Halford & Brough in the Morning - All Four Canucks Forward Lines Are Rocking Right Now

Episode Date: October 28, 2024

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at a busy weekend in sports (3:00), they talk a big Saturday night Canucks home win over the Penguins (6:00), plus they talk some Caps, Lions, Seahawks, and World Series results (27:00). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Whoa, wait a minute. Huh? Hold up. What? Oh, okay. Did we just lose to the f***ing Canucks? You're listening to Halford & Brough. You know, Sadeen's kind of talking before the game, so maybe he thinks tonight's the night. Now here's Daniel Sprong with a burst of speed. Left wing to the man with a live shot. And they score! Arsty Beans!

Here comes the Hail Mary with the game on the line. And the ball is caught! Caught! It's a miracle! Yeah, I've been in the darkness. And the ball is caught! Caught! It's a miracle! Yeah, I've been in the darkness. You gotta go in there. Make peace with it. Good morning, Vancouver.

6-0-1 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. It is Halford and his bruv. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Hey, dawg.

Good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello.. Good morning. Hey, dog. Good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brougham of the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff

that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler. While they pay the highest prices on to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler. While they pay the highest prices on scrap metal, North Star Metal Recycling. They recycle. You get paid. Visit them at

1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec Canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, Rafit, what are you waiting for? Kintec. We've got a lot to get into on the show today. Got a lot of sports to cover from the weekend.

We've got a lot of guests to talk to. Guest list begins today at 7 o'clock. Yes, that means the first hour of this program. An hour. 60 minutes of uninterrupted Halbro excellence. Guest list. 7 o'clock. Mike Tanier, our NFL insider from the 2 Deep Zone sub stack.

A lot went on yesterday. I might do everyone a favor and not mention the Seattle Seahawks game with Mike Tanier, or quite frankly to anybody on this station. Might just gloss over it entirely. 7.30, Mike Russo's going to join the program from the Athletic. Normally, we talk to Mike about the Minnesota Wild, but Mike was part of the Athletic crew that polled all of the NHL executives in front offices about NHL executives in front offices. Who's the best? Who's the worst?

We will find out with Mike Russo coming up at 7.30. 8 o'clock, Satyar Shah is going to join the program. There's a get. Satyar Shah at 8. We'll talk a little Canucks with Sat. We'll look back to the game against Pittsburgh on Saturday. We will look ahead to tonight's game against the Red Hot Carolina Hurricanes.

Speaking of tonight's game, Jason, we are giving away a pair of tickets to see the Canucks and the Canes tonight from Rogers Arena. We are still working on how we're going to do it. How are we going to do it? What's the plan here? How are we going to give away these tickets to our beautiful We don't know how we're going to do it. I think at some point we're going to do it. How are we going to do it? What's the plan here? How are we going to give away these tickets to our beautiful

We don't know how we're going to do it. I think at some point we're going to give a time. Okay. Like for example, maybe 8.15. Hypothetically. Hypothetically 8.15. And we're going to tell everyone because people on the stream are like, wait a minute we're two minutes behind. So when you announce

this stuff, it's unfair to us. Good point, Jason. At some point we we're going to say, you know, did 815 work for you, A-Dog? 815. Sounds good. Is that going to interfere with nap time, or is that going to be good? 815. I'll be up for it.

People start calling in, 604-280-0650. Don't call at 814. Don't call in early. Don't call in early. We're not going to answer the phones, okay? Then it doesn't make a sound. It just, there's a little light'll block the lines. We're not going to answer the phones. Okay? Then it doesn't make a sound. It just, there's a little light that comes up. So you're not going to annoy us.

And then we're going to take the 10th caller. 815, 10th caller, 604-280-0650. Don't start calling now. Yeah. Don't get confused. Okay? Call at 815. Be the 10th caller.

You can get a pair of tickets. I'm sure this is going to be a complete disaster. There's no way you're remembering any of that. Someone's emailing right now. They're like, did I win the tickets? No. The switchboard is lit up. You have to call.

Is it? I bet it is. That would be funny, though. I respect the humor of the listeners. Guest list, once again, 8 o'clock Satyar Shah, 7.30 Mike Russo, 7 o'clock Mike Tanier. That's what's happening on the program today. Ladi, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night?

No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? You missed that? What happened?

What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. Your Vancouver Canucks scored one, two, three, four straight goals on Saturday night in the second period, including three in a minute and five second span, holding off the Pittsburgh Penguins for a 4-3 win on Saturday night at Rogers Arena, the Canucks' fourth win in a row. Big congratulations to a pair of guys. Petey for scoring his first goal of the season, and Arsh Baines for scoring his first goal in the NHL. The Canucks were not sharp to start this game, but after Pittsburgh made a 2-0 early in the second, the game totally

flipped. By the end of the second, the Canucks were out shooting the Penguins 28-12 and leading 4-2. The strength of this team so far this season has been its forward depth. If you look at the stats, no one player on the Canucks is lighting it up. Miller, Besser, and Garland each have seven points in seven games, which is good, but by no means spectacular. The key is that seven Canucks forwards have at least two goals and a bunch more have one goal. They've only had one goal from a defenseman. Just one.

