'Surreal night': Calgary takes down Alliance in historic Surge 2 Stampede victory at the Dome

Yahoo

10-07-2025

Calgarians came decked out by the thousands Wednesday evening for Surge 2 Stampede.
Some in western wear to salute 'The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth'.
Others in Calgary Surge silks to support the Canadian Elite Basketball League franchise.
But make no mistake, it was a party like none other for the club and the circuit, hosted happily in collaboration with the Calgary Stampede at Scotiabank Saddledome.
'Surreal night,' said Surge co-owner Jason Ribiero, emotional in relishing the gala game that saw his charges score an 107-91 victory over the Montreal Alliance at the Dome amid the 6,954 fevered fans in attendance. 'The visuals are just unbelievable, with everyone in their best western wear mixed with their best jersey.
'People were telling me that they'd come from all over the country to see the game, out-pacing every expectation we had.'
Perhaps they'd hoped for more in terms of attendance, aiming to rival the season opener last spring in their first visit to the Dome — a record-breaker for the CEBL with 12,327 fans on hand.
However, the spirit and the atmosphere of the evening pushed the one-off affair to extraordinary heights.
'It was kind of perfect the way it all played out Wednesday,' said CEBL commissioner Mike Morreale. 'I've kind of come to expect it from teams that over-deliver — Calgary being one of them.
'I was here last year for the home opener — over 12,000 fans. I would say (Wednesday) was better,' continued Morreale. 'There was less fans in the stands, but that didn't matter. I would say it really hit a home run.
'When you do all the right things — all the little things correctly — eventually things prevail and karma comes to the forefront.'
They certainly got things done correctly on the floor, even though the visitors got the better the Surge early in the evening.
But that was forgotten as the western night wore on.
At halftime, the Calgary Stampede Showband took to the court, reminding all this was no ordinary Surge affair and that just outside the Dome doors 'The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth' was in full swing.
And then it was time for the Surge to put on a show of their own.
Down 62-49 at the intermission, the home Dome side stampeded out of the dressing room to make it a game. The Surge out-scored the Alliance 15-3 in the first five-plus minutes of the third quarter and made it a one-point game on three separate occasions.
Then they finally took the lead — 77-76 — on a Greg Brown III three-point shot with 3:14 left in the frame.
And by the end of the quarter, it was Surge up strong on the Alliance, 88-77.
'The crowd gave us so much motivation just to get us back in the game,' said Brown III. 'Because at the end of the second quarter, we were kind of down. We were kind of getting in our emotions, just mad because we were losing.
'But we made a couple of big threes and made with big plays, and we heard the crowd just getting into it, and it gave us an extra boost of motivation.'
'We have a standard that we're building here,' added Surge head coach Kaleb Canales. 'And the guys live up to it every day. We know the game is ebbs and flows. It's not going to be a perfect game. We're not a perfect basketball team, but we're a together team, and our formula is to stay together regardless of the situation.'
The home side didn't let up in the final frame, punctuated by a 9-4 run in target-score time.
'This is who we are,' Canales said. 'We're like a hockey team. This is art. We're an artistic team, and we're very emotional. We play off emotions. And the home crowd, the environment (Wednesday) was just spectacular.
'I love our team. I love our squad. I love the ups and downs. And … you know … our goal is to win a championship.'
Surge guard Evan Gilyad Jr. led all scorers with 37 points, including seven three-pointers. Sean 'Rugzy' Miller-Moore had 24, as did Brown III, with his performance capped by an emphatic game-ending slam.
With that, the 6-foot-7 forward has a Stampede celebration in mind to mark the occasion.
'We're talking to our grandkids about this whole experience,' said a smiling Brown, a Dallas native who made a point to praise Ribiero for his vision of Surge 2 Stampede. 'You know … I was walking to the arena, because my apartment's close by, and I'm walking through the fair going, 'Man, this is cool. I get to walk through a fair, go to a game, play the game and then walk back through the fair to my apartment. And I'm just grateful just to be a part of it. And I'm very grateful of Jason and his staff to organize this and have the success.
'I saw this little Fruity Pebbles chicken sandwich (on the midway). I've been eyeing it ever since I've seen it. It's like a cookie jar that you always walk by in the kitchen that's looking at you, literally. It's like big googly eyes staring at me. I don't know — probably I'm going to get it to celebrate the win.'
The victory keeps the Surge trending in second place — at 10-5 — in the CEBL's Western Conference, with the Surge headed next to Saskatoon on Tuesday to play the Western Conference rival Saskatchewan Rattlers (4-11).
But the evening will be long triumphed as a dang fine show at the Dome.
'We're matching the energy of the Stampede, and I think that's what's made this a beautiful marriage from the beginning,' added Ribiero. 'So I just want to give a lot of credit and gratitude to the Calgary Stampede.
'They didn't have to do this, but to open their doors to us — to our team, to our players and to their families — and to get the community to experience something different is amazing.'
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