Not your average Sea Bears

After a long road trip, the Winnipeg Sea Bears will be happy to play in front of their home crowd once again.

It’ll have been three weeks to the day since the Sea Bears (4-4) last played inside Canada Life Centre when they tip off against the Calgary Surge on Friday night (7 p.m.) — the longest stretch they’ll endure this summer.

While a 1-3 record during their time away from home has left plenty to work on, Winnipeg knows there was still a lot of good to take away from losses to Brampton, Saskatoon and Montreal, and a victory against Ottawa.

Three of their four losses this season have come by less than four points, suggesting the club has been right there with its opponents.

Now with three of their next four contests coming at home — all against Western Conference clubs — the Sea Bears have a chance to prove they are one of the teams to watch in the second half of the Canadian Elite Basketball League season.

Winnipeg will face a team it has had trouble against since joining the CEBL. The Sea Bears are 3-9 all-time against Calgary, but recent history suggests this could be a strong opportunity to take a step toward evening that all-time series.

Here are three things to know ahead of Friday’s contest in the latest edition of Beyond the Arc.

Searching for a Surge

It’s been a dreadful start to the season for the Surge.

Last summer’s CEBL runner-ups are winless through eight games and own a minus-76 point differential. Several contests haven’t been close either, with four of their losses coming by double-digits.

With the club’s former head coach Kaleb Canales moving on to lead Weber State University’s program and two of their top scorers from last year, Jameer Nelson Jr. (also the 2025 Defensive Player of the Year) and Greg Brown III, out of the fold, the Surge were relying on new leadership to make another run in 2026.

That lasted seven games, as the Surge relieved head coach Perry Huang of his duties on Monday. It was Huang’s first time heading a pro squad.

Dave DeAveiro has taken over in the interim, but the results have remained the same through one game, as the Surge fell to the Saskatoon Mamba 94-88 at home on Wednesday.

Needless to say, the Sea Bears will be facing a desperate squad.

Man down

The biggest loss on the recent road trip didn’t come on the scoreboard. Workhorse forward Emmanuel Akot will be out for the foreseeable future with a sprained ankle that the homegrown talent suffered during last week’s contest against the Ottawa BlackJacks.

The Sea Bears are optimistic that Akot will play again this summer, but the timetable for his return is murky.

It’s a crushing loss for the club, especially because Akot is Canadian.

“Obviously, he played a pivotal role with our group, and you don’t ever want to see anyone get injured, especially when he was sort of finding his rhythm and his groove, and so we hope that it’s short until we can get him back and manage it,” Raimbault said earlier this week.

Enter Simon Hildebrandt, who will have more on his plate until Akot returns. The former Manitoba Bisons star has been relatively quiet while starting the season in a depth role, but showed that he’s more than capable of shouldering big minutes in last weekend’s game against the Montreal Alliance.

Hildebrandt logged 12 points, eight rebounds and two assists while playing a season-high 30:09 of action, and he’ll be asked to eat up similar minutes on Friday.

Notable debuts

The Sea Bears will have a slightly different look since they last played in front of their home crowd.

Trevon Scott, who played 11 games with the club last summer and was lauded for his versatility and hustle, will make his 2026 home debut. The veteran forward, who started four games for the Brooklyn Nets at the end of the NBA regular season, has been underwhelming since arriving in Winnipeg, but will continue to be leaned upon off the bench.

Meanwhile, off-season signing Isiah Osborne makes his season debut. The veteran guard joined the club for the first time on Tuesday after wrapping up his regular season in Romania.

Osborne has averaged 10.3 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.4 assists across 49 career games with Edmonton, Montreal and Ottawa in the CEBL, and he has a strong history inside Canada Life Centre.

“I remember that he killed us my first year,” said Hildebrandt, referring to Osborne’s 21 point, five rebound and four steal effort against the Sea Bears in 2023. “I don’t know him too well yet, but definitely glad that he’s on our team and not another team.”

The Sea Bears’ newest signing, D.J. Burns, could also make his debut. The 6-7, 220-pounder from New Orleans inked a deal on Thursday, marking his first experience in the CEBL. Burns has played the last two seasons overseas in the Kosovo Basketball Superliga and Israeli Premier League where he averaged 13.2 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.2 assists last winter.

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