A Message From Our President

John Lashway

I hope this finds you navigating through this tremendously challenging time as well as possible. We have all been impacted by COVID-19 through separation from loved ones, loss of income, illness, or death. All of us in the Honey Badgers organization are extremely grateful to the courageous health care workers and service providers who have assumed personal risk in battling the virus while keeping our communities healthy, safe, and functioning at their best.

Amidst the many challenges of daily life and trying to restore some familiarity to it, the Canadian Elite Basketball League has been working to deliver basketball in whatever form might be possible this summer. Under the leadership of Commissioner Mike Morreale and his staff, and the devotion of CEBL owner Richard Petko, the CEBL Summer Series will bring all seven league teams to St. Catharines for 26 games in 15 days, leading to a 2020 Championship game on August 9. Training camps open July 17, and the competition begins Saturday, July 25 with two games that will be shown nationally on CBC, and also picked up in international markets. The CEBL will be the first professional league in Canada to return to play.

In collaboration with medical professionals, the Ontario Ministry of Health, and Niagara Region Public Health, the CEBL has created an extensive set of protocols in an effort to ensure the safe return of basketball. Those health experts will inform all participants of what they can, and cannot, do throughout the Summer Series. Everyone who came to Canada to play or coach has already gone through the mandatory 14-day quarantine. Participants are all subject to the same protocols as any other resident of the Niagara Region—no more, no less. Fortunately, our reality is vastly better than what the NBA, NHL, MLB and other leagues are encountering, largely because more than 80 percent of our league’s players are Canadian, by far the highest percentage of any pro league in Canada.

New head coach Ryan Schmidt, assisted by 2019 head coach Chantal Vallée, leads a new-look Hamilton roster into the CEBL Summer Series. General Manager Jermaine Anderson has put together a roster that features past and future NBA players, and key contributors to the Canadian National Team program. As always, our organization prioritizes people of high character who are also high performers. It is a high energy team that plays up-tempo on offense and will be highly disruptive on defense. We have a team you will love to watch and be proud to support!

We are the only CEBL team scheduled to appear at least twice on CBC. We draw the first game of the Summer Series on Saturday, July 25 at 1:30 p.m. against Niagara. Our second appearance comes Saturday, August 1 at 1:30 p.m. versus Fraser Valley. CBC will also televise the semifinals August 8 and championship game August 9. All games will also be live streamed on the CBC Gem app and on cbcsports.ca. I hope you’ll enjoy the return of live sports with these world class professional athletes!

We are already working on the 2021 season, which is less than 10 months away! Refundable $50 deposits on 2021 season tickets will be available during the CEBL Summer Series. But you can beat the box office now by phoning (905) 522-BALL to secure your seats and receive other special benefits.

Thank you for your support of the Hamilton Honey Badgers and professional basketball in Canada. I hope you will enjoy the CEBL Summer Series!

Sincerely,

John Lashway

President

Hamilton Honey Badgers Professional Basketball Club