Fall Season - Week Six - October 27th

- Week Five opened with Emaan demolishing Ikhlas 7-0, Haya dealing Sabr it's first defeat in a 2-1 game and Emaan dominating play but ending in a 1-1 tie with Yaqeen.

Three Stars for Week Five:
1st Star: Ahmad Ibrahim (Emaan) - One Goal, Three Assists, Four Points
2nd Star: Ahmad Mobin (Yaqeen) - Twenty-seven Saves
3rd Star: Jaudat Wasty (Emaan) - Two Goals, One Assist, Three Points

- There has been quite the discussion regarding the three stars selected for the game between Shukr and Yaqeen.  After further investigation, it appears The Russians hacked the I-Slam Social Media account.  Apparently Farrukh Khan looks like a Russian Hitman in his I-Slam Profile pic (see here: http://i-slam.ca/hockey/league/boxscore.php?seasonID=21&GameID=700) and was selected as the first star.

-Speaking of Farrukh Khan, he seems to be playing the role well as he eliminated the opposition and ended up with 4 PIMs in his last game.  After the game he told reporters, “In Russia, the refs does not give Farrukh penalties… Farrukh gives refs penalties.”

-Emaan’s Ahmad Ibrahim & Jaudat Watsy were quite the dynamic duo last week, earning the first and third star respectively.

- Did you catch the Haya’s pre-game interview before they took to the rink against Sabr: (https://www.facebook.com/islam.hockey/videos/1576712599054782/)
Haya’s Junaid Mohammad boldly predicted an end to Sabr’s undefeated streak and teammate Sahil Mohammed inspired his team with a passionate pre-game speech, “the plan is to score goals… score more goals then [Sabr].”  Next to Sahil was none other than Boom Boom Khan (check the video if you don’t believe me). It was obvious Khan was inspired as he broke Sabr’s shutout streak less than two minutes into the game.

- Sabr’s goaltender Fahad Mohammad appeared to be confused after finally letting in a goal that he had to ask the referees on why they were taking the ball back to center ice.

- Despite losing the much anticipated matchup, many players from Sabr felt that they would be able to handle Haya next time around and are looking forward to the next meeting.

-It looks like the last playoff spot will either go to Yaqeen or Ikhlas.  But Shukr also has reason to worry as it is rumoured both Ibrahim Hindy and Mohammed Hamoud are expected to both be missing at least 3 of the next 5 games

- Emaan scoring 7 goals last week against Ikhlas is the most so far by any team

-Have you seen the highlight package from the Sabr vs Haya game: here- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7ekWEeW99U&feature=youtu.be

- We would like to keep producing more videos but are in need of volunteers to work the cameras, do interviews. Likewise we need volunteers in other areas.  If this is something you are interested in please contact amob87@gmail.com

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Fall Season - Week Five - October 20th

- Week Four started with Sabr laying a beating on Yaqeen by a 6-0 score, Haya dominated the Battle of Cambridge for a 6-2 and Emaan made a late comeback to tie Shukr 2-2.

Three Stars of the Week for Week Five:
1st Star - Furqan Salam (Haya) - Two Goals, One Assist
2nd Star - Maaz Haq (Sabr) - Three Assists
3rd Star - Idrees Deen (Emaan) - One Goal

- Sabr is hoping that with the Max Gala over, and congratulations to their team for a successful event, that Aazar Zafar is able to attend more games. Other teams must be wondering what this team will be like when they have their full roster as in addition to Zafar, Ozair Naveed has missed games. With these two speedsters in the line-up...well things don't look promising for opponents.

- Samad Hamidi is predicting a Haya vs Sabr final; this does not bode well for the other four teams as Hamidi is never wrong in his predictions.

- Everyone expected fireworks in the Battle of Cambridge but the game actually saw tension between some unusual suspects - well one unusual suspect.  Rayhan Malik of Ikhlas saw an opening to make body contact with longtime friend and Haya player Imran Chaudhry and gave him a bump before chasing the ball into the Haya zone and trying to poke it out from under goalie Kaunain Saiyed.  Now Malik is known to play an edgy style of play and one Haya player took exception to the contact on Chaudhry (not knowing they were friends) as Salman Khalid stepped in.  The result was an Ikhlas powerplay and Malik in the box for the rest of the game.  In an ironic twist, Malik and Chaudhry were reportedly seen at Tim Horton's later that evening - no matter what happens in a game it is always good to see it left on the floor.

