Fall Season - Week Nine - November 9th

- Haya opened the night with a 3-1 victory over their divisional rivals Ikhlas, Yaqeen completed the series sweep of Ihsan with a 3-5 win, a game featuring two teams fighting to make the playoffs resulted in a Shukr and Ridha 1-1 tie and Sabr capitalized on a fortunate bounce to defeat Taqwa 1-0.

Three Stars of The Week for November 2nd:

1st Star: Ali Khwaja - Sabr (21 Saves shutout)
2nd Star: Arssal Shahabuddin – Yaqeen (1 G and 2 A)
3rd Star: Maaz Haq – Yaqeen (3 A)

Here is an update to the Shutout Table: 

Goaltenders	Shutouts
Ali Khawja (Sabr)	2
Fahad Mohammad (Yaqeen)	1
Zak Bandisha (Shukr)	1
Mohammad Kasuji (Ihsan)	1

Yusuf Kapoor (Haya)

1

- On the subject of goal-tending, we caught up with Ikhals’ net minder Kaunain Saiyed (here). After listening to this interview please check out our latest podcast (here).

- As the regular season comes to an end the drive to make the playoffs intensifies as the three teams (Emaan, Ikhlas, Ridha) currently outside of the playoffs still have a chance to qualify. There are rumours circulating that for Emaan some of their top players are game-time decisions. Hopefully these rumours turn out to be false as we can confirm that they will be without the services of Emad Hussain who is currently in the Maldives attending a Yoga-Pilates Fusion retreat. 

- Emaan will get some reprieve, especially at the start of the game as Sabr will be assessed a two-minute administrative penalty for failing to submit a recap last week. Ironically, the last time this happened Emaan also benefited from Taqwa not submitting a recap. In that game they would go on to score on the power play and pick up a point (in the form of a draw). In retrospect that point is turning to be huge in the standings and so tonight’s power play might be the difference in whether or not Emaan makes it to the playoffs. 

Do you know this guy?

- It’s ok if you don’t remember him as he is yet to play a game for The Leafs all season. Although he has poor contract negotiation skills he does not joke around when it comes to safety and is wearing a visor. Last week during the Shukr and Ridha game we had yet another inadvertent high stick that was dangerously close to a player’s eye. First and foremost we would like to remind players to be more responsible with their sticks and we highly recommend everyone to invest in a visor.

- Speaking of William Nylander, the world’s biggest Senators fan, Samad Hamidi (see here) has been extensively following this topic. Being the I-Slam Hockey Insider, he has garnered support from peers in the media industry with both Daren Millard and Darren Dreger liking and/or replying to his tweets. Ikhlas’ GM, Harris Mallick has also recently took to social media suggesting The Leafs trade the disgruntled forward.

- On the topic of Ikhlas, it just seems that this franchise regardless of who gets drafted on it is cursed as they often find themselves near the bottom of the standings. Call it the Ikhlas Curse but this meme created a few seasons ago is still relevant today:


- Another team looking for a spark is Shukr. They currently are tied with Ihsan for the last playoff spot. Shukr tried to shake things up with acquiring players through waivers and trades. Also last week they shifted players around in the lineup to see if they can find the right fit for the team. Point and case was moving Sulmaan Azmat (the biggest Drake fan-boy) from his natural position as a forward to the blue line. He has welcomed this change and apparently has been singing his own version of this verse to his goaltender during stoppages of play: “Majoo do you love me? Look, the new me is really still the real me …”

- Back to Ikhlas, they are one of the teams fighting for a playoff spot. Although they have a bye tonight, they did receive some encouraging news: Tahir Marouf scored the game winner in a playoff game (to win the series) in another league he participates in during the week. Ikhlas’ is hoping he remains hot and can duplicate his success while wearing a green uniform.

