Fall Season - Week Nine - November 15th

- Week Eight saw Taqwa open the night with a 6-0 beating of Ikhlas, Ridha put up a complete game in a 4-2 win over Yaqeen, Ihsan and Sabr end in a 2-2 tie and Emaan defeat Haya by a 2-1 score.

After Week Eight here are the Divisional Standings:

MECCA
RANK	TEAM	GP	WINS	LOSSES	TIES	POINTS	GF	GA	GD
1	Haya	8	5	1	2	12	26	12	14
2	Emaan	8	4	3	1	9	21	19	2
3	Ikhlas	8	3	4	1	7	20	26	-6
4	Taqwa	8	2	6	0	4	14	21	-7
MEDINA
RANK	TEAM	GP	WINS	LOSSES	TIES	POINTS	GF	GA	GD
1	Yaqeen	8	4	2	2	10	18	16	2
2	Sabr	8	3	1	4	10	19	18	1
3	Ihsan	8	2	4	2	6	12	17	-2
4	Ridha	8	2	4	2	6	20	21	-1

*Only the top three teams in each division make the post season.

- Check out the Media Teams review of Week Eight and preview of Week Nine along with the recent trades here.

- We returned to inter-divisional games with some big games that have made the race for a playoff spot tight as Haya and Emaan have locked up a spot in the Mecca division with Ikhlas holding onto the final spot but slumping at the wrong time as Taqwa tries to beat the odds and earn a trip to the postseason.  In the Medina division, Ihsan and Ridha are tied and facing each other in Week Nine with the winner effectively locking up the final playoff spot so no pressure in this one.

- With Haya having locked up a playoff spot and in the drivers seat to take first place in the Mecca Division as well, they may look to rest some players this week against Taqwa after their last two games have been overly physical affairs.

- Ridha and Ihsan may not be playing in primetime with an 11pm slot but their game will be one to watch as this game effectively puts the winner in the playoffs.  Ridha comes in as the favourite after a pair of impressive wins in their last two games and are peaking at the right time.

- Emaan may be without GM Mohammed Kazi who has other commitments, it will be interesting to see how their top line adjusts as Kazi has been a key part of the teams offensive success this season.

- Much has been made of the new look Taqwa after their 6-0 blowout win over Ikhlas in Week Seven but a quick reality check shows that Ikhlas was playing with only two subs and had a replacement goalie in Azhar Hussain play between the pipes - a position few are sure he has much experience in.  So as impressive as Taqwa may have looked they were beating up on a shorthanded opponent.

- Emaan will be hoping that Taqwa can pull off an upset win and they can take care of business against Ikhlas which would make the Week 10 game between Haya and Emaan a potential battle for first place in the division.

- Sabr is reportedly going to be short a whole lot of players for this Friday's game against Yaqeen with winner taking sole possession of first place in the Medina division.  It will be interesting to see who does show up for Sabr and how they cobble together lines to make this game competitive.

- In the personal stats department, Yusuf Ingar is leading the league with 15 points and has Adil Chohan only a point behind so the race will go right down to the wire.

- For the Goal Scoring champion, there is a three way tie between Akib Malik, Arif Khan and Yusuf Ingar.  Another race that will go down to the wire

- As we approach the playoffs some more details on the format that GMs are already aware of.  November 29th will see the 2nd vs 3rd place games for each division at 8pm and 9pm, the winners will advance and play a second time that night in Game One of the Semi-Finals against the 1st place team in their respective division.  December 6th will table up Game Two of each Divisions Semi-Final while December 13th and 20th will feature Game One and Game Two of the finals with the champion crowned on December 20th.

- Reminder that while Eye Protection is not mandatory this season it is strongly urged that all players ensure to protect themselves.  There were some injuries last season where deflected balls hit players in the face and could have resulted in a serious injury to the eye.  Please take the time to consider your own personal safety and wear the appropriate eye protection.

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Fall Season - Week Eight - November 8th

- Week Seven saw Haya open the night with a solid 4-1 win over Sabr, Ridha destroyed Ikhlas 8-3 for their first win, Ihsan escaped with a 2-0 win over shorthanded Taqwa and Yaqeen defeated Emaan 5-2.