- Speaking of Max Gala Ahmad Mobin and Umair Ashraf embraced each other at the event the past Weekend, similar to Kyrie Irving and LBJ at the end of the Cavs vs Celtics game.  Their collision in Week Two left Ashraf with a bruise to his face while Mobin...well he just had hurt feelings.

- After Sabr's pummeling of Yaqeen, Faisal Mehboob was seen entering the Yaqeen changeroom with a helmet leaving an observer to comment that it wasn't enough for Sabr to have dominated the scoreboard but seemed to be taking equipment as well as a trophy.  It was later clarified that for whatever reason he had taken Sulmaan Azmat's helmet from the week before and was returning it.

- Haya is trying to figure out how to manage Salman Khalid as after his altercation against Ikhlas and ensuing penalty seemed to enjoy his taste of the dark arts of ball hockey.  If he decides he needs to start taking penalties...well Haya may be in trouble.

- Sabr’s Fahad Mohammad is Mr.Flawless after four games.  He has faced the fewest shots 45 of all goalies and during his interview with Samad Hamidi said he wanted to face more shots.  He may regret that ask after this week's game against Haya.

- Sabr GM Abdul-Wahab Mohammad says the shutout streak is becoming a burden on the team and is hoping that his players aren’t focusing too much on this in lieu of hoisting the I-Slam Cup at the end of the playoffs.

- Rumours are out there that Firasath Ali might be missing games in December, bad news for Ikhlas who are already thin on the blue line. if this is true.

- The league is planning to record the 9pm game between Haya and Sabr so look for some media to be shared about this clash of the titans if you aren't able to watch it live.

Fall Season - Week Four - October 13th

- Week Three start with Yaqeen and Emaan ending in a scoreless draw, Haya get their star players back and their first win of the season and Sabr demolishing Ikhlas by a 5-0 score.

Three Stars of Week Three:
1st Star: Kaunain Saiyed (Haya) - 26 saves on 27 shots
2nd Star: Maaz Haq (Sabr) - Two Goals, One Assist
3rd Star: Ahmad Mobin (Yaqeen) - 23 saves on 23 shots

- It will be interesting to see if the one week layoff for all teams have any impact, some teams were mandating that players increase their workouts to ensure no one comes back in worse shape.

- Bizarre ending/Not something you see every day?  With the score 4-0, Ikhals GM Wakaas Khan pulled his goaltender, Ahmed Jamal with under 2 minutes to go!  It is hard to speculate what the rationale was: was Khan trying to break Sabr’s shutout streak?  Was Khan trying to give his forward confidence after only managing one goal in the past two games?  Whatever the reason it backfired allowing rookie Maaz Haq to complete pick up his second goal of the game with an empty netter.  A rough couple of games for Ikhlas as they demolished Yaqeen to open the season only to be roughed up in their past two games.

- Over the break there were reports that Haya sent some of their key players down to Washington DC to recruit some additional talent to add to their roster after finding themselves near the bottom of the standings.  The player they went looking for?  Ahmed Hathout...so you know Haya is getting antsy when they are looking to the Dark Knight for assistance (Editors Note: when Hathout was a mainstay in the league he gave himself the nickname of Batman or Dark Knight as a method to motivate his teammates).  This delicate negotiation was managed by Waqar Khan and Furqan Salam but it is unlikely that they will have been able to get Hathout to return to the league this season.

- Give the people what they want!  Unfortunately Samad Hamidi has been sick the past few weeks and has not been able to post any video previews.  The league is considering pumping him full of some Cold FX and roll him in front of a camera.  His analysis on Waqar Khan was spot on as Shukr used it to keep Khan off the scoresheet.

- Haya failed to get their recap in before the Tuesday deadline which means GM Salman Khalid will serve a 2-minute penalty tonight.  Unfortunately there was miscommunication between the Haya members as to who would do the recap but Salman Khalid has taken a bullet for his team and has accepted full responsibility.  This is the second team to face this punishment as Emaan took a penalty for this in Week Two with GM Luqman Arshad sitting to start the game.  So a reminder to all teams to make sure to not handcuff your team by missing out on the game recap!

