Shukr is coming off a tight 1-0 loss against Sabr and for all the fire power they have (Ibrahim Hindy, Dawood Ciombar, Mohammed Hamoud and Nauman Abassi) they did not look impressive in the offensive zone as they only managed eight shots the entire game. Maybe another game under their belt will help this group better gel together and get the offense going. Their goaltender, Khalid Mufti however did show last week to be in mid-season form with a 0.923 save percentage. Their opponents in Week 2 is Ikhlas and boy was this squad impressive as they absolutely owned Yaqeen in the first game of the season with a 6-2 drubbing. Them boys were flying out there! Umair Awan with the hat-trick, Abdu Sharkaway went 1-2 on breakaways and Wakaas Khan needed a heat-check after collecting 5 points! In fact they were so dominant that you didn’t even notice they were missing their top drafted player, Hany Soliman. They also got it done on the other end by limiting Yaqeen to only five shots. I suppose if you want to nit-pick Ikhlas’ Week 1 performance you would have to look at their goaltender, Ahmed Jamal who let in 2 goals that he surely felt he could do better on. Perhaps it was nerves for his I-Slam hockey debut and will get a pass. Regardless, he should expect a better test tonight.
9:00 PM - Haya vs Yaqeen:
As mentioned above, Yaqeen got embarrassed in Week 1. There is not much to say as they need to forget about it and move on. The main thing we will see tonight from Yaqeen is their effort level after such a poor performance. They are up against Haya, who also had a weak showing in game 1 (losing 5-1 vs Emaan). Although, unlike Yaqeen, Haya were missing some notable players last week: Junaid Mohammad, Salman Khalid and Waqar Khan. Word is Khan is back in town and you know he is thinking the right initials “W” & “K” is leading the league in points, just the wrong picture.
10:00 PM - Emaan vs Sabr
Both of these teams won their season opener. Sabr edged Shukr 1-0 and Emaan took advantage of a short-benched Haya for a 5-1 win. Although, getting a shutout in your first career game is remarkable, it is hard to fairly judge Fahad Mohammed (Sabr) as he only faced 8 shots. But hey man, a goaltender can’t control how many shots he faces, but can absolutely control how many saves he makes. His brother, Maz Haq, also making his I-Slam Hockey debut factored in on the game winning goal last week. At the other end of the rink is Emaan. It is hard to assess their team because their win was against such a undermanned Haya that they were never really tested. Tonight will be more competitive for Emaan, let’s see how they do.
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