Summer Season - Week Ten - August 23rd - PLAYOFFS!

Sabr (1) VS Ihsan (4) – 9:00PM

The opening game of the playoffs features two teams on the opposite ends of the spectrum. Sabr led by GM Arslan Mian has been sitting in 1st place for most of the season. Arslan articulated his scouting knowledge to perfection as he drafted the team with the most depth. It all started with #1 overall pick Omar Husain. He has come as advertised as he has shown glimpses of his former self, one whom dominated both Tier 1 and Tier 2 from the Rink City days. Omar leads the team with 4 goals and is second with 8 points. It is no question that the offense runs through Omar as the games in which he has not scored, the team has not secured a win. If his offense runs dry, then Sabr still has loads of other options to step up to the plate. Most notably being the veteran with the slick hands, Arif Khan. Arif has managed to turn back the clock and play like he is 20 years old. Making defenseman look foolish and finishing with the patented back hand he is well known for. Ahmed Khalid is another one of the surprise draft pickups that Arslan has managed to pick up as the 16 year-old has turned heads with his speed and grit. Defensively, Sabr has allowed the fewest goals with only 16 given up. Farhan Saleh, defenceman of the year candidate Umar Mahmood lead the backend along with the veteran “Coco” Vasim Kagzi. Saleh has turned out another stellar year as he has shut down the opposition with his strong play along with contributing offensively. Saleh places 10th overall with 6 points. The offense comes from everyone on this team. Sabr also lays claim to the Top Goalie of the season in Ahmad Mobin. Mobin has posted a stellar 1.78 GAA along with 2 shutouts. It is safe to say, the opposing team must be firing on all cylinders to even be in Sabr’s league. Sabr has it all. Top Offense. Top Defence. Top Goalie. The one notable exception will be the loss of Saqib Khokhar, who seems like he’s out for the season with a knee injury. But it won’t make much of a difference as Sabr will easily dispose of Ihsan and punch its ticket to the finals.


The team that critics picked to finish 1st overall, has instead finished dead last. Ihsan looks like a team that has mentally checked out since the Salaam Cup break. Ihsan, led by GM Ajmal Esmatyar started the draft on the right note as he picked up 2018 Fall Goal scoring champ Yusuf Ingar #2 overall. But Ajmal’s experience as GM came into question in the moments after taking his brother and Top Forward Candidate Ammal Esmatyar in the 4th round. As the picks following showed that Ajmal did not have a plan and did not know who he was drafting. The players drafted from the 5th round onwards have gone onto produce only 5 of the 18 goals scored. It is clear that there is zero secondary scoring present from this squad. The late season addition of Ibrahim Hindy brings forth some secondary scoring, but he is known more for his playmaking abilities than to score. Defensively, the team looks more puzzling than a jigsaw puzzle. Ajmal leads the defense core, a position where he does not belong. Ajmal needs to be centering someone like Ammal and Yusuf as his handling skills are complementary to the finishing touch that both Ammal and Yusuf possess. The bright spot on this team was the play of Faraaz Alvi, his unfortunate injury led to even more questionable moves. Veteran Ejaz Malik was brought in as a replacement, but so far he has been a non-factor. Jawad Majeed has been having another fine year as his calmness with the ball has generated 5 assists. Goalie Imran Alvi, whom is coming off a stellar rookie season has been the leagues worst goalie. Posting a 3.25 GAA. But with no help from his defence, the goalie is forced to look far worse than he actually is. The team has been affected by attendance issues and has never fielded a full team. Nobody knows where Abraar Gangat has been, as he has been MIA since the second game of the season. The fans has been robbed of what should have been the league’s top line in Ammal-Yusuf-Abraar. Even with a full squad the chemistry is not present with this team. Frankly, Ihsan’s chances at winning the championship ended when Faraaz Alvi had to drop out of the league. Ihsan will be eliminated by Sabr with ease.



