WEEK 2 PREVIEWS
Game 1 – Ihsan (1-0) vs Emaan (1-0)
Both teams are coming off 2-1 Week 1 victories. Majority of people have pegged Ihsan to win it all as it seems they have a well rounded team. What was remarkable about Ihsan’s performance in Week 1 was their team defense sucked the life out of Ikhlas holding them to only three shots in the first half and 12 overall. Except for one, the shots that were able to get through were steered as side from former ‘Best Goaltender of the Year’ Winner Zaid Majoo. On the other end, Hany Soliman carried Ihsan on his back and torched the 4th overall pick in this year’s draft twice, earning him the 1st Star of the Week. It is pretty impressive that Hany Soliman was able to solve Ikhlas’ defense and superstar goaltender considering that Ikhlas was built from the net out during the draft. If Ihsan can get 2 against that defense, they should in theory be able to victimize Emaan (who were not impressive in Week 1) for a couple more in Week 2. However, Emaan will counter with their former ‘Best Goaltender of the Year’ Winner Ahmad Mobin to keep Ihsan in check. As previously noted, although Emaan won their first game they did not look good. Against Shukr, they went an abysmal 0-5 on the PP, were out-shot 19-15 and even had an own goal. But why be negative, right? They found a way to win- It does not make sense but can’t argue against the final result. With that said, it is hard to envision them having continued success with that type of effort though.
Game 2- Yaqeen (1-0) vs Ikhlas (0-1)
Yaqeen simply out-classed Sabr in Week 1. Sajid Ayubi led the charge and put up 1 G and 2A. A lot of credit should go to Yaqeen’s high powered offense, showing no mercy to Sabr’s rookie goaltender Imran Merchant, but what got lost in their Week 1 victory is they only gave up 11 shots for the game! Yaqeen put up those numbers against a rook in his first game, but now they face Rahil Ahmed (Week 1 3rd Star) and an Ikhlas team that has a defense first mentality. As in the first week, expect Rahil to face a lot of (high-quality) shots and be relied on heavily. There is no doubt Salman Khalid & Yusuf Buttar of Ikhlas will do their part to support their net-minder, but a big question mark for Ikhlas is where is the goals going to come from?
Game 3- Shukr (0-1) vs (Sabr 0-1)
Life sometimes can be unfair- outshot, outworked, outhustle and took the game to Emaan in Week 1 but Shukr had a defensive lapse that cost them at least a point in the standings. A first impression of Shukr is that win, lose, or draw there a team that will make you work. Shukr needs to work on being more discipline as in the first week they had 5 minor penalties, two of them were from the leaders of this team (Arssal Shahabuddin & Idris Deen). Sabr on the other hand needs to forget about the beating they took in Week 1. For their sake, hopefully Akib Malik and Rizwan Malik take the floor this Friday. Perhaps goalie Imran Merchant was a bit nervous last week and now having some time to process things has settled down. Still is it the chicken or the egg or both? Before the ball gets to a goaltender it has to get through the defense. Both teams look to avoid an early 0-2 hole.
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