- Word out of the Sabr locker room is that they feel Haya will be their toughest competition this season.  The teams meet next Friday, October 20th.  A game some members of Sabr have already dubbed “The New Generation” (Maaz Haq) against “The Present Guard” (Waqar Khan).

- During the pregame speech between Haya and Shukr it was noted that a few Haya players took a knee when Kashif "Coach K" Taqiuddin started to speak.  It was not clear if this was a political statement by Haya players or some poorly timed stretching.

- It was good to see Umair Ashraf back in Week Three after he injured his eye in a collision with Yaqeen Goalie Ahmad Mobin.  Ashraf came back with the full cage - a wise choice to protect his face and a breath of relief to his agent as there was concern that Ashraf may have jeopardized his career as a beard model.

- In other injury news, Sulmaan Azmat of Yaqeen got clipped with a high stick and was bleeding from the lip.  The injury is not serious but he was heard being lectured after the game by his brother Furhan Azmat that he should wear face protection if Sulmaan is serious about his career as an Instagram Model.

- Haya got many of their star players back for Week Three and the result was a win as Junaid Mohammad, Waqar Khan and Salman Khalid all made their debut.  It had been a rough start for Haya this season with short benches becoming an all-too frequent appearance so hopefully they will be able to field a full team going forward.  Mohammad is notorious for having to miss games due to his work schedule so Haya has to hope that he doesn't miss too many more as they have a lot of work to do to climb out of last place.

- Really a 0-0 tie?  How rarely does this happen?  Ahmad Mobin (Yaqeen) and Ahmad Ibrahim (Emaan) settle their challenge with 25 burpees each.  What will be on the line next time when the two teams meet?

- Observers have been a bit surprised that Shukr has struggled to start the season.  The team was drafted with some of the great ball hockey minds the league has seen with Ibrahim Hindy and Coach K and Samad Hamidi in there too.  With only one win in their first three games expect to see this team start to pull it together and

- Here is a true story: Faisal Mehboob carries around an envelope full of toonies which is his shisha spending money for the week.  Perhaps spin it to say that before every game he has a lucky toonie (similar to how the loonie was buried in the ice for Team Canada’s games)?

- The feature game for Week Four will be Haya vs Ikhlas, Cambrige A vs Cambridge B, Khan vs Khan.  Years ago this game was a battle for first place, this season both teams have gotten off to poor starts and are at the bottom of the table.  That aside expect a great deal of intensity in this one and perhaps some fans showing up to support their respective sides.  Wakaas Khan is tied for the league lead in scoring, Waqar Khan has no points so far this season so a bizarre twist from what has happened in past seasons.  Furqan Salam leads Haya with three of the teams four goals scored this season and the pressure is on him to continue to carry the teams offense until some of their other erstwhile stars finally get going.

Fall Season - Week Three - September 29th

- Week Two saw Shukr flex their muscle for a big win over Ikhlas, Yaqeen grind out a 4-1 win over shorthanded Haya and Sabr stay undefeated and unscored upon.

Three Stars of Week Two:
1st Star: Fahad Mohammad (Sabr) - 20 save shutout
2nd Star: Kaunain Saiyed (Haya) - 29 saves on 33 shots
3rd Star: Khalid Mufti (Shukr) - 25 saves on 26 shots

- Rookie Goaltender, Fahad Mohammad of Sabr has started off his I-Slam career with two straight shutouts. But did Samad Hamidi help him out? In one of his videos, he predicted that Sabr would be able to shut the door against Emaan…in the last few minutes of the game, it appeared from the spectators vantage point that Idrees Deen of Emaan beat Mohammed with a laser of shot. However the two men in stripes disagreed with the fans and called it no goal. The moral of the story is Samad Cherry Hamidi knows hockey - so kids always pay attention in his videos

- After scoring the game winning goal against his brothers team, rookie Wajaahat Watsy of Sabr insisted that Jaudat Wasty carry his equipment and sit in the back seat of the car when leaving the arena.

