A year ago, the Winnipeg Sea Bears watched another team celebrate a championship on their home floor.
This time, they were the ones celebrating.
The Sea Bears defeated the Brampton Honey Badgers 98-84 at Canada Life Centre on Saturday to win the first CEBL championship in franchise history.
And when it was time to finish the game, it was a Winnipeg kid who delivered.
Simon Hildebrandt knocked down the championship-winning three-pointer during Target Score Time, sending the Sea Bears into celebration and bringing the CEBL title to Winnipeg for the first time.
It was the kind of ending that made the championship feel even more fitting.
Hildebrandt grew up in Winnipeg. Mike Raimbault, the coach who guided the Sea Bears to the title, is the longtime head coach of the Winnipeg Wesmen.
And Xavier Moon, one of the most decorated players in CEBL history, added another championship to his résumé.
But getting to that moment took an unexpected turn before the Finals even reached Winnipeg.
A Finals format that changed overnight
The original 2026 CEBL Finals were supposed to be a best-of-three series.
That plan changed after Game 1 in Brampton was cancelled because condensation on the court left the playing surface unsafe for competition. The league announced that all tickets for the cancelled game would be refunded.
With the best-of-three series unable to be completed within the scheduled window, the CEBL decided that the championship would instead be determined by a single game.
That meant the previously scheduled Game 2 at Canada Life Centre became the championship game.
The decision also returned the CEBL to the format it used from 2019 through 2025, when the league champion was decided in a single Championship Game.
For Winnipeg, it meant there would be no series to settle things against Brampton.
One game.
One championship.
And it would be played in front of the Sea Bears’ home crowd.
That made the opportunity particularly significant considering what happened a year earlier.
In 2025, Winnipeg’s season ended in the semifinals at Canada Life Centre, where the Sea Bears watched the Niagara River Lions celebrate after eliminating the home team.
Twelve months later, Winnipeg had another chance on the same floor.
This time, the Sea Bears didn’t have to watch.
Hildebrandt finishes it
Winnipeg did most of the work before Hildebrandt’s final shot.
The Sea Bears took a 46-42 lead into halftime before Moon took over in the third quarter, scoring 14 points as Winnipeg extended the advantage to 73-60.
Brampton couldn’t find a way back.
Moon finished with 29 points, seven rebounds and six assists and was named Finals MVP. Hildebrandt added 24 points, six rebounds and three blocks.
Then came Target Score Time.
Moon scored on consecutive possessions, including a three-pointer that moved Winnipeg closer to the target.
Hildebrandt finished the game.
The Winnipeg native knocked down the three-pointer that gave the Sea Bears the championship and sent confetti falling from the rafters at Canada Life Centre.
For Hildebrandt, playing that moment in his hometown was difficult to describe.
“I don’t know how to put into words,” Hildebrandt said after the game.
He later talked about the opportunity to play for a championship in Winnipeg.
“I’m so fortunate to just play in my hometown for an organization like this,” Hildebrandt said.
The final shot was his.
The championship was Winnipeg’s.
Raimbault’s first CEBL season ends with a championship
For Raimbault, the championship capped his first season as a CEBL head coach.
The Sea Bears hired the Winnipeg Wesmen head coach to lead the franchise into the 2026 season, bringing another familiar face from Winnipeg’s basketball community into the professional game.
The season presented plenty of challenges.
Teddy Allen, who led the CEBL in scoring during the regular season, missed the opening rounds of the playoffs because of injury. Moon played only five regular-season games after his arrival was delayed by a FIBA issue, while Jeremiah Tilmon Jr. and Emmanuel Akot left the team for overseas opportunities.
Winnipeg still found a way through the playoffs.
The Sea Bears defeated the Saskatoon Mamba in the Western Conference semifinal before beating the Vancouver Bandits in the conference final to reach the championship game for the first time.
Raimbault said the adversity his team faced revealed the character inside the locker room.
“Adversity is always going to be a part of your path, and I think it’s no different than anything else in life. Nothing really worth accomplishing is easy,” Raimbault said.
“It does definitely reveal the character of the people in our locker room that we believed that we could get it done, and now we have.”
Now Raimbault has a CEBL championship to go with his work at the University of Winnipeg.
And Winnipeg has its first professional basketball championship in the CEBL era.
Moon gets championship No. 3
Moon came to Winnipeg with two CEBL championships already on his résumé.
He won titles with the Edmonton Stingers in 2020 and 2021.
Saturday gave him No. 3.
He was also the difference-maker in the championship game, taking control during the third quarter and finishing with the game’s highest point total.
After earning Finals MVP honours, Moon spoke about what made this championship different from his first two.
“It’s crazy to be back in this environment again. I mean, obviously, familiar territory for me for winning, but to do it in a city that’s never won a playoff game, I think it means a lot more,” Moon said.
“This one is a lot more special than the first one. So, like I’ve been saying, man, I’m happy for my teammates, and I’m happy for the city of Winnipeg.”
For Moon, it was another championship.
For Winnipeg, it was the first.
A packed Canada Life Centre gets its championship
The city showed up for the occasion.
A CEBL-record 12,519 fans packed Canada Life Centre for the championship game.
They watched the Sea Bears overcome an early Brampton lead, build the halftime advantage and then pull away behind Moon in the third quarter.
Raimbault knew what the atmosphere would be like before the game.
“A chance to play for the championship doesn’t come around all the time, and we knew that the place was going to be packed, and the level of excitement was going to be through the roof,” he said.
The crowd got the ending it came for.
Hildebrandt hit the shot.
Confetti fell.
The Sea Bears celebrated.
A year after watching Niagara celebrate on the same floor, Winnipeg finally had its own championship moment.
A Winnipeg kid had the final shot.
A Winnipeg coach had led the team there.
And Xavier Moon had another championship to add to his collection.
The Winnipeg Sea Bears are CEBL champions for the first time.
