Week Eleven - December 16th

- Last week saw Ihsan blow three separate two-goal leads in their game with Shukr that ended in a 4-4 tie.  Emaan took advantage of a short-handed Ikhlas for a 2-0 win despite the effort from replacement goalie Sheraz Mahmood as Sheraz Bhai stepped in at the last moment for them.  Yaqeen defeated Haya 3-0 with both squads playing short benched.

- The Ikhlas-Sabr game has the Prime-Time spot tonight. It is fitting for what is at stake: 1) An Ikhlas win and they qualify for the playoffs, 2) A Sabr win and they qualify for the playoffs, or 3) a tie and Sabr must win their final game against Emaan to make the postseason.  Both teams control their own fate with a win tonight.

- It is expected that Zayd Agjee will be in net for Ikhlas. He was brought in for this very moment, to help get Ikhlas to the playoffs. So far, critics have questioned why bring him in as a replacement if he isn’t going to show up to majority of the games. Now the pressure is on Agjee, he either leaves this week as the ‘hero’ or a ‘bust’.

- In an ironic twist, Nadir Ahmed has been called up as a replacement goalie for Sabr.  The irony is that Ikhlas had Nadir Ahmed fill in for them for their earlier encounter with Sabr.  Nadir played well as the game ended in a 1-1 tie.  Some of the Sabr players described his performance that night  “Carey Pricesque”.  Now Sabr is hoping to turn the tables around on Ikhlas and hoping that Nadir can come through for them.  It should also be noted that Nadir Ahmed was also called up for Ihsan earlier this season as he help them get a 3-2 victory of Emaan.

- According to the poll administered in the week, majority feel Yasir Malik or Rizwan Malik will get the GWG.  Two unlikely candidates, but you never know what can happen in these types of games. The stage is set for anyone to become the hero.

- Ikhlas has been shutout in back to back games, first by Yaqeen and last week by Emaan.  If this streak stretches to three games they can pack up their hockey equipment for the rest of the season.

- A big reason why Ikhlas was shutout in their game against Emaan last week was the play of Ahmad Mobin. His 27 save shut-out performance is most shots faced by any goaltender this season, earning him First Star Honors.

-Speaking of shutouts, Yusuf Kapoor (Yaqeen) now leads the league with three. Yaqeen has not given up a goal in their last two matches.  In addition, Faraz Alvi’s two goals and an assist gave him the third star honours.

- It looks like the league’s decision to invest in goalie equipment is paying for itself.  You know who also was a goalie last week? Zia Ali of Ihsan!  When Zaid Majoo was late for his game, Ali strapped up to avoid his team playing with an empty net.  He held his own and helped Ihsan salvage at least a point against Shukr. Ihsan supporters on twitter has enshrined him with the nickname, “Neo”, with reference to Keanu Reeves’ character from the Matrix franchise. This appropriately encompasses Zia’s IT profession and MMA passion.

- Staying on that Ihsan-Shukr game: Hany Soliman’s 2 goals and 1 assist got him recognized as last week’s 2nd star. Also Arif Bijabhai’s 2 goal performance moved him into a tie for the goal-scoring lead. He now must hope that Waqar Khan (Emaan) and Humza Chaudhry (Yaqeen) do not find twine in their respective games as Shukr has wrapped up their season.

- The door has cracked open ever so slightly for Emaan to displace Ihsan from the summit of the standings.  Regardless of the outcome of Ihsan’s last game against Haya if Emaan can win their remaining games they will finish first overall.

- On this note, it is still plausible for Yaqeen to grab the top spot.  However first they must defeat Emaan tonight.

- Yo Haya players, time to wake up and start taking things more seriously.

- Shukr does not play again until the playoffs.  However, rumor has it that Arif Bihabhai will be away travelling at that time. If true this is a huge blow for Shukr but last Spring Season, Shukr was in the same position with goalie Yasir Hussain whom Coach K convinced to alter travel arrangements to a family wedding in Chicago to play in the Semi-Finals.

Week Ten - December 9th

- Last week saw Yaqeen rout Ikhlas, Ihsan grind out a 1-0 win over a desperate Sabr and Shukr break their two game losing streak with a win over suddenly struggling Haya.

- Firasath Ali was forced to go in net last week as Yaqeen's starting goalie Yusuf Kapoor arrived to the rink late for his game against Ikhlas. The life-less Ikhlas managed a meager two shots against Ali which he had little difficulty making the save. Ali and Kapoor’s effort in net shutout the woeful Ikhlas offense, earning the Third Star Honors.

- Yusuf Kapoor and Zaid Majoo (Ihsan) both got shutouts last week and share the lead in shut-outs with two each. Majoo was rewarded Second Star Honors after his shutout performance against Sabr. Reportedly he got an extra dose of motivation when Naiem Malik guaranteed a Sabr win on Facebook leading up to the game.

