Spring Season - Week Three - February 9th

For the Week Three Previews it may be early in the season but we will let the statistics do the talking more than anything for this week, check out some statistics for the league and each team here.

One point is that Week Three will see the end of the first set of divisional games, critical for teams as they look to get an early grip on a playoff spot.

Spring Season - Week Two - February 2nd

8:00pm - Ikhlas (green) vs Emaan (orange) - Mecca Conference
Oh boy, Ikhlas let a point slip away last week against Shukr. They were 19 seconds away from victory until Shukr’s Mehmed Rizvanovic scored the equalizer on the power play. Some good news for Ikhlas did come out of this game as waiver pickup Shuaib Hussein provided instant return on investment by picking up on assist on Akib Malik’s first goal of the season. Nonetheless, instead of celebrating a win they had to settle for a tie which felt more like a defeat. Ikhlas has a great opportunity to move on from their Week One collapse as they face off against a team who had the worst showing in the season opener.

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! Emaan was embarrassed in Week One. When you get shutout and its run-time mercy rule, well that is the equivalent of getting dunked on.  Losing 6-0 to Yaqeen, Week One must become a “forget me type of week” for Emaan. It should be noted that Yousuf Soliman did not take the floor, but still more was expected from this team compared to what they showed last week. I expect a big bounce back game from this team, especially last season’s championship winning goaltender Kaunain Saiyed. Whenever a goaltender has a bad game it is always interesting to see how he follows it up the next game as a proxy to his mental fortitude. They are up against a team that is also demoralized with the outcome of their first week. So, matching up with Ikhlas might help get Emaan going in the right direction.

9:00pm - Yaqeen (white) vs Shukr (red) - Mecca Conference
Yaqeen was the most impressive of the eight teams in Week One. Winning 6-0 against Emaan, they truly had a balanced attack where all but three players did not register a point. Standout performances included Nadeem Faqiri’s five-point explosion, which vaulted him to the top of the league scoring leaders and also Emmad Khawja depositing a pair of goals. In Week One, they scored four goals on their first seven shots. Realistically it is hard to envision Yaqeen’s offense being as precise this Friday. Their opponents, Shukr, are feeling mightily good about themselves after salvaging a point against Ikhlas (in Week One) with only 19 seconds remaining in regulation. As a result, they are riding the momentum right now. This in combination with Yaqeen coming into this game a bit over confident (after destroying Emaan) is looking like a Shukr grind out victory on Friday. Yaqeen can write their own alternate ending by paying close attention to Mehmed Rizvanovic (The Bosnian Beast), who accounted for both of Shukr goals last week.

10:00pm - Ridha (blue) vs Ihsan (teal) - Medina Conference
Some may argue that Ridha had the most impressive Week One. Take into consideration they had four different goal scorers (Saqib Sheikh, Shaukat Khan, Abdu Sharkawy and Shehryar Khan) and only gave up ten shots again (the fewest among all teams) one can make a case. On Friday they are matched up against Ihsan. All teams will face some form of adversity during the season, but man Ihsan’s test emerged in the first half on opening night - both Ahmad Mobin (their goaltender) and Humza Chaudhry sustained lower-body injuries and did not return to the game. Ihsan showed a lot of grit and character in their first game managing to make do with the lineup they had left and even got two goals past Ibad Khan (Emaan’s goaltender) courtesy of Zakariyah Kalair.  Despite the adversity, Ihsan was only down a goal in the last minute of play. Although losers of a close contest, it was clear from last week when you face off against Ihsan they will make you work.

Also to remind everyone, these were the two teams that agreed on the 10-man blockbuster trade that had the entire league talking on social media (even guys not registered this season were weighing in!). Here is the trade again along with their Week 1 stats:

Ridha received: Farrukh Khan (DNP), Shehryar Khan (1 G), Ahmad Ibrahim (2A), AK (DNP), Bilal Khan (0 pts)

Ihsan received: Ijaz Chaudhry (2 A), Tayyab Kalair (0 pts), Faraz Alvi (0 pts), Idris Kalair (0 pts), Humza Amin (1 A)

It is near impossible to tell who won this trade from a one-game sample size. However, a direct head to head matchup for the players listed above can send a “how do you like me now?” message to the gm that decided to part ways from them.

