The push is on. And the next two games for the Edmonton Stingers will be critical to their Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) playoff hopes this season. Their opponent this weekend for a home-and-home set: the Calgary Surge, who with a record of 6-14 sit two games behind the 8-12 Stingers for the final post-season position in the Western Conference. The Stingers are fourth in the West. Following the 24-game regular season, the top four teams from each five-team conference advance to the playoffs. The good news: The Stingers are 2-0 against their provincial rivals this year, and all they need to do is beat them once in these next two games to hold the tiebreaker advantage and clinch a playoff spot. With that on the line, Stingers head coach/general manager Jordan Baker expects the games Friday in Calgary and Sunday at the Edmonton Expo Centre will have playoff atmospheres. “With it being a single-elimination format (in the post-season) this year, we need as many live playoff reps as possible, with high intensity and high stakes,” Baker told CTV News Edmonton on Thursday. “For us, we’re looking at it like an opportunity to prepare for the post-season.” Edmonton has gone 3-5 this month, their most recent loss coming Tuesday in Saskatoon, where the host Mamba (9-10) edged them 96-94 and further cemented their hold on the West’s third seed. The West playoff picture is somewhat uncertain heading into Thursday’s action, when the second-seeded Vancouver Bandits (12-8) visit the first-place Winnipeg Sea Bears (13-7) while the Mamba host the East’s Brampton Honey Badgers. The CEBL playoffs start Aug. 6, when the first seed hosts the fourth and the second seed welcomes the third in each conference. Conference final games follow two days later before the best-of-three league finals Aug. 12-16. Stingers add guard With the departure of a player from the roster and with the post-season in mind, the Stingers added an American guard for the rest of the campaign. Kendrick Ray, 32, recently signed a month-long contract with the Stingers. The eight-year European pro spent last season in Greece, where the New Yorker averaged 12.6 points and 30.4 minutes per game in 20 appearances for Mykonos. He comes to Edmonton following the departure of guard Makai Ashton-Langford for Poland. With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Dave Mitchell