- Waqar Khan and Zaid Toorawa of Emaan and Shehryar Khan and Zayd Agjee of Ikhlas are all vacationing in Punta Cana together and will be missing their game this week. Considering what tends to happen on a Toorawa trip we hope that this is as far the story develops.

- It is not uncommon for goaltenders to have nicknames. After Usamah Rao had to go in net for Ikhlas a few weeks back the nick-name “Silent Ninja” was quickly trending over Twitter. Likewise Firasath Ali broke the internet when he had to defend Yaqeen’s cage as the nick-name “The Iceman” started to catch on.

- Last week Zayd Agjee guaranteed that Emaan would not get a goal on him in the December 9th match-up, clearly toying with fans (but hopefully not his teammates) who were looking forward to Agjee facing off against the leagues best offense.

- Whoa! Five out of the Seven teams this season have qualified for the playoffs. The last spot will come down to a tooth and nail battle between Sabr and Ikhlas. Ironically each team have identical schedules which see each team face Emaan and then end the season facing each other. So they are makers of their own destiny and in the end can only blame themselves if the don’t make the playoffs.

- Zaid Toorawa has asked teammates to live stream the game from the bench so he can watch while sitting on the beach in Punta Cana where he hopes to offer support to his team by chirping opponents (and perhaps teammates). No word if any Emaan player has offered to take this on.

-With Zayd Agjee not in the lineup tonight Ikhlas are down to their last goal-tender replacement, Sheraz Mahmood, no word yet if Sheraz Bhai will be able to suit up for them tonight.

-With Waqar Khan deciding to take a personal leave, Humza Chaudhry of Yaqeen gets another opportunity to take sole-possession of the goal-scoring lead. Hopefully Emaan does not suffer the same fate this season as Haya did in the Spring Season when Khan went on vacation and his team lost all four games without him.

-Staying on Yaqeen, Sajjid Ayubi walked away with First Star Honors after posting two goals and an assist helping his team rout Ikhlas.

-With Ihsan seemingly having first place all but secured, it looks like Emaan, Yaqeen and Haya will be fighting for 2nd place which allows them to head straight to the semis.

Week Nine - December 2nd

- Week Eight saw Ikhlas pick up their first win of the season, Ihsan grind out a win over Yaqeen and Emaan batter a depleted Haya to jump into second place.

- Finally Ikhlas got their first win!  Zayd Agjee had some nerves making his season debut after replacing Rahil Ahmad and it showed as the very first shot he faced from Saajid Bhayat beat him to put his team down a goal less than two minutes into the game.  However, he quickly re-grouped and he held his ground long enough for Shehryar Khan, recognized as the 1st Star for Week Eight, to lead the charge at the other end.  The win was huge as it saw Ikhlas jump out into the last playoff spot after being in last since the start of the season.

- The pressure is now on Sabr to get their first win, they've been hanging onto the last playoff spot all season but their three ties are not going to get this team to the playoffs.  Things just got difficult for them as Imran Merchant, their goaltender will no longer be with the team (personal).  With rosters now frozen, Sabr will have to rely on replacement goaltenders in which they can only use three times for their remaining games.  Either that or they might have to consider putting one of their roster players in net for some games.  They did this in a loss to Haya tossing Mubashir Malik in net. Nonetheless they are massive underdogs coming into the home stretch of the regular season

- With only a few games left in the season it will be unwise to leave points on the board.  With that in mind we salute Atif Mian, recognized as the 2nd Star for Week Eight, who somehow convinced his wife and family that he needed step out of a wedding they were at to play in Emaan’s game and as soon as the final buzzer sounded he returned to the reception.  He helped Emaan secure a 3-1 win over Haya who were missing some of their better plays; an amazing demonstration of polar opposites where one player displayed amazing commitment to his team whereas many Haya players abandoned their team in a game that could have helped them gain a first round bye in the playoffs.

- The above point could also be said for Shukr as they earned the dubious honour last week of being the first team to lose to Ikhlas this season.  The game was viewed as a battle between embattled coaches and Belal Hafeez can still hold his head up finally guiding his team to a win, the same cannot be said for Coach K who has his team on a two game slide and falling in the standings.

- Speaking of Shukr - An incorrect tweet was sent out during the week.  Zaid Majoo (Ihsan), Ahmad Mobin (Emaan) and Yusuf Kapoor (Yaqeen) are all tied for the league lead in shutouts - each one of them getting their donuts from Shukr.

- Much has been made of Ikhlas finally getting their first win but coming into the game against Shukr last week the pressure was clearly getting to Ikhlas GM and Captain Shehryar Khan who had a less than cordial pre-game media session.  Fielding numerous questions on the state of his team, Khan ended the session by yelling "Trust the process!" before storming out.  While a win does not erase the six-game winless run to start the season, it does vault them into a playoff spot so a step in the right direction.

- Ihsan continues to generate goals throughout their lineup: Amad Khan, recognized as the 3rd Star for Week Eight, netted the game-winner against Yaqeen.  The lost was costly for Yaqeen in their hopes of finishing first overall.

