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![\"MIKE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4481505_web1_SeaBearsvsHoneyBadgersCEBLFinals_2_MikeSudoma_August15_2026-12.JPG\")
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MIKE SUDOMA \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
Hometown hero Simon Hildebrandt shows his Winnipeg pride as the Winnipeg Sea Bears beat the Brampton Honey Badgers to win the CEBL championship at Canada Life Centre on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Hildebrandt drilled a wide-open three in Target Score Time to crown the Sea Bears as the 2026 CEBL champions.<\/p>\n
The new CEBL record crowd of 12,519 inside Canada Life Centre went ballistic as Hildebrandt\u2019s shot cemented a 98-84 win over the Brampton Honey Badgers in a winner-take-all showdown.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think if Chad was watching the game and could handpick who was gonna hit the game-winning basket, I think he would\u2019ve picked Simon,\u201d said Sea Bears head coach Mike Raimbault.<\/p>\n
Charles Posthumus, Chad\u2019s father, shared a similar sentiment.<\/p>\n
\u201cChad is beaming in heaven,\u201d Charles told the Free Press. \u201cSimon and him were very close.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hildebrandt did a whole lot more than just score the final bucket.<\/p>\n
The 23-year-old \u2014 who was a star at Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Institute and then the University of Manitoba before playing NCAA hoops at High Point and Washington State \u2014 played nearly 38 minutes and finished second on the Sea Bears in scoring with 24 points and six rebounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though Chad\u2019s not with us today, he still means so much to this organization, so much to this city, and I think he just exemplifies what the Sea Bears are all about \u2014 just the way he would walk into the room and change the energy and everything he did to give back to the community and give back to the city,\u201d said Hildebrandt.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember when he hit that first Target Score winner and how special of a moment it was for everyone around and everyone involved. To be compared to that and to hit the last one today is special.\u201d<\/p>\n
Posthumus died in November 2024 at the age of 33. The Sea Bears retired his No. 33 jersey in the 2025 season opener.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019d just give me a Chad-patented big bear hug. I think that would be the one thing he\u2019d do,\u201d said Hildebrandt.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s just a lot of memories of him coming back today. Obviously, I wish more than anything that he was here with us, but I know he\u2019s looking down on us with a big smile and just cheering \u2014 that\u2019s Chad.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Sea Bears wouldn\u2019t have reached the top of the CEBL mountain without Hildebrandt\u2019s heroics.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MIKE SUDOMA \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n Simon Hildebrandt gets a layup in the third quarter of the CEBL finals at Canada Life Centre Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n The club lost three starters \u2014 Allen, Emmanuel Akot and Jeremiah Tilmor Jr. \u2014 right before the post-season, thrusting Hildebrandt into a more prominent role.<\/p>\n In 20 regular-season games, he averaged 5.3 points and 3.2 rebounds in 17.5 minutes.<\/p>\n During the three-game playoff run, he averaged 18.3 points and 5.6 rebounds in 35 minutes.<\/p>\n Hildebrandt, who is also getting married this week, will leave for Germany soon to play for BBC Bayreuth.<\/p>\n \u201cHis entire summer, he was obviously in a situation where at times guys were playing and ahead of him and he had to sacrifice,\u201d said Raimbault.<\/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 \u201cThere were certainly a large number of games in the early portion of the season where it would have been easy for him to look back and say \u2018I should have played more\u2019 or \u2018I should have had this\u2019 but Simon never made it about himself and I think that had major trickle down into the rest of the group buying into what we were trying to do.<\/p>\n \u201cSimon very much led by example in terms of how he dealt with adversity.\u201d<\/p>\n Hildebrandt was a U Sports developmental player for the Sea Bears back in 2023. Fast-forward a few years, and he\u2019s now one of the CEBL\u2019s biggest success stories.<\/p>\n \u201cJust being a kid from Winnipeg who grew up here, it just means so much to me that I\u2019m able to do this in this city,\u201d said Hildebrandt.<\/p>\n winnipegfreepress.com\/taylorallen<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Taylor Allen Taylor Allen is a sports reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. Taylor was the Vince Leah intern in the Free Press newsroom twice while earning his joint communications degree\/diploma at the University of Winnipeg and Red River College Polytechnic. He signed on full-time in 2019 and mainly covers the Blue Bombers, curling, and basketball. Read more about Taylor<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Taylor 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
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