- Week Eight saw Yaqeen defeat Emaan 3-2, Ikhlas defeating Sabr 4-1, Haya stealing one against Ridha 2-1 and Ihsan and Shukr ending in a 1-1 tie.
Three Stars of the Week for March 8th:
1st Star: Zubair Waheed (Ikhlas): 2 Goals
2nd Star: Maaz Haq (Haya): 1 Goal, GWG
3rd Star: Yusuf Memon (Emaan): 2 Goals
Here are the Divisional Standings after Week Eight:
Mecca Division
| RANK | TEAM | GP | WINS | LOSSES | TIES | POINTS | GF | GA | GD |
| 1 | Haya | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 19 | 16 | 3 |
| 2 | Ridha | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 21 | 14 | 7 |
| 3 | Ikhlas | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 19 | 18 | 1 |
| 4 | Sabr | 8 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 18 | 25 | -7 |
* 4th place in the Division does not make the playoffs
Medina Division
RANK
| TEAM |
GP
|
WINS
|
LOSSES
|
TIES
|
POINTS
|
GF
|
GA
|
GD
|
| 1 | Ihsan | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 17 | 13 | 4 |
| 2 | Yaqeen | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 26 | 23 | 3 |
| 3 | Shukr | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 19 | 20 | -1 |
| 4 | Emaan | 8 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 17 | 27 | -10 |
* 4th place in the Division does not make the playoffs
- Week Nine continues with critical divisional games as the playoff picture continues to firm up, so far only Emaan has been mathematically eliminated.
- Fun Fact that when looking back at the Cross Divisional games, it was the Mecca Division that flexed their muscle to get the better record as they finished with Seven Wins, Five Losses and Four Ties whereas the Medina Division ended with Five Wins, Seven Losses and Four Ties.
- Osman Buttar of Shukr celebrated his birthday at the arena last Friday, he helped to set up Shukr's only goal against Ihsan where the game ended in a 1-1 tie. Not to be outdone, Farooq Khan of Ihsan played the game while planning his wedding for two days later! Khan is a romantic at heart and if you need proof check out his cellphone's ringtone.
- Trade deadline was wild with some teams completing so many trades that the Week Eight game felt like Game One of the season with players introducing themselves
- He may be injured but Yusuf Sowdagar still involved with Sabr as he took control of the bench last week for Sabr, Ikhlas was in a similar situation as Kashif "Coach K" Taqiuddin is week-to-week with a hamstring injury. It ended with the two facing each other as bench managers for their respective teams - Coach K game up with a master gameplan to contain and then break down Sabr's defense which lead to a 4-1 win for Ikhlas.
- Ridha outplayed Haya but not able to get win as the latter managed to get a pair of fortunate goals early in the game and then relied of their goalie Fahad Mohammad to bail them out the rest of the way.
- Tahir Maarouf of Ikhlas seems confident in his teams chances of not only locking down a playoff spot but making a push to grab one of the top two seeds in the Mecca Division.
- Ihsan's offence seemed a bit flat in their tie with Shukr; that said it wasn't much of a surprise considering they were missing Mohammad Bilal and Imran Lakhanpal who has been on fire of late.
- Emaan the first team eliminated from the post season, their late trades gave them a big boost and they gave Yaqeen a run but came up just short. Their final two games will be important to the team who want a win to avoid the dubious distinction of going a season winless. Also getting a chance to play spoiler for teams in their division jostling for a better playoff position gives them something to play for.
- Good deeds often have a way of repaying themselves and the situation Shukr found themselves in last week demonstrated that. During their February 8th game against Haya, the latter found themselves in a jam when goalie Fahad Mohammad (and Maaz Haq) were involved in a car accident while on their way to the arena. In this emergency situation (and with no goalie equipment present) Shukr agreed to allow Ahmad Mobin fill in for Haya to avoid spoiling the game. Fast forward to Shukr's March 8th game against Ihsan and with regular goalie Yasir Hussain out of the country Shukr was using substitute Mohammad Sibtain. During the game Sibtain suffered an injury and while Haya's Abdu Sharkawy made sure the goalie was not seriously injured he ended up being pulled from the game - Mohammad ended up finishing the game for Shukr paying back their sportsmanship they showed his team a month earlier.
- Sabr may have the leagues leading scorer in Waqar Khan but is in danger of missing the playoffs. They went all in with some big deals at the Trade Deadline but that approach may have actually hurt then as all three players they acquired from Emaan were not in the lineup for their critical game against Ikhlas. Farooq Sani is reportedly going to be available this Friday while Arif Khan is gone for another week and no word on the status of Aazar Zafar.
- Coach K was seen scouting the Ridha vs Haya game, clearly coming up with a gameplan for Ikhlas to knock off the top two teams in the Mecca Division.
- The (unofficial) Playoff Picture for the Teams breaks down as follows:
Mecca Division:
Haya - Clinched a playoff spot, three points in their last two games locks up first place in the division
Ridha - A win or a tie in their last two gets them to the postseason, still a chance to take first overall
Ikhlas - Need a in in one of their last two games to clinch a playoff spot
Sabr - Still a chance, need to win their last two games and then have Ridha lose both their games or Ikhlas to get nothing more than a tie in their final two games
Medina Division:
Ihsan - Clinched, three points in their last two games locks up first place in the division
Yaqeen - Clinched, win both games and Ihsan gets nothing more than a tie and Yaqeen takes first
Shukr - Clinched, win both games, Ihsan and Yaqeen get nothing more than a win in their final two games
- Week Nine has some interesting games on tap, Shukr opens the night against Yaqeen where a win could vault them into first place in the Medina Division, Ikhlas faces Ridha with the team separated by a point so another key game, Ihsan plays a now playoff eliminated Emaan who move into spoiler mode and the night ends with Haya against Sabr where the latter is in playoff mode now needing to win their last two games and get help if they want to make the postseason.
