Calgary Surge spring to life for win in city's return to pro basketball

Calgary Surge guard Stefan Smith drives to the hoop as Edmonton Stingers guard Adika Peter-McNeilly defends at WinSport Event Centre in Calgary on Saturday, May 27, 2023.

The score was really an after-thought.

It’s just that the historic first win — 74-70 — certainly did punctuate the city’s return to professional basketball.

After all, Saturday was all about the emotion of how the Calgary Surge have brought the game back to town with much pomp and celebration.

“I’m a happy boy,” said Surge co-owner, vice-chairman and president Jason Ribiero. “I started the day pretty calm. I went to the gym — I was really relaxed. I’m as competitive as they come, but when that (end-of-game) target score got set, I didn’t think that I’d get as ramped up as I did.

“But the energy and the excitement — seeing kids with signs, seeing all four corners of the community represented, seeing the flash and panache of the event and hearing that we set a league record for merch sales in a single game shows that this community has rallied around the idea that this is more than just a basketball team.”

It was a spirited afternoon, to be sure.

Pre-game was enjoyed by Calgarians even before they got into WinSport Event Centre, with food, drink, interactive activities and courtyard entertainment all available just steps from the arena doors.

Inside, fans sporting T-shirts featuring the specifics of the inaugural game dotted the stands of the sold-out venue.

Then came the light show, video tributes, dancers and a memorable preamble ahead of — finally after nearly 30 years without pro hoops — the much-anticipated tip-off in front of some 3,000 passionate people soaking in the special feeling of the Canadian Elite Basketball League contest.

“The energy is pretty good here,” said 12-year-old Surge fan Davis Nash, a Grade 7 hoops player himself at West Island College. “This feels good. I haven’t seen basketball in Calgary.”

His dad, 49-year-old Derek, has seen it here, though. That was back when the World Basketball League’s Calgary 88’s excited the city for a handful of years until 1992.

“It’s cool,” said the elder Nash. “I remember coming to the 88’s game when I was my son’s age, and now we’re here watching this. It’s good basketball. It’s a good crowd. I like it.”

“I really like the atmosphere,” said 11-year-old Surge fan Tim Dochstader. “It’s very upbeat. And I really like it here — I’m having quite a bit of fun.”

“We’re a basketball family,” said his dad, Mark. “I’m familiar with the 88’s. People have told me the vibe is similar and the spirit is similar to that.”

“My family had season tickets back then,” said former 88’s fan Derek Arthurs, 49. “It’s been a while, but we’re looking forward to the new pro team in town. So far, so good. Fast-paced, total athletes — really impressed with the calibre of athletes out there.”

“And the shirts that we get for free are great,” said his 13-year-old daughter, Molly. “It’s pretty great here. It’s fun to watch.”

As for the game itself, the celebrated home side opened scoring — with the historic first bucket in Surge annals recorded by Simi Shittu on a hook-shot he laid in off the backboard to finish a court-length drive to the hoop. The inaugural field-goal fell 73 seconds into the contest at the 8:47 mark of Period 1.

Just 19 seconds later, teammate Sean Miller-Moore made it 4-0 Surge with a layup.

Calgary Surge forward Trevon Scott drives up the court as Edmonton Stingers guard Martynas Varnus defends at WinSport Event Centre in Calgary on Saturday, May 27, 2023.

And after an emphatic slam-dunk by Shittu — cheered mightily by the crowd — off an in-bounds play to make it 6-zip, the Surge were off and running into their future.

“It feels great to get the first points,” said Shittu, who ended with a game-high 17 points. “Our motivation was to come out and play hard and give the fans a show.”

A Mason Bourcier three-pointer gave the hometown heroes a 21-17 lead to end the first quarter.

And they stayed in front throughout the second period, owning a 29-26 advantage at the break.

Again the Surge came out strong to start the second half, with a 9-3 run to keep them on the front foot. Early dunks by Trevon Scott and Miller-Moore again brought the crowd to its feet, as the home team stepped on the gas to secure a 49-43 lead through three quarters.

And the hosts kept it up in the final 10 minutes, opening up an 11-point lead — on Admon Gilder Jr.’s two made free-throws — to give them the cushion to stave off a late Stingers push in an entertaining Elam Ending.

Stefan Smith, who had 16 points, sealed the deal with the final two points on free throws.

“With all the energy in the building and all the great energy in our city, the hope for such a great game and everybody’s anticipation, I was just pleased with our guys channelling it into defence and channelling it into getting rebounds and stops at the end of the game,” said Surge head coach Nelson Terroba. “Sometimes you gotta win ugly, and winning ugly is still a beautiful thing.

“It means a lot to get the first win under our belt — I’ll be honest with ya,” continued Terroba, whose Surge (1-0) rematch the Stingers (0-1) with a game in Edmonton on Sunday (4 p.m.) before returning home to play Tuesday night against the Niagara River Lions (0-1) at WinSport (7 p.m.). “Seven months ago, they started this whole franchise from scratch to get to now to this point right here. And the energy and the connection with this whole organization is big, and we hope to keep it going.”

‘“Speechless,” added Ribiero. “Just so proud of the city, proud of every single member of this team that helped put on this event. I’ll unpack it later. But we got the ‘dub’, and that’s what matters.”

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