- Another team fighting for a playoff spot is the young Malton kids of Ridha. At this point of the season they are hoping for any type of break. A team full of youth might perhaps be better to rely on some seasoned veterans. One player that comes to mind is Umer Buksh (Mr. 2 Goals in One Night). For those unaware he quickly rose to fame by outscoring all these players combined one week a few seasons back:
1. Amer Khawaja
2. Abdul-Wahab Mohammad
3. Basit Sheikh
4. Wajaahat Wasty
5. Mehmed Rizvanovic
6. Maaz Haq
7. Azim Siddique
8. Ahmed Ali
9. Taha Azhar
10. Ozair Naveed
11. Fahad Mohammad
12. Aazar Zafar
13. Imdad Ali
14. Faisal Mehboob
15. Tahir Maarouf
16. Wesam Issawi
17. Farhan Siddiqui
18. Samad Hamidi
19. Munaf Nathalia
20. Ibrahim Hindy
21. Rameez Siddiqi
22. Saqib Sheikh
23. Dawood Ciombar
24. Mohammed Hamoud
25. Kashif Taqiuddin
26. Nauman Abbasi
27. Khalid Mufti
28. Farhan Siddique
29. Humza Ali
30. Umar Muhammad
31. Emaad Siddiqui
32. Saad Khan
33. Arslan Mian
34. Jazib Khan
35. Sulmaan Azmat
36. Zuhair Fancy
37. Umair Khan
38. Farrukh Khan
39. Farzan Alam
40. Mussadiq Ali Mirza
41. Ahmad Mobin
42. Emad Hussain
43. Usamah Rao
44. Rizwan Malik
45. Shoaib Bhatti
46. Walied Soliman
47. Kamran Siddiqui
48. Sajid Khan
49. A K
50. Fowad Alvi
51. Abdu Sharkawy
52. Umair Awan
53. Wakaas Khan
54. Hany Soliman
55. Ebad Khan
56. Ahmed Jamal
57. Rayhan Malik
58. Hannan Ghafoor
59. Atif Mian
60. Adnan Hashmi
61.Saleem Malik
62. Idris Kalair
63. Farooq Sani
64. Ahmad Ibrahim
65. Ali Valiji
66. Saajid Bhayat
67. Nazeer Gafoor
68. Shahid Ibrahim
69. Yusuf Kapoor
70. Hassan Valiji
71. Jaudat Wasty
72. Luqman Arshad
73. Sadat Malik
74. Imran Choudhry
75. Asim Khan
76. Ibrahim Khan
77. Rehan Lakhani
78. Nadeem Faqiri
79. Waqar Khan
80. Umair Ashraf
81. Salman Khalid
82. Salman Alvi
83. Mustafa Shahbaz
84. Kaunain Saiyed
85. Jawad Majeed
86. Sahil Mohammad
87. Hamza Amin
88. Furqan Salam
- Umer Buskh historical night was a byproduct of playing a long side Maaz Haq.  Some of Haq's current teammates on Yaqeen are benefiting from the passes he makes this season.

- One more note about Maaz Haq; last week he got a haircut which was noted by observes as giving the perception of him being faster on the floor

- Circling back to Ikhlas, Abdul-Wahab Mohammad said to close of the regular season you guys will see less of ‘Mr. Nice Guy Wahab’ and more of ‘Venom-Wahab’. It has been reported that during his off week he has had an insatiable appetite for Fish Pakoras

- Speaking about Fish Pakoras, Arif Bijabhai’s team, Yaqeen hurdled over Taqwa and moved into second place in the overall standings. The significance of finishing first and second overall is that those teams get a bye to the semifinals.

- Shukr continues to struggle with their league worst offense, losing Kashif Taqiuddin hurts but he moved behind the bench but in his last two games as a Coach he has been ineffective and unable to organize his team to do much.

- There are no divisional games on the schedule tonight but every game has playoff implications.  Haya has already clinched and are rolling to an undefeated season.  Ikhlas is on a bye this week but will be watching closely as they still have a chance to make the post-season but need to win their final two games and have to get some help with Shukr and/or Ihsan losing their last three games.

Updated Divisional Standings after Week Eight:

Medina:

RANK	TEAM	GP	WINS	LOSSES	TIES	POINTS	GF	GA	GD
1	Yaqeen	7	5	1	1	11	26	13	13
2	Ihsan	7	2	3	2	6	20	25	-5
3	Emaan	7	1	3	3	5	17	23	-6

  

Mecca:

RANK	TEAM	GP	WINS	LOSSES	TIES	POINTS	GF	GA	GD
1	Haya	8	5	0	3	13	20	11	9
2	Sabr	8	3	3	2	8	14	16	-2
3	Ikhlas	8	0	5	3	3	16	23	-7

  

Jerusalem:

RANK	TEAM	GP	WINS	LOSSES	TIES	POINTS	GF	GA	GD
1	Taqwa	7	4	1	2	10	19	14	5
2	Shukr	7	2	3	2	6	10	12	-2
3	Ridha	7	1	4	2	4	16	21	-5

Make sure to follow us and get your friends to follow us as well (this is another way you can help grow the league!):

- If you somehow missed it, here are some of the Video clips the league has put up to start the season:

- Live Draft

- Post-Draft Analysis
- Draft Behind the Scenes

- Listen in on our First League Podcast! Belal Hafeez of Shukr drops in with some health and fitness tips.

- Listen in on Podcast Two featuring Abdu Sharkawy and Ahmad "Black Panther" Ibrahim who weigh in on a number of topics

Make sure to follow us and get your friends to follow us as well (this is another way you can help grow the league!):
Facebook: I-Slam Hockey
Twitter: iSlamHockey
Instagram: IslamHockeyCanada
Youtube: IslamBallHockey

Fall Season - Week Eight - November 2nd

- Yaqeen opened the night with a dominant 2-1 win over Shukr, Haya rode a big second half for a 4-1 win over Ihsan, Ikhlas played well but only came out with a 2-2 tie against Taqwa and Ridha vs Emaan ended in a wild 4-4 tie.