Quinn Hughes had it. Of course he did. And they haven't had any from their big offseason acquisition, Jake DeBrusque. Talk it, unprompted, said that he thought Daniel Sprong had a really good game on Saturday. Sprong is a member of the fourth line.

And don't forget that the Canucks still have Dakota Joshua waiting to rejoin the lineup. I actually wonder, given that they've got all this forward depth right now and things are going pretty well, why not send him to Abbotsford for a conditioning stint to get him up to speed? Tuckett actually mentioned that, which is why I mentioned it. Certainly there's no huge rush to get him back in,

and I think he might need a little bit of time to just find his legs, find his fitness. So sending him down to Abbotsford for a little conditioning stint makes sense at this point. I wanted to go over the four goals in the second period. Sure. That all occurred really close together, especially the first three. Um, and I think it's worth noting that on these four goals, you've got Petey's line, Bluger's line, Miller's line,

and finally the fourth line, which is a speedy line, fourth line of Sprong, Baines, and Suter. I really like the makeup of all four lines. Can I just say that? As they're constructed right now, I said every single line at least once when I was watching, I was like, wow, this is a really good line. So you're going to keep Dakota Joshua out? Yeah.

Sorry, Dave. Sorry, buddy. Sorry, buddy. Things are rolling. On Petey's goal, really nice aggressive keep in at the point by Myers, who got in front of a really weak clearance by the Penguins and was able to feed Garland down low. And how often we heard that, Garland down low

makes things happen. Garland skates behind the net and quickly finds a wide open Pedersen, who I would say confidently ripped a shot post and in. The Penguins got badly caught trying to blow the zone. I think Ricard Raquel was at the Canucks blue line

at that point. But Pedersen will take, Pedersen's going to take the soft coverage. He found it and it was great to see him bury that with authority. What did you think

when Petey finally, finally banged one home? Yeah. Thank God. There was the, thank God. Finished minus one on the night, but we're not criticizing.

There was a four. It's funny because I'm going through the audio this morning and there was a clip and it was like Petey talking about his goal. Not interested in talking about it whatsoever.

He was like, yeah, it was good to get a good one. Yeah, that was the entirety of the clip. That'll shut Brough up. Yeah, right. And I'm like, OK, it's good that I mean,

it's like if we're doing the baby steps thing, which we seem to be kicking and screaming into doing the slow and steady wins the race. The progression is coming and there's a plan and he's getting closer and closer towards the Petters. So we know then getting that goal and getting, you know, the the monkey off the back and snapping the slump. It's an important thing. I I will say this. I think you're very astute and right in pointing out that it looked confident when he shot the puck. It was a nice shot. He leaned into it, right?

He wasn't thinking twice about it or, you know, am I going to double clutch it? He just ripped it. Just ripped it. While they were announcing Petey's goal, Sherwood scored a few seconds later. A terrific play of the Canucks' blue line to break up the Penguins entry.

Another Penguins turnover. That was the theme of all this. Create a two-on-one with Bluger who ended up feeding back to Sherwood for the one-timer. When did Bluger turn into like this great playmaking center? It's incredible. Also credit Danton Heinen for the back pressure

that helped cause that Pittsburgh turnover. So we've been through Petey's line's goal, and there's Bluger's line. A few seconds after that, another Pittsburgh breakdown as JT Miller was allowed to sneak behind all the Penguins and take a long pass from Brock Besser. Miller did not score on his initial shot, but he follows the puck to the net. He shoved Eric Carlson, who had a tough night, and it somehow bounced past Nedeljkovic.

And then all of a sudden, it's 3-2 Canucks within the span of, what was it, a minute? Something like that? The Canucks took a few minutes off scoring after those three quick goals, but they were back at it soon enough when Daniel Sprong took the puck and absolutely blew past Eric Carlson. I mean, again, it was a tough night for Eric Carlson.

Sprong didn't score himself, but he shot, and Baines was there for the rebound for his first NHL goal. So, again, that's Petey's line, Bluger's line, Miller's line, and finally that speedy fourth line of Sprong, Baines, and Suter. Gino Malkin made it interesting in the third period. Really nice move. I thought he got hurt there too. Yeah, well, I mean, he's an old man, and he had a fall.

But the Canucks held on for their fourth straight win, 4-3 over the Penguins. Fun night at Rogers Arena, I imagine. I wasn't there. A-Dog, you were there. What was it like? I mean, it must have been wild when those three goals were going. Oh, it was ridiculous.

It was just like bang, bang, bang. It was so fast. And, man, when Baines scored, Rogers Arena was rocking. It was a really, really loud crowd. They were super happy for the kid, and it was awesome to see. Okay, so I have procured some audio from the head coach, Rick Talkett, who was probably the most effusive he's been in his praise

of this hockey team this season, following Saturday night's game. And it's a little bit interesting because it wasn't a perfect game, as you mentioned. It was not the greatest start. You spotted a visiting team, a 2-0 lead, but I want to start with what he said about Arshdeep Baines, the speed that that line brings, and then as Bruff mentioned,

unprompted praise for Daniel Sprong, smack in the middle of all this. It's like Rick Talkett had so much praise to go around that he wanted to make sure that he got some Sprong love in there and just sprung it on them. It just sprung to mind. Sprung right all over the media. So here it is, Rick Talkett on that fourth line featuring Archie Baines and Daniel Sprung and what they brought to the table