11:00pm - Sabr (yellow) vs Haya (gray) - Medina Conference
Out of all the winners from Week One, Sabr was the least impressive. They barely beat Ihsan 4-2; as mentioned above Ihsan suffered critical injuries throughout the game. It really shouldn’t have been that close, but it was. Perhaps lack of team chemistry could partly explain their Week One performance. In the end as the wise saying goes, “don’t criticize a win”. It should be pointed out that Sabr did have a balance attack with four different players hitting the twine: Rameez Siddiqi, Yousuf Sowdagar, Waqar Khan and Farzan Alam. Tomorrow they will go up against Haya. There really isn’t much I can write up Haya… with only mustering a measly 10 shots on net, scoring zero goals, and allowing four goals (one short-handed) they had a miserable Week One. Notably, they were missing Ibrahim Hindy and hopefully for their sake he is in the lineup and can provide a spark for the boys.

Spring Season - Week One - January 26th

Here is my advice to all 8 teams: championship team building is a complex process which must be continually monitored and improved. Regardless of your talent level, invest some time and tap into the power of teamwork to help your team perform at a higher level. A championship team is a group of players who can effectively handle adversity and conflict, trust one another, communicate clearly and authentically and appreciate each other in a positive way. The most talented team does not always win the I-slam Cup and that’s why we play the games every Friday Night. Get ready, season about to start….

8:00pm - Yaqeen vs Emaan:

Welcome to the 2018 Winter I-Slam Hockey Season! What a way to start off the season with the two teams making the biggest blockbuster deal on draft day.  Emaan ended up trading their first overall pick, Idrees Deen to Yaqeen in exchange for Hany Soliman (drafted tenth overall). This was definitely more of a risk for Emaan but one GMs Yusuf & Osama Soliman were willing to take. This moved allowed them to get their brother to join them (it should also be noted that Walied Soliman is also on Emaan). The “Hany vs Deen” matchup is undoubtedly the major storyline people will talk about from this game.  

It seems the Emaan brain-trust went in with the game plan of trying to draft as many players as they could from the 2016 Fall Season Champion winning team-Ihsan (Yusuf Soliman and Amir Multani were the gms of that team).  Players who were a part of that championship team and now a member of Emaan include: Yusuf Soliman, Hany Soliman, Osama Soliman, Humza Hussain, Ahmad Kaiss, Rayhan Malik & Mohammed Hamoud. On one hand incorporating championship experience into your roster, especially players that have chemistry with each other can be the intangibles to help Emaan have a successful season. On the other hand, the I-Slam Hockey world has moved on and it is no longer 2016…

Speaking from moving on from the past, it has been a good minute since we saw Emaad Khwaja (GM of Yaqeen) in an I-Slam Hockey Jersey. His team needs him to be one of if not the best players for them. However, is this a fair expectation for a guy who has been out of the league for so long? He won’t have to shoulder all of the load as he will have help via Idrees Deen. As mentioned above, thanks to the savviness of Yasir Hussain (the other GM of Yaqeen) he was able to somehow turn the 10^th overall pick into the 1^st overall pick. This move might have saved his team as prior to the trade it was hard to envision where the goals would come from for Yaqeen. If Emaad Khawaja is the same Emaad Khawaja we still remember and Idrees Deen continues his stellar play from last season, then this might be the one of the best duos in the entire league. But the question is would Khawaja and Deen be enough against arguably the best trio in the league (the Solimans) this Friday?

