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![\"MIKE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4481308_web1_SeaBearsvsHoneyBadgersCEBLFinals_2_MikeSudoma_August15_2026-21.JPG\")
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MIKE SUDOMA\/FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
Winnipeg born Simon Hildebrandt poses with the CEBL Trophy after the Sea Bears win against the Brampton Honey Badgers at Canada Life Centre on Saturday.<\/p>\n
A storybook ending to a 98-84 victory over the Brampton Honey Badgers sent a CEBL attendance record of 12,519 fans into pandemonium at Canada Life Centre and capped a Finals run for the ages \u2014 one that was fraught with injury, impromptu player exits and unprecedented circumstances.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery special feeling; very special day,\u201c Hildebrandt said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was super random. I had no thoughts, no emotions; it all kind of went blank, and we started celebrating.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was in this very arena where the Sea Bears were knocked out of the playoffs last year and had to watch confetti fall on the Niagara River Lions. Those hardships were all but forgotten for at least one moment.<\/p>\n
It was Winnipeg\u2019s turn.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MIKE SUDOMA\/FREE PRESS<\/p>\n Members of the Winnipeg Sea Bears reach for the CEBL Trophy after defeating the Brampton Honey Badgers at Canada Life Centre on Saturday.<\/p>\n \u201cYou guys are better with words than I am, but it feels amazing,\u201d said first-year head coach Mike Raimbault.<\/p>\n \u201cDefinitely proud of the entire organization. There\u2019s a lot of other people that go into making this even possible for us to do. I mean, last night, the entire front office is together putting towels on chairs, so it really permeates from the top down with (chair) David Asper, all the way through to every person within the organization, who should feel a great sense of accomplishment for what was done here tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n This wasn\u2019t an ordinary achievement, and it wasn\u2019t any ordinary run.<\/p>\n It marked a fitting ending to a return from a legend.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s crazy to be back in this environment again,\u201d said Xavier Moon, who earned his third CEBL championship and Finals Most Valuable Player award. \u201cObviously, familiar territory for me winning, but to do it in a city that\u2019s never won a playoff game, I think it means a lot more.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MIKE SUDOMA\/FREE PRESS<\/p>\n DJ Burns celebrates the Sea Bears win with the fans Saturday afternoon at Canada Life Centre on Saturday.<\/p>\n It meant hometown players like Hildebrandt, Mason Kraus, Kyler Filewich, and U Sports signings Ramogi Nyagudi and Kato Jaro reached the top of Canada\u2019s basketball mountain in their own backyard.<\/p>\n \u201cI just left the floor, and prior to leaving the floor, I was talking to Chad Posthumus\u2019s folks, and his dad got to go up the ladder and cut down a piece of the net,\u201d said Raimbault. \u201cI think if Chad was watching the game and could handpick who\u2019s going to hit the game-winning basket, I think it would be Simon.\u201d<\/p>\n And it completed a story for a basketball community that had experienced its fair share of hardships in the years that preceded, like three straight seasons of falling short in the playoffs, or the loss of a local icon in Posthumus.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he\u2019d just give me a patented Chad big bear hug,\u201d Hildebrandt said of his good friend, who hit the first game-winning shot in franchise history. \u201cI think that\u2019d be the one thing he\u2019d do, be at a loss for words. Just a lot of memories coming back for him today. Obviously, I wish more than anything that he was he was here with us. I know he\u2019s looking down on us with a big smile and just cheering. That\u2019s Chad.\u201d<\/p>\n There was a time in recent days when the Sea Bears couldn\u2019t catch a break.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MIKE SUDOMA\/FREE PRESS<\/p>\n DJ Burns celebrates the Sea Bears win with the fans Saturday afternoon at Canada Life Centre on Saturday.<\/p>\n Travel issues. Injured stars. Hitting the road for the first game of this series, only for it to be cancelled.<\/p>\n None of that matters now, but what does is the persistence and grit that ensued \u2014 two words that have been used repeatedly to describe a club that has embraced a team-oriented brand of basketball, especially in the post-season.<\/p>\n It was no different on this night.<\/p>\n Moon\u2019s 29 points were a game-high, while Hildebrandt supplied an equally crucial 24 points, along with six rebounds and three blocks.<\/p>\n All of Jelani Watson-Gayle\u2019s 17 points came in the first half, which tied a record for the most points in the opening half of a Finals. He also tied a Finals record with five three-pointers in the contest.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MIKE SUDOMA\/FREE PRESS<\/p>\n An intense fan cheers on the Sea bears as they end the fourth quarter of The CEBL Finals with a win at Canada Life Centre on Saturday.<\/p>\n Trey McGowens and Isiah Osborne both chipped in with 10 points. Then there was the spark plug, DJ Burns, who dislocated his finger earlier in the playoffs and still produced eight points, eight rebounds and six assists while having a massive impact away from the box score.<\/p>\n \u201cThe entire group had a massive belief that we could be successful, and it was so fun to see some people step into bigger roles and blossom,\u201d said Raimbault.<\/p>\n \u201cThe entire group believed that we could do it, but we also had a large sense that to do it, we needed everybody to be at their best, and to do that, we had to support one another.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t\tThe Warm-Up<\/p>\n Winnipeg Jets Game Days<\/p>\n On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop.<\/p>\n \t\t\tSign up for The Warm-Up<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t Raimbault said Teddy Allen sent him a text on Friday, wishing him good luck. Allen also FaceTimed with a teammate after the game.<\/p>\n It\u2019s an ending that many outside the building never pegged the Sea Bears to have. There were plenty of questions about how a first-year pro head coach and his staff of first-year pro coaches would translate to this level, and it\u2019s safe to say that landing a three-time MVP in Moon, reuniting with another former MVP in Allen, winning a franchise-record 14 games and guiding perhaps the most well-rounded iteration of the Sea Bears in franchise history to its first playoff victory and Finals appearance proved many wrong.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MIKE SUDOMA\/FREE PRESS<\/p>\n Hometown Hero Simon Hildebrandt shows his Winnipeg pride as the Winnipeg Sea Bears beat out the Brampton Honey Badgers to win the CEBL finals at Canada Life Centre on Saturday.<\/p>\n \u201cI asked him to write down words, individual words, that describe what his organization would be, and I thought I might get three to five words out of him, and he wrote down two: Tough. Connected,\u201d Asper recalled of the conversation that preceded Raimbault\u2019s hiring.<\/p>\n \u201cHe didn\u2019t want to give me any more words, and I thought that was pretty impressive. For what could be a very complex thing, he reduced it and simplified it and said, \u2018This is what he wanted to be,\u2019 and I said, \u2018OK.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n winnipegfreepress.com\/joshuafreysam<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MIKE SUDOMA\/FREE PRESS<\/p>\n Fans wave signs and towels while they celebrate the Winnipeg Sea Bears CEBL Finals win Canada Life Centre on Saturday.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MIKE SUDOMA\/FREE PRESS<\/p>\n More than 12,000 plus basketball fans cheer on the Winnipeg Sea Bears during The CEBL Finals at Canada Life Centre on Saturday.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Joshua Frey-Sam Josh Frey-Sam reports on sports and business at the Free Press. Josh got his start at the paper in 2022, just weeks after graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College. He reports primarily on amateur teams and athletes in sports. Read more about Josh<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Josh produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber<\/a>.<\/p>\n Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.<\/p>\n \t\t
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