Halford & Brough in the Morning - An Abby Canucks Update + What We Learned

Episode Date: November 28, 2024

In hour three, Mike & Jason get an Abbotsford Canucks update from radio commentator Brandon Astle (2:04), plus the boys tell us what they learned (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.

8.01 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Happy Thursday, everybody. Happy Thanksgiving, America. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Or as it's known in Canada, Thrash Thursday. Yeah. Happy Thrash Thursday, America. You are listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

Halford & 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 in Hour 3 of the program. Hour 3 is brought to you by a company synonymous with heavy metal, Campbell & Pound Real Estate Appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell & Pound.

Visit them on the internet at campbell-pound.com today. We are coming to you loud from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Soar feet, what are you waiting for? I like that. We're coming to you loud. That's good. If you're in a mosh pit, you don't want

fallen arches. It's true. You need some support there. Last thing you want to do is roll an ankle. Fall into the pit? I know this sounds weird as a guy that played in a metal band for many years, but I hated being in mosh pits. I loved being on stage watching them, but I was the guy that would always stand at the very

very far back. You're just a wee little guy, though. It does not surprise me that you do not thrive in a mosh pit. No, I would go very far back and just watch from a distance. It's like I was yawning a lot. Yeah. One guy showed up with a blanket. Yeah, trying to drink a martini and you're shaking me around.

Did you bring flip flops? Yeah. Could you guys just calm down, please? It's really affecting his hacky sack game. Yeah. To the phone lines we go. It's time now for an Abbotsford Canucks report. And who better to speak to than the play-by-play voice of the team,

Brandon Astle, here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Brandon. How are you? Fellas, what's going on? Thanks for having me on. Thanks for coming on. We appreciate you taking the time. You know, I don't know if you heard the preamble to this hit, but we said we've been remiss in catching up with Abbotsford because it's been very

busy times for the Vancouver Canucks. It's a very busy sports calendar period. And we thought, you know, let's talk to Brandon. What better time to talk to you than with the Abbotsford Canucks on a four-game winning streak, in which they've really tightened up defensively, just four goals conceded over the four wins. Walk us through it, Brandon.

What's been the key for the Abbotsford Canucks during this four-game win streak that they're currently on? Yeah, I think they're just settling into Manny Malhotra's new systems and all that. It could take a little time to get everything put into place. And the team has just really been dialed in on, I guess, the little details of what Manny always calls it and working hard in practice and in the video room

to make sure especially the young guys are fitting into the system and know what they're doing, where to be in certain situations and all that. And kind of a similar start to last year where Abbotsford was just kind of like alternating wins and losses for the first five weeks of the season. Like up until last week, they didn't string together two wins together all year.

And now all of a sudden they've won four in a row. And the fact that they're doing this without three of their top guys in Vancouver, three of their other top guys, Dee Giuseppe, Blayne Carlson, have been out for several weeks. So it's been a lot of young guys getting thrusted into a larger situation, getting more playing time, and credit to them that they've been doing well. And like you mentioned, Halford, the goaltending and defense has been so good.

Tolo Pila was going through a bit of a tough stretch like two weeks ago. I think he allowed like 15 goals in three straight starts and was really struggling to find his form, but now he is back. He's allowed just one goal over his last two starts, and they got the youngster from the ECHL, Ty Young. He's also played well since a tough start. I mean, his first AHL game, I felt so bad for the guy. It was a start in Abbotsford

on November 16th. The first three shots he faced went in. Imagine that. You get your first AHL start and the first three hit the back of the net. So he's been able to bounce back with back-to-back wins and it's been settling nicely.

And yeah, they've been on the road, a six-game road trip, and it's been a perfect 4-0 start so far. Is Yuri Patera playing? Is he hurt? For no reason whatsoever, I'm wondering if the Canucks were to call up a goalie, which guy would get the call? Well, Patera is hurt. His last game was November 6th, so that's why they had to call up Ty Young after that.

My guess, the call-up would be Tolopilo. He was up there in the playoffs last year. But again, Ty Young got called up for practice a few weeks ago. But if I had to guess, it would be, especially now, like with Tolopilo starting to find his game, he would be the guy to get called up. I mean, this guy's just like a mutant in that 6'6", 230, athletic. So I know that he

went through a bit of a tough stretch there but he's been able to to settle down and is uh ready to take the ball and run with it here um have you been watching what's been happening with rdc loves up with the big club i have and it's it's been tough man i've been going on twitter i i hate to see uh the abbotsford guys go through a tough stretch. And it's funny, like, didn't he win the team of playoff series last year? I mean, come on. But I guess it's a what have you done for me lately league. And obviously things aren't going his way.