  

9:00pm: Sabr vs Ihsan:

At the draft, Ihsan traded away picks #2 and #15 to Haya for their #6 and #10 picks. It would appear that GMs Arslan Mian (“RC”) and Humza Chaudhry felt instead of getting one great player high in the first round they rather be able to snag two quality players (one late first round and the other early second round). Interestingly, Ihsan has many of the core from 2017 Fall Yaqeen team, a team that struggled mightily to get to the playoffs. Those players include: Arslan Mian, Farrukh Khan, Sulmaan Azmat and Ahmad Mobin. No one likes to go through a losing season, so you can see how Arslan Mian is using the failures from last season as fuel for redemption. Joining RC is his long time running mate, Humza Chaudhry. Without Humza RC had a rough time last season (for Yaqeen) but with this reunion the expectation is to see Mian and Chaudhry as one of the top 5 point getters. Also Junaid Mohammed (last season’s top defense-men) is on this roster and will be leaned on for his leadership to get these players playing back to their potential. Everyone deserves a second chance, however, the question is how will these players respond?

Sabr has been the most active team after the draft. To recap, they traded Saleem Malik to Shukr in exchange for Abdu Sharkawy. They then flipped Sharkawy to Ridha for Saajid Bhayat. Essentially the end result was Sabr trading away the 25^th pick (Malik) for the 20^th pick (Bhayat). As well, they have put in a waiver request for Shuaib Hussain to replace Adeel Awan (their second round pick). At the time of writing these previews, 4 of the 7 teams have passed on Hussain. If the other 3 teams follow suit then Hussain will join Sabr. At the draft, Sabr elected in selecting goaltender Ibad Khan with their first round pick. Whenever a team does this it is quite clear their strategy is to rely on their net minder to win majority of their games. If you go this route GMs have to make sure they can give their goalie enough (goal) support. Personally, I just don’t see it with this group. GMs Yousaf Sowdagar and Waqar Khan (“Boom-Boom”) are great players, but they are also similar players with resembling style of games. With that said, I am not too certain they can complement each other as Sowdagar and Boom-Boom play the same way. In addition we did see a drop in Boom-Boom’s numbers last season. Maybe Sabr share the same opinion that of Charles Barkley who is on record saying, “Analytics don’t work at all. It’s just some crap that people who were really smart made up to try to get in the game because they had no talent. Because they had no talent to be able to play, so smart guys wanted to fit in, so they made up a term called analytics. Analytics don’t work.”  So I guess, Boom-Boom’s response to his critics would be: see here

Part of being an elite player is to be able to adapt regardless of the situation and in the end finding a way to make it work. With back to back championships won, Boom-Boom has the biggest target on his back in the entire league. With more teams and a higher level of competition this season does Boom-Boom retain the title?      

10:00pm: Haya vs Ridha:

My first impression of Haya is they old! Like they really old! However, we should remember that last season as the GM of Sabr, Abdul Wahab had some unconventional picks that raised a few eyebrows. Last season Sabr finished first overall in the regular season and were strong contenders to win it all (they lost out in the semis to Shukr). Perhaps we can give him the benefit of the doubt for his draft picks this season. Wahab tends to have a different line of thinking from most. Many questioned if drafting Farooq Sani second overall was necessary considering he might have been available to Haya in the second round. Wahab believes in Sani and why wouldn’t he? Both were on the 2012 winning championship team (ironically Haya), where Sani scored arguably the most clutch goal in I-Slam Hockey history- see here. Zuhair Fancy, also on the Haya 2012 championship team was also drafted to Haya this season. However, Wahab is always looking for ways to innovate and improve his team, recently traded Fancy to Shukr for Naveed Mohammed (a move that united him with his son Sahil Mohammed). This transaction gave Haya “more experience” (they got older!). Old legs do not run as smoothly as young legs…. But Haya’s other GM Humza Ali runs from the opening faceoff to the last buzzer. The next evolution he needs to make in his game is to start understanding angles and floor positioning better instead of solely relying on his speed to take over the game. Also he needs to be a little bit stronger on the ball. Perhaps surrounding Ali with veteran experience can help him take this next step and become one of the dominant players in I-slam Hockey. Given Wahab’s recent success with Sabr last season, Haya will be an interesting team to keep track of.

