This week in the junior division of JYHL, two teams were happy as they blew out
their competitors. At this time, I would like to formally congratulate Mujahideen
and Ikhwan on their great wins. But also, I would like to remind all the other
teams that there is still hope in winning the cup. Just remember; “Continuous
effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking your potential” (Liane
Carlos).

Quarterfinal 1

In quarterfinal 1, An-Noor and Mujahideen were squaring off. At first glance this
matchup seemed to be very evenly matched. Mujahideen with their powerhouse
forwards Zain Ali Esmail and his younger brother Imran Esmail working in
tandem with a cast of supporting players and a first rate goalie. An-Noor
on the other hand, while not able to boast of having the league's top two scorers to shoulder most of the workload, managed to pip Mujahideen to the league title using a more balanced defensive approach.

Fans quickly piled in for what would be a great game. But in the end, only four
players came from An-Noor’s side whilst Mujahideen brought out their whole
team to play. This proved to be a deciding factor in the games as fatigue grew
from An-Noor’s players. But another main contributing factor to An-Noor’s defeat
was the stellar play in net by Haider Hussein.

With the final tally being 8-3 in favour of Mujahideen, An-Noor can only hope that
they have at least one more player on the bench if they are planning on winning
their next game and force a game 3 showdown.

Quarterfinal 2

On the other side of the rink, Ikhwan and Muflihoon were playing a rather more
critical game. Both teams knew that the pressure was on because the loser
of the series would be disqualified from the playoffs. After the huge trade that
took place on May 26th, both teams seemed to be evenly matched. Muflihoon’s
combination of Jawad, Mustafa and ZainAli has gained great chemistry over
the course of the season in their standard triangle formation. On the other side,
Ikhwan’s star forward duo Zaigham Salehi and Irfaan Bharwani have proven to
be more than adequate at handling the defense with a combined 33 points.

During game time, one player stood out from the rest; Irfaan Bharwani totaled
nearly 10 points in the game and played a great two way game, proving that he
could play defense as well as offense. Zaigham also contributed to the result
by scoring another 4 goals himself. This served as the final strike and propelled

Ikhwan to victory.

This loss has given Muflihoon a lot to think about in the following week to come.
If they want to keep their playoff run alive they must bring their ”A” game next
week to force a game 3 showdown. But let no doubt remain because Muflihoon
will not go down without a fight.

The JYHL 2011 regular season ended this past evening, with An-Noor and Al-Wahed taking the league titles in the junior and senior divisions, respectively. An-Noor relied on Kaamil Khalfan's 6 points and Mohammed Shabbar Manek's clutch third-period shutout to beat al-Muflihoon 6-2, therefore tying in points with Mujahideen and finishing ahead of them based on the head-to-head tiebreaker.

In the senior division, two late goals meant that both games finished as ties, with Shaneali Kara scoring his team's second goal with less than five minutes to play to give Masumeen a 2-2 tie with Zuljana, while Muhammad Kara scored in the last two minutes to ensure that Ansar picked up a point in a 1-1 tie with Al-Wahed.

Playoffs are set to begin on July 8, so keep your eyes peeled to this website and the Twitter page (www.twitter.com/JYHLOfficial) for all the latest schedules, scores, and stats. The playoff bracket looks like this:

Junior Division

July 8 and 15 - Quarter-Final 1 - (1) An-Noor vs. (2) Mujahideen
July 8 and 15 - Quarter-Final 2 - (3) Ikhwan vs. (4) al-Muflihoon
July 22 - Semi-Final - Loser of Quarter-Final 1 vs. Winner of Quarter-Final 2
July 29 - Final - Winner of Quarter-Final 1 vs. Winner of Semi-Final

Senior Division

July 8 and 15 - Quarter-Final 1 - (1) Al-Wahed vs. (2) Masumeen
July 8 and 15 - Quarter-Final 2 - (3) Ansar vs. (4) Zuljana
July 22 - Semi-Final - Loser of Quarter-Final 1 vs. Winner of Quarter-Final 2
July 29 - Final - Winner of Quarter-Final 1 vs. Winner of Semi-Final

As we approach the last two games of the JYHL season, one look at the standings is all that's needed to tell that this is the tighest race in a long time. In the junior division, An-Noor's late push combined with Mujahideen's recent implosion sees the two teams tied on 9 points, while al-Muflihoon and Ikhwan creeping up behind them with 6 points each. All 4 teams still have a chance at first place, and victories for Ikhwan and al-Muflihoon tonight will make things extremely tight heading into the last game of the season. Do not be surprised to see goal difference or even head-to-head records being used to determine the final seeding.

The senior division is even tighter in some ways, with only one point separating first-place Ansar from third-place Masumeen. The only guarantee is that Zuljana will finish last, as they have only 3 points right now. However, all of these points have come in the last two games, which suggests that even they will not be a pushover in the playoffs. All eyes will be on the two upcoming Ansar vs. Al-Wahed games, with the winner of this mini-series pretty much guaranteed first place. Masumeen, however, will be looking to sneak into second place, which will hand them a huge advantage in terms of the playoff format.

Now that the NHL season has concluded, hockey fans from across the globe will be tuning in to JYHL for their weekly doses of suspense and stupendous hockey, starting with tonight at Oak Ridges Community Centre. See you there.

Please note the schedule update for next week.

On TUESDAY, JUNE 28TH, we will be playing the rescheduled games from WEEK 6 from which we cancelled due to the mosque program. The game will be played at GARNETT WILLIAMS COMMUNITY CENTRE (directions can be found on the Locations Page). Junior games will take place at 7:15 PM followed by seniors games at 8:15 and 9:15.

Remember to follow our Twitter, www.twitter.com/JYHLOfficial, to receive the breaking news straight to your phone.

Games for Week 8 will be played on Friday, June 17th at the ORIGINAL SCHEDULED TIMES. No changes have been made to the game times since the mosque program will be held tonight.