard this season to erase the debacle of last season from his mind, Soliman (or "Drake" as he is referred to by friends) was the captain for Sabr last season who finished in last as they were 6^th in the table, spurring the hastag #ViewsFromSixth

-The combination of an idle Yaqeen and a red hot Waqar Khan saw a new point leader as Khan posted another multi-goal night to move to the top of the leaderboard while claiming the second star of the week.  

-Haya’s Mehmed Rizvanovic was the first star and Ihsan’s Zaid Majoo the 3rd

-After Week Four  there are three undefeated teams remaining in Yaqeen, Ihsan and Haya

-On the flipside, after Week Four there are two winless teams remaining in Ikhlas and Sabr

-Suspension Notice: Firasath Ali of Yaqeen has been suspended for one game for abuse of a score-keeper.  We value our volunteers and recognizing they gave up their free time to help out with league operations and more importantly try to make the league enjoyable for everyone. In short, verbally abusing a scorekeeper or OC member in the penalty box, on the floor, in the parking lot, on social media is not permitted.  If you have a suggestion or feedback, we recommend you to approach us in a professional manner so we can work together on whatever the issue might be. 

Week Four - October 28th

- Week Three saw Ikhlas continue to dominate as they rolled their record to 3-0, Emaan bounce back from a Week Two loss to rout shorthanded Ikhlas and Sabr get their first point of the season against Haya making their debut

- Haya had the unusual schedule with being off the first two weeks of the season and may have worked against them as while Sabr has struggled to start the year they have two games under their belt to built some chemistry and built a 2-0 lead in the first half.  The second half saw Haya make a comeback as their top line of Aazar Zafar, Hisham Ali and Mehmed Rizvanovic impose their will as the line scored to goals to tie the game up.

- Haya got a better effort from rookie goalie Imran Merchant who is making a transition from being a star softball player.  Merchant is known for his great glove and arm in softball along with being a power switch hitter but only one of those skills will help him in goal.

- Ikhlas knew that going into their game against Emaan it was going to be tough missing two key defensemen in Salman Khalid and Umair Ashraf and it showed especially during the second half when Emaan broke the game open.  Khalid is reportedly overseas in Spain to audition as Cristiano Ronaldo's stunt double.  The absence of Ashraf is unclear as he was said to be in Chicago fulfilling the obligations of his beard modelling contract but rumours circulated that after he advised his team that he intended to take a knee during the opening talk in solidarity with his Cambridge friends and that games opponents he became a healthy scratch.

- Emaan got a big game from Waqar Khan who posted a hat trick against Ikhlas, after his first goal, a teammate commented that Khan looked like he was a video game player who was on speed burst after blowing by the defense to score.  Furqan Salam had a big game with a goal and three assists while Zaid Toorawa added a goal and two assists as Emaan's top line did all of the damage in this game.

- Ikhlas has seen their offense struggle out of the game with only three goals in their first three game, observers are looking for Atif Mian to provide a greater spark to the team but he has come into the season with conditioning issues.  When he first joined the league he was described as being two years away from being two years away so he should have blossomed into a star by now.

- Lost in the winless start for Ikhlas has been the play of Rahil Ahmed who has kept his team from being blown out in all their games and while the scoreline last week may not reflect it, Ahmed kept his team in it until the second half where Emaan scored multiple breakaway goals or converted odd man rushes.  Ahmed came into the season as one of the stronger goalies and gives his team a chance to win any night.

- Yaqeen came into the season with a a number of talented young players with strong veterans to support them and the result has been a dominant 3-0 start to the season.  In their game last week, Humza Chaudhry, Arslan Mian and Sajjid Ayubi were a force as they tore through the Shukr defense for chance after chance.

- Shukr were missing some depth on defense but their system along with the play of Kaunain Saiyed kept the game within reach the entire way.  Kashif "Coach K" Taqiuddin was the player of the game for his team as he carried his teams defense core once again.

- Next week sees Yaqeen on a bye as all other teams hope the break cools them off, Ikhlas faces Haya where a win gets Ikhlas out of the basement.  Emaan faces Sabr where the former looks to jump into a first place tie with a win.  Ihsan faces Shukr where Ihsan is also looking to jump into a first place tie with a win -Coach K has stated that he will hold Ihsan's Amir Multani in check tonight.

- Finally a reminder that home teams are responsible for recaps, for players that complain they don't see their name in lights enough consider this an opportunity to tell everyone how great you are.

Week Three - October 21st

-Home Teams are responsible for recaps. Week 3 Home Teams: Haya, Emaan and Yaqeen

-Trade deadline has been set to November 23rd at 7:00 pm. Will a gm be bold enough to break up their core group if it means giving their team a better shot at the championship?

-Contrary to popular belief, all teams don’t make the playoffs. The last place team goes home. Also the first two teams get a bye.

-There has been talk of doing an all-star game with another league. This is to first and foremost reward attendance (need to play at least 7 games to qualify) and top performers of the regular season. Talks have been preliminary so keep making dua!

-How good has Hany Soliman (IHSN) been? 2 straight weeks being selected by the refs as one of the three stars; Week 1’s First Star and Week 2’s Third Star. Scoring 4 of his teams 5 goals. Nothing seems to be slowing him down so maybe being off in Week 3 does the rest of the league a favour

- WEEK 2 2ND STAR: YAQEEN- Humza Chaudry 3G, GWG

- WEEK 2 1ST STAR: Shukr- Idris Deen, 3G & 1 A

-You snooze you lose Mr. Soliman. Yaqeen’s Hamza Chaudry gets a chance to take the lead in the goal scoring race.

-As mentioned in the previews Yaqeen has been one of the most if not the most impressive teams we seen so far this season.

