Jaffari Youth Hockey League

The third week of JYHL features games that could separate the best team from the rest of the pack in both junior and senior divisions.  Here are this week`s picks:

In the opening junior game, Al-Muflihoon is coming off a couple of heartbreaking losses after last week`s shootout thriller to take on the 0-2 Ikhwan.  Ikhwan has managed to produce some offence, but have fallen just short in their first two games.  If Al-Muflihoon can keep their composure, then Ikhwan is the underdog in this one.  PICK: MUFLHOON BY 2.

The other junior game is a battle between the division`s two undefeated teams, Mujahideen and An-Noor.  An-Noor is coming off a close shootout win over Al-Muflihoon, while Mujhideen is flying high with 14 goals in only 2 games this season.  Look for this to be a high-scoring end-to-end battle, and the first team to get a two goal lead has the best advantage to come out on top.  PICK: MUJAHIDEEN BY 1

The early senior game features a reeling Ansar squad against a refined, resurgent Zuljana team.  Zuljana has already matched its point total from last year in just two games, and the team shows no sign of slowing down.  On the other end, Ansar is still looking for its first win, after a disastrous third period last week.  When asked about whether his team is headed for an 0-9 season this year, captain Omar Khamissa replied by saying, ”I wanted to feel what it was like being on Zuljana.” Look for Sadiq`s squad to respond with their play this Friday.  PICK: ZULJANA BY 2

The final game of the night will be between the 1-1 Masumeen versus the 1-0-1 Al-Wahed. Rumors have it that Al-Wahed will be minus their goalie Ali-Hassan Panju and star forward Husayn Gulamhusein for this week’s game.  Whether Abbas Panju’s squad will be able to take advantage will depend on whether they can tighten up defensively, as the team has allowed 11 goals in only 2 games.  PICK: MASUMEEN BY 1 

The 2012 JYHL season opened with plenty of excitement, setting up what will be another

Mujahideen's Mustafa Rashid lines up against Al-Muflihoon forward Hassan Abbas Kara for the opening faceoff of the 2012 season

great year.  A full capacity crowd watched as the junior division was introduced to begin the new season, and the games that followed kept fans at the edge of their seats.  Mujahideen was down three before clawing back and scoring 6 unanswered goals to win their game 9-6.  Mustafa Rashid scored a handful of goals to justify his first overall draft selection, while goalie Husayn Panju was rock solid after giving up the opening 6 goals.  On the other side, after a very cose back-and-forth game, An-Noor edged out Ikhwan 3-2.  Forward Ammar Thaver scored his first ever JYHL goal in the game.   
In the senior division, it took almost a period and a half to score the season’s opening goal, by Zuljana’s Suheil Dhirani.  Zuljana was up 2-1 before Tahir Jaffer tied the game with under 1 minute remaining in the third period, and the game ended in a 2-2 tie.  In the late game, underdogs Masumeen edged out defending champs Ansar 6-5.  Lack of attendance and injuries hurt Omar’s squad, but they managed to get balanced scoring throughout the lineup with 5 differet goal scorers.  

In week 2, An-Noor will be riding high with their win last week against a devastated Al-Muflihoon squad, who had everything going for them in the first two periods against Mujahideen.  Whether the coaches can rally the troops after a tough loss will go a long way in determining the outcome of this game.  An-Noor will welcome back Alijawad Tarbhai for this week, hoping to bolster an already powerful offence.  PICK: AN-NOOR BY 1

The other junior game will feature Ikhwan versus the high octane Mujahideen offence.  Defenceman Mustapha Khamissa and goalie Rahman Hemani will have their hands full against a team that scored 9 goals in their opener.  Whoever gets the quick start in this game could take the lead right through to the final buzzer.  PICK: MUJAHIDEEN BY 2

The early senior game will feature the defensively-solid Ansar team versus Al-Wahed.  Omar Khamissa will have to hope that his players’ injuries have healed over the week, as they will need all the help they can get to contain scorers Husayn Gulamhusein and Shaneali Kara.  PICK: AL-WAHED BY 1