And then he kind of got a reset when he was struggling earlier. Came down to Abbotsford, played well, went back up to Vancouver, looked like he's starting to find his form again. But, yeah, he's definitely going through a bit of a tough stretch right now. But as we know with Artie, he's a guy that doesn't get caught up in what's being said about him. Not a big guy on social media, doesn't do a ton of interviews. He just kind of keeps his head down and works.

And at the end of the day, he's still pretty young, right? And I think he's got a great future. And every goaltender goes through this at some point in their career and I think Artie's a guy that can find his form pretty quickly and who knows what happens with him when when Demko gets healthy he might have been coming down either way whether he got a shuttle last night or let in five so it's been a tough stretch but if he comes back down to Abbotsford maybe he can kind of just get away from it all and just get back to his normal self. Who do you think would be a candidate or two to get called up on the blue line from Abbotsford?

Well, we've seen it already with Pedersen getting called up. I know he didn't play, but at least it was kind of a feather in his cap to get the recognition for the job he's been doing at Abbotsford. It's hard to believe he's a rookie right now, honestly, guys. He has been that good. I try and catch myself. I don't want to hype him up. He's only 20 years old.

I don't want to put expectations on him, but it's just so tough by the way this kid has handled himself. 20-year-old defenseman should struggle in the AHL early on. That's completely normal. It's expected. But he just refuses to look his age and has quite honestly been one of the team's best defensemen and he's just a guy that does a lot of things well one thing i continue to notice that stands out is his poise with the puck he doesn't seem

to panic and holds on to it just enough to make the right play like when you watch young defense in these days they usually have like the tendency to get the puck off their stick quickly by any means necessary because they don't want to make a mistake right it's almost like it's a grenade at the end of their blade where for petterson he just got a lot of patience and won't just give it away to the other team he has like like i said he just has that knack for holding on to it letting the play come to him he's not going to force it so that's been really really encouraging to see his defensive play also good, and he came into the organization built as a guy who's known for his defense. But you just never know how long it may take for a young guy like him

to adapt to the North American ice and style of play. I mean, he played in Sweden for his entire life. The dimensions are different. The players can, I guess, hide a bit more on the big ice sheet. But, boys, let me tell you, the smaller rink definitely suits this kid's play. He'd probably prefer to play in a foam booth if he could. He searches for contact. He's big and he knows it.

I always say that about him. He knows he's big and he uses his size. There's nothing more deflating when there's a big player that is kind of soft and doesn't use his size to his advantage. Elias is the complete opposite. He'll gladly mix it up after the whistle. He'll stand up for teammates.

He's got some of that Chris Prongren, which I love. He'll let you know he's out there, and it's going to be a long night whenever he's on the ice. He's still growing into his body. I can't imagine what this kid's going to look like in another year or two. Just another thing to finish on him, which I feel is underrated, he moves pretty well for a big man. He's 6'3", 210", and when he gets that train

moving, he is tough to stop. Like, more than a few times this season when I'm calling a game, I've had to, like, do a double take to make sure it was actually him that was rushing the puck up the ice and not Bobby Orr. He's got such a powerful stride, and imagine it's only going to develop as he goes along here. Who's he been paired with?

Oh, boy. How much time do you have? I mean, he's played with everybody. Recently, he's been Jet Wu. He's been with Cole McW here. Who's he been paired with? Oh boy, how much time do you have? I mean, he's played with everybody. Recently, he's been Jet Wu. He's been with Cole McWard. He played with Kudratsev. Those are two 20-year-old lefty defensemen. So usually it's Kudratsev playing the right side. So he's been thrown in to the mix and has played with pretty much anybody. I mean, they got 10 defensemen on the roster right now. So there's a lot of competition to get ice time and i'm pretty sure i know breezeball missed the last game most of them are healthy so like petterson hasn't come out of the lineup after the way he's been playing um i know there's been some vets that have had to

sit there they're playing the young kids and they've deserved it so far and uh petterson has had his mix of d partners and it hasn't rattled him whatsoever. Tell us a little bit more about Kudryacev. All right, so another rookie that's playing beyond his years right now. He's putting up some good numbers right now, too. He's got six points over his last four. He's third on the team in scoring and he hasn't played in every single game.