in fourth three win over Pittsburgh on Saturday. I think the speed factor. I think the speed, whether he plays high in the lineup sometimes, I could bump him up or he plays as a fourth line guy. I think right now, and I thought Daniel Sprung was excellent tonight, by the way. I thought the fourth line was good. But when you have speed on the fourth line,

that can check is the key, and I think that's what Bainsey does. He's got some speed, but he's starting to have an identity like he can check also too. He's finding the positions where to be defensively. You know, he's starting to... The game's growing. He's working

at his game. Now that wasn't it for Rick Talkett. When speaking about the aforementioned window that A-Dog was saying where it just felt like goals were coming fast and furious and bang,

bang, bang, one after another, Talkett said that that eight to ten minutes in the second period where they were just creating off the rush and using their speed and that transition play that he was stressing in the preseason and in training camp

said it might have been the best that he's seen since he arrived in Vancouver. Here's Rick Talkett on the rush chances in the second, following the win over Pittsburgh on Saturday. Since I've been here, I think that eight, ten-minute stretch of the rush chances is the best I've seen this team do that for me. Like in the year and a half I've been here, that was excellent. So you can tell the stuff that we're practicing, the stuff that they're applying, it's working.

And the conversion, obviously, you know, that two-home was big with Teddy and Sherwood. But I thought we played really fast. Our neutral and regroups got us off the rush. So, yeah, that's the stuff we're looking for. You know, it can change a game. You know, you're down 2-0, have an average first period. All of a sudden, if you can become a good rush team, look at Edmonton.

You know, there's been periods where, you know, they don't do anything for a period. All of a sudden, they get three rush chances, and all of a sudden, you know, they're one of the best rush teams in the league. So I think we're trying to learn from that, being able to, you know, there's a spurt there that you can do where you can get back in the

game. So we went over all four goals in fairly intricate detail. Three of the goals were on the rush, you know, you got the Sherwood breakup of the blue line, which was thanks in part to Danton Heinen's back pressure that forced a bad pass. And then it was just quickly back the other way, quickly.

And that's what Tuckett was saying at the beginning of the season when he was looking back at some of the games in the playoffs where the Canucks would break up maybe a rush coming at them, but then would be a little conservative with how quickly they went back the other way. Well, that's why they wanted to add some speed to the lineup. Scher would bring speed, and he was able to get the play going back the other way really quickly.

JT Miller's goal was a really quick up from Brock Besser. And then you had the fourth goal, which was Daniel Sprung. Again, speed added to the lineup. He goes around Eric Carlson like he's standing still. I think he actually might have been. Yeah. And then, you know, goes to that, shoots, and then Baines, who also has speed, was able to beat all the Penguins' defense

back to get that rebound. That's what Tocantin is talking about, and that's why he was so pleased with that game, because that's what they worked on in training camp. And there were spurts of it this season, for sure, but I think when you demonstrate that all within one period, all within like 10 minutes, it's going to make the coach happy. A text unsigned, so it must be from Gary.

An early What We Learned. By the way, a reminder, get your What We Learns in. They are presented by AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. Hashtag WWOLWeLearned from Gary and early what we learned by the way, a reminder, get your, what we learned. And they are presented by AJ's pizza on East Broadway, hashtag WWL. We learned from Gary this year's penguins might be the slowest team. The NHL has seen in 30 years. Yes, that absolutely played that absolutely played a role in what happened on

Saturday. Like, I don't want to take away from what the Canucks did because I think getting the amount of rush chances that they did is more of a mindset. Like part of it is being aggressive and getting after it. Also, you have to finish, right? There's been issues with this team at times finishing their chances.

So full credit to the Canucks. That being said, we can carve out a minute here because we wanted to talk about this anyway and it was the most recent opponent. That Pittsburgh team's in deep trouble. Now that I've seen it. I'm mad, man. Now that I've seen it firsthand, and I watched the game on Friday night where they went into Edmonton, and if not for Yoel Blomqvist, probably would have lost 8-0.

They only lost 4-0, but they were outshot somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-29. Their trip to Western Canada did not go well. They go into Winnipeg. They lose 6-3. they go into Calgary. They get a point, but they lose in the shootout. Edmonton was a complete mismatch. You mentioned their goalie Blomquist, who I think was one of the bad guys from James Bond.

Yes. And, you know, that could have been 10-0 Edmonton. And then the Canucks game, I think they probably started out there like, all right, guys, come on, let's show some pride. And they started out okay. But if you look at them defensively, and again, not to take anything away from the Canucks, but the first goal, Petey's goal, just an absolutely weak clearance

and I think a miscommunication between the Penguins that Tyler Myers is able to just like, hey, I'll get this puck actually. And Ricard Raquel is like way up the ice. Petey, wide open in front of the net. And you're like, credit to Garland for finding him, but any of you listening right now that can skate would able to get that puck to to petterson he was wide open and for a while like they never ended up covering him really um and and you know like miller after after so after

after the uh canucks tied it at two how do do you let Miller get behind you like that? Like, how does that happen? You know, you turn the puck over again, and then Miller's like, pass me the puck. And it was a good pass from Brock Besser and heads up, and it was quick, but it wasn't difficult. I mean, it was like a wide-open bomb, you know?