After Week Seven here are the Divisional Standings:

MECCA
RANK	TEAM	GP	WINS	LOSSES	TIES	POINTS	GF	GA	GD
1	Haya	7	5	0	2	12	25	10	15
2	Ikhlas	7	3	3	1	7	20	20	0
3	Emaan	7	3	3	1	7	19	18	1
4	Taqwa	7	1	6	0	2	8	21	-13
MEDINA
RANK	TEAM	GP	WINS	LOSSES	TIES	POINTS	GF	GA	GD
1	Yaqeen	7	4	1	2	10	16	12	4
2	Sabr	7	3	1	3	9	17	16	1
3	Ihsan	7	2	4	1	5	10	15	-5
4	Ridha	7	1	4	2	4	16	19	-3

*Only the top three teams in each division make the post season.

- Check out the Media Teams review of Week Seven and preview of Week Eight along with the recent trades here.

- After four weeks of cross-divisional play we return to inter-divisional games that will settle the playoff picture.

- There were a number of moves made prior to the Roster Freeze deadline, check out the list of Trades and Waiver Replacements on the Transaction Page.

- Ihsan delayed them by a week but Haya smashed Sabr to clinch a playoff spot in the Mecca Division.  Haya faces Emaan in Week Eight and a win will lock up the first seed for their division and a first round bye which will be a boon for this veteran squad.

- Many outstanding questions remain for Taqwa after their wild flurry of moves at the deadline, GM Ali Wadee may not have played in his teams last game but he sure made up for it by getting involved in three separate moves to try and refresh his team going into their final three games and needing to run the table and get help to make the playoffs and it all starts tonight with a game against Emaan.

- Observers were confused with Ikhlas who had goalie Yasir Hussain play out of net and Jakir Chowduhry go between the pipes.  The game was surprisingly a 4-3 score early in the second before the wheels fell off and Ridha scored four in a row to coast to their first win of the season.

- The depth on Haya this season has been documented but Sufyaan Shaikh was overheard last week praising the play of Ali Haroon who was one of the many gems that Haya managed to dig up during the draft.  More that that though has been the entire team buying into the mantra of "Haya Hustle"

- Ikhlas has been questioned about their seemingly over reliance on Adil Chohan but last week showed how dire it may be as Chohan took a double minor with 8:51 left in the game meaning he was in the box for four minutes regardless if Ridha scored and scored they did as it only took eight seconds for Naeem Akhtar to convert and with Chohan stuck in the box while the game went back to five-on-five watched helplessly as Ridha potted two more.

- Sabr was dominated by Haya last week and some attribute this to their lack of preparation as a few players walked in late for their game.  The casual attitude resulted in the teams first loss but considering how well Sabr has played this season it is easy to see how they may have taken their foot off the gas in Week Seven.

- With Emaan losing to Yaqeen, the Taqwa loss had to sting a bit more as a win against struggling Ihsan would have put Taqwa just three points out of the final playoff spot with a chance to make it one point if they were able to defeat Emaan in Week Eight.  Where many of the missing players were for a key game is an interesting question but Taqwa seemed to express their frustration by trading away three of the AWOL players.

- Omar Sadaat is reportedly out for tonight, no word if its due to equipment issues as a bizarre play saw Sabr's Farrukh Khan try to protect the ball by kicking his leg out only to make contact with Sadaat's stick and send it flying over the boards - it's unclear if Sadaat was able to recover his stick.

- Ihsan was complimentary of Taqwa after their game, with Umer "the Bonecrusher" Buksh pointing out the hustle of Hannan Ghafoor in particular who worked hard on both ends to try and help Taqwa scratch out a win.

- Many were waiting for Ridha GM Farooq Sani to break up his team but his only move at the deadline was to grab Mehmed Rizvanovic off waivers from Sabr.  He did lose close friend Talib Contractor as compensation which surely hurt but it could have been worse if Sabr took a defensemen like Kashif Taqiuddin instead as Ridha would have seen their thin D-Core lose a key player.

- Taqwa will be hoping that their new roster gels quickly and puts up some goals as they have now been shut out in four of their seven games this season - a harrowing statistic to see.

- As we approach the playoffs some more details on the format that GMs are already aware of.  November 29th will see the 2nd vs 3rd place games for each division at 8pm and 9pm, the winners will advance and play a second time that night in Game One of the Semi-Finals against the 1st place team in their respective division.  December 6th will table up Game Two of each Divisions Semi-Final while December 13th and 20th will feature Game One and Game Two of the finals with the champion crowned on December 20th.

- Reminder that while Eye Protection is not mandatory this season it is strongly urged that all players ensure to protect themselves.  There were some injuries last season where deflected balls hit players in the face and could have resulted in a serious injury to the eye.  Please take the time to consider your own personal safety and wear the appropriate eye protection.