Most feel Ridha’s GM duo of Shaukat Khan and Mohammad Bilal were the strongest pair. I forecast that this team will lead the league in goals. They have immense fire power with  Khan and Bilal but they also managed to add Arif Bijabhai, Abdu Sharkawy, Faraz Alvi and Imran Lakhanpal  all of whom can deposit the ball into the net with limited opportunities. My concern with Ridha is that their defense is a bit thin. They do have Ijaz Chaudhry patrolling the blue-line and Ali Khwaja the last line of defense. After this I do not see much support in the back end. At the end of the day you do not need to worry about defense if the other team is busy getting the ball out of their net. Will this be the case of Ridha?   

      

11:00 PM: Shukr vs Ikhlas:

Shukr GMS Fahad Mohammad and Maaz Haq had stellar rookie season 4 months ago. Fahad swept all the goaltender awards (Lowest GAA and Top Goaltender) and Maaz took home Regular Season MVP, Top Point Scorer and Top Rookie. No question the two are talented and ultimately were just lacking experience to help propel Sabr to the I-Slam Cup. For this year they were ambitious and decided to run their own team. I am not actually a big fan of this move. In my opinion it would have been better for the brothers to get one more season under their belt. We have to remember that Abdul Wahab did an amazing job last season in surrounding these 2 with complementary players that fit their game. Basically this is similar to the Brady or Belichick debate on who deserves more credit for the team’s success. I am of the opinion it was more Wahab that created an environment for Mohammad and Haq to thrive in. With this reasoning, I expect Shukr to struggle a bit this season as the Shukr GMs lack the experience of being the “official leaders” of a team. This is an intangible that often gets over-looked. Being a leader of a team is more than putting up good statistical numbers. It also involves effectively managing different personalities and knowing how to react when times get difficult.    

Ikhlas strikes my interest… Beyond Dawood Ciombar it is hard to see where the secondary scoring is going to come from. Even Ciombar can go through hot and cold streaks. Maybe Akib Malik can help out with this, but he is more of a defensive forward who also has the ability to facilitate opportunities for others- so not necessarily someone who finishes off a scoring play. Perhaps also Wakaas Khan, but just like Akib he is more likely to get assists rather than goals. It will be interesting to see how this group of forwards try to make it work. At the other end of the rink beyond Luqman Arshad it is hard to see who else can step up to protect the house. Don’t get me wrong, Ikhlas has several good skilled players (Salman Alvi, Saqib Khokar, Sadat Malik, Rehan Lakhani), but I just can’t see at the moment how these different puzzle pieces can be put together. This is a challenge not only facing Ikhlas but all other 7 teams; over the course of the next four months uniting a group of strangers getting each member to accept their specific roles & responsibilities while at the same time realizing all roles are critical to the overall team’s success in order to reach your common goal, The I-Slam Cup

Fall Season - Week Thirteen - December 22nd

This is it, after a 2-2 tie in Game One the championship comes down to We move from ‘Final Friday.

Either Haya or Shukr will be crowned the Fall-2017 Champions so time to lay it all out for the glory.

Fall Season - Week Twelve - December 15th

First Blood Friday: We move from ‘Frantic Friday’ to ‘First Blood Friday’. Either Haya or Shukr will be crowned the Fall-2017 I-Slam Hockey Champions. Congratulations to both of these teams for making it this far. They both managed to build chemistry with other brothers for the most part haven’t had a chance to play with. As a group of strangers, you were forced to go through the grind of the regular season together. These two were the best amongst the four other teams from learning from their failures. Now there is just one step left from attaining what you have been chasing these past four months: The I-Slam Cup. Tonight, you can’t win the championship trophy, in fact it won’t even be at the arena. However, what you can do is improve your odds in this two-week battle and send a message to the last remaining obstacle in your way. You might not be able to win the championship tonight, but with a loss, your team might not be able to recover by ‘Championship Friday’. Who draws first blood?

9:00 PM- Haya (3) vs Shukr (4): Regular Season series tied 1-1.
September 29th, 2017: Haya won 2-1. Furqan Salam (Haya) scored both goals in the first half as Haya held on for dear life being outshot 27 to 11 for the game. Credit for this victory has to go to Kaunain Saiyed (Haya) who only surrender a goal from Dawood Ciombor (Shukr) on a power play.