Like, I don't know. I'm watching that game, and I'm thinking, like, is Sullivan going to get fired when he gets back to Pittsburgh? I kind of wondered it. It was crazy, man. It was a disastrous performance. And, you know, like, I'm the biggest Sidney Crosby fan ever. I think he's had a real slow start to the season, though.

Yeah. For him. Yeah, well, the goals aren't there, right? And, you know, it's funny because Gino at one point leading the NHL in scoring, which we all marveled at last week, did come on the strengths of some really big performances, including that 6-5 win. I want to say it was over Buffalo where he got his 500th goal,

Sid got his 1600th point. And the love-in, as we had Sean Gentile on the show on Friday, he mentioned the one-night love-in for the Penguins. They got a lot of their offense in that one game, which is crazy to say, but it's true. The opponents get a lot tougher for the Vancouver Canucks starting tonight, 7 o'clock, Rogers Arena. It is the red-hot Carolina Hurricanes.

I say this because for as badly as the Western swing went for the Pittsburgh Penguins, it has gone swimmingly for the Carolina Hurricanes who got an overtime win in Edmonton on Tuesday, followed that up with a 4-2 win in Calgary on Thursday,

dipped down to Seattle on Saturday night and got a 4-1 win there. So they've taken three of three in their Western part of their road trip. It started out with games in Pittsburgh and St. Louis. Very different type of team coming to town than the Pittsburgh Penguins. And then, of course, Wednesday, the Canucks are going to get

Hughes-Apalooza, which is Jack, Quinn, and the other one, Luke, all together on the ice when the New Jersey Devils come to town. The other one, Frank, I think. And their brother, Doug. But just to circle back to the Canucks for a sec, a couple other things here. You talked about the depth at forward, very correctly identifying that it's the strength of this team.

I gain a newfound appreciation for Kiefer Sherwood every single time I watch the guy play. He now has a career- best point streak of four games, two goals, three assists. I did wonder when they signed him, if he was going to be one of those guys that had another facet to his game offensively that maybe he just hadn't developed in his previous NHL stops.

There was no foundation for that. They had no reason to think it. I was like, hey, maybe he'll get a shot. Because there were some opportunities on this team to play with pretty good centers and pretty good line mates. Where does Dakota Joshua go when he gets back? He's got to go somewhere. I don't know if you're going to break up.

That's the new, the third line. I know. I know. Bluger, Sherwood, and Heinen. Yeah. Right? Like they've found something there. They can actually just like create these amazing third lines now,

just like they've always done, right? Just like they've always done. Tale as old as time, really. And then the fourth line, maybe you throw them on there to start. Send Baines back down, I guess. I mean, it's unfortunate for him. Or do you reunite him with Garland and have a line of Dakota Joshua, Petey, and Garland? That would seem almost unfair to Hoaglander.

But, I mean, hopefully there aren't any injuries that allow Dakota Joshua to just like find his spot. But like it is, it's crazy right now that Dakota Joshua, who was one of the more important forwards for the Canucks last season, you're thinking about like, you know, where does he go when he comes back in? And there isn't like a super obvious place to put

him because you can say, well, just put him on the fourth line. But like, I don't, well, just put him on the fourth line, but I don't know if you want Dakota Joshua on the fourth line. You want to more up the lineup. Most, I mean, he was... If he's on a scene with Sherwood, though, that would be hilarious. That would be just a wrecking ball of a line. He was an 18-goal scorer last year, but it was a 63 game,

so let's just call him a 20-goal scorer. Heinen's important for that line, though. Heinen's important. Heinen, so you know how the whole offseason, not the whole offseason, but a lot of the offseason was about upgrading the speed of the Canucks. And thank God they did it because I think

they really needed to. You see what they've got in their bottom six now. And it's not this bruising bottom six that plays this heavy style of hockey. It's fast. Heinen can move. Sherwood can move. Sprong, if he style of hockey, it's fast. Heinen can move. Sherwood can move.

Sprong, if he's in there, he can move. And Baines can skate. So maybe, and if you put Holglinder down there, if he has to go down there, he can skate as well. I'd be real curious to see what a line of Dakota, Joshua, Petey, and Garland would look like. That could be really good. Be real curious to see that. Yeah.

I mean, the funny thing is that none of these line trios are the ones that we expected when July 1 obviously came around and then when training camp even opened. I mean, I would have never have thought that at one point this season that you would have a fourth line with the offensive prowess of Arshdeep Baines and Daniel Sprong together. You know who's feeling pretty good that the Canucks are scoring goals or the forwards are scoring goals?

I know. Jake Dabrowski. I'm glad you said it. Because honestly, we don't even talk about the guy much. He was a big off-season acquisition. They've given a lot of money. He was the biggest off-season acquisition. They've given a lot of money. He was the biggest off-season acquisition.

