Professional basketball returns to Edmonton as Stingers prepare for home opener
Former Chill and Energy coach hopes new Canadian league leads to success story
The man who will coach Edmonton's newest professional basketball team thinks the city's rich sports history bodes well for the franchise and the league.
On Friday at 7 p.m., the Edmonton Stingers of the new Canadian Elite Basketball League take on the Niagara River Lions at the Edmonton Expo Centre.
The team had sold 2,300 tickets for the home opener as of Thursday, and said it expected to sell 3,000 by game time.
In its first season, the six-team league also includes the Fraser Valley Bandits, Guelph Nighthawks, Hamilton Honey Badgers, and Saskatchewan Rattlers.
The Stingers are expected to wrap up their regular season on Aug. 15.
The team held an availability with media on Wednesday to introduce the roster, which includes University of Alberta basketball star Brody Clarke, along with U of A alumni Mamadou Gueye and Jordan Baker. Eleven of the team's thirteen roster players are Canadian.
The team's head coach and general manager, Barnaby Craddock, also coaches the U of A Golden Bears men's basketball team. He's convinced the Stingers have what it takes to entertain local sports fans.
"I think that Edmonton is a basketball town," Craddock said. "We're obviously a phenomenal hockey town. The history is rich, but basketball is growing. It's the second most popular sport in the world after soccer. In Canada, it's just getting bigger, and bigger."
He's hoping the Stingers will inspire local players by giving them a hometown team to play for beyond university or college.
"All the youth of Edmonton and Alberta getting to see that professional level first hand is going to influence kids in our communities," he said.
Paul Sir, the executive director of Basketball Alberta, is excited for the return of pro basketball to Edmonton. He said he has liked what he's seen so far from the people running the team and the league.
"They're doing all the right things and preparing for this," he said. "So I'm excited to see not just the team on the floor, but I'm hoping that the basketball community and the community at large in Edmonton will support this."
Sir has had a front-row seat to watch the successes and failures experienced by former basketball teams in Edmonton.
From the Skyhawks to the Edmonton Chill
In 1993 the Skyhawks of the National Basketball League were moved from Hamilton to Edmonton during the season. The team played at Northlands Coliseum and remained in Edmonton for the following season before the league folded.
Thirteen years later, the Edmonton Chill were founded and played in the International Basketball League, which consisted of teams from the Pacific Northwest region of the United States and a team from Langley, B.C.
After a season where the Edmonton team made the playoffs, the owner disappeared leaving investors and suppliers with unpaid bills.The league later shut the team down.
With a new name and new investors, the Edmonton Energy emerged to fill the void left by the Chill. That team continued to play in the league until it's final season in 2012, when ownership decided to not to compete in the playoffs, despite the team's winning record.
Paul Sir was general manager and coach of both the Chill and Energy.
"We had some really good basketball teams," Sir said. "We had some good competitors, but then that started to slip over time."
Though both the Chill and Energy eventually joined the baseball Cracker Cats and Trappers and the soccer Drillers in Edmonton's pro sports cemetery, Sir looks back fondly on his years as a pro basketball GM and coach.
"It was a fun ride," he said. "I think we were real close to having it be successful in the long term, if a couple things we would have done locally would have changed. But also most importantly if the league had evolved in a more positive direction.
Sir hopes this time an Edmonton basketball team playing in a Canadian league that focuses on developing talent, along with an emerging interest in basketball across Canada, will lead to a sustainable franchise.
This time, though, he'll be watching from the stands.