Notable absences from this game were Nauman Abbasi (Shukr) and Nadeem Faqiri (Haya). Fair questions to mull over: does Salam get those goals if Abbasi there? Faqiri would have had an effect on the outcome of this game…but how much of an impact? Well he is the reason why his team is in the finals (scoring the shootout winner against Emaan last week), so he has shown he can come up clutch in the big moments.

Three stars of this game: 1st: Kaunain Saiyed - 26 saves; 2nd: Furqan Salam - 2 goals; 3rd: Dawood Ciombor - 1 goal.

By the way here is Waqar Khan’s post game interview.

November 10th, 2017: Shukr won 4-3. Again, Shukr outshoots Haya, but this time the spread is by a closer margin, 20-16. Furqan Salam continues his dominance over Shukr and opened the scoring while his team was short-handed. Afterwards, just like he did on September 29th, Dawood Ciombor scored a goal on a powerplay to end the 1st half 1-1. Shukr was able to get to Saiyed this go around as Humza Ali (Shukr) and Kashif Taqiuddin (Shukr) found the back of the net. Haya would reply via an unlikely suspect, Jawad Majeed. As this game moved along both penalty boxes started to fill up. This would be the downfall for Haya as Ibrahim Hindy (Shukr) would make them pay with a power play goal. Waqar Khan (Haya) would respond late for his team, but it was not enough as Shukr emerged victorious this time around.

Notable absences from this game were Khalid Mufti (Shukr), Mohammed Hamoud (Shukr) and Salman Khalid (Haya). Food for thought: you got to think if Salman Khalid played this game his team would have been more disciplined… as a result… does Shukr get those two power play goals and come away with this victory? On the flip side Mufti and Hamoud are significant pieces for Shukr and would have made things more difficult for Haya on this night.

Three stars of this game: 1st: Ibrahim Hindy (Shukr) - 1G 2A; 2nd: Salman Alvi (Haya) - 2A; 3rd: Kashif Taqiuddin (Shukr) - 1G

Assessing these teams:
Goals for: Haya: 24 vs Shukr: 20
Goals Against: Haya: 25 vs Shukr: 15
Shots Allowed: Haya: 195 vs Shukr: 156
Top Goals Scorer: Haya - Furqan Salam (10) vs Shukr - Dawood Ciombor (5)
Points Leader: Haya - Furqan Salam (11) vs Shukr - Humza Ali (11)

Insider Analysis:
Offense: We give the edge to Haya. They have the guy who scored the most goals this season. If he is able to continue to produce and in anticipation of Waqar Khan being able to turn back the clock to the Spring of 2017 where he won the overall scoring title, it will be a long series for Shukr.

Defense: We give the edge to Shukr. Pretty much Nauman Abassi and Salman Khalid cancel each other out. You would think this would suggest that Haya would have the advantage with Junaid Mohammad patrolling the blue-line. However, we feel that the back-checking of Humza Ali will ultimately give Shukr the upper-hand and may very well determine the winner of this serious if Haya as a team cannot match his effort.

Goaltending: This one is a tricky one. Both goalies on Frantic Friday were superb. We are nit-picking here but Kaunain Saiyed did look a bit nervous especially in the early parts of the game last week against Emaan. But hey, give him credit for recovering and playing through the nerves. On the other side Khalid Mufti was a stud for his team, posting back to back shutouts. With this in mind, goaltending is a streaky position, you will have your good moments and you will have your bad moments… right now Mufti is red-hot. Not to mention he sported better numbers than his counterpart during the regular season. We give the edge to Shukr.

Fall Season - Week Eleven - December 8th

Frantic Friday:You start off getting drafted on to a team of brothers for the most part you haven’t had the chance to play with.  You build chemistry as your team goes through the rigors of the regular season. You have some success and you have some failures along the way. Your team earns a playoff spot and takes one step closer to the ultimate goal. But sadly for three teams that is as far as they will get… they will take to the locker room one last time this season… give farewell-Salaams to their teammates, knowing that they will see some of them in different colour uniforms for the upcoming spring season. Only two teams will survive ‘Frantic Friday’.     