- Curious about the playoffs? You should be since that's what these games are leading up to! Playoffs start on March 29th with the QuarterFinal games for each division in a one-game elimination between 2nd and 3rd for each division. April 5th and 12th will feature the Semi-Finals for each division with 1st vs the winner of 2nd/3rd in a two-game series. April 19th and 26th will be the Finals in another two-game series.
- Week Nine continues with critical divisional games as the playoff picture continues to firm up, so far only Emaan has been mathematically eliminated.
- Fun Fact that when looking back at the Cross Divisional games, it was the Mecca Division that flexed their muscle to get the better record as they finished with Seven Wins, Five Losses and Four Ties whereas the Medina Division ended with Five Wins, Seven Losses and Four Ties.
- Osman Buttar of Shukr celebrated his birthday at the arena last Friday, he helped to set up Shukr's only goal against Ihsan where the game ended in a 1-1 tie. Not to be outdone, Farooq Khan of Ihsan played the game while planning his wedding for two days later! Khan is a romantic at heart and if you need proof check out his cellphone's ringtone.
- Trade deadline was wild with some teams completing so many trades that the Week Eight game felt like Game One of the season with players introducing themselves
- He may be injured but Yusuf Sowdagar still involved with Sabr as he took control of the bench last week for Sabr, Ikhlas was in a similar situation as Kashif "Coach K" Taqiuddin is week-to-week with a hamstring injury. It ended with the two facing each other as bench managers for their respective teams - Coach K game up with a master gameplan to contain and then break down Sabr's defense which lead to a 4-1 win for Ikhlas.
- Ridha outplayed Haya but not able to get win as the latter managed to get a pair of fortunate goals early in the game and then relied of their goalie Fahad Mohammad to bail them out the rest of the way.
- Tahir Maarouf of Ikhlas seems confident in his teams chances of not only locking down a playoff spot but making a push to grab one of the top two seeds in the Mecca Division.
- Ihsan's offence seemed a bit flat in their tie with Shukr; that said it wasn't much of a surprise considering they were missing Mohammad Bilal and Imran Lakhanpal who has been on fire of late.
- Emaan the first team eliminated from the post season, their late trades gave them a big boost and they gave Yaqeen a run but came up just short. Their final two games will be important to the team who want a win to avoid the dubious distinction of going a season winless. Also getting a chance to play spoiler for teams in their division jostling for a better playoff position gives them something to play for.
- Good deeds often have a way of repaying themselves and the situation Shukr found themselves in last week demonstrated that. During their February 8th game against Haya, the latter found themselves in a jam when goalie Fahad Mohammad (and Maaz Haq) were involved in a car accident while on their way to the arena. In this emergency situation (and with no goalie equipment present) Shukr agreed to allow Ahmad Mobin fill in for Haya to avoid spoiling the game. Fast forward to Shukr's March 8th game against Ihsan and with regular goalie Yasir Hussain out of the country Shukr was using substitute Mohammad Sibtain. During the game Sibtain suffered an injury and while Haya's Abdu Sharkawy made sure the goalie was not seriously injured he ended up being pulled from the game - Mohammad ended up finishing the game for Shukr paying back their sportsmanship they showed his team a month earlier.
- Sabr may have the leagues leading scorer in Waqar Khan but is in danger of missing the playoffs. They went all in with some big deals at the Trade Deadline but that approach may have actually hurt then as all three players they acquired from Emaan were not in the lineup for their critical game against Ikhlas. Farooq Sani is reportedly going to be available this Friday while Arif Khan is gone for another week and no word on the status of Aazar Zafar.
- Coach K was seen scouting the Ridha vs Haya game, clearly coming up with a gameplan for Ikhlas to knock off the top two teams in the Mecca Division.
- The (unofficial) Playoff Picture for the Teams breaks down as follows:
Mecca Division:
Haya - Clinched a playoff spot, three points in their last two games locks up first place in the division
Ridha - A win or a tie in their last two gets them to the postseason, still a chance to take first overall
Ikhlas - Need a in in one of their last two games to clinch a playoff spot
Sabr - Still a chance, need to win their last two games and then have Ridha lose both their games or Ikhlas to get nothing more than a tie in their final two games
Medina Division:
Ihsan - Clinched, three points in their last two games locks up first place in the division
Yaqeen - Clinched, win both games and Ihsan gets nothing more than a tie and Yaqeen takes first
Shukr - Clinched, win both games, Ihsan and Yaqeen get nothing more than a win in their final two games
- Week Nine has some interesting games on tap, Shukr opens the night against Yaqeen where a win could vault them into first place in the Medina Division, Ikhlas faces Ridha with the team separated by a point so another key game, Ihsan plays a now playoff eliminated Emaan who move into spoiler mode and the night ends with Haya against Sabr where the latter is in playoff mode now needing to win their last two games and get help if they want to make the postseason.
- Curious about the playoffs? You should be since that's what these games are leading up to! Playoffs start on March 29th with the QuarterFinal games for each division in a one-game elimination between 2nd and 3rd for each division. April 5th and 12th will feature the Semi-Finals for each division with 1st vs the winner of 2nd/3rd in a two-game series. April 19th and 26th will be the Finals in another two-game series.
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 along with our Podcasts:
- Pre-Draft GM Interviews
- If you somehow missed it, here are some of the video clips the league has put up to start the season along with our Podcasts:
- Pre-Draft GM Interviews
- 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
- 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