- Another family feud will play out tonight at 8:00pm during the Emaan vs Yaqeen game.  Rizwan Malik of Yaqeen will see some familiar faces on the opposing bench as he faces Sadat Malik, Saleem Malik and Luqman Arshad of Emaan.

- After scoring the lone goal for his team Sahil Mohammed of Haya had a much more subdued celebration in comparison to his father Naveed Mohammed during the summer after Pakistan won the Champions Cricket Trophy .  The elder Mohammed reportedly drove around Brampton asking distraught India fans if they were okay while waving a Pakistan flag on his car.  

- There are rumours that Haya will finally have Waqar Khan in the lineup tonight against Shukr.  It will be interesting to see if Shukr follows the advice of defenseman and league pundit Samad Hamidi as he broke down how to shut Khan down.

- Aside from the family rivalry in tonights Emaan vs Yaqeen game, we have a friendly one too between Ahmad Mobin of Yaqeen and Ahmad Ibrahim of Emaan.  The two have a competition going into tonights game where if Yaqeen loses, Mobin will do 50 burpees and if Emaan loses, Ibrahim does 50 pull-ups.  If the game ends in a tie they both have to do 50 wind-sprints.

- We have a new goal-scoring leader going into tonight’s game and not one you would expect as defenseman Farrukh Khan of Yaqeen leads the league with with 4 goals.

- A few have asked why Haya's Waqar Khan is constantly referred to a "Boom Boom" and the story is legendary.  Khan is an avid cricket fan and can usually be heard talking about the latest cricket game after his game.  Well during the Spring Season, after leading his team to a Championship the team went out to eat together and celebrate at Galitio's in Mississauga.  As Emaan walked into the restaurant, who else but Shahid "Boom Boom" Afridi is sitting there eating with a group of friends.  Afridi was in town for an Islamic Relief event and happened to be finishing up his meal when Khan walked in.  In that moment greatness recognized greatness as Afridi quickly finished up his meal and his group left as Khan led Emaan in.  Regrettably a picture was not taken to commemorate the two icons crossing paths.

Fall Season - Week Two - September 22nd

- The season opened with a close one as grinded out a 1-0 win over Shukr only to be followed by two blowouts as Ikhlas ran Yaqeen out of the building by 6-2 score and Emaan routed Haya by a 5-1 score.

Three Stars of Week One:
1st Star: Umair Awan (Ikhlas) - 3 Goals, 1 Assist, GWG
2nd Star: Wakaas Khan (Ikhlas) - 1 Goal, 4 Assists
3rd Star: Farooq Sani (Emaan) - 2 Goals, 1 Assist

- Haya knew they were in for a challenge in Week One missing key players but being without Waqar Khan, Salman Khalid, Junaid Mohammad and Humza Hussain was a mountain too big but they rest of the team did well to only lose by a 5-1 score considering the skill and leadership they were missing.

-After Week 1, Wakaas Khan leads the scoring leader with a big 5 point performance against Yaqeen. After his game he was driving around Cambridge proclaiming he is their King, tormenting his car pool mates (Umair Awan, Atif Mian and Sajid Khan).

- Shukr may have lost in week one but the team is clearly shaping up to be filled with stories of young players who are lining up with their ball hockey heroes.  During the draft it was Samad Hamidi who was shocked that Nauman Abbasi slipped to the end of the first round and is now getting to play on the same team.  After Week One, Emaad Khan was getting to know his new teammates and was telling a story about an Imam who was wrongfully tied to a controversy during the recovery efforts in Texas only to learn that he was speaking of his line mate, Ibrahim Hindy.  

- After Week 1, Wakaas Khan leads the league in scoring, we are all used to a Khan being up there - just that it’s always Waqar Khan.  A player from Haya commented that we seem to be entering the “Upside Down” world so see Wakaas putting up a five-point night.

-Yaqeen gave up 6 goals against Ikhlas in their opener - more than how many shots they generated against their opponent (5).

- Back to Waqar Khan, there were rumours that after Samad Hamidi broke down how to contain Khan in the Week 1 preview, he wanted to skip the game to try and work in new elements to his skill set.

- Rookie goaltender, Fahad Mohammed got a shutout in his first I-slam Hockey game.  He only faced eight shots but did well to turn them all away.