They gave a lot of money in term to this guy, and he hasn't scored, and I don't really think he's made much of an impact in games either. Which was always the knock in Boston. Yeah. It was that the numbers at the end of the year were always very, they came in peaks and valleys, and the good ones came in the peaks

and then the long stretches of ineffectiveness were the valleys he was not a consistent guy he'll go on tears so that at the end of the year when you say you know he's a guy that can score 25 to 30 goals it's like yeah but they come in bunches right and it's frustrating maybe as a fan or as someone that wants to see it with more consistency, but some guys are built like that. Some guys are streaky scorers and they're like that their entire lives. The thing with the Brask is there's no pressure right now because he's playing on a team. I mean, I would venture to say right now that the Vancouver Canucks have one of

the deepest four groups in the NHL. Absolutely. It's very funny. And I know we're up against it for time, but before we go, could I just quickly give some love to Eric Brandstrom? Cause I've been really impressed with him and I'm just going to steal this harm and dial tweet. And I know we're up against it for time, but... Before we go, could I just quickly give some love to Eric Brandstrom? Oh, yeah. Because I've been really impressed with him.

And I'm just going to steal this Harmon Dial tweet. This is when they were up 2-0 at that point. So I don't know what the final stats were at, but as of 2-0 for the Canucks on Saturday, shots were 11-4 with Brandstrom on the ice. Scoring chances were 9-2, and they were up 2-0. So Brandstrom was like a factor all night in that game, even though he's not necessarily getting points,

but he's been very, very good for them so far. Yeah, it's puck moving to the bottom four. Yeah, I mean, he's been excellent. I really hope they don't send him down. I hope he's a fixture in that top six because I really like him. It's just a question of if you want to look forward to the playoffs, will they want to go to the four heavy guys? Yeah, will he be able to handle the physicality?

Who knows? Exactly. I'm going to go one step further. Rick Talkett, in this post-game of praise where he was praising everybody on the team, had some very kind words for Eric Bronstrom. Here's what he had to say after the 4-3 win over Pittsburgh on Saturday. Yeah, I mean, he probably can give him a few more minutes. Even tonight, he's a feisty guy.

I think what people worry about, he's a small guy. He's going to get pushed around in the corners, and I haven't seen that, to be honest with you. I've seen him really good box outs. Obviously, he wheels the net really well. He's like Huggy, like Hughes. He can do that. But I find his feistiness is there. So really pleasantly surprised how he's playing.

We grab a guy like that off the waivers, and all of a sudden this guy's game's coming. So there's a lot to like about him. So he compared Eric Brandstrom to Quinn Hughes, and then he also compared Quinn Hughes to Sidney Crosby. So if you guys want to do the math. Eric Brandstrom. It's Crosby. Okay, we've got a lot more to get to on the Alfred and Brough Show

on Sportsnet 650. For those of you that just want the Canucks talk and just want the hockey talk, this is a sports show. We are going to carve out some time in the next segment to talk about the million other things that happened in the world of sports over the weekend. It was a very busy 72 hours. If you learned something over those 72 hours, get your what we learned in now.

Dunbar-Lumber text line is 650-650. We'll be back on the other side with more sports. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet at 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satyar Shah, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the postgame show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. 634 on a Monday Happy Monday everybody

Halford Brough Sportsnet 650 Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing,

service, or parts. We are an hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. Let's get to some of these other stories from the weekend.

As a matter of fact, the one that happened most recently. Last night in Los Angeles, Whitecaps lose 2-1 to the top-seeded LAFC. Denny Buenga with a penalty goal in the 30th minute after a Tristan Blackman handball. Oliveira with the second. Ryan Gauld, his fourth goal of the playoffs already after the hat trick in Portland, scored late in the 94th minute. So the fourth minute of added time. Too little, too late for the Caps.

Aggregate doesn't matter. Goals for and goals against really don't matter. So the goal at the end was just mostly a consolation prize. It's a best of three. They now come back to BC Place on Sunday in a must win, no matter what. Even if it's a tie at the

end of regulation, it goes right to a shootout. Whitecaps need to win. As mentioned, there's no single points, loser points, and there's no aggregate. They got to win now. Their season is now officially on the line. The BC Lions will play at Saskatchewan on Saturday. Now, the last time they went to Regina, they got absolutely blown out to the point where the Lions went,

we got to do something here. We can't, this can't keep happening. Keep doing this? And what they did was they said, Vernon Adams is our quarterback now. There was only one game left in the regular season. It wasn't that long ago. It was a meaningless game against the Montreal Alouettes. Vernon Adams came in there,

and they blew out the Montreal Alouettes. Now, I don't know how hard the Owls were trying, but it was something for the Lions to go and run with. And Vernon Adams is now the quarterback. So that's going to be the difference, right? Okay, you know, like last time we went to Saskatchewan, it was terrible and we got blown up. But Nathan Rourke, he was the quarterback then. Now we got Vernon Adams as the quarterback.

The Lions are still going to be underdogs in this one, despite what happened in the final week of the season. And even if they do get past the Rough Riders, then they'll have to go to Winnipeg for the West final. So it's only two games, but it is two very tough games for the BC Lions in order to get to the Grey Cup at BC Place in a few weeks. But that's not the only news from the Canadian Football League coming from this weekend, Jason.

Because in other news, Randy Ambrosie is, quote-unquote, stepping down as CFL commissioner following this year's Grey Cup in Vancouver. I think we're all familiar with my thoughts on Randy Ambrosie as commissioner. Didn't even know you knew the man. I thought he was a salesman that did not deliver, which, sorry. Listen, if you want to say he can hang his hat on finding new ownership for a few teams, including the BC Lions, fine. Yep, he did that. But, I mean, did he do that?

