CEBL Weekly Preview: What’s at Stake in the Final Week of the Regular Season

It’s the final week of the CEBL season, and much is yet to be decided, from playoff spots to seeding.
Let’s get right into it…
Eastern Conference
We know (we have known for quite a while now, really) that the Scarborough Shooting Stars will enter the post-season as the top team in the East, and is the squad to beat.
The Shooting Stars haven’t let up since clinching that No. 1 spot, and carry a three-game winning streak into their final pair of contests. The goal now is to keep the good times rolling through August.
As for the rest of the conference? Well, good luck sorting through all that. Yes…still.
The Brampton Honey Badgers and two-time defending champion Niagara River Lions are in the catbird seats, each sitting on 10 wins. The former still has three games to play while the latter has two.
Brampton, however, will face a tall task hosting a desperate Montreal squad before a season-ending home-and-home with the Shooting Stars. It won’t be easy for Niagara either, which heads west for a closing set on the road against the Saskatoon Mamba and Calgary Surge.
But both teams can rely on pedigree, with 2025 MVP runner-up Sean East II showing out for the Honey Badgers while the River Lions count on two-time Finals MVP Khalil Ahmad, who was player of the game in their recent win over the Ottawa BlackJacks.
The pressure is on for those players in the nation’s capital, who are tied with the Montreal Alliance at 9-13 at the bottom of the conference. The Alliance close out their regular season with games against the Vancouver Bandits and Honey Badgers before the BlackJacks even return to the court. Ottawa will know what is required when it visits the Winnipeg Sea Bears and Edmonton Stingers to close out its season.
Of course, if both Ottawa and Montreal win out, then the pressure is on Niagara and Brampton. The East, as it has been for the better part of a month, remains a jumble.
Western Conference
Things are a little more straightforward in the West.
The Edmonton Stingers made things interesting, but their 100-89 win over the Calgary Surge on Sunday assured them of the conference’s final playoff spot and prevented their Alberta rival’s late-season renaissance from reaching the post-season.
Edmonton will join Vancouver, Winnipeg and Saskatoon in the playoffs, but who plays whom must still be decided.
At the top, the Bandits (14-8) hold a one-game lead over the Sea Bears (13-7). Circle Sunday on your calendar, because the two West forces will meet in B.C. for their season finales on that day in a clash that could determine the course of the playoffs.
If things line up correctly, it could make for a pseudo-playoff-type atmosphere at Langley Event Centre.
Meanwhile, just two days earlier, the Mamba and Stingers will collide in a contest that could have implications on third place in the Alberta capital.
Ultimately, they will both be underdogs on the road against the Bandits or Sea Bears. But if they happen to have a preference of opponent, this is where they could help alter the destinies.
Calgary, finally, has been reduced to the role of spoiler, where it can potentially end the River Lions’ year if it hands coach Kimbal Mackenzie’s troops a loss in their final game. It would be quite the way to end the campaign for a Calgary team that’s had good vibes for most of the summer, but just couldn’t undo the damage it wrought at the beginning of the season.
It all adds up to what should be a wild closing stretch.
Weekly schedule (11 games)
Game #110 – Tuesday, July 28 – VAN at MTL – 7:30 p.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. PT – Verdun Audiotrium (CBC Gem, YouTube, RDS, CEBL+)
Game #111 – Wednesday, July 29 – NRL at SSK – 7:30 p.m. CST / 9:30 p.m. ET – SaskTel Centre (CBC Gem, YouTube, CEBL+)
Game #112 – Thursday, July 30 – MTL at BHB – 7:30 p.m. ET – CAA Centre (CBC Gem, YouTube, CEBL+)
Game #113 – Friday, July 31 – OTT at WPG – 7 p.m. CDT / 8 p.m. ET – Canada Life Centre (CBC Gem, YouTube, CEBL+)
Game #114 – Friday, July 31 – SSK at EDM – 7 p.m. CST/MT / 9 p.m. ET – Edmonton EXPO Centre (CBC Gem, YouTube, CEBL+)
Game #115 – Friday, July 31 – NRL at CGY – 7:30 p.m. MT / 9:30 p.m. ET – WinSport Event Centre (CBC Gem, YouTube, CEBL+)
Game #116 – Saturday, Aug. 1 – SSS at BHB – 7 p.m. ET – CAA Centre (CBC Gem, YouTube, CEBL+)
Game #117 – Sunday, Aug. 2 – WPG at VAN – 12:30 p.m. PT / 2:30 p.m. CDT / 3:30 p.m. ET – Envision Financial Court at Langley Events Centre (CBC, CBC Gem, YouTube, CEBL+)
Game #118 – Sunday, Aug. 2 – OTT at EDM – 4 p.m. MT / 6 p.m. ET – Edmonton EXPO Centre (CBC Gem, YouTube, CEBL+)
Game #119 – Monday, Aug. 3 – BHB at SSS – 4 p.m. ET – Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre (CBC Gem, YouTube, CEBL+)
Game #120 – Monday, Aug. 3 – CGY at SSK – 4 p.m. CST/MT / 6 p.m. ET – Merlis Belsher Place (CBC Gem, YouTube, CEBL+)
For the full 2026 CEBL schedule, please visit
cebl.ca/games.







