Fall Season - Week One - September 15th

8:00 PM - Sabr vs Shukr

The season kicks off with Sabr and Shukr as the first to take the floor.  Sukr’s GM, Umar Mohammed was conservative during the draft and selecting familiar faces including three OGs in Nauman Abassi, Ibrahim Hindy, and Kashif Taqiuddin.   Together this trio is probably the greatest set of hockey minds this league will ever see assembled on one team.  Shukr was also able to grab last Fall Seasons’s Rookie of the Year who broke out on the I-Slam Hockey scene as a proficient goal-scoring machine, Dawood Ciombor.   However this time around, the opposition will be well aware of who he is which begs the question if it is too early in the developmental process to have him serve as your team’s primary scorer?  In net is Khalid Mufti, who consistently puts up solid numbers every season.

Sabr GM, Abdul-Wahab Mohammed took a different approach from his fellow colleagues and built his team with some outside the box thinking.  He went all in with Maaz Haq, selecting him 4th overall. Seems like Mohammed had some inside knowledge because the rest of the league has no idea who this guy is.  Thus, we are all intrigued in seeing how Haq performs in his league debut.  Another player making his debut is Tahir Maarouf; a little bit more is known about him as he has participated in several Salaam Cup tournaments.  He is an all-around player and easily has the potential of finishing in the Top Three in scoring, making him a steal for Sabr.  Oh by the way, Sabr was able to get the dynamic duo of Mehmed Rizvanovic and Aazar Zafar. Their goaltender Fahad Mohammed will also be making his league debut and it will be interesting to see how he stacks up to the rest of the cohort of goaltenders.


9:00 PM - Yaqeen vs Ikhlas

Yaqeen’s GM Arslan Mian is such a boss!  He was able to perform Hajj and draft his team from the comforts of Madina.  The last two seasons Mian’s strategy was to draft a goalie in the later rounds (Yusuf Kapoor & Kaunain Saiyed) and build a stronger team around them.  This time he altered the game plan and after selecting Farrukh Khan in round one, he took the first goaltender in the draft and selected Ahmad Mobin.  Goals might be harder to come by since defense and goaltending seem to be the focal point for Yaqeen.  With that said scoring goals will have to be done by committee with Saqib Khokhar, Rizwan Malik, Aamir Hanif, Usamah Rao and Arslan Mian all counted on to chip in.

Wakaas Khan, the GM for Ikhlas drafted his team from the cottage.  Some critics suggested this might have distracted him during the draft as while the team has some great players it seems to lack balance.  Rayhan Malik and Firasath Ali will likely take 2 spots on the back end which still leaves them with four spots to fill.  Perhaps Kamran Siddiqui fills one spot and maybe Wakaas’ brother, Sajid Khan another (although he is known to be adamant in the past as playing forward).  The critics might be a little bit harsh on Wakaas as he did pickup both Hany Soliman and Umair Awan which could very well be the best 1-2 punch this season. Also Atif Mian joins his Cambridge buddies; In 2015, he was two years away from being two years away, so perhaps 2017 is the year?  As well, goaltender Ahmed Jamal will be making his league debut tonight for Ikhlas.


10:00 PM - Emaan vs Haya:

Haya’s GM, Salman Khalid shocked the world last weekend by selecting Waqar Khan first overall (sarcasm).  Unless you have been living under a rock for the past few years, Khan usually leads the league in points and is one of the goal scoring leaders at the end of the regular season.  No matter what game plan the opposing team tries to slow him down he somehow finds a way to burn you (boom boom Waqar).  Although Samad Hamidi apparently knows how to handle him ;)  This is going to be an interesting year for him because instead of being part of a protected group as in prior seasons, he actually needs to take on a larger role (if that is even possible) as a result of being drafted first overall. Nadeem Faqiri who will probably reach new career highs in points this season as part of being Khan’s line mate.  This team will also have the calming presence of both Salman Khalid and Junaid Mohammed which will be especially helpful to the future stars of this league: Sahil Mohammed and Mustafa Shahbaz. Goaltender, Kaunain Saiyed will be looking to have a bounce back season this year.

Emaan’s GM, Luqman Arshad stated he was trying to build the best possible team during the draft and the Malik’s might have to be broken up (wink wink).  He did have to part ways with Rizwan Malik but he was able to select Saleem Malik and Sadat Malik.  Luqman Arshad and Farooq Sani is probably the best defensive pairing in the entire league.  For this team Idris Deen, Saajid Bhayat and Imran Lakhanpal are going to score majority of the goals.  He also selected the goaltender who spoiled his chance at a championship during the 2017 Spring Season, last season’s Goalie of the Year and Playoff MVP, Yusuf Kapoor.