Fall Season - Week Six - October 27th

8:00 PM – Shukr vs Sabr
We are half way through this season and from here on teams will be getting a second look at their opponents each week.  Last Friday, Sabr (yellow) had their world come crashing down and tasted defeat courtesy of Haya (grey) - score: 2-1.  The true character of a team is often revealed not when you are winning but rather through adversity.  As well, Sabr better be mindful of Emaan (orange) and Haya as both teams are only two points away from catching them in the standings. This added pressure does add some intrigue near the top of the standings and it will be interesting to see how Sabr is able to deal with it.  Their opponents are Shukr (red) who did everything but win in their last game against Yaqeen (white) - score: 1-1.  As you can tell from the Facebook dialogue, Shukr absolutely deserved a better fate and should be coming into this week riding a one-game winning streak.  Unfortunately for them, a hot goalie was in their path and results in Shukr looking for their first win in four games against Sabr.  This game is crucial for Shukr as they are flirting with the danger of falling out of a playoff spot. When these team met in to open the season, it was a close contest with Basit Sheikh (Sabr) being the difference.

9:00 PM- Ikhlas vs Yaqeen
In both team’s WhatsApp chat you best believe there is a lot of chatter regarding the importance of this game.  Although not officially, but whichever team wins this game will have the advantage on claiming the final playoff spot.  After thrashing Yaqeen to a tune of 6-2 to start their season, Ikhlas has never been close in any of their subsequent games.  The good news for them is they get a rematch against the only team they have defeated.  As for Yaqeen after Week 1, they have scratched and clawed their way in grabbing points. In particular, 1 win (Haya) and 2 ties (Emaan & Shukr). The problem with ties is it makes you move like a sloth up in the standings.  In fact, they don’t seem to be moving at all as a lost on Friday and they will find themselves last in the standings.  Their problem seems to be with the forward group as they have only produced 7 goals (the lowest) through 5 weeks and seem to have difficulties in even getting shots towards the net.  As mentioned above, back in Week 1, Ikhlas won 6-2; the 6 goals was more than the number of shots Yaqeen had on net (5) that night.

10:00 PM- Haya vs Emaan
Despite the standings saying otherwise, the eyeball test showed that Haya is the best team.  They sent that message loud and clear with their recent 2-1 victory over Sabr.  We are still waiting for Waqar Khan to ascend to the top of points leader board despite missing the first few weeks and restore order back to the I-Slam Hockey Universe.  You know who isn’t waiting?  Furqan Salam, who sits fourth overall in points (6) and tied for first in goals (5).  If Khan can pick up the pace like we are accustomed to, then Haya will be an even more scarier team.  Tomorrow, they get a chance for revenge against one of two teams that beat them, Emaan (the other team is Yaqeen).  It should be noted, that both of these loses occurred as a result of Haya’s top-end players being away for those games.  Nonetheless a win is a win and no sympathy gets passed around in I-Slam.  For Emaan, I keep saying they are a hard team to evaluate and I still maintain they are a hard team to evaluate!  Yes, they are tied for second overall in the standings but they just don’t feel like a “second overall team”.  Their two wins have come against a short-benched Haya and last week against last place Ikhlas.  Saleem Malik is having an incredible season for them with 4 goals and 7 points.  Regardless whether or not they care how they are being perceived, this is a pivotal game between these two teams to claim sole possession of the second spot and possible move into a tie for first overall by the end of the night.

Fall Season - Week Five - October 20th

8:00 PM - Ikhlas vs Emaan
After four weeks, Ikhlas (green) finds themselves last overall in the standings - and outside of the final playoff spot.  Last week, in the “All Cambridge” duel, Ikhlas got trounced by their bitter rivals 6-2.  In fact, their last three games they have been outscored 15-3 (4-1 against Shukr, 5-0 against Sabr and 6-2 against Haya).  Perhaps they can find optimism in the fact that Wakaas Khan is second overall in points (8) and Umair Awan, who tallied twice last game is tied with Haya’s, Furqan Salam in goals (5).  However, despite being amongst the best in the league offensively maybe it’s time for Ikhlas to reconsider their strategy and in the process, sacrifice personal stats for the team.  A good starting point might be the defensive end, where they have given up the most goals against so far this season with 17.   Emaan on the other hand is a tough team to analyze. In their last game, Idrees Deen fired a rocket top-shelf to help ensure his team walked away with at least a point (2-2 tie against Shukr).  However which way do you want to look at this team?  One can take the argument that they are winless in their last two games (two weeks ago they tied Yaqeen 0-0) or one can take the position that they have not lost in two games.  In either event as it stands at the moment they occupy the second spot in the standings.  A win tonight might put Ikhlas so far back in their rear-view mirror that Emaan might not have to worry about missing out in the playoffs for the rest of the season. That said a loss to Ikhlas would cause Emaan’s blood pressure to rise as they start to worry about qualifying for the post-season.

