Disappointment, frustration for Saskatchewan Rattlers after third straight playoff miss

On the sidelines watching their Canadian Elite Basketball League counterparts participate in play-in games and playoff matchups, the Saskatchewan Rattlers are once again wondering what could have been in 2025.

The Rattlers finished last place in the Western Conference with a 7-17 record, extending their playoff drought to three consecutive years.

“I think disappointment is an understatement,” said Rattlers veteran forward Anthony Tsegakele. “Talking to all of the guys and then how much our group has gelled throughout the summer, I think this CEBL summer was an interesting one.”

“Off the court, we all got along really well and on the court, we were finally starting to gel, but unfortunately we didn’t really turn that into wins.”

The Rattlers closed out their 2025 CEBL season on Aug. 10 with a 96-85 victory over the Brampton Honey Badgers, capped off with a winning basket from Tsegakele as part of a career-best 18-point performance.

While the Rattlers finished the season strong – that last victory was one of three wins over their final six games – it wasn’t enough to overcome an inconsistent first six weeks of the summer.

It’s those early games that Tsegakele will be thinking about over the off-season. “You look back at those like one more shot here, one more stop there,” said Tsegakele. “One more possession here and our season looks completely different, so I think that kind of stuff makes it sting a little bit more.”

Of the Rattlers’ 17 losses this season, five games were decided by four points or less, with the team struggling to close out games early in the season. That, combined with a slow start out of the gate, made the 2025 campaign at times unbearable for Rattlers president Lee Genier.

“This is probably one of the most frustrating (seasons) of my professional career, knowing that,” said Genier. “You’re walking out of the tunnel at the end of the night knowing that you could have won these games.”

Saskatchewan started the season on the wrong foot with four straight losses, followed by back-to-back road wins over Niagara and Calgary.

The Rattlers were unable to capitalize on those wins, however, as they’d drop their next five games in a row to fall to a 2-9 record, which they were unable to recover from. A fact made even more difficult with the Winnipeg Sea Bears hosting Championship Weekend and earning an automatic bye to the semi-finals, meaning the Rattlers would have to finish third at worst in the conference to qualify.

“We knew that we couldn’t fall behind early which unfortunately we did,” said Rattlers general manager and vice-president of basketball operations Barry Rawlyk. “So we were playing catch up as the season went along … it was an uphill battle to start with and then it got steeper with the start that we had.”

On the business side, the Rattlers say it was a relatively successful year seeing a boost in attendance and recording a franchise record of 3,518 fans in a home game on June 8 at SaskTel Centre against Vancouver.

Despite that growth, the lack of playoffs dating back to 2022 has been a topic Genier has heard a lot when speaking with fans this year.

“They’re frustrated as anyone,” said Genier. “They’re coming out, they’re paying their money and I hear the comments. At the end of the day, they’re our customers and I’ve had some great discussion with them. So yeah, there’s certainly some frustration for sure.”

On the court, the Rattlers saw record-breaking performances by Nate Pierre-Louis and Jaden Bediako, setting new CEBL single-season marks for assists and blocks, respectively.

It was an up and down first season for new bench boss Eric Magdanz, who was promoted from lead associate coach to head coach just prior to the 2025 season.

“I only moved one seat over but it’s a completely different vantage point from there,” said Magdanz. “I think I grew a lot as a coach over the season. There’s things I’ve learned, there’s things I want to improve. This offseason will be big for me in understanding where I go from here.”

Wanting to provide some cohesion behind the bench with three head coaches in three years, Rawlyk said he saw improvements from Magdanz over the course of the season in implementing his system.

However as expected, he said there were some growing pains with a rookie head coach.

“Moving over those three feet from the assistant’s chair to the head coach position was a big leap for Eric,” said Rawlyk. “I certainly saw some growth over the course of the season, but we’re not in the growing business. We’re in the winning business, so there were certainly some challenges surrounding that.”

Genier, Rawlyk and Magdanz all praised the team’s ability to compete right through the final game of the season, especially once their final rotation was established bringing in veterans Tevian Jones and Devontè Bandoo.

With a three-year playoff drought now hanging over the team, Rawlyk added they’ll have to find new ways in 2026 to compete with some of the larger CEBL markets who possess larger pocketbooks.

When asked about whether the team is finding issues signing and retaining talent, the Rattlers general manager said it’s not uncommon to have players find new opportunities which can pay them more both in the CEBL and elsewhere.

“We have to win around the margins with this organization,” said Rawlyk. “We’re not going to just necessarily go out there and just outspend everybody, so there’s some other things that we need to be able to do in order to maintain a competitive roster.”

According to Genier, the Rattlers remain open to finding private ownership for the team within the Saskatoon community.

Saskatchewan is one of just a few teams left still owned by league founder Richard Petko since he established the CEBL.

Rattlers guard Isaac Simon meanwhile is the lone Saskatchewan player up for a league award, as he’s been nominated for CEBL Developmental Player of the Year which will be announced at Championship Weekend in Winnipeg.

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