I don't know if he did that. It was on his watch. It was on his watch. But overall, he failed to grow the league. And more importantly, he failed to grow league revenues. And that was what he was tasked with. And that's why he doesn't have universal support from the Board of Governors.

The global initiative. No no bueno i mean it was adorable in its ambition naive in its ambition uh ambition but you know like his idea that you know we've got this great league and I think the world should know about it. I'm like, okay, that's awesome. But you know, the NFL might have a bit of a headstart on the global thing. So how much revenue really is there to find in countries? I mean, maybe there's some revenue to find in the States on a broadcast deal, but how much are you going to sell rights to in Mexico or Europe? Right?

Like, I don't know. The partnership, remember how much the league talked up this genius sports partnership? They're going to change the way we look at the game. And for like a year, we couldn't even get the stats. I remember that. I mean, we couldn't even get basic stats. I remember that. I mean, we couldn't even get basic stats. Couldn't get our beloved PDFs from the CFO. I was like, yeah, you are right.

You have changed the way the game is looked at. Like, we don't know how many first downs each team has. It's back to 1942. We have one stat. It's called points. The league still has nine teams, despite wanting to expand to 10. Now, you can look at the COVID stretch both ways, I suppose. The good is that the league survived.

The bad is that it was not handled well. It wasn't handled with any creativity that the other sports leagues showed. He basically went to the government and said, can we have money? And they were like, no. And he's like, okay, we're shutting down. He's like, oh, damn it. I like the way that you phrased this, no. And he's like, okay, we're shutting down. It was like, oh, damn it. I like the way that you phrased this, though. Like, there was, it felt like other leagues were putting in an effort.

Now, I understand that maybe those leagues didn't have the lack of financial wherewithal that the CFL had to deal with, right? It's tough to try in the logistics of traveling in a league where you're kind of shoestring, hamstring by budgets and everything else and you're dealing with a pandemic. But you're right. There was a sort of lack of creativity. The answer was, please, Mr. Trudeau, can we have some money? And when that didn't work, it was like, okay, well, we're going to cancel the season.

Yeah. I just always thought that he was a guy that when I was interviewing him, I felt like he was reading the press releases to me. I'm like, yeah, but let's get into what these, like the actual details of that. And he would just kind of reread the press releases to me i'm like yeah but let's get into what these what like the actual details of that and he would just kind of reread the press releases to me at any rate the cfl needs to find a new commissioner now that's interesting um i don't know yeah i always wonder about this

because we all i always like bringing it up even though there's no real tangible answer it's like what happens when gary betman stops being commissioner of the nhl like who's the next guy in line there's usually some but there will be more people that'll be interested in that job qualified candidates that'll be interested in that job i'm not saying anything about it other than i bring it up because i'm like most leagues there's a succession plan i'm sure there's one in the nhl as well i haven't thought for a minute about who would be the next guy for the CFL. There might not be a succession plan in the NHL. They might just have to go to, you know.

Bill Daley? Well, it won't be Bill Daley. Could be. I would be shocked if it's Bill Daley. They will go to a younger commissioner. If you look at how old Gary Bettman was when he took over, you want to have a commissioner that's going to have a long, long run.

Yeah. So unless it's Bill Daley as like the caretaker commissioner for a bet, I don't, I think that will. But anyway, the CFL. Yeah. At any rate, the CFL, I don't know how many, I don't know how many, I don't know how, like, is

that a job that a lot of people want? I don't know. Because Amar Doman should be it. Oh, I don't think you can do that. The Seattle Seahawks completely embarrassed themselves in DK Metcalf's absence with dumb penalties, fighting with each other on the sidelines, tripping over each other on the field, and absolutely no run game whatsoever. I'd like to bring in Moj to say that football is won in the trenches and the Seahawks on both sides of the ball failed. Their offensive line continues to be a problem.

And defensively, you know, the Buffalo Bills, how many times have we heard this about a team playing the Seahawks, especially in Seattle? They controlled the ball. You know, Josh Allen is a good player and they've got some good playmakers out there, ball. You know, Josh Allen is a good player, and they've got some good playmakers out there, but, you know, the Seahawks would just work so hard for, like, a one-yard gain on the ground, and the Bills, with Cook, were just like,

yeah, we'll take three yards here, four yards here, five yards here. You know, like, it looked easy for them out there. I mean, that's one of the most disheartening losses I can remember the Seahawks suffering at home in an awfully long time. Even some of the leaner years at the back end of Pete Carroll's tenure as head coach didn't have. Well, they got throttled by the Bills, which was a problem for sure. Buffalo, outside of the pick of Josh Allen in the first half, kind of dictated where they wanted to go, when they wanted to go, and how they wanted to go there for the most part in the game.

The meltdown was something that you didn't see a lot in terms of just repeated stupid mistakes in every facet of the game. The center to quarterback exchanges yesterday were

horrific. Awful. You can't go and we're not talking about red zone trips. You're talking deep red zone trips and goal situations and walk away with virtually nothing. And they did twice. Once was on a high snap over Geno Smith's head. They eventually got the field goal there.

The second was when they went front on fourth down and Geno tripped on the center's foot. And you look at it and you're like, okay, those are two huge, huge mistakes there. There was the, I think it was three personal fouls in the game, including Derek Hall's late hit, which caused the sideline fight with Jaron Reed. Geno throwing the ball at someone.

