With a sold-out last game of their inaugural season and a chance to take the top spot in the Western Conference, the Winnipeg Sea Bears are thanking fans and crediting teamwork for their successes.
“Very proud of the guys, very thankful for the support in this city,” said head coach Mike Taylor ahead of Saturday’s regular-season finale at Canada Life Centre.
With 12 wins and seven losses in their first 19 games of the Canadian Elite Basketball League, the Sea Bears can clinch first place in the Western Conference with either a win on Saturday or a loss by the Calgary Surge in one of their final two games.
The game is expected to draw 8,100 fans which would break their own single-game league attendance record.
The Sea Bears played their inaugural game in front of 7,303 spectators, shattering the previous league attendance record by nearly 3,000.
Sea Bears forward and Winnipeg native Chad Posthumus credits the team’s successes to coach Taylor’s team assembly and ensuring the units work as one.
“We’ve had the same roster essentially from day one which is a really big piece of why I think we’ve been successful this year,” he said.
Taylor said the way the organization is run from the top down gave the team a good launching point.
“You put a plan together, you work your plan, you try to bring in good people and you try your best all the time,” Taylor said.
The experienced coach said if they clinch a playoff spot their success will hinge on executing lessons learned throughout the regular season.
“Now it’s just about responding to the adversity and pressure of these playoff games in the right way together and I got a lot of confidence our guys can do that,” he said.
Posthumus agrees.
“We’ve been taking it day by day, one game at a time, that was kind of our motto the whole season.”
The Sea Bears face off against the Edmonton Stingers on July 29 at 7 p.m. at Canada Life Centre.
— with files from Russ Hobson and Teagan Rasche