 In the late game, Sadiq Karmali and his Zuljana squad will try to total their point total from all of last year against Masumeen.  After their 6-goal outburst this week, confidence if flying high in Masumeen’s dressing room, and whether that can translate into error-free play on the floor will be the deciding factor in this game.  Rumors have it that Masumeen may be missing a couple key players this week, but Zuljana will have to take advantage to get the two points, something they havent done much of in the last couple of years.  PICK: TIE

The commissioner’s would like to confirm the schedule for opening night in light of current confusion with the JYHL media and press releases.  The schedule for Friday April 13th is as follows:

7:00 – 7:20 PM – Junior players arrive, go to dressing rooms for jerseys and team meeting
7:20  PM – Opening ceremonies
7:30 PM – Pregam practice
7:35 PM – Junior games: Ikhwan vs. An Noor and Al Muflihoon vs Mujahideen
8:35 PM – Senior game: Zuljana vs Al-Wahed
9:45 PM – Senior game: Ansar vs Masumeen

This year’s team Al-Muflihoon sees head coach Tahir Jaffer return to the team that he founded and coached until 2010.  The one-year changeup turned out well for Tahir, as he helped An-Noor win the championship.  But now he has returned to lead his own team to victory again.  This year, Tahir will be joined by first-time coach and senior division all star Murtaza Amarsi.  Together, they are the oldest coaching pair in the league and both have ample experience playing in the senior division.  Tahir’s unconventional coaching tactics have gotten himeslf into some very entertaining situations, and one has to wonder what he is going to try and pull this year in order to lead his team to the top.

After winning their franchise first JYHL championship in 2011, this winter saw team An-Noor completely overhauling their coaches and general manager.  The team enters the 2012 season as the least experienced coaching trio in the league, but showing great promise for the year to come.  Afzal Panju will take on the head coach position, and he answered his critics at the 2012 exhibition, leading his exhibition team to an unprobable comeback on the second day. Afzal will be joined by Mustafa Mohamedali and rookie coach Kaamil Khalfan.  Mustafa will have to get adjusted to the orange uniforms this year, having been with Ikhwan as a player and coach for 4 years.  Kaamil will look to transfer his strong scoring skills into strong coaching, because the team will need a high powered offense to be a contender this year.  The bar is set high for An-Noor with last year’s strong finish, and it will be up to this trio to try and get their squad to win a second straight title.

The JYHL commissioners unveiled the first portion of the season schedule on Thursday.  The 2012 season will commence on Friday April 13th, 2012 with defending champs An-Noor will faceoff against Ikhwan at 7:30 PM EST.  Mujahideen will start off their season against Al-Muflihoon in what will undoubtedly be a heated contest.
In the senior division, Zuljana will start the season off against Al-Wahed while Masumeen will play last year’s defending champions Ansar.  Senior games will be played at 8:30 PM and 9:40 PM EST, respectively.  
The JYHL would like to invite all parents and families of all players to the opening ceremonies at 7:20 PM EST.

Team Ikhwan enters the 2012 campaign with a highly experienced head coach – jyhl legend Omar Khamissa.  Since his first coaching season, Omar has spearheaded the Ikhwan squad, albeit not with favourable results every year.  With one JYHL junior division title, Omar is hungry for a second, and is a strong believer in the defence-first mentality.  This year, Omar is joined by rookie coach Aamir Ali Panju.  After being drafted by Omar multiple times as a player, Aamir will now join him in coaching a new set of youngsters in their quest for a championship.  Watch for this team to give up very few goals in the season, but whether this coaching tandem can help their team produce enough offence will be the determining factor either making or breaking Ikwhan’s season.

Blockbuster trade in the works!

