Memorable Matches (2007 - 2011)

1. Chughtai Khannate d. Scarlet Knights
May 2008, Vanier College, Quarter Final
Chughtai Khannate 4-3 overtime

The Scarlet Knights came into the playoffs having stomped over opponents with a 6-0-0 record in the round robin with 19 goals for and 0 goals against. All 6 wins being shutouts caused speculation as to whether the team would even allow a goal against, much less lose a game. With a first round bye, their opponent in the quarterfinals were the Chughtai Khannate, a hard-working bunch with a 3-3-0 record and a hot goaltender in Adam Abdulrahman. The 7th place Khannate had beaten Team Love Is In The Air 5-2 during their first round matchup but came in to the quarterfinals matchup as the clear underdog. Surprising many, the Khannate struck first and managed to do what no other team had done in the tournament: finally breach Yousuf Rashid's shutout streak by scoring twice. The Knights, momentarily shocked, responded with three straight of their own, including a controversial second goal by Nazir Lasania who had flagrantly interfered with the opposing goalie without being called on it. It seemed that the Knights had overcome their initial scare and were poised to claim victory with dominant play in the Chughtai zone forcing Adam to make highlight reel saves, one after another, and Abbasi cousins Asrar and Nauman to sacrifice their bodies by blocking the oppositions heavy shots. However, as time wound down and just under a minute remained, Khannate captain Ammar Chughtai scored a clutch goal to tie the game, and set the stage for plugger Ibrahim Hindy to eventually win it in overtime, thereby shocking one and all. The game is considered on par with the Mameluks-Wise Old Men game from Mar 2006 as the greatest upset match of all time.

2. Green Army d. Gladiators
Nov 2007, John Abbott College, Final
Green Army 6-5 overtime

This championship game pit some of Toronto's finest against the first look Green Army. For the first time, Sophian Mian was captaining a team, bringing together a scant roster of "his" guys; Mohamed Ghamraoui, Rehan Sarwar, Zuheb "Sho" Shaikh, Hamed Sedeghi and backstopped by Sharaz Yunis. They also had Osman Mirza as their final player. Widely considered the favourites going into the tournament, they upheld their end of the bargain with a 5-1 round robin record and first seeding. On their way to that record, they easily took care of the Gladiators, a team consisting of 4 of the famous Toronto Greenbirds. With the "outsider" rule limited to 4 players, they brought three all world talents in Usama Mahmood, Sajjid Ayubi and Bilal Buttar as well as rugged and tenacious D-man Tariq Ayubi, also a Team Pakistan player. For bodies they added ex-Montrealers and cousins, Nadeem Mian and Atif Qureshi. In goal was young, unproven Ibrahim Syed who would have to be the last life of defense. Aside from their one hiccup, the Gladiators were also 5-1 and had the third seed. While the Gladiators cruised to the finals, the Army on the other hand held on to but beat the Unholy Alliance in a tight 3-2 semifinal. The final was expected to be a classic game and it did not disappoint: The Gladiators had learned their lesson in the round robin and were ready this time. The game was back and forth with one team scoring and the other team equalling. Despite being a Toronto-based team, the skill and class of the Gladiators combined with young Ibu in nets had much of the crowd noticeably cheering for them against the hometown team. Both goalies were a bit shaky as there were a few questionable goals scored. As the game went to overtime, the excitement and tension were palpable. Sharaz redeemed himself for his regular time with several outstanding stops, especially on Sajjid Ayubi. The Gladiators were carrying the play but as the game was getting close to a shootout, a slapshot by Sho found the back of the net and the Green Army dynasty was born.

3. Acid Reflux d. Green Army
Dec 2009, John Abbott College, Final
Acid Reflux 2-1

Green Army arrived in the finals for the fifth consecutive time and were vying for as many championships, being heavy favourites once again, after disposing of arch-rivals SHIELD in a close 6-5 match in the semis. However, despite having the advantage in overall game play, the Green Army ran into a brick wall named Hassan Aoude. A barrage of shots in the first half eventually had one go in on Hassan by Inshan Allie on a partial breakaway. Nevertheless, this failed to deter Hassan who was perfect the rest of the game.  A pair of quick goals by Jonathan Roy in the second half and some stalwart team defensive play combined with Hassan's heroics against the Green Army onslaught; Acid Reflux became the first team to beat the seemingly invincible Green Army and captured the championship. The win ended all-time championship record holder Faisal Shahabuddin's longest ever drought at 9 years (though Faisal did play one game for the eventual champions in July 2002) and Sophian Mian's record winning streak at 8. The Green Army would have to wait another three tournaments to win their fifth championship, though they managed to make it to the finals for eight straight tournaments.