Three Stars of the Week for October 26th:
1st Star: Abdur Manjra - Ridha (2 Goals, 1 Assist)
2nd Star: Ihtisham Qureshi - Emaan (2 Goals, 1 Assist)
3rd Star: Kaunain Saiyed - Ikhlas (15 saves)

- Week Eight has some big divisional games on the schedule:

1) Haya and Ikhlas open the night in a first vs worst for the Mecca division
2) Yaqeen and Ihsan face up where the latter is trying to keep their chances to take the division title significantly rest upon the outcome of this game
3) Shukr and Ridha will be a tight one with Ridha having a lot of momentum right now and need this win to climb back into the playoff picture

- The non-divisional match-up for tonight sees Sabr and Taqwa meet, expected to be two of the stronger teams out of the draft the season has seen Sabr struggle heavily while Taqwa has been dominant.  With Sabr in a race to make the playoffs and Taqwa looking to lock up their division with a win combined with a Shukr tie or loss this one should be a good game.

- A moment many took note of was in the final seconds of the Shukr vs Yaqeen game where Maaz Haq had a breakaway on an empty net but left the ball between the hashmarks in a great sign of brotherhood knowing his team had the win.  An even more impressive gesture considering that Haq is in the race to lead the league in points.

- There was a great deal of player movement leading up to the Trade Deadline and roster freeze, replacements, waiver moves and trades consumed the day of the deadline and spilled a bit over as some of the final logistics and movement were ironed out; a brief summary of the moves below with more details/analysis on the transactions page:

- Shukr lost Kashif Taqiuddin to injury and nominated Muhammed Rahman as his replacement, Rahman was picked up by Ikhlas and Shukr selected Arif Khan as compensation
- Ikhlas traded Muhammad Rahman and Saajid Bhayat to Shukr in return for Arif Khan and Atif Mian
- Haya lost Sufyan Shaikh to a knee injury and nominated Umair Awan as his replacement, Awan cleared waivers and has joined the Haya roster
- Shukr traded Haris Hyder to Ridha for Saqib Sheikh

Some confusion arose around Muhammed Rahman and his given vs nickname and if he was a reasonable replacement for Kashif Taqiuddin, with this confusion the decision was made to rescind the original waiver request and restart the process - this also made the subsequent Ikhlas and Shukr trade void.

- Shukr nominated Junaid Alvi to replace Kashif Taqiuddin, Alvi was selected by Ikhlas with Shukr selecting Arif Khan as compensation.  The earlier trade between the teams was reprocessed with Junaid Alvi and Saajid Bhayat moving to Shukr and Arif Khan and Atif Mian going to Ikhlas.

- Finally, Haya lost Ali Malik to injury and nominated Assad Darr to replace him, Taqwa put in a claim and offered Saqib Khokhar as compensation which Haya accepted.

- With all of that movement and combined with their moves from last week Shukr will need nametags and some icebreaker games before their big game against Ridha tonight.  Only time will tell if the trades will wake up their league worst offense.

- Going into Week Eight we still have two undefeated teams as Taqwa and Haya have been on a tear and will look to keep their respective streaks alive.  The teams meet each other in the final week of the season so it will be interesting to see if they can remain undefeated until their November 23rd game.

- Ridha is playing well of late, finally putting together a full game as they face Shukr in a big game for the Jerusalem division.  Ridha is undefeated in their last two games with a win and a tie and are only two points back of Shukr for the final playoff spot so this game should have the atmosphere of a playoff tilt.

- Here are your updated Divisional Standings after Week Seven Games:

Medina:

RANK	TEAM	GP	WINS	LOSSES	TIES	POINTS	GF	GA	GD
1	Yaqeen	6	4	1	1	9	21	10	11
2	Ihsan	6	2	2	2	6	17	20	-3
3	Emaan	7	1	3	3	5	17	23	-6

  

Mecca:

RANK	TEAM	GP	WINS	LOSSES	TIES	POINTS	GF	GA	GD
1	Haya	7	4	0	3	11	17	10	7
2	Sabr	7	2	3	2	6	13	16	-3
3	Ikhlas	7	0	4	3	3	17	22	-5

  

Jerusalem:

RANK	TEAM	GP	WINS	LOSSES	TIES	POINTS	GF	GA	GD
1	Taqwa	6	4	0	2	10	19	13	6
2	Shukr	6	2	3	1	5	9	11	-2
3	Ridha	6	1	4	1	3	15	20	-5

- Some interesting races in play as teams jostle to win their division to grab a top seed going into the playoffs.   

Make sure to follow us and get your friends to follow us as well (this is another way you can help grow the league!):

- If you somehow missed it, here are some of the Video clips the league has put up to start the season:

- Live Draft

- Post-Draft Analysis
- Draft Behind the Scenes

- Listen in on our First League Podcast! Belal Hafeez of Shukr drops in with some health and fitness tips.

- Listen in on Podcast Two featuring Abdu Sharkawy and Ahmad "Black Panther" Ibrahim who weigh in on a number of topics

Make sure to follow us and get your friends to follow us as well (this is another way you can help grow the league!):
Facebook: I-Slam Hockey
Twitter: iSlamHockey
Instagram: IslamHockeyCanada
Youtube: IslamBallHockey