But it's not just been the offense that's been impressive. He plays hard in his own end as well. He's fearless. He puts his body on the line. He'll muck it up in front of the net, in the corner. He's got a nice skill set. And we kind of knew that coming in

because he put up nice numbers with the Sioux Greyhounds. He had back-to-back 40-plus assist seasons with them. And I asked him, like, what kind of player are you? He considers himself an offensive defenseman, but he said he takes a lot of pride in taking care of his own end first. And when you look at the guy, he isn't the biggest person, but, like, at first glance, he's only 5'11", but he takes a lot of pride in taking care of his own end first. And when you look at the guy, he isn't the biggest person, but like at first glance, he's only 5'11", but he's thick.

He's over 200 pounds. He keeps like that low center of gravity, which makes him tough to knock off the puck. And he'll throw that weight around as well. Like he's a lefty, as I mentioned, he'll play the right side. He's got that versatility factor that'll help him. If he ever goes up to the big club that needs someone to play the right side, he can do that.

And I just find it hard to believe he's a seventh-round pick. I guess maybe his size is something that scouts were not sure on, but he definitely plays bigger than he is and has all those tools that can help him get to that next level. And how about this, boys? He's one of the members of a loaded 2022 Vancouver draft class. You had Lekker and Mackey go in the first round that year. Pettersson goes in the third.

Ty Young goes in the fifth. Kudratz had a few rounds later in the seventh. So that's some solid drafting right there. And I was thinking the other day, you guys will remember some of these names. Remember back in like the Utica days when guys would get called up? And I don't want to come on here

and sound like I'm ripping these guys. They're obviously a good player, but guys that are getting called up are like Brandon DeFazio,llen lane alex grenier joe labate mark michaelis like some of those high hopes for grenier i just didn't pan out right and like i said i don't want to sound like a jerk but like no no we're never a threat to fight for a full-time spot they were just kind of there whereas now we got the lights of ratu bing sasson she loves hoaglander uh pod coles only he was with vancouver those were guys that can legitimately

push for a full-time spot on a team and not all of them were drafted but guess what all were developed in abbotsford and they got more guys coming down the pipe petterson kudratsev ty mueller boys he's been unreal klimovich is a leading scorer right now. He's having a renaissance here and he's totally 21 years old. So I was just kind of randomly thinking about the old Utica shuttle back in the day, which was a tough and long travel day for these guys.

You bring up a good point because Bruff and I were working at The Athletic during those days and you're doing that deep dive on the organization. You spend a lot of time writing about the prospect pipeline. I remember spending a lot of you're doing that deep a dive on the organization you spend a lot of time writing about the prospect pipeline i remember spending a lot of time writing about zach mckeown and will lockwood and i mean those were the sort of shining examples of guys where you'd hope they'd get the recall and now like for example i wanted to ask you about max sasson who you mentioned there briefly and i'm gonna admit when he got the call I was a bit surprised because I thought well there's a lot of guys in line to make the jump what's so special about this guy

through two games at the NHL level limited minutes two points and then you hear people talk about what he did at the American League level and where he got from where he started and it's a really compelling story a really compelling player what more can you tell us about Max Sasson from his time in Abbotsford? Well, last year was his rookie season. And just before that year, he joined a team late after his season wrapped up at Western Michigan. And Jeremy Colleton put him second line center like the first day, which I thought was kind of strange. Usually, the college guys got to earn their stripes. They black ace just got to practice and earn their stripes. Max played right away. So I thought that we could have something special with Max and he didn't look back. He played in a playoff that year, was great, was in a top six role. And then he comes into last year's rookie season and he just never hit that rookie

wall. Like he put up over 40 points. He had 18 um and was just a guy that didn't go seem to go more than like three games without getting a point but he does so much more than just uh hit filling up the score sheet he's just a really smart player obviously his skating is his death asset but he's a great playmaker he can put the puck in the back of the net um and can really drive a line like when when wingers players play with Max, he helps take their game to the next level. I remember there was a lot of chatter last year. There's thoughts that Max might be getting called up because he was playing that well.

