Recap

Ikhlas gets a fortunate bounce to win series in OT Apr 18, 2019
by Luqman Arshad  

On a night where Shukr had already booked a place in the final, Ikhlas and Haya battled it out for a chance to join them. Ikhlas, who werr already up 1-0 in the series, needed just a tie to advance. The story of game 1 was the lacklustre offence of Haya.  With only 4 shots in the whole game, Haya needed their offensive stars to show up and thats what they did. Haya pressed Ikhlas from the start of the game getting the ball deep amd causing havoc in Ikhlas zone. To the credit of Ikhlas' defenceman and goaltender, the game remained 0-0 at half. Both teams traded chances in the 2nd half but the goaltenders were the stars of the night stopping everything. Haya took a penalty with 2:30   left in the game in what many thought would be the final nail in the coffin to what many predicted nothing short of a championship season. The unthinkable happened when after killing the penalty and about 10 tics left on the clock, a turnover led to a shot and a scramble in front of the net. Hamza batted a loose ball with 2.8 seconds left and gave Haya some life - a spot in the finals with OT looming.


Ikhlas put the heartbreak of the second game behind them and came out buzzing in OT. They pushed hard in the offensive zone, with Haya goaltender making a tremendous save on a 2 on 1.  Sufyan Shaikh followed that shift up with a  cycle downlow only to be hit from behind putting his team on the PP. A faceoff win and a shot from the point by Tahir Mahroof took an awkward bounce off the boards which hit Fahad's glove and straight into the net. Ikhlas march on to the finals.


 
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