Fall Season - Week Fifteen - January 27th

Ikhlas, Sabr, Shukr, Emaan and Haya have all fallen. After 16 weeks the two teams left fighting for the championship this season is Yaqeen and Ihsan. This will be a heavy weight battle with the two top dogs from start to finish squaring off. Only separated by one-point during the regular season, one can argue the strength of both of these teams is their commitment to defense. Yaqeen would like to boast they have the best defensive core of Junaid Mohammad, Faraaz Alvi and Zafir Rashid only allowing the opposition to score 13 times (the fewest) and Sajjid Ayubi ensuring the forwards play a strong two-way game. 

But Ihsan also does a solid job shutting down teams with Farrukh Khan, Sajid Khan and Yousuf Soliman (AKA Drizzy) regardless of whether they play as a forward or defense always put in that extra effort to get back to the front of their net.  The goaltending edge goes to Yusuf Kapoor of Yaqeen, but it would be foolish to overlook Zaid Majoo as he has proven this season he has the mental resolve to battle through and win tight games. When it comes to finding twine, Yaqeen probably has the edge in that department by having the league`s top sniper on their roster Humza Chaudhry. However, if you give Hany Soliman a crack of daylight he can thread any needle. Finally, in my opinion when you consider the sum being greater than its individual parts, the overall edge seems to go to Ihsan, this team seems to find a way to win regardless of what challenges they have faced this season, as they did when they defeated Yaqeen 2-1 earlier in the year.

Fall Season - Week Fourteen - January 20th

In the 8 pm game Emaan takes on Yaqeen to book their ticket to the finals. Yaqeen won the only matchup between the teams during the season in a close 2-1 battle. Yaqeen should be weary of Umair Awan (Emaan) who comes in white hot after putting up four goals in the Quarter Final against Sabr last week. Awan has elevated his game despite the recent struggles of Waqar Khan and Zaid Toorawa. With so much at stake, Emaan is hoping that the top two leading point scorers during the regular season are able to get their games back in order. From Yaqeen’s perspective, they have been frustrating opposing with their defensive scheme all season. Sajjid Ayubi, Faraaz Alvi and Junaid Mohammad anchor the defensive efforts for the team. They hope to keep the Emaan offense in-check long enough for their crafty forwards, especially Humza Chaudhry to cash in at the other end.

In the 9 pm game, of tonight's doubleheader Haya goes up against Ihsan. Let’s not sugar coat it, most people feel (as per the votes) that Haya is a massive underdog. But let’s take a step back! The team’s split the regular season series with each team winning one game; Ihsan won the most recent encounter. That said, Haya was the only team able to hand Ihsan a defeat this season. As well, in their second meeting, Haya was sporting a lead going into the 2nd period. So it seems that Haya has some blueprints to be effective against Ihsan. For Ihsan getting a bye and finishing 1st overall is a great accomplishment - however not taking anything away or devaluing the tremendous season they had so far but perhaps the bye will work against them as inactivity can always be a risk. Considering Ihsan is coming off a long layoff, last playing December 16th, them boys will have to quickly adjust to the magnitude of the situation and go from 0 to 100 real quick (Yes this is a Drake reference, for Drake’s team).

Fall Season - Week Thirteen - January 13th

Reset the records, a new season begins today!

In the 8 pm game Shukr squares off against Haya, they faced each other twice in the regular season with Shukr victorious in both encounters.  As a result, over 90% of voters who participated in the online poll has Shukr coming away with the victory.  Things to take into consideration is that Shukr has not played a game in over a month and now they go straight into a one-game winner moves on loser heads home situation.  On the flip side Haya has not won a game since November 18th against Ihsan - that's almost two months!  On one end you have rust and the other end is lack of confidence. Which team is able to overcome their obstacles to punch their ticket into the semifinals?

In the 9 pm Emaan takes on Sabr, these teams also met twice in the regular season with Emaan coming away with a win in the first meeting and the teams tied last week in the final game of the regular season.  Despite these positive showings for Emaan, the poll has Sabr emerging with the victory.  Perhaps last week’s match-up between the two teams put a lot of doubt in Emaan as they jumped out to an early lead only to relinquish it to Sabr ultimately scratching their way to a draw. This game last week showed that maybe we should be on upset alert as most likely the result tonight won’t be as lopsided as the regular season standings of these teams.

Fall Season - Week Twelve - January 6th

After several weeks off teams look to shake off the rust and use this week to quickly prepare for the playoffs for the following week. The four teams in action are Haya (grey), Yaqeen (red), Emaan (Orange) and Sabr (yellow). These teams have qualified for the playoffs. Haya already knows they have Shukr (blue) waiting for them next week. A positive showing against the second best team Yaqeen can go a long way in building momentum for Haya. They also can play spoiler and prevent Yaqeen from securing a first round bye. Likewise, Sabr can play more loosely in their game against Emaan after claiming the last playoff spot. For Emaan to get a first round bye they will be pulling for Haya to at most hold Yaqeen to a tie. If this scenario plays out it will give Sabr something to think about: Do they go for a win this week to set up a rematch with Emaan in the playoffs? Or from Sabr’s perspective does going up against Yaqeen give them a easier path to the championship?