PEI

Basketball league announces new team for Summerside

The Eastern Canadian Basketball League, set to launch its inaugural season in March, will have a team in Summerside.

Summerside Slam is the 3rd team to join the new league

The Eastern Canadian Basketball League, set to launch its inaugural season in March, will have a team in Summerside. (Laura Meader/CBC)

The Eastern Canadian Basketball League, set to launch its inaugural season in March, will have a team in Summerside, P.E.I.

The league announced the new franchise Wednesday morning at Credit Union Place in Summerside.

"An opportunity to welcome professional basketball back to Summerside and bring yet another live event to our residents and visitors is extremely exciting," said J. P. Desrosiers, director of community services for Summerside.

The team will be called the Summerside Slam and will be the third team for the league, joining the Truro Tide and Saint John Union.

The ECBL announced its intention to establish a new pro league in the Maritimes in February. Tim Kendrick, a familiar figure to basketball fans on the Island is involved with the league, serves as the president of the ECBL.  He has previously coached the UPEI Panthers and the Island Storm of the NBLC.

The Storm is on a hiatus this year, because all the other franchises in the Maritimes have announced they have either folded or will not play.

That leaves the Slam as the only active pro basketball team on the Island.

Corrections

  • A previous version of this story said Tim Kendrick was the owner of the league. In fact, the league has an ownership group, and not one individual owner. Tim Kendrick is the president of the league.
    Nov 10, 2021 7:41 PM AT