4. Green Army d. SHIELD
Dec 2008, John Abbott College, Semi Final
Green Army 3-2 shootout (sudden death)

First of three consecutive tournaments in which the rival teams would face each other in the semis; and all 3 times would feature the same result with Green Army moving on to the Finals.  A 2-2 game featured controversy over a goal scored by Ahmed Bamba for SHIELD which was not counted. The game would need more than regulation time and overtime to finish.  In the shootouts, Green Army was poised to win before a clutch goal by the final shooter, Aala Braiak, sent the game into sudden death shootouts.  However their excitement was short-lived, with Riaz Lasania eventually scoring to win the game for Green Army, who would go on to win their third straight championship with a convincing 3-0 victory over the Scarlet Knights.

5. Half-Evolved Mongoose vs Swords
March 2007, John Abbott College, Semi Final
Half-Evolved Mongoose 3-2

In what was the biggest Muslim ball hockey tournament in Canadian history up until then, the top two teams of the tournament met in the semi-finals. There was some controversy earlier in the tournament as it was discovered that the Swords had purposely violated tournament rules in procuring their star player (goalie). However, despite a strong push by many other participants in expelling the Swords from the tournament and banning them, tournament officials, for a variety of reasons, opted not to make a decision on the situation until after the tournament and the Swords continued to play with him, making it to the semis to face off against the Mongoose. Both teams had familiar faces on opposing sides; Sophian Mian and Zuheb Shaikh had previously played with the Swords and Zubair Wahid and Riaz Lasania had played with Shujaat Wasty and the Aoude brothers - all of them had faced each other in the finals in the tournament before. The game was a tense, tightly-fought matchup with good end-to-end gameplay and key saves by Hassan Aoude and the Swords' goalie. The teams traded a goal each early on, but then the Swords went up 2-1 and held the lead for most of the game. The Mongoose took a timeout with less than 5 minutes remaining and successfully recalibrated their strategy. On the ensuing shift, Ahmed Aoude powered his way from the sideboards and tied the game. The Swords responded with an intense attack but couldn't get by Hassan. After Hassan made a dramatic save on Ammar Wahid, Khurram Sher took the ball up from near centre gym, pulled a move on defenceman Aadil Mir, and scored with less than 2 minutes to go. The Mongoose held on for the rest of the game and would eventually move on to win the championship 7-5 over the Dark Avengers, who had deposed Dynamo in the other semi-final matchup.

6. Rupert's Dream Team d. Horsemen
May 2010, John Abbott College, Quarter Final
Rupert's Dream Team 3-2 shootout (sudden death)

Fourth place Rupert's Dream Team came into this second round matchup surviving a 3-2 game against the Chargers, while 11th place Horsemen upset the 6th place United Muslim 2-0, behind young Shoaib Hasan Shaikh's stellar goaltending.  The game featured friends and rivals on both sides; there was much back-and-forth action, but the score was deadlocked at 1-1 with great goaltending from both Shoaib and Hassan Aoude and seemed to be headed to OT.  However, with just over a minute remaining in the game, Zohaib Ahmed scored for the Horsemen, and proceeded to kill more time with an extended celebration.  Nevertheless, the celebrations on the Horsemen bench had not even ended when, with a handful of seconds remaining in the game, Hany Aoude won the ensuing faceoff, went in and scored on the same shift.  The Horsemen, despite being stunned, continued to play hard, as did RDT, buoyed by what had transpired. The game was not resolved in OT or shootout; Rupert's Dream Team eventually outlasted the Horsemen in sudden death shootout.

