The Saskatchewan Hawks were a professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

club based in

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

that competed in the International Basketball Association beginning in the 2000–01 season, and the

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA), originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association, was a men's professional basketball m ...

in 2001–02.

Team history

From Youngstown to Saskatoon

The team moved to Saskatoon from

Youngstown Youngstown is a city in Mahoning County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, 11th-most populous city in Ohio with a population of 60,068 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Mahoning ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, where the

Hawks Hawks are bird of prey, birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are very widely distributed and are found on all continents, except Antarctica. The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks, and othe ...

had played just one season, in the year 2000. In Youngstown, the team was owned by former

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

owner Ted Stepien, but failed to gain traction, leading Stepien to move the team. Tom Tao was the principal investor, purchasing 70 per cent of the team and bringing Saskatchewan its first professional team since the Saskatoon Slam folded in 1994. During their lone IBA season in 2000–01, Saskatchewan finished third in their division and defeated the Billings RimRockers in the first round of playoffs, before losing to the eventual IBA-champion Dakota Wizards in the second round. That season, the team was coached by

Rob Spon Robert Spon (born July 4, 1962) is an American professional basketball coach, most recently serving as the head coach for the Cape Breton Highlanders (basketball), Cape Breton Highlanders of the National Basketball League of Canada (NBL Canada). H ...

. The IBA folded at the conclusion of the season.

From IBA to CBA

The team joined the

in 2001 after the IBA folded, along with the rival Wizards and Fargo-Moorhead Beez. The Hawks gave away more than 6,000 tickets for their season-opener. In their first and only season in the CBA, the Hawks compiled the worst record in the league with just 8 wins in 40 matches. Their coach that year was Laurian Watkins. Tao disappeared from the team during the season and the league took over the team's operations, along with a local First Nations investment group. However, talks between the groups ultimately collapsed, and the team folded after the 2002 season. Their final game was a 112–100 loss at home to the Beez on 22 March 2002. The Hawks collapse left the province without professional-level basketball until the founding of the Saskatchewan Rattlers, a charter member of the

Canadian Elite Basketball League The Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL; ) is the premier men's professional basketball league in Canada, as recognized by Canada Basketball. The CEBL was founded in 2017 and began play in 2019 with six teams all owned and operated by owner ...

, in 2019.

Seasons

References

External links

Official Site
(defunct) {{Defunct Saskatchewan sports teams Sports clubs and teams in Saskatoon Defunct basketball teams in Canada Defunct sports teams in Saskatchewan Basketball in Saskatchewan Basketball teams established in 2000 Basketball teams disestablished in 2002