DANKOCHIK’S DRAFTINGS: Winnipeg saves CEBL with storybook end to the season

It was amazing to see the footage of the Winnipeg Sea Bears winning the Canadian Elite Basketball League championship inside a record-breaking crowd at Canada Life Centre.

It was even better to see Mennonite Brethern Collegiate Institute graduate Simon Hildebrandt hit the game-winning shot, prompting confetti to blast into the air and the crowd of over 12,000 to go crazy.

The team in Winnipeg has done what soccer’s Valour FC couldn’t, and found success both on the field of play and in terms of ingraining themselves into the grassroots of their respective sports across the province.

While the CEBL is celebrating the feel-good story of the Sea Bears, I’m sure the league is also breathing a massive sigh of relief.

Game one of the supposed best-of-three finals had to be stopped just two minutes into the contest, as Brampton’s home court was deemed too unsafe due to water condensation to continue.

The league, left with no real good options, decided to return the finals to a winner-take-all format with the higher-seeded Winnipeg team hosting just a single game.

League president and CEO Ty Mazereeuw disputed the idea the court conditions and format change was a “black eye,” for the league. The CEBL was also dealing with the fallout of a bench-clearing brawl between Brampton and Scarborough during the final game of the regular season.

“Because those two things have happened in a short period of time, I think it’s magnified for sure, and especially amongst our most passionate fans, and it invites conversation,” Mazereeuw told the Winnipeg Free Press.

“But I can tell you, as the president and CEO, and having joined about 14 months ago, I’m committed to ensuring the health and safety of our players, to ensuring we understand what our fans want and listening to them.”

Winnipeg winning on home court was exactly the feel-good story the league needed, and avoided any questions of legitimacy. Had Brampton won a one-off contest, which was only a one-off due to their own arena issues, the league would have looked bad, whatever the root cause was.

It was a storybook ending for the Sea Bears themselves after regular season MVP Teddy Allen was hospitalized after getting allegedly assaulted by security staff at a nightclub in Winnipeg. Three members of the nightclub’s security staff have been charged with assault by prosecutors.

No Canada-wide professional league has an easy road to legitimacy. Establishing a league in a country as big as Canada, with as few people live in Canada, will always be a challenge.

The CFL itself has had to fight off “bush league,” allegations for as long as I can remember, even as they are the second best league in their sport. Canadian sports fans are also quick to brush off residency requirements for rosters, even if UEFA Champions League soccer has them as well.

Young leagues in Canada just need to fight for survival. One season, one game, one championship at a time. Every year is a tick in the stability column, and after a decade they’ll just be a part of the fabric of their communities.