Regardless of what happens Saturday, it's been a year unlike any other for Mike Raimbault.
 
The head coach of the Winnipeg Wesmen men's basketball team for the past 16 years, Raimbault took on added responsibility last summer — almost a year to the day — when he agreed to lead the Winnipeg Sea Bears of the CEBL as the head coach and general manager.
 
At the time, you wouldn't have been out of line to wonder to yourself how he would handle wearing three hats at once. But if you know of the hyper-disciplined and uber-organized man who was named Canada West coach of the year this spring, you also know he's one of the few people who could handle the workload. 
 
As the Sea Bears prepare to play for the CEBL championship on Saturday, Raimbault said he isn't yet in position to truly take stock of the past 12 months.
 
"I think that's probably a question that I won't really be able to honestly answer until I have a little bit of time to step back and reflect upon some things and get out of the fray a little bit," Raimbault said. "It's been a challenge as I expected it to be. I'm fortunate to have a lot of really great people helping me out through the course of the summer. It's been a little bit of everything at different times, ups and downs, and highs and lows, and I think to really have an analysis of what it's been like is gonna take a little bit of time to decompress and really dig into it. But it's definitely been a big challenge."
 
On his staff, Raimbault is surrounded by Wesmen. Steven Wesley, a former Wesmen and Raimbault recruit, is one of his assistants, as is Jeremy Wielenga, a close friend and a former Wesmen assistant. Also on the bench is team manager Huy Luu, the events coordinator for Wesmen Athletics and an aspiring coach, and current Wesmen assistant Braeden Floyd, who joined the team halfway through the season. 
 
The responsibilities of being a head coach of two programs at once obviously has led to plenty of overlap for Raimbault, and that has perhaps never been more visible than right now. As he prepares for the game on Saturday, the team that in many ways matters the most — his Wesmen — is set to open its non-conference season with a pair of games against the University of South Dakota Coyotes Aug. 18 and 20. 
 
So, the debacle that unfolded on Wednesday in Brampton, Ont., that forced the league to condense its three-game series to one, in some ways benefitted the head coach who now has an extra day to take a breathe before once again having to switch hats. 
 
"I'm excited. It's obviously very different situations, but the practices that we've slotted in and I've been able to make over the course of the summer have been energizing for me, and it's nice to be around that group.
 
"It's probably one of the more youthful groups that I'll have coached at the university in a long time, so I'm looking forward to the challenge of onboarding so many first-year young guys and seeing what our group is gonna be capable of doing. To kick it off next Tuesday with the game against South Dakota is gonna be a really tough test for us and a barometer of how much work we have to do moving forward."