Right? He completely lost it at that point. Then, on top of everything else, you get the Fox cameras picking up Hall and Jaren Reed throwing punches at each other on the sideline. When you put that all together in a nice, tidy low-light package, you look like a team that is more than capable of beating itself with regularity and so that's two problems one it's bad because i if i'm not mistaken i think the arizona cardinals are now

leading the division the division's up for everyone's four and four it's it's really pathetic to shoot yourself in the foot when the division is totally up for grabs but two it's with a rookie head coach in charge right that's there are some right now for me with mike mcdonald there's a i'm willing to give him a fair amount of leash because i know he's got a lot of the remnants including personnel from the pete carroll era right he does he inherited a lot but that was that was bad man but you can't have your not look like a team that was cohesive in any way. Just making mistakes all over the place. You know?

You come in after a really impressive performance in Atlanta. You come home to where, at the very least, you're expected to put up a fight, and you're down 31-3 late in the game. That's like fans walking out in the exits end of the third quarter. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, you're down 31-3 late in the game. That's like fans walking out in the exits end of the third quarter. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like you're still 15.

They've now lost three games at home this season. I mean, yeah. Two and three at home. Yeah, and went like the 12s, the Fortress, all that stuff. That's gone. It's been gone for a while now. It was not there yesterday.

Let's talk about this World Series because game one especially was just incredible. The way that thing ended with the echoes of Kirk Gibson's Homer in 1988 by Freddie Freeman on a night where they were honoring the memory of Fernando Valenzuela. I don't know if you could have drawn it up any better than that.

That is the magic of post-season baseball. So if you missed it on Friday night, and I don't know how, usually, remember that gauge that I have where when the normies come up to me and talk about sports, people that would never otherwise talk about sports. It's mostly hockey, right?

My mom brought it up to me the other day. Yeah, there's, moms are high on the normie chart. We're like, what's going on with the sports? My next-door neighbor, I was walking to go to AJ's on Saturday. He's like, where are you going? I'm like, I'm going to a buddy's restaurant, watch some baseball. He's like, I watched the baseball on Friday.

That home run was really good. And I'm like, this is my guy now. We're sports buddies now. So I was explaining to him that Freddie Freeman's walk-off Grand Slam on Friday night was the first ever walk-off Grand Slam in World Series history so it was very historic and he was like I don't know what you're talking about have a nice night we parted ways anyway I went to AJ's and I'm so I'm there for game two AJ so I'm there for game two AJ for those that don't know AJ AJ's pizza on East Broadway, our favorite place.

We hang out there a lot. Great pizza. AJ's a diehard Yankees fan. How's he doing? So we talked a lot about... You ask with a huge smile on your face. Is he sad? How is he doing?

Is he sad? So we talked a lot about one Aaron Boone. Aaron Boone is public enemy number one by a smidge over Aaron Judge. Yankees fans are fickle, man. I know Aaron Judge is like the greatest behemoth home run hitter

of his generation and a two-time MVP or whatever, but the knives are out for Judge. Like, they got dropped in the lineup. Bat him ninth. I'm like, I don't think that's the right way.

On Saturday in game two, he went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts. He is 1 for 9 with six strikeouts in the World Series and 6 for 40. That's 150 batting nine with six strikeouts in the World Series and six for 40. That's 150 batting average with 19 strikeouts in 50 postseason played.

Five straight games with multiple strikeouts. So that's the one. The real tangible, like actual baseball analysis. We talked about that. Then there was that how bad the vibes are off and how much the vibes and the ghosts and the baseball gods are all in the favor of the Dodgers. And it started in game one with Freddie. Because, you know, as much as and God bless Frank Isola, the veteran New York writer who was like, stop comparing the Kirk Gibson hit to the Freddie Freeman hit. They're totally different.

They're basically the same thing. I don't know what he was thinking about. They were even hit at the same time. He's trying to stop the vibes. He wants it to stop. Between Fernando. They're both limping. I know.

They could not be more alike. I remember. It went to the exact same part of the ballpark. I was going to say, they hit it to similar areas. I don't know why you're not thinking of the same thing. The only thing is, I didn't realize this until I saw the video, but Kirk Gibson took his helmet off afterwards, and he was basically bald.

And Freddie Freeman has the best Johnny Unitas flat top. It's just perfectly coiffed. But that's the only difference between the two of them. But between Fernando and the Game 1 heroics and the timely hitting that the Dodgers get now from their role players, right? Freddie's a star, but Kike Hernandez keeps doing it. I don't like him.

Nobody does. I don't like him. Nobody does except Dodgers fans. And Teoscar went yard again. Like him. Yeah. What did you think of Boone's decision to bring in a guy that hadn't pitched in a month?