8:00 PM - Wildcard: Shukr (4) vs Yaqeen (5)Background: Be careful for what you wish for. In the final week of the regular season Shukr (red) had the chance to send Yaqeen (white) home (and in turn avoid playing in this game). Yaqeen was down to their final breath needing to win last week so they could play in the wildcard game. When you have a chance to finish a team you got to take advantage. Shukr may regret what happened in Week 10 as now Yaqeen has a second life. After going through this war, one of these teams needs to reset and get ready to take on #-1 seed, Sabr (yellow), an hour after.

Yaqeen won season series: 1-0-1
In Game One they teams tied 0-0; Three Stars of that game: 1^st- Ahmad Mobin (Yaqeen); 2^nd Star- Mohammad Hamoud (Shukr); 3^rd Star: Arslan Mian (Yaqeen)

In Game Two, Yaqeen won 2-1:; Three Stars of that game: 1^st- Ahmad Mobin (Yaqeen); 2^nd Star- Jazib Khan (Yaqeen); 3^rd Star: Humza Ali (Shukr)

Goals For: Shukr - 5^th; Yaqeen - 6^th
Goals Against:  Shukr - 3^rd; Yaqeen - 5^th
Shots Allowed: Shukr - 156; Yaqeen - 204
Top Goal Scorer: Shukr - Dawood Ciombar (5); Yaqeen - Farrukh Khan (4)
Points Leader: Shukr - Humza Ali (13); Yaqeen - Farrukh Khan (8)

9:00 PM - Semi-Finals #1: Emaan (2) vs Haya (3)

Background: Last week, both of these teams were looking to avoid playing in the wildcard game. While they both accomplished not having to play an extra game, neither Emaan (orange) or Haya (grey) looked “playoff ready”. This is obvious last week for Haya with their 3-0 lost against Sabr (evening getting serenaded with the “Na-Na-Na-Na-Hey-Hey-Goodbye by the Sabr fanbase from the balcony). Also for Emaan despite winning 4-2 most observers would agree that Ikhlas (green) deserved a better fate. Neither team is riding a wave of momentum heading into this matchup. This will all become minor details for one of these teams, as the winner will be finals bound. Which team is able to recover from their respective (brief) slide and seize the moment?

Emaan won season series: 2-0

In Game One Emaan won 5-1; Three Stars of that game: 1^st- Saleem Malik (Emaan); 2^nd Star- Farooq Sani (Emaan); 3^rd Star: Yusuf Kapoor (Emaan)

In Game Two, Emaan won 2-1; Three Stars of that game: 1^st- Idrees Deen (Emaan); 2^nd Star- Junaid Mohammed (Haya); 3^rd Star: Farooq Sani (Emaan)

Goals For: Emaan - 2^nd ; Haya - 3^rd
Goals Against:  Emaan - 2^nd; Haya - 4th
Shots Allowed: Emaan - 142 ; Haya - 195
Top Goal Scorer: Emaan - Saleem Malik (5); Haya - Furqan Salam (10)
Points Leader: Emaan - Saleem Malik & Farooq Sani (11); Haya - Furqan Salam (12)

10:00 PM- Semi-Finals #2: Shukr(4)/Yaqeen (5) vs Sabr (1)

Background: Sabr should in theory get a tired team. This is the advantage they have earned by way of finishing first in the regular season standings. However, despite their impressive campaign, it is a bit concerning when a team’s main core are rookies to I-Slam Hockey. How do these first-timers handle the pressure? Playing in other leagues where you can sign up a group of your buddies season after season is vastly different than I-Slam Hockey; your teammates become your opponents next season. You can tell this group gets along well, but again it begs the question how do they deal with the pressure of knowing tonight might be their last game of the season?  