Haya (2) VS Yaqeen (3) – 10:00PM

The marquee matchup of the night features 2 teams whom turned around their seasons with the acquisition of key players. Haya’s GM Dawood Ciombar struck gold when he had the opportunity to grab Farooq Sani off of waivers. Since the arrival of Sani, Haya has been 2-0-1 and has looked like a totally different team. Dawood’s draft strategy was simple: draft snipers. Starting with his 1st round pick Omar Essawi. This selection caught everyone by surprise as Essawi had an average season in Fall 2018. But were the critics ever wrong!! Essawi is enjoying a breakout season as the Regular Season MVP, Top Scorer and is in contention for the Top Defenseman award. He leads the league with 9 Goals and 12 points. His big shot and shut down defense solidified his title as a premier defenseman. Ciombar has been having a fine season himself as he finished 5th overall in points 9 points. He has been manning the defensive end with Essawi and has formed probably the most lethal 1st defense line in the league. Basit Sheikh and Imran Lakhanpal round out the defense. Sheikh has enjoyed another solid season despite not being on the scoresheets. Imran Lakhanpal, once Tier-2’s most feared sniper, has nothing to show for this season. It looks like father time (or Popeyes Time) has finally caught up to Imran as it looks like he wants to be taking penalties more than scoring goals. Imran needs to revive his former self or else Dawood has no choice but to bench the big fella. Offensively, the team has scored the most goals with 24 and is lead by Sulemaan Bhatti. Bhatti had a breakout season alongside Maaz Haq in Fall 2018 but failed to reproduce that magic in the winter season. It looks like we can throw away all of the notion that Bhatti can not play without Haq as Bhatti has registered 8 points on the season, which is good for 7th overall. The secondary scoring has helped Haya stay in games as the feisty Ubaid Khan has 7 assists along with rookie Ali Haroon notching 4 points. Veteran Rizwan Malik has provided the spark that this club needed when everything was going wrong. Goalie Yusuf Kapoor is having another one of his consistent seasons posting a 2.33 GAA. Yusuf has been on some very strong defensive teams in the past, but as someone who is known to falter when the lights get bigger, he needs to be on his A-Game in order to lift this team into the finals. Farooq Sani’s acquisition has brang stability back to this lineup and it will be awfully hard for any team to beat them. Haya’s firepower is umatched but in order to punch it’s ticket to the final, the penalties need to be minimized. Haya will best Yaqeen in a back and forth battle.


This team boasts the oldest team in the league with an average age of 40 years old. What they lack in speed, they more than make up with skill and knowledge of the game. Led by the towering man himself, GM Mohammed Hamoud. Hamoud has been enjoying a career year as he sits 3rd in points overall and has been a weekly member of the “3 Stars of the Week” Club. Offensively, the team has the second lowest offense with only 19 goals scored. 9 of its 19 goals have come from the top line itself. Ali Murtaza who was off to a hot start to the season has not scored a goal in 4 games. Erfan Bhanapatel has scored nothing. The offense has dried up, but thankfully Brian Beauvais has 4 points in the past 2 games and is heading into the playoffs on a hot streak. Secondary scoring has been an issue with this team, the likes of Ahmad Ibrahim, Azim Siddique and Mudasser Hussain have to start clicking in order to beat Haya. Defensively, the team picked up superstar Luqman Arshad late in the season and he has fit right in alongside Farrukh Khan. With Luqman’s addition, Hamoud was able to move to the centre position. Samad Hamidi and Aamir Hanif help round out the defense core. The defense has only allowed 17 goals which is good for the second lowest. Hamidi’s relentless heart has prevented the opposition from scoring as he has put his body on the line countless times to block shots. But while the defense is good, they do not have much offensive presence as Yaqeen’s defence has only managed to score 2 goals all season. They are missing Hamoud’s big shot from the point. Goalie Yasir Hussain has been the leagues second best goalie posting a 2.15 GAA with 1 shutout. After tasting defeat in the Winter Championships, Yasir knows what it takes to get there. But with the playoff format being a little different this time around as the lowest seed in each game will have a 1-0 disadvantage. As the only way for Yaqeen to win is to WIN in regulation and then WIN in overtime, meanwhile all Haya needs is a win or tie. With the odds stacked in Haya’s favour, Yaqeen needs to bring its experience to the game and hope to get production from players who have not produced during the regular season. With the big hill to climb, I do not see Yaqeen having the offensive touch to hang with Haya. Yaqeen will succumb to the pressure of Haya and ultimately be eliminated from the playoffs.