He was the rookie of the year in Abbotsford. And then this season, I thought he had a good training camp and preseason scored a goal in that preseason game in Abbotsford. Maybe he got off to a bit of a slower start this year, but before the recall, he really turned it on. Before his last game against Bakersfield, he had a goal and assist and then got called up. And the thing that I've been impressed about watching Vancouver,

like, I didn't think they were going to put him at wing. Like, I can't recall a single time where Max has played the wing in Abbotsford. He is a true natural centerman for these last two games. He's been playing on the wing and hasn't looked out of place at all. But then when you think back and look at it, like he's a really smart kid with a high hockey IQ. And if you have that, you can adapt to any situation. So it's great to see Maxwell's versatility.

Because I could imagine like you've been playing center your whole life, but then your first NHL game, you're still on the wing. That can kind of be a tough ask, but at the same time, he's been able to kind of take the bull by the horns and has been off to a nice start. Point per game, not bad. Let's talk about Lekar Maki a little bit. How's he been since being sent back to Abbotsford?

Yeah, he's looked good and he's playing the same way, honestly, before he got called up. He's still getting a lot of volume on net. He's got 10 shots over his last three games. And we obviously know the offense that he provides, but it's the defense that continues to develop and impress for me. And now this defense is leading to offense. And a scenario last weekend, boys, in Henderson,

he was in the neutral zone and had a guy coming towards him with a puck. And the guy tried to get around him him but Johnny just kind of picked his pocket and from a dead stop turned on the Jets went on a breakaway and scored a beauty just a solo unassisted effort and then did it again in the last win this past Tuesday in Bakersfield he pounced on a turnover at center went in all alone got hooked got a penalty shot couldn't score on our old friend Colin Delia who yes I'm sure you both are wondering where he ended up. Colin's playing in Bakersfield, so I think

Jonathan has been so impressive. He's picked up the North American game pretty quickly, and obviously nice to have a former great defensive forward to learn from in Manny Malhotra, but he also told me he talked to the Sedins a lot, his countrymen. At least one of them is always at the rink still, it seems like, whether it's a practice or a game. He's picking their brain all the time and it shows but um what i'm what i'm

looking for here in the next few months boys to say like maybe january after the all-star break if he's still an amateur maybe he's up in vancouver is how he's holding up in the american league has he hit that rookie wall that i talked about that plenty players go through it's common because playing in the american hockey league is a whole different beast compared to what he was used to back in Sweden. It's a grind playing the same teams a bunch back to back. The travel can be long. And if the puck isn't going in, it can be a challenge mentally, especially for a young guy like himself who's far away from home. But he's going to be a go to player in Abbotsford all season long, as long as he's here.

He's definitely the type of person that's ready for the challenge. He thinks the game well. Really nice kid, works hard and has a great head on his shoulders. So I think he's poised He's definitely the type of person that's ready for the challenge. He thinks the game well, really nice kid, works hard, and has a great head on his shoulders. So I think he's poised for a big year. Tell us a bit about Klimovic's season because eight goals in 17 games. It feels like he's been in the organization forever

and that's because he started with the Abbotsford Canucks as an 18-year-old and probably shouldn't have been with the Abbotsford Canucks in hindsight. Should have gone back to major junior or should have gone to major junior after coming over from Belarus. How's it been for him? He's only 21 years old.

Yeah, so I guess his rookie season maybe didn't go as planned. And like you said, Brock, there's probably talk like, should we have sent him back to junior? He still had a couple years of eligibility left. But then he comes into the second year and he plays really well he was one of their best forwards at five on five nearly hit 20 goals and was looking really good and then all of a sudden last year just just kind of a a write-off and i'm sure that he kind of questioned himself and where he might uh be in the organization but i don't know boys if you're into the stock market at all but if you bought clean rich stock at the start of the season you'd be a pretty rich man right now give him his flowers I guess

as the cool kids say because last year like I mentioned it was not good at all I mean he went through some injuries he was in the doghouse a lot and just couldn't get out his last game last season was on March 6th the season ended on May 8th so he went more than two months without playing a game at 20 years old. I can only imagine what the thoughts were like going through his head during that time, and especially in the offseason. And then

when it got announced that Manny Malhotra was the new head coach, Danilo was the first person I thought of because it was a fresh start for him. And I know Manny likes coaching him, and I give Manny a lot of credit because he's turned Danilo into more of a reliable defensive player, which was one of the knocks on him. You can just see the big strides that he's made in that phase of his game. And you need to be strong if you want to play for Rick Taka. You got to be good in your own end.