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Fall Season - Week Seven - November 1st

- Week Six saw Sabr and Emaan end in a 3-3 tie, Taqwa defeat Ridha 4-2, Ihsan and Haya end in a 3- tie and Yaqeen defeat Ikhlas 4-3.

After Week Six here are the Divisional Standings:

MECCA
RANK	TEAM	GP	WINS	LOSSES	TIES	POINTS	GF	GA	GD
1	Haya	6	4	0	2	10	21	9	12
2	Ikhlas	6	3	2	1	7	17	12	5
3	Emaan	6	3	2	1	7	17	13	4
4	Taqwa	6	1	5	0	2	8	19	-11
MEDINA
RANK	TEAM	GP	WINS	LOSSES	TIES	POINTS	GF	GA	GD
1	Sabr	6	3	0	3	9	16	12	4
2	Yaqeen	6	3	1	2	8	11	10	1
3	Ihsan	6	1	4	1	3	8	15	-7
4	Ridha	6	0	4	2	2	8	16	-8

*Only the top three teams in each division make the post season.

- Check out the Media Teams review of Week Six and preview of Week Seven here.

- Haya went into Week Six expecting to clinch a playoff spot but were caught offguard by Ihsan who gave it their best effort and in a chippy game it ended as a tie.

- The third round of divisional games was an even split with a win for each division and a pair of ties.

- Everyone has been waiting for Ridha GM Farooq Sani to hit the panic button and make some trades but to his credit he has tried to work with the talented roster that was drafted.  They may need a tweak so perhaps a smaller trade to add some depth on defence is in order rather than moving one of his big names.

- With their season in dire shape and desperate for a win, Taqwa pulled off a smash and grab against Ridha for this first win of the season.  One of their better performances of the season against an equally hungry Ridha saw them pull out a win to keep their playoff hopes alive.

- Emaan has been on a tear of late and are undefeated in their last four games after dropping their opening two games of the season.  It will be interesting to see how they fare when divisional games return in Week Eight as it was their divisional opponents that gave them the most problems.

- Ridha shuffled some players around putting Naeem Akhtar on defence and trying to cover the absence of Emmad Khawaja who was out with an injury.  The did have a good game but were unable to generate enough quality offensive chances that they were able to convert on.

- Sabr continues to play well despite being without some of their strong contributors from early in the season but the team was drafted with the thought of bringing in versatile players who can fill in different roles when guys are away and that strategy has been what has kept them playing at a high level.

- Yaqeen is starting to pick it up at the right time as playoffs approach, Erfan Bhanapatel has meshed well with Abdul Manjra (his brother-in-law) and Arslan Mian.  Bhanapatel and Manjra had two goals each in their win over Ikhlas last week and were flying all game.

- Some familiar faces continue to appear in the stands as Maaz Haq has been showing up to coach and motivate his brother and friends on Ridha.  The talks have helped of late but not enough to get this team their first win.

- Haya reportedly came into their game with Ihsan a bit overconfident which may have cost them a point.  That said Ihsan played their best game of the season and could only scratch out a tie so perhaps they shouldn't be celebrating but taking the game as a step in the right direction.

- Opponents of Ikhlas are trying their best to limit the involvement from Adil Chohan and Yaqeen gave him a lot of attention but he still put up a goal and two assists.  Ikhlas needs to find a way to keep the pressure off their all-star or they could find themselves chasing more games as he has been carrying the team in their wins with support.  When the rest of the team goes quiet there is only so much Chohan can do to keep his team in games.

- For fans there will be a lot of attention on the opening game of the night as the two division leaders who are both undefeated will face off tonight.  Haya puts their 4-0-2 record up against Sabr and their 3-0-3 record.  Sabr has been hanging on of late trying to move pieces around to cover absences and injuries.  It will be interesting to see if those moves will work again against Haya who have a deep squad and boast the best offence in the league.

- With the roster freeze deadline approaching many GMs will be watching games tonight to determine if they need to make a big move or a tweak to their line-up to make a championship run.  It will be interesting to see how many moves are made with all of the rumours floating around of who is available and what impacts changes could bring.

- Reminder that while Eye Protection is not mandatory this season it is strongly urged that all players ensure to protect themselves.  There were some injuries last season where deflected balls hit players in the face and could have resulted in a serious injury to the eye.  Please take the time to consider your own personal safety and wear the appropriate eye protection.

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