So in a very difficult situation. This is the only crappy part about it happening on Friday and doing the show on Monday is because this has been eviscerated by everybody, right? Everyone, like all the Yankees announcers. And it's funny because they were playing that great clip from I can't remember what World Series it was where Mike Mussina saw Joe Torre get up

to try and take him out. And you could see him from the mound. He melts. He's like, you sit down. And Joe Torre's like, oh, okay, fine. Everyone was saying like they wish garrett cole had done that to booney because they were like there's no there's no way he should have came out when he came out and then to go with cortez after having not pitched for what a month

and never having any relief experience like it was just a crazy decision i don't like it when the funny thing is is like we were on the text thread together and I said on Flaherty, when he was pitching a gem, I was like, they gotta keep him in there. They gotta keep him in there. And then they kept him in there too long. But it was like one pitch too

long. But one pitch can decide a baseball game. But it's like the third time through the lineup. Yeah, that's basically it. That's the rule of thumb now. The third time through, you're like, you gotta get the guy out of there because they've seen it. It was hilarious though through the lineup. Yeah, that's basically it. Right? That's the rule of thumb now. That's the rule of thumb. The third time through, you're like, you got to get the guy out of there because they've seen it. It was hilarious, though. As soon as I sent that, was it Stanton that went like, just like the master?

I was like, okay, they can take a bow now. His timing is perfection. Never mind. So now there is, by the way, the numbers on the World Series, as expected, are through the roof. I think it did like 15.2 million viewers and then 13.4. So the numbers are huge, as you would expect. There is a silver lining for the Yankees, and AJ and I discussed this as well on Saturday. I think in the last two times, the last time that the Yankees played the Dodgers in 81,

the home team fell behind 0-2. You're never out of a series until you lose one at home. Right. And the other thing, too, is the Yankees have some experience with this because when they beat... Who was it that they beat in 97? The Braves. When they beat the Braves, they lost 12-1.

The 90s World Series. Yeah. It was the Braves. Yeah. 12-1 and then 4-1 to the Braves, and then they stormed back and won four straight and won the series four, too. So it's not over yet, Yeah, 12-1 and then 4-1 to the Braves, and then they stormed back and won four straight and won the series four, too.

So it's not over yet, but I do think that with all the ghosts and the vibes and the baseball gods clearly in the corner of the Dodgers. I hope the Yankees get back in this. I know Laddie wants a sweep. You just want it over with now, don't you? Just get it over with. Well, it's like when the Oilers were one win away. It's like I don't want that situation with the Yankees. I don't want it.

I want it to go back to LA for sure. Yeah. I want that. Yeah. As much as I don't have a, I don't know. I don't have a, I don't have like a dog that I love. Don't have a dog in the rain. Like, I don't care.

I just want to see a good series. Entertainment wise, it's been great. Entertainment wise, the first thing, like even game two. You can't beat a walk off and slam. Well, yeah. And it was going to be hard to match the heroics of Friday on Saturday's game, but it was still a very good game, very entertaining. Okay, we are almost up against it for time here. We should do a quick reset and give everyone an idea of what's going on.

We've switched guests, right? We've moved time slots here, so coming up is now Mike Russo. Correct. And then at 7.30, it's going to be Mike Tanney. Correct. Okay, so we're going to get back into the hockey talk with Russo, who in addition to being the Minnesota Wild Beat writer, we can ask him about this great start that Kirill Kaprizov is off to in Minnesota.

He and a couple other writers from The Athletic, they did a survey and a poll of all the NHL executives and front offices and general managers about their peers, their brethrens, and who are considered the really good front offices, the savviest, the smartest. We'll see how the Canucks front office with Patrick Albine and Jim Rutherford ranked in that. So that's coming up at 7.

7.30, we'll get into the rest of the NFL talk, including that absolutely insane finish by the Washington Commanders yesterday against the Chicago Bears. If you haven't seen it, we'll play the audio. It is absolutely bananas. We'll talk to Mike Tanier about that at 7.30, along with the rest of the NFL stories, including that tantalizing Monday nighter

between the Steelers and the Giants. The over-under in that one is like 13. It's not going to be pretty tonight, but that's your Monday night football game. What are you talking about? Russ is back, baby. So, okay,

we got a minute. I can, Russell Wilson started one game for the Pittsburgh Steelers. And after that, Russ was like, I'm so back. And then I, he probably would have said Russ is so back. Cause he would have talked about himself in the third person.

Him and Ciara did a photo shoot on the Robertoberto clemente bridge yeah in pittsburgh it was one of their romantic date nights i think to celebrate that i guess he's back and how what better way for russ to fully announce that he's back than by doing the most russ thing imaginable which is a midnight photo shoot with his wife on the roberto highly produced photo shoot and like it wasn't one Clemente Bridge. Highly produced photo shoot. And, like, it wasn't one of those things where it's like, hey, look, Russ is doing it. He obviously told everyone he was doing it.

He had, like, a production crew out there. He must have. He's like, maybe come to the Roberto Clemente Bridge tomorrow night. Maybe something cool will be happening. I don't know. Anyway, we'll talk to Mike Tanier about all that at 730. Sat's going to join us at 8 to talk about the Canucks. We haven't even really got into a preview of tonight's game.

It is the Carolina Hurricanes in town tonight. And finally, speaking of the Carolina Hurricanes playing tonight, at 8.15 this morning, we are giving away a pair of tickets to see the Canucks and the Canes tonight, 7 o'clock from Rogers Arena. At 8.15, if you call in 604-280-0650, caller number 10, lucky number 10, Pavel Beres, number 10, you will win a pair of tickets to see the game tonight at Rogers Arena. We are through hour one of the program. We got a lot more to get into.

You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.