And now Danilo has really taken that part of his game to the next level. And it's leading to confidence at the other end of the rink. Like you mentioned, he leads the team in goals right now with eight. He only had four all of last season he's getting consistent power play time which is big as well and i know lecker mackie gets a lot of headlines for the shot that he has and rightfully so but klimovich has a weapon he's gotten off a few this year just like a quick pinpoint snapshot inside the right circle like from a stationary position but it's just able to get so much torque on it and hit the back of the net. And I hope he can keep playing like this because finding that consistency is

one of the hardest things for a young player in the AHL. And keep this in mind, like you kind of mentioned, bro, this is his fourth year in the AHL. He's only 21. He's still got some growing and some developing to do. Everyone has their own path, right? Then, I mean, you look at Max Sasson, he's 24. He just made his NHL debut. Baines, he's 23. He made his NHL debut this year. So, I'm interested to see how Canucks management handles him because you do want to reward him for what he's been doing in Abbotsford, but at the same time, I don't think you want to rush him

and bring him up too early. But at the end of the day, the body of work he's put in so far has been encouraging and he's been rising up the prospect rankings, do you think? It must be pretty cool for those guys to have access to the Sedins and to have access, obviously, to Manny Malhotra, who's the head coach,

because if you think about great offensive players, you think about the Sedins and also how much they worked on a daily basis, how they were the ultimate pros. But then if you think, oh, you know what? I'm a little worried about my defensive game.

Who better to go to than Manny Malhotra? Exactly. And Manny is very hands-on. Like if you watch a practice, he's out there. Like at the end of practice, he's dropping pucks. He's a referee. He's dropping pucks between his center. And like I asked recently i'm like what what do you what do you tell these guys like you're such a great face off man like what is your advice he goes i don't say anything

i ask them what they see why do they do a certain thing and then if there's something that i can chime in with and help them i'll give them my advice so i thought that was an interesting perspective but uh if you're playing for manny malhotra you know that if you're forward you've got to take care of your own end you got to take a lot of pride in your face-offs and we're starting to see that during this four-game win streak and like i mentioned that this great defensive play has been leading to offense so um just some some great resources to learn from you mentioned the sedins like they're very hands-on i can't tell you how many times like after the game i've walked down down, like, past the dressing room,

and one of the Sabines is having, like, a conference with a couple players and talking about an odd man rush that happened in the game. Why did you do this? Why did you do that? And I'm, like, just kind of, like, walking by with my eyes ball, just, like, I'm not paying attention, don't worry. It's just kind of amazing to kind of hear that kind of stuff from two Hall of Fame players. So, especially, like, the Swedes, like, Lekker, Mackey, Pedersen, amazing to kind of hear that kind of stuff uh from from two hall of fame players so uh especially

like the swedes like lecker mackie petterson and oman carlson it's gotta be so cool to have two of the greatest players from your country uh getting their advice on a day-to-day basis and you can just see the strides that uh these those types of people have made on on the organization in such a short amount of time because these players are getting called up from abbotsford and they're not just a warm body they're making a difference and they're only scratching the organization in such a short amount of time because these players are getting called up from Abbotsford and they're not just a warm body. They're making a difference and they're only scratching the surface, in my opinion. Well, it's great to hear that Lekker Mackey is seeking it out too.

Yeah, exactly. He's a kid that is quiet. He's not going to give you a lot of interview and I don't blame him coming to a new country, still working on his English. But you watch him in practice and you're just kind of amazed with the little things he's working on whether it's like it's not just shots obviously like he's doing like the one-timers and stuff like that but it's like taking rims along

the board chipping up up the wall um entries into the zone uh out of his own zone it's something that can be a lot for a young guy i don't know manny malhotra has has preached like they don't want to throw too much of these young guys like Pedersen, Lecker, Mackey. They want to just kind of bring them along and develop them at their own pace. But at the same time, the best time to learn is getting thrown in the water.

And those two especially have done a great job in adapting to a new style of game. I mean, that can't be easy, but they've just been phenomenal so far. Brandon, it was great catching up with you. What's next for Abbotsford? a new style of game. I mean, that can't be easy, but they've just been phenomenal so far. Brandon, it was great catching up with you. What's next for Abbotsford? They got a couple games down in San Jose this weekend?

Yeah, finishing off a six-game road trip in San Jose against the Barracuda and then come back home for a lengthy homestand the following week, and hopefully they're still on a winning streak. All right, well, go check out the Abbotsford Canucks. Next home game is Saturday, December 7th against the hated Colorado Eagles. I hate those guys.

