Sea Bears Look to Stay Hot at Home Against Edmonton on National Indigenous Peoples Day Game

The Winnipeg Sea Bears (7-4) are back at Canada Life Centre Saturday, June 20 at 3:00 PM for the National Indigenous Peoples Day Game, hosting the Edmonton Stingers on a quick turnaround after Thursday's 114-81 win over Vancouver pulled Winnipeg into a tie with the Bandits for first place in the West.

It's just the second meeting of the season between the two clubs. Back on May 9 in the season opener, Winnipeg edged Edmonton 77-75 on the road, with Teddy Allen setting a franchise record with six steals and Mason Kraus sealing it from the free-throw line. Head Coach Mike Raimbault said the rosters — and the teams — look a lot different now. "It's hard to even think about, like, that wasn't so long ago that we played them, but it seems like an eternity," Raimbault said. "Obviously we've come together a lot as a group. We feel like we've made a ton of progress. I mean, obviously they have as well, so it's a great opportunity to sort of check in and see growth from both groups. We know it's going to be a dog fight for sure."

With a shorter prep window between Thursday's win and Saturday's game, Raimbault said the focus has been internal rather than on Edmonton's record. "Honestly, we're just concentrating on how we can improve the things that we've got to do in terms of moving the needle forward for our group," Raimbault said. "We feel like we've got a little bit of momentum as a group. Today was a lighter day, but an important learning day for us. It's an early game tomorrow, and we have to show up and play with the level of energy and connectivity that we've been trying to build day by day."

Mason Kraus echoed that mindset, pointing to the team's habit of letting its guard down after big wins earlier this season. "We took down Ottawa a few weeks ago, had a back-to-back game, and then almost came out flat," Kraus said. "This game coming up is a big one for us — even if we've won the last three, this is the one that really matters, to see if we can win it back-to-back. We feel like we should be undefeated right now if a couple of plays went differently, so games like this show character and show who we are as a team. If we come out and play hard, play aggressive, and take care of the game, that's what matters for our development and improvement."

Tip-off against Edmonton is 3:00 PM Saturday at Canada Life Centre for the National Indigenous Peoples Day Game. Get your tickets now!