7. Sultans d. Gladiators
May 2010, John Abbott College, Semi Final
Sultans 2-1 OT

In perhaps the most hyped tournament in recent history (and without question, the most physical and controversial), the Gladiators from Toronto made a return to the Montreal tournaments, albeit with a completely different roster.  Only Usama Mahmood returned from the team that lost in the finals in May 2007, however there were still 3 other Team Pakistan players in Emmad Khawaja, Ali Wadee and superstar goalie Ibad Khan.  Dangler extraordinaire Safi Ahmed, Ihtisham Qureshi and Faheem Kotwal rounded out the roster.  They also had Dilshad Alvi on the roster but he was injured in an early day incident. The Sultans were a mix of Toronto area players (Taha Ali, Naveed Sheraly, Aadil Khan, Ahsan Zaidi, and Nadeem Qureshi) with Montrealers (the Shahabuddin brothers and Jonathan Roy) plus ex-Montrealer Ali Khwaja in goal. The Gladiators finished 1st in the round robin at 4-0-1 in spite of an extremely tough schedule, with one of those wins a 4-1 victory over the Sultans, who were in the middle of the pack at 2-1-2. The quality of the game was extremely high and the game was back and forth.  Usama Mahmood was burning the Sultans with his incredible speed, leading Faisal Shahabuddin to make a tactical adjustment to have Aadil Khan cover him.  With Usama slowed down, the Sultans were able to press the attack and came back to tie the game late in regulation on a goal by Taha Ali.  The breakneck speed of the game left the 6 man roster of the Gladiators exhausted as the game went to OT.  The Sultans had the bigger bench with 7 healthy bodies out of 8 and controlled the OT. Aadil Khan set up Taha ali with an open net after drawing everyone to him, but Taha couldn't finish.  Fortunately for the Sultans, that didn't come back to haunt them and Aadil and Taha combined on an almost identical play to beat Ibad Khan and send the Sultans on to the final to faceoff against the Green Army.  There they would spend most of the first period recovering from the grueling semifinal to mount a second half comeback and win the title 4-3.

8. Green Army d. Mad Junglees
May 2011, John Abbott College, Quarter Final
Green Army 4-3 

A young, plucky Mad Junglees, pre-ranked in the 17th spot, surprised many with a 3-2-0 record and making the playoffs in the 7th spot. To their dismay, their first round opponent would be four-time champions Green Army, hungry for the thus far evaded fifth team championship. A match that most, if not all, expected to be an easy romp for the Green Army turned out to be, arguably, their toughest challenge of the tournament. Led by captain Mohammed Abowath, the only true veteran on the team, the Mad Junglees fearlessly blocked shots and gave it to the champs, refusing to be intimidated by the greater size and skill. Their aggressive play shocked the Green Army and, for part of the game, the Junglees held a 3-2 lead thanks to 2 goals by Umar Alam and a blazing shot from the point by 16-year-old defenceman Arif Ahmad that beat world class goalie Ibad Khan. However, with the game winding down, the Army eventually recovered from their initial shock and scored two goals to tie and then win the game, with Nazir Lasania potting the winner. They would eventually win their coveted fifth team championship, but not before breathing a sigh of relief at surviving potentially one of the biggest upsets in tournament history.

9. Warrior Ninjas d. Ottawa Vipers
May 2011, John Abbott College, Semi Final
Warrior Ninjas 2-1 shootout

The semi-finals pit two teams against each other that had not lost in the tournament until then.  The Vipers had the edge, given a flawless record and goaltender Aneel Anwar Nauth having allowed only 2 goals against in 5 round robin games and then only 1 goal in the previous two rounds of the playoffs for a combined 3 goals in 7 straight games. The Warrior Ninjas were powered by a masterful performance by the Aoude brothers. The intense game featured a scary moment when an errant high stick by Ali Virk cut Mohamed Adatia near his eye, forcing him to leave for much of the game. He would eventually return, yet the teams remained dead-locked at 1 apiece after regulation. The game continued in overtime but despite a push by the Ottawa Vipers, nothing could get by Hassan Aoude. The match finally ended in shootout, after Aneel's wall was penetrated by 2 Ninja shooters and Hassan allowed 1 less, making a fine save on the final Vipers shooter to win the game and advance to the Finals.

10. Crash & Burn d. Penguin Party
Dec 2008, John Abbott College, Quarter Final
Crash & Burn 4-3

Crash & Burn was pre-ranked in 3rd place and set to play stiff competition as per the "socialist schedule", however a heavy snowstorm prevented key Toronto players from participating in the tournament. The team was down to 7 players, including untested goaltender Mohammed Sibtain and defenceman Zaid Toorawa making their rookie debuts. After getting through the round-robin with a .500 record and squeezing into the playoffs by a single point, they mercy ruled the surprising Rockets-Juhaynis before meeting the Penguin Party, who had gotten a bye as the top team in the round robin and had added Mohamed Ghamraoui for the playoffs. Up against the high octane offense of the Shahabuddin brothers and Hany Aoude among others, and the goaltending of Hassan Aoude, Crash & Burn played a tight and physical defensive game, backstopped by Sibtain's impeccable play. Penguin Party had no answer for Khurram Sher, who scored 2 goals, and while they dominated the play and put a tremendous amount of pressure, they could not get by their opponents' craftily-employed strategy and effort. The party ended early for the Penguins as Crash & Burn held on to upset them 4-3.