9:00 PM - Sabr vs Haya
This match-up also has the tagline of Maaz Haq vs Waqar Khan.  Don’t get me wrong, there are other notable players from both teams that can factor into this game and could very well play a bigger role than either Haq or Khan. But we aren’t interested in that scenario!  We want Haq and Khan matched up and on the same floor trying to show up the other in a “Whatever you can do I can do better!!” show.  Ultimately, the goal is for the two of them to lead their teams to victory which is all nice and dandy.  However, don’t kid yourself, in the end we will all be talking about the box office matchup of Maaz Haq and Waqar Khan.   This may the first real test for Sabr and their defense, observers are eager to see if they come out of this game with another shutout, their fifth in a row.

10:00 PM - Yaqeen vs Shukr
Oh boy, Yaqeen were embarrassed last week, losing to Sabr 6-0.  Nothing went right for them as they only manage to muster seven shots all game (six in the first half and just one in the second half).  This is the second time in this young season in which Ahmad Mobin has given up six goals.  Last time this happened was back in Week One against Ikhlas.  Yaqeen did well to bounce back from that lost, winning their next game against Haya and tying versus Emaan the week after.  They are going to have to lean on whatever methods they used to rebound from their Week One disaster against Shukr tonight.  Funny enough, Shukr is on a bit of a slide similar to Yaqeen.  If you think about it, two weeks ago they lost 2-1 against Haya and as mentioned above they let a point slip away against Emaan late in the second half last week.  Therefore, they are on a 2-game winless streak.  This game is a pivotal game with respect to the standings.  The loser might find themselves at the very worst in dead last or at the very best in the final playoff spot hanging on for dear life.

Fall Season - Week Four - October 13th

8:00 PM- Sabr vs Yaqeen
Welcome Back! After a bye for Thanksgiving I-Slam Hockey starts back up on this auspicious Friday the 13th.  What a fitting way to kick start things again with none other than the team making the most noise throughout the first three games of the season, Sabr (yellow).  In the event you haven’t been following, Sabr is the only remaining undefeated team led by rookie sensation, Maaz Haq.  So far he has taken the league by storm and is tied for the overall scoring lead with Wakaas Khan of Ikhlas (although Khan got five points in one game against woeful Yaqeen), tallying 6 points.  What is equally or even more impressive is his brother, goaltender, Fahad Mohammad (also a rookie) starting off his career with three straight shutouts.  All signs point to a fourth straight shutout as their opponents tonight, Yaqeen (white), have a hard time generating chances.  In fact, if you remove their Week Two game against a short-handed Haya, they have only managed 10 shots against Emaan (orange) and 5 shots against Ikhlas (green).  However… spooky things have happened before on Friday the 13th.

9:00 PM- Ikhlas vs Haya
Are we back in June of 2014?  In the very first installment the Cambridge B team slayed the Cambridge A team enroute to hoisting the I-Slam Championship.  Fast forward three years later, the world continued to rotate; point and case where some of these players went from bachelors to being hitched.  Despite all that has transpired on and off the floor, the rivalry between these two squads burns stronger than ever!  The Cambridge B Team, Ikhlas (green) comes into this contest limping after losing two consecutive games with a combined score of 9-1 (loss to Shukr/red 4-1; loss to Sabr/yellow 5-0). So the bye week couldn’t have come at a better time as it gave them an opportunity to do some internal reflection to try to recapture the magic from Week One in which they put up 6 goals.  Did Ikhlas manage to figure it out?  We finally got a look at the Cambridge A team, Haya (grey) in Week Threeas all of their top-end players were in attendance.  They managed to hold on for the 2-1 victory over a very tough Shukr team.  With all the talk centered around Waqar “Boom Boom” Khan, it was Furqan Salam who put his team on his back, notching both goals.  Also making some noise for Haya is their goaltender, Kaunain Saiyed, who has faced the most shots (84) so far. To help conceptualize this, Saiyed has had to face 28 more shots against than the second highest goaltender in this category (Yaqeen’s Ahmad Mobin).

10:00 PM- Shukr vs Emaan
Shukr (red) and Emaan (orange) is a pickem’ game.  Both of these teams have scored five goals for and both have surrendered four goals each.  This game is a pivotal game early on in the season as the winner will most likely vault into second place or at worst move into third.  The loser of this game ends up with a cluster of four other teams at the bottom of the standings.  Emaan has been shutout for two consecutive games, against Sabr and Yaqeen.  It is not from a lack of trying, as they have managed at least 20 shots in their past two contests.  Go figure, Emaan occupies the second seed, partly because the four teams below them are also trying to gain some consistency.  However, if Emaan’s offensive troubles continue inevitably they will find themselves falling in the standings. For Shukr, the game plan is simple - FIND A WAY TO GET DAWOOD CIOMBAR THE BALL.  The sophomore has 75% of his team’s total goal production.  It looks like what is unfolding for this team is they need to come up with a strategy to get contributions from the other forwards.  Either that or they will live and die by the Ciombar sword