- Ahmad Ibrahim of Shukr continues to be on the IR, but you know that win, lose, draw or injured the post-game shisha parties are always on.  While his initial claims of staying in shape were that he is still "lifting" seemed to boost the hope that he would be back in form when he returns, the details which came out later that he was lifting his shisha pipe seemed to deflate the hopes of Shukr brass about what to expect from their power forward when he is able to play again.

- No word why Huzaifa Manjra of  Haya decided to show up for his game as a spectator.  Players from Emaan noted that Manjra appeared in the stands in street clothes and seemed uninterested in helping his team - if he was injured he could have at least coached his team.  His teammate Aazar Zafar finally got burnt after playing with fire the entire season as by the time he made his way to the bench Haya was trailing 1-0.  Zafar routinely joins his team after the game has already started but in this game with his team already missing key players it put his team on their heels early.

- After taking over the goal-scoring lead from Hany Soliman, Yaqeen’s Humza Chaudhry has been at the top of the leader board as he is tied with Waqar Khan of Emaan but has a game in hand.  With Emaan on a bye-week for Week Nine, Chaudhry has a chance to gain sole possession.

- Based upon the standings after Week Eight, Ihsan and Emaan have both clinched playoff spots as neither Ikhlas or Sabr can pass them regardless of what happens the rest of the way.

- In a scheduling quirk, Shukr will end their season by next week, December 9th.  For them to feel safe and have some control over their own fate, they will need to grab at least two points in their final games against Haya and Ihsan.  Assuming they do hold onto a playoff spot, Shukr will be off for more than a month - a lot of shisha can be passed around during that time and we know that Ahmad Ibrahim always has his game face on for that!

- Unconfirmed reports are out that Yasir Hussain will be in net for Sabr tonight against first place Ihsan.

Week Eight - November 25th

- With no trade activity there is not much news to report this week. Rosters are no frozen. No trade, no replacement players from here on out. Believe in the squad that you have.

- The league did approve Zayd Agjee as a replacement for Ikhlas as Rahil Ahmed suffered a season-ending injury two weeks ago. There were speculations that Ikhlas might look to shake things up and keep Usamah Rao in net and bring in a forward that could help them score goals instead.

- Many feel that the reason why Zayd Agjee has decided to join Ikhlas for the remainder of the season is to have his, “Hakeem Olajuwon” moment- taking a week team and leading them to the championships.

- Two coaches find themselves in the hot seat this week and they will have an opportunity to face each other to try and get their teams back on track. Belal Hafeez has been running the bench for Ikhlas and the result is last place with no wins and the leagues worst offense. He has been putting the team through intense physical training but that doesn't seem to be helping the team at all. The other coach under fire is Kashif "Coach K" Taqiuddin who was once regarded as a prodigal genius but this season he has Shukr with a sub-500 record and they have been shut-out three times in seven games - a new and dubious league record for this point in the season.

- Speaking of that Emaan vs Shukr game, Emaan were so dominant that two of their players Zaid Toorawa and Ahmad Mobin came away with the 1st and 2nd star respectively and Mobin now leads the league in wins.

-  In the Emaan vs Shukr game Coach K and Emaan’s Zuhair Fancy seem to be arranging dinner plans as they were battling for the ball in the corner.

- Staying on the Emaan vs Shukr game, Members of Ikhlas used the results of the game to throw jabs at Shukr in anticipation of the Shukr-Ikhlas matchup tonight. That might not have been the wisest thing to do on Ikhlas’ part seeing that they currently sit last overall and you never want to give extra motivation to a team and goaltender Kaunain Saiyed.  Who will get the “silent treatment” tonight?

- Team-mates Waqar Khan and Zaid Toorawa are 1st and 2nd in overall points and are big reasons why Emaan is the highest scoring team.

- Haya did what no other team has done this season and beat Ihsan powered by Week 7’s third star, Nadeem Faqri.

- Ihsan’s first lost of the season seems to be creating some dissension in their locker room. It would be interesting story to keep your eyes on.

- Another team that has some internal conflict seems to be Sabr. For Sabr they just don’t seem to be handling pressure well at all. They had a excellent opportunity last week to get their first win of the season against a goaltender with relatively little experience but their forwards weren’t simply good enough, only managing to get one goal.

- Rumor has it that Atif Mian will be a healthy scratch this week, he has shown some of the potential scouts raved about but seems to be sliding back into the now infamous assessment that he's two years away from being two years away.

- Haya has been trying to keep this report out of the news but they may be without Huzaifa Manjra in their game tonight

- Yaqeen’s Humza Chaudhry could see his stay as the league leading goal-scoring vanish by the end of the night.

- Four teams have the potential of being 1st overall after tonight: Yaqeen, Ihsan, Emaan and Haya.

- Attention all goaltenders, we recognize your stats are just as important and we know there are huge discrepancies with regards to your individual numbers. If this applies to you please do get in touch with us to help us correct these errors.

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.