You know what? They beat us in the playoffs. Actually, sorry, we beat them in the playoffs. Screw them in overtime, game three. Perfect. Thanks, Brandon. Thanks, Brandon. Appreciate this, buddy.

Have a good one. Brandon Astle, Abbotsford Canucks play-by-play man here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. He's got me fired up. Playing to rave reviews in the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket. I think the Canucks decor is going to be okay.

Well... I think we'll be fine. I think DPD, he's part Pronger, part Bobby Orr. Wow. That's good. Why is he not up right now? I don't know much about hockey, but that sounds good. Ir. Wow. That's good. Why is he not up right now? I don't know much about hockey,

but that sounds good. I love the enthusiasm. That's great. All right, get you what we learned into the Dunbar-Limber text line at 650-650. We'll read them on the other side of the Halford & Brough show

on Sportsnet 650. Got a penalty shot. Couldn't score on our old friend Colin Delia, who, yes, I'm sure you both are wondering where he ended up. Cucamonga! It's Canuck 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. Now for my favorite part of the show. What'd I say? Talk to the audience. Oh, God, this is always dead. It's what we learn time.

It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time. On the show 8.32 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough for 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 three of the program. It is what we learn time. Hour three is brought to you by Campbell & Pound Real Estate Appraisers.

Trust the expertise of Campbell & Pound. Visit them on the internet at campbell-pound.com today. So check this. We've got not one, not two, not three, but four what we learned. And you're not one of them. And I'm not one of them.

Jason Brough, tell us what you learned. I learned that another Lindgren scored on his own net last night in the NHL. Explain. In 1982, Vancouver Canucks defenseman Lars Lindgren scored into his own net against the Edmonton Oilers. Mark Messier was credited with the goal. Last night, Washington Capitals goalie Charlie Lindgren, no relationship, I don't think.

To your knowledge. To my knowledge, scored into his own net, giving the Tampa Bay bay lightning a goal braden point was credited with the goal and here's what it sounded like oh Charlie Lindgren has just gifted Tampa the lead. I don't know. It was so funny that the goal horn went off. Like, I know obviously the goal horn would go off because it's a Tampa Bay goal, but

it's just funny. How do you feel if you're Lindgren, though? It's just, oh, there it goes. Damn it. That's the last thing I should have done. It was a nice shot. That was Braden Point I should have done. It was a nice shot. That was Braden Point's hat trick goal. It was his hat trick goal.

Which is amazing. Was it really? So did they throw hats? Did they throw hats? It was a lot of confusion. I think towards the end, when Point led the line rush to the bench. And you know what, though? Respect to the Capitals, because they saved their beleaguered goalie.

They scored twice after that to win the game 5-4. So even though that he gave Braden Point a hat trick in what looked to be the game-winning goal, the Caps rallied

for Charlie Lindgren. I had money on the lightning. What are you doing? Did you see Lindgren just took the puck and flipped it into the ground? I thought it would have

been a penalty, right? I bet you got a penalty on top of that. He was like, oh, come on, again? Now they're on the power play. Anyway, he said after the game, when I made that big mistake,

we all pretty much laughed it off. Even me, I chucked that puck out of the rink and I kind of chuckled to myself. It was obviously, I like this quote, it was obviously the worst mistake I've probably made, I've ever made in my life in terms of on ice. I don't know what I was thinking. The guys picked me up

and I've got a lot of respect for those guys. Leads a lot of questions to what mistakes you're making. Yeah, I'll play. Let me get the list out here. Charlie. Okay, Mukau, that. A dog. You're up in your Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle shirt.

You screwed up the order already. Oh, you bruff. No, it was going to be me and then a dog. Who cares? Spencer's going to jump into my seat. It doesn't matter. Okay, lad. We had a plan, Halford, and you justff, Adog. No, it'll be me and then Adog. Who cares? Spencer's going to jump into my seat. It doesn't matter. Okay, Laddie. We had a plan, Halford, and you just messed it all up.

