Western Conference Playoff Hopes on the Line in All-Alberta Battle Between Calgary and Edmonton

Edmonton Stingers Head to Calgary to Fight for Chance at Western Conference Playoffs

The CEBL’s top two defences clash on Wednesday in the regular season’s final Battle of Alberta.

The Calgary Surge (-125) host the Edmonton Stingers (-110) at WinSport Event Centre at 8 p.m. MT in their last home game before the CEBL Playoffs.

The game will be nationally televised live on TSN 5 and available for streaming on TSN+, CEBL+ powered by BetVictor and on the CEBL Mobile app available on iOS and Android devices.

It’s the fourth meeting between the two squads this season. The Surge won the first two battles during the opening weekend of the 2023 season. Calgary eked out a win in the home opener by a score of 74-70 before mounting the largest comeback in target score time the CEBL has ever seen to defeat their newfound rivals 82-81 just a day later.

The teams played over a month of games before meeting again early in July. The Stingers emerged with a 91-83 win in a contest that witnessed both teams’ stars coming to play. Aher Uguak led the way for Edmonton with 19 points in the win, while Brody Clarke notched a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Nick Hornsby played his usual all-around game and produced 17 points, six rebounds and four assists.

Meanwhile, Sean Miller-Moore netted a game-high 22 points for the Surge in the loss to go along with eight rebounds and three steals. Big man Simi Shittu secured a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds while Stef Smith tallied 14 points, six rebounds and seven assists.

Calgary enters the game with a postseason berth clinched and a shot at securing first place in the Western Conference. The Surge are second-place in the West at 10-8 behind first-place Winnipeg at 12-7. They’re ahead of third place Edmonton at 8-10 and fourth-place Saskatchewan at 8-11.

The aforementioned teams all have something at stake in Wednesday’s game for the CEBL playoffs. Calgary can clinch a home playoff game with a win, keep themselves in the hunt for first, and keep Saskatchewan’s postseason dreams alive. Meanwhile, Edmonton can clinch a playoff berth and eliminate the Rattlers with a win, while also guaranteeing the one seed for the Sea Bears.

With the fifth-place Vancouver Bandits hosting CEBL Championship Weekend in August, they have a spot in the Western Conference final secured.

The Surge come into the game as winners of back-to-back games and two of their last three. They’ve picked up wins over the Sea Bears, Rattlers and Alliance during that stretch, including a bounceback victory over Winnipeg that featured a historic double-double for Shittu.

The Canadian big man became the first player in CEBL history to score 30+ points and collect 15+ rebounds in the same game. Shittu is the only player in the league this season to average a double-double with 15.9 points per game, a league-best 10.8 rebounds per game and 0.8 blocks per game.

He’s supported by the team’s leading scorer Miller-Moore and its top assist man Smith. Admon Gilder Jr. is also a consistent two-way contributor for Calgary and the squad could get back Trevon Scott for the final stretch of the season.

The Surge boast the best defence in the CEBL with just 81.9 points against per game – the team is also second in average blocks and fourth in average steals. However, the Stingers feature a tough defence of their own, ranking second in the league in points against per game.

Edmonton is coming off a tough loss to Vancouver at Langley Events Centre on Friday night. Since defeating Calgary on July 5, the Stingers have lost three of their past four and have split the opening two games of a four-game road trip to close the regular season.

The Stingers feature an array of options offensively, including the interior prowess of Clarke who leads the team in scoring. Hornsby, Uguak, Isiah Osborne, Geoffrey James and Shane Gibson all provide an offensive punch for the Stingers as well.

“We know Calgary, we’ve played them three times already this year. For us, it's just going to be a matter of can we show effort like we did in last 15 minutes of tonight's game from the jump and sustain it,” Edmonton head coach Jordan Baker said after a loss to Vancouver.

Each team will have one game remaining following Wednesday’s showdown. Calgary visits Saskatchewan on Friday and Edmonton visits Winnipeg on Saturday.

All games are available for streaming on TSN+, CEBL+ powered by BetVictor and on the CEBL Mobile app available on iOS and Android devices.

A league created by Canadians for Canadians with a mission to develop Canadian players, coaches, sports executives, and referees, the CEBL boasts the highest percentage of Canadian players of any pro league in the country with 71 per cent of its 2022 rosters being Canadian. Players bring experience from the NBA, NBA G League, top international pro leagues, the Canadian National team program, and top NCAA programs as well as U SPORTS. Nine players have moved from the CEBL into the NBA following a CEBL season, and 28 CEBL players attended NBA G League training camps during October. The CEBL season runs from May through August. More information about the CEBL is available at CEBL.ca and @cebleague on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook & YouTube.