HAMILTON, ON - Wednesday May 25 marks a special occasion for the Montréal Alliance as they play in their first ever Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) game on the road against the Hamilton Honey Badgers at 7 pm ET in the league season-opener.

Hamilton meanwhile are one of the original six franchises of the league. Hamilton reached the 2019 CEBL finals and finished third in 2021 behind the Niagara River Lions and Edmonton Stingers in the regular season standings. The Honey Badgers fell to Ottawa BlackJacks in the quarterfinals. 

Both sides feature notable players with CEBL experience as well as some significant newcomers. For Hamilton, two players to watch for include guards Caleb Agada and Aaron Best. Both have national team experience – Best with Canada and Agada with Nigeria at the Tokyo Olympics. Agada has also played for the Honey Badgers in the CEBL Summer Series in 2020 where he averaged 13.8 points per game in two games played. 

The Honey Badgers also feature some returning players including Kyle Johnson and Keevan Veinot. Johnson is a veteran with plenty of experience playing domestically and overseas and is coming off a season with the defending Champions Thor Thorl of the Icelandic Men’s Premier League. Veinot averaged 7.2 points in nine games last year with Hamilton and returns after finishing his senior season at Dalhousie where he was a conference all-star and was named the team’s MVP.

While the Alliance are a new club, they have their fair share of CEBL and top-level experience as well. The roster features several Quebec players including former Carleton Ravens guard Alain Louis. Louis made his impact in his CEBL debut last season with the BlackJacks. He averaged Played 15 games and averaged 21.6 minutes, 7.2 points, 1.9 rebounds and 2.8 assists as well as shooting 55.9 percent from the field and 38.1 percent from three in 15 games.

Louis is joined by former Ravens teammates Isiah Osborne who played for Ottawa in the 2020 CEBL Summer Series. Osborne is coming off his first professional season overseas with Kouvot in Finland. Montréal native Kemy Osse also brings CEBL experience having played with Saskatchewan the past two seasons. Montréal also has Greek centre Gaios Skordilis (who played for Ikralis B.C.).

The first game of the season also presents the opportunity for players to make their CEBL debuts. This includes possibly some recent U Sports draft picks. Laval centre Marc-André Fortin is coming off a strong U Sports season and could make his debut for Montréal. Lakehead guard Lawi Msambya is also on the training camp roster. Meanwhile, Msambya’s Lakehead teammate Michael Okafor was selected by Hamilton in this year’s CEBL draft and could make his debut. 

The game also marks the first CEBL game for Montréal head coach Vincent Lavandier, who brings with him years of experience coaching in Europe, including with the Glasgow Rocks of the British Basketball League. Meanwhile, Ryan Schmidt is back for his third season in Hamilton. Schmidt has been an assistant coach with the Raptors 905 of the NBA G League the past four years as well. 

Wednesday’s historic game will provide Hamilton an opportunity to notch their first victory of the season at home and for Montréal the chance to win their first game in franchise history. 

All games will be streamed live internationally on the CEBL’s OTT platform, CEBL+. and on the CEBL Mobile app for iOS and Android devices. Games will also be available to stream live in Canada via cbcsports.ca, the CBC Sports app for iOS and Android devices, and the free CBC Gem streaming service.

A league created by Canadians for Canadians, the CEBL has the highest percentage of Canadian players of any professional league in the country, with 71 percent of its current rosters being Canadians. Players bring experience from the NBA, NBA G League, top international leagues, the Canadian National team program, and top NCAA programs as well as U SPORTS. The only First Division Professional League Partner of Canada Basketball, the CEBL season runs from May through August. Head to CEBL.ca for more information or follow us (@cebleague) on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook & YouTube.