-On that note, we haven’t see Haya. Welcome to the show! What you have for us? Huzaifa Manjra ran the table last year picking up two I-slam championships. He begins the quest to remind the league that this is still his kingdom.

-I feel obliged to mention that Ihsan’s Zaid Majoo came up with 2 break away saves to help preserve the victory for Ihsan. You probably didn’t read about it though because of the jerk move. Another friendly reminder that Home teams are responsible for recaps.

-Emaan’s Zaid Toorawa and Umair Awan has notched 2 goals in 2 games.

-This team seems to be drawing a lot of penalties; After going 0-5 on the PP in Week 1, Emaan had some success on the PP in Week 2.

-Ikhlas’ Salman Khalid will be in Spain. Huge blow to Ikhlas this week

-Shukr put up 6 goals against Sabr. The most by any team so far.

-Sabr has had a poor star. Luckily for them they Ikhlas also haven’t won either. Both teams are desperate to get out of the basement and get their seasons back on track.

Week Two - October 14th

-At the draft goaltenders were at a high premium 5 of the 7 goaltenders gone by round 3.

-Konain Saiyed (Shukr) down but not out came up with a ridiculous glove save

-Waqar Khan (Emaan) had a game to forget with an own goal almost costing his team. Lucky for him, team mate Zaid Toorawa capitalize on a poor clearing attempt from Shukr.

-Gotta feel bad for Shukr, sometimes the better team does not necessarily win; outplayed Emaan in Week 1 but ultimately lost the game

- Imran Merchant (Sabr) had a rough start to his I-Slam career. Again chicken or the egg? Did the Sabr defense support him well enough?

-Arif Bijabhai (Shukr) is this year’s 1st overall pick. There is a lot of pressure that comes with it. Not only are you a targeted player but you need to out-perform the entire league to justify that tag. Held pointless in Week 1

-Shukr is hoping Arif Bijabhai & Idris Deen , the first two picks in this year’s draft are able to become a dynamic duo
.
-According to a survey administered shortly after the draft, voters believe Ihsan is well poised to host the championship in a couple of months. Some believe, Emaan, Yaqeen & Haya are also contenders. Being written off at the start are Shukr, Ikhlas and Sabr, all three lost their opening game.

-Player that have new teams:
1) Ikhlas trades Walied Soliman to Ihsan for Hasan Khalid
2) Haya trades Tayyab Kalair & Asim Hussain to Yaqeen for Rehan Rehan Majid Lakhani & Munaf Nathalia

3) Mubashir Malik clears waivers, he replaces Ali Malik on Sabr

-Ahmad Hathout made a special appearance and after watching Waqar Khan (Emaan) play it was off in his batmobile to save Gotham.

-Sabr needs to be better, 11 shots won’t cut it. Likewise for Ikhals, THREE shots in a half, there is no excuse/

-Seriously, it goes against all logic... how did Emaan win against Shukr?

-If Week 1 is any indication Week ONE 3RD STAR Rahil Ahmed goaltender for Ikhlas will be a busy man this season

- WEEK ONE 2ND STAR: Sajjid Ayubi (YAQEEN) putting up 1G & 2A against Sabr

- WEEK 1 1ST STAR- Hany Soliman (IHSAN)- 2 Goals with one being the GWG

Week Sixteen - Spring Season Wrap-Up

- Game Two of the finals ended regulation in a 2-2 tie and pushed to Overtime where Yousuf Sowdagar scored with just 41 seconds left to give Emaan the Championship.  Haya built a 2-0 lead off goals from Farooq Sani and Waqar Khan but Emaan kept up the pressure and a power play goal from Huzaifa Manjra with just under 10 minutes left in regulation gave them a lifeline leading to Gehad Al-Hundi scoring the equalizer with just over a minute left to tie it up.

- Both teams had their full squads out for the championship game, for Haya this included injured players Rayhan Malik and Ozair Naveed, both key players for the Haya who shuffled players around to cover the gaps.  An observer noted the atmosphere for Haya was great to have injured players continue to attend games in street clothes to coach/cheer their teammates on.

Here are your 2016 Spring Season Champions, Emaan:

- Emaan made a great comeback in this game but had some breaks go their way as Haya missed a chance from their third line to make it 3-1 late in the game as some great cycling of the ball resulted in a pair of open chances in front of the net that Khalid Mufti turned away.  Then to open overtime, Azhar Kalair had his one-timer graze the outside of the post.

- Arif Bijabhai wins back to back Spring Season championships and both times with Emaan.  A bit of a rocky start to his season after being the top pick in the draft and being dealt after his early season struggles but he bounced back as expected to contribute to Emaan's championship.

- An interesting season comes to a close, some unforgettable story lines over the season kept us entertained and Ihsan was the source of much of the material.  With Ahmad "Batman" Hathout and Amir Multani working hard to get their names in the headlines week after week.  The fall of the Dark Knight was noted last week as he took playoff elimination hard, this week it was discovered that Multani has taken refuge here to try and discover how to get his game back on track.

Award Winners for the season were announced after the Championship Game and here they are:
Islamic Relief Regular Season MVP: Yousuf Sowdagar
Best Defensive Forward: Farooq Sani
Best Defenseman: Luqman Arshad
Top Rookie: Idris Deen
Most Improved Player: Jaudat Wasty
Top Forward: Yousuf Sowdagar
Best Goaltender: Zaid Majoo
Naseem Buttar General Manager Award: Zuhair Fancy
Brotherhood Awards: Ahmad Ibrahim and Azhar Kalair
Playoff MVP: Khalid Mufti

Congratulations again to Emaan and thank you to everyone who participated this season and to players who were teased here and took it in stride.  InshAllah we will see everyone back for the Fall Season so stay tuned for registration details later in the summer.