JUNIORS: GM`S HAVE A BUSY DAY AS RECORD NUMBER OF TRADES GO THROUGH
It seemed as if the junior coaches and GM`s were in mid season form, with so many trades on draft day that it was hard to even follow who had which pick in each round.  Team Mujahideen kept the first overall pick and selected Mustafa Rashid.  Team Ikhwan, who had traded for the second overall selection in the draft, grabbed all-star defenceman Mustapha Khamissa.  Ikhwan head coach Omar Khamissa did an all-time first, bringing in a sheet of paper to keep track of what was going on in the mayham of trades that were being done.  An-Noor selected Haider Hussain with third overall selection, while Al-Muflihoon picked up former rookie of the year Imran Esmail and exhibition MVP Alijawad Tarbhai with the 4th and 5th picks.  After much deliberation, Alijawad was later traded to An-Noor in exchange for Hussain Amarsi and a couple of draft picks.  He will now play with all-star Haider Hussain in what is anticipated to be a very high scoring An-Noor squad.  Mujahideen coaches Hussein Mohamedali and Mohamedshabbar Manek were surprisingly silent on draft day, hoping to prove that proper scouting and drafting trumps trading when it comes to building a powerhouse.  Fans will find out if this strategy worked when the season starts on April 13th! 

SENIORS:LATE ARRIVAL KEEPS FIRST ROUNDER A SUSPENSE
Zuljana captain Sadiq Karmali decided to keep his first rounder a secret for a little extra time, taking both of his timeouts before arriving to draft day and thus delaying the first round selection by 15 minutes. When he made his grand appearance, Sadiq opted to select Mousa Azoz with his first overall pick in the 2012 draft.  Al-Wahed captain Tahir Jaffer selected star forward Shaneali Kara with his second overall pick.  Ansar captain Omar Khamissa, who obtained third overall after a draft lottery blunder by Masumeen captain, took Sajjad Akber to lead his team.  Abbas Panju rounded out the first round by picking 2011 scoring champion Muhammad Kara.  
On paper, the teams seem to be evenly balanced, and the race for the league title is anticipated to be very close.  Captains are gearing up for a long and competitive season ahead.  With a change in the game format, it may come down to the team with the greatest depth that wins it all.  Find out, in 10 days!

Teams for the 2012 JYHL season are now posted under the teams page. Draft day had some very interesting twists and turns. More to follow, but for now enjoy the pictorial recap of an eventful draft day.

Junior Draft will begin at 3:30 PM EST – follow picks LIVE on the DRAFT2012 LIVE page.
Senior Draft will begin at 5:15 PM EST.

Current Updates:

10:25 AM – Al Muflihoon and Ikhwan have agreed to a trade to send the 5th and 21st overall picks to Ikhwan in exchange for 7th and 15th overall picks.

10:30 AM – Rumor has it that Tahir Jaffer still has more trades in the works….

2:55 PM – Trade between An-Noor & Muflihoon, with picks #12 & #13 going to An-Noor, and picks number #11 & #14 being acquired by Muflihoon.

3:40: – Last minute changes leave coaches scrambling for updated strategies.

3:44 – Draft to begin soon..

3:50 – Draft Started!

3:58 – With all the pre-draft strategizing by the coaches, they seem to know which players they will select. Draft going fairly quickly.

4:03 – Tahir the first coach to call a draft time-out..Draft resumes in 5 minutes.

4:10 – Mujahideen has selected the 16th overall pick, the final player who will be announced. Full Team List will be available after the Official JYHL Draft 2012.

4:27 – Blockbuster trade with Ali Jawad Tarbhai going to An-Noor along with 28th & 29th pick, and Muflihoon acquiring Hussain Amarsi with 23rd & 26th overall picks.

4:51 – The Junior Draft has now concluded. Senior Draft to begin in 25 minutes.

5:26 – Senior Draft to begin shortly..awaiting Zuljanah Captain’s arrival.

5:28 – Abbas Panju: “After the 4th round, picking players is like picking lottery numbers.”

5:35 – Let the drafting begin!