- Haya is being hit hard early this season as there are rumblings that Humza Hussain is done for the season as he sustained a back injury prior to the draft that is not healing. 

- We only have Week 1 in the books but observers are circling October 13th in their calendar (Friday the 13th no less) as it will feature Haya vs Ikhlas.  A match-up that was referred to as Cambridge One vs Cambridge Two a few seasons ago.

Fall Season - Week One - September 15th

- Fall Season kicks off this Week!  Emaan won the Championship last season and the bulk of their roster was reunited on Haya this season so big things are expected there.

- Watching the Draft, many observers had the same feedback: How many times did Samad Hamidi mention Nauman Abassi?  Now that they are teammates it will be interesting to see Hamidi be on the same team as clearly one of his favourite players.

- Will Salman Alvi go on streaking?  After lifting the Alvi curse last season, teams are no longer scared in drafting Salman. Does he now start a winning streak?

- Tahir Maarouf is described to be a Yousuf Solimon type of player (on that note we wish Drake a speedy recovery and hope to see him next season).  Maarouf considers himself a Jose Bautista lookalike, perhaps explaining his constant consumption of Booster Juice.

- Did you see Ahmad Mobin flip that tire? He seems to be more motivated this year to reclaim a championship after losing in the finals.

- Salman Khalid and "Boom Boom” Waqar Khan are expected to miss games this season.  In the long run will this hurt their team’s playoff chances as only Top 5 out of the 6 make it.

- Two goalies make their league debuts this week: Ahmed Jamal (Ikhlas) and Fahad Mohammed (Sabr).

- Why do Mehmed Rizvanovic and Aazar Zafar always end up on the same team?

- Trade rumours between Emaan and Yaqeen?  Everyone assumes that Emaan want Rizwan Malik, Yaqeen want Idris Kalair.  Anything can happen but trades can be difficult to pull off.

- Samad “Cherry” Hamidi knows how to stop Waqar Khan and shared the secret in his Weekly Preview, now that teams know how to shut him down - how will Khan react this week?  Rumours are that he is concerned to the point of considering sitting out this week to adjust his game.

- Reminder for players that a Minimum of Three games played in order to qualify for the playoffs.

Spring Season - Week Thirteen - May 19th

- Then there was one, Emaan completed a sweep of Sabr to take the Spring Season Championship.

Three Stars of the Week:
1st: Umair Awan (Emaan) - 2 Goals, Game Winning Goal
2nd: Furqan Salam (Emaan) - 1 Goal, 2 Assists
3rd: Luqman Arshad (Sabr) - 1 Goal, 1 Assist

- Emaan built up a 2-0 lead at the half and with 10 minutes left in the game were up 4-0.  They let their foot off the gas and for a talented team like Sabr it was a big mistake as Sabr scored three quick goals to make it a 4-3 game.  Arif Bijabhai potted an empty netter with 1:23 left to seal the game and crown Emaan as Spring Champions.

- Emaan’s victory broke the well advertised curse for Salman Alvi who lifted his first Championship, Samad Hamidi and Yusuf Kapoor also won for the first time.  The Cambridge squad seems to be the place where players go to win their first title as Kashif "Coach K" Taqiuddin infamously won his first championship with the majority of this group a couple of seasons ago.

- Before the game the Regular Season Awards were handed out, here are your winners:
THE NASEEM BUTTAR GENERAL MANAGER’S AWARD:
- Taqwa GMs: Yasir Hussain & Saajid Bhayat

BEST DEFENSEMAN:
- Adil Patel - Taqwa

BEST GOALTENDER:
- Yusuf Kapoor - Emaan

PLAYER'S CHOICE AWARD:
- Yusuf Kapoor - Emaan

REGULAR SEASON MVP:
- Adil Patel - Taqwa

PLAYOFF MVP: * subject to change
- Yusuf Kapoor - Emaan

- To sum it up, Yusuf Kapoor cleaned up winning Best Goalie, Lowest Goals Against, Players Choice and Playoff MVP.  This on top of winning his first Championship - a great night for the young goaltender.

- Here is your 2017 Spring Season Champions, Emaan