The opening game of the night turned out to be quite an entertaining affair, between an Ikhlas team desperate to get a win to secure a playoff spot, and a Haya team who have lost 2 of their past 3 games.

The game started with a surprise to the Haya players, as Ikhlas' best defenseman Sajid Khan was forced to don the pads and play goal. Many of the Cambridge players have fond memories of Khan playing goalie for them in Salaam Cups and Madina Leagues in the past. The trip down memory lane ended quickly though, as once the ball dropped it was all business.

The game was fairly even early on as both teams traded quality chances. Both Konain Syed and Sajid Khan were up to the task and kept the game scoreless in the first 10 minutes. The score was opened up by Furqan Salam, who has developed a knack for scoring the first goal of the game. with assistance from Ibrahim Khan, Salam finished off a backhanded from a bad angle above a sprawling Khan to give Haya a 1-0 lead. Before the end of the half, Ikhlas really started to pour it on. With 10 seconds left, Ikhlas forward Assad Darr found a wide open Umair Awan who wristed it top corner to tie the game at 1. But wait a minute! This didn't happen, as Konain Syed dove across and managed through some unholy feat of elasticity to get a blocker on the shot and preserve the 1-0 lead. With mouths agape and curse words afloat, the horn blew to end the first half, with Ikhlas looking skyward wondering where their salvation would appear from.

For the next 5 minutes, Ikhlas was swarming in the Haya zone. They dominated long stretches of play as Haya struggled to match their intensity. The hard work eventually paid off, as a clean face-off win by Assad Darr was finished with a slap shot from the deadly Umair Awan, and the game was now tied. Ikhlas continued to feed off this, but were called for a penalty midway through the frame. And just when you think things were starting to turn for Ikhlas, a terrible mistake in communication: Junaid Mohammed dumped the ball in to start the PP, and was cleanly held by goalie Khan. But Assad Darr called for the ball, not knowing that Haya defenseman Salman Khalid was right behind him. The ball dropped to Khalid's stick and he tapped it into the empty net. 

Demoralized but not without fight, Abdu Sharkawy had perhaps the shift of the game. With a determined look on his face, he gained the zone and kept possession, creating a mad scramble in front of the Haya net. One save, two saves, a wild bounce! The ball then bounced on Konain's shoulder and into the net. Tie game at 2-2 only 20 seconds after the Ikhlas mistake!

This set the stage for a dramatic finish. Haya finally started to match the intensity from Ikhlas, and started to create some chances of their own. With about 2 minutes left, Salman Khalid picked up a turnover at the Haya blue line and ran all the way behind the Ikhlas net, and found who else but Furqan Salam. A quick release and the dull sound meant Salam went bar down to take a 3-2 lead with under 3 minutes to play. A visibly stunned Ikhlas then gave up a goal on the very next shift on a slap shot by Salman Alvi, to effectively ice the game.

A barn-burner for sure, but another close loss for an Ikhlas team that has one more game to make the playoffs. Week 10 will be as exciting as any in recent I-slam memory, as all playoff seedings except first overall will be up for grabs. Haya showed some mettle in playing without their best player, the suspended Waqar Khan. Having him back in the lineup will definitely provide a boost as they take on top ranked Sabr on December 8.