Sabr vs Shukr:  Shukr has played Sabr tough in both regular season contest, however Sabr won season series 2-0 (Game One: 1-0 & Game Two: 2-0)

Sabr vs Yaqeen: Sabr had an easier time with Yaqeen during the regular season, however their latest encounter was a close contest that saw Yaqeen have a lead to start the 2^nd half. Sabr won season series 2-0 (Game One: 6-0 & Game Two: 3-1) 

Goals For: Sabr -1st
Goals Against:  Sabr -1st
Shots Allowed: Sabr -124
Top Goal Scorer: Sabr - Maaz Haq (6)
Points Leader: Sabr - Maaz Haq (18)

Fall Season - Week Ten - December 1st

8:00 PM- Emaan vs Ikhlas:
What the heck happened to Emaan (orange) in Week Nine?  They seemed to have everything rolling just in time for the playoffs with big wins against Sabr (yellow) and Haya (grey).  But they took a major step backwards in their last game, losing 2-1 against Shukr (red).  Now this puts them in some hot water!  If they lose again this Friday, Emaan can drop all the way down to fourth (depending if Shukr & Haya win their games).  This would mean they would have to play the extra wildcard game. The wildcard winner will have to find a way to recover and play another do-or-die game against Sabr (yellow) the same night.  For Ikhlas (green), they will gladly take playing in that wildcard game.  All they want is the opportunity to keep their hopes of hoisting the I-Slam Cup alive for at least one more week.  Ikhlas showed a lot of spirit last week against Haya - however, they came up short in the Battle of Cambridge losing 4-2.  If Ikhlas is able to win on Friday, they will send Yaqeen (white) home and can punch their ticket to the big dance.  On the other hand, if Emaan wins this game, team Ikhlas will lose control of their destiny and be forced to nervously watch the outcome of the 10 pm game.

9:00 PM- Sabr vs Haya:
The last time these teams met it was the must-see game of the season (view highlights here).  In their first encounter Haya put an end to Sabr’s undefeated streak.  Since then both teams encountered some rough patches leading up to this game.  Specifically, Emaan was able to defeat both Sabr and Haya. Haya also took a surprising ‘L’ against Shukr (score 4-3) a few weeks back.  So where do we stand now?  On the surface this game has a bit more meaning for Haya (as Sabr has already clinched first overall).  For Haya, they are looking to avoid playing in the wildcard game (which would mean having 2 single elimination games in one night).  A win on Friday for Haya would avoid this scenario.  A loss combined with a Shukr win (at 10 pm) would make Haya’s path to the finals immensely more difficult.  Diving a bit deeper, let’s not over-look the potential psychological warfare.  Think about it… Most feel that these two teams will be in the finals.  With that said, if Sabr loses yet again to Haya, Sabr will enter the playoffs knowing there is one team they haven’t been able to solve.  Don’t kid yourself, this would be on their minds all post-season if Haya comes away with the “W” tonight.  As well, the value of momentum heading into the playoffs often predicts post-season success; likewise, teams heading in the wrong direction at the end of the season typically have a harder time getting things back on track.  On that note, both teams are chomping at the bit to kill their rival’s momentum heading into the second season.

10:00 PM- Shukr vs Yaqeen:
Sorry to be repetitive but if you read the previews for the other two games, you know that Shukr will be looking to avoid the wildcard game next week.  Depending if either Emaan or Haya lose or tie their respective games, Shukr has a chance to avoid this scenario.  From the other perspective, just like Ikhlas, Yaqeen will more than welcome playing in the wildcard game.  The only way this can happen is Yaqeen needs to get one more point than Ikhlas.  Yaqeen is lying on their deathbed needing Emaan to do them a huge favour while at the same time taking care of business on their end.  If the night goes Yaqeen’s way they will set up a rematch with Shukr for the wildcard game.  In Week Nine, Yaqeen showed a lot of heart against the top-ranked Sabr.  They even held a 1-0 lead heading into the 2nd half.  Unfortunately for them, they ended up losing that game 3-1.  While they showed significant improvement in comparison to how their season has been going they don’t have time for moral victories.  They have no other option now…