Well, no, we haven't because we haven't done anything yet. So, Laddie, why don't you go, and then that'll give Andy time to prep. Okay, I'll go. Yeah. What we learned, the Toronto Blue Jays are still looking for their new closer with Romano gone. Uh-huh. They're doing a whole bullpen overhaul,

but the inner county baseball league's Hamilton Cardinals have found their guy. Former Seattle Mariners closer legend Fernando Rodney. I saw this. Is playing in the inner county baseball league. A league that I called games in back in Hamilton when they were known as the Thunderbirds. The 47-year-old is going to be making his debut in 2025. 327 career saves World Series champion he's coming to the hammer baby

should I do my hat like Fernando Rodney? you gotta shoot a bow and arrow too shoot the bow and arrow look at me I'm Fernando Rodney that was his thing do I remember? you don't remember this is bizarre though because you don't really see players of this caliber I know he's 47 but you don't see names like this come through the Intercounty League too often.

You get a few, like Paul Spoljeric. I don't know if you guys remember him. He pitched for the Jays. He played in the Intercounty League for a number of years. So you get a few guys like that. But Fernando Rodney, this is totally out of left field, but he's apparently going to play in Hamilton next year. All I remember about Fernando Rodney is he was built like a fire hydrant. He was like 5'11", 250.

Why is he doing it? He's still playing. He plays in the Dominican. He plays in other leagues in the wintertime. And then this is a summer league where you get a lot of college players because they're in the offseason. You get a lot of guys that are former players. All I remember about Fernando Rodney is he had his hat.

So he wore it forwards. If you're not watching the stream right now, you can't see. But it was tilted significantly to the side. Almost to the point where you're not watching the stream right now, you can't see, but it was tilted like significantly to the side. Yeah. Almost to the point where you wanted to just go fix it.

Team photos. Come on, man. He's like, no, I like it this way. That's cool. And he was like 42 still pitching in the big league.

So he's only been out of action for a few years, but good one. Okay. Mook out that hammer. Did he wait? Hold on a second. No, did he make a

bunch of money? Uh, we are closers. You're not making, you know, is he sitting for life? Soto money. Yeah, he's probably doing pretty well. Fernando Rodney. He was just playing for fun.

He had a long, long career, so I'm sure he made some decent money. Where are we at here? Yeah, he made a lot of money. Do you think he has to pay for drinks every time the team goes out? I think he has to pay for everything every time the team goes out. It depends what his stat line looks like. I'm just going to buy the team. It was like when Michael Jordan, he's Michael Jordan just put everything on my tab.

Didn't he have like 48 saves one year with the Mariners? Yeah, he signed a two-year $14 million deal with the M's, so he's got money. That's awesome. For the love of the game. I love it. Alright, Muko. Speaking of the love of the game, here's A-Dog. He loves nothing more than what we learn. Because every day is what we learn for A-Dog.

Breaking news from down under. Australian senators have passed a world first law that has banned social media for kids under 16. So if you're under 16 years old living in Australia, it is now illegal to use social media. I'm sure there's some great debate about that on social media. It'll be heavily enforced, I'm sure. This is great for the kids. Well, there goes free speech. Yeah, I mean, there's some great debate about that on social media. It'll be heavily enforced, I'm sure. This is great for the kids. Well, there goes free speech. Yeah, I mean, it's crazy.

I could totally see where they're coming from because TikTok is just a disaster. So I could totally see the logic behind not having kids on social media. And part of me is like, yeah, I agree with that. Other part of me is like. But a law? Huh? But a law? Yeah, that's what I was going to say.

Other part of me is like, it seems a little extreme, but okay. Australia, you go off. So this is how it's going to work. That's what I want. I don't know. How are they going to enforce this? Here, I got it. Well, I guess kids will be off the internet now.

The fine is $300, he does. Like most A-Dog, what we learned is i've got all the information um the law is going to put it on the platforms themselves if they don't implement systemic approaches to prevent children younger than 16 from having accounts fines of up to 50 we've seen so how successful governments are when they take on the social the big social media companies the platforms are going to have one year to work out how they can implement, uh, the limitings before the penalties are enforced. And it's five,

$50 million, not $300. That's $50 million fine for the social media companies. Yeah. What if one gets through meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram said the lead legislation has been quote unquote rushed. I'm just, I just know exactly, said the legislation has been quote-unquote rushed. It's just so silly.

I just know exactly what the arguments are online, and it's just exhausting to just think about them. That's why I spend less and less time on social media now. It is just a nightmare. People are like, come to Blue Sky. It's better. How about I go outside? There's Blue Sky outside. Yeah, I know there's blue sky outside okay mook out that and finally in a hal bro tradition every time that we have an intern in-house their final day is usually on thursday don't know why we give them friday off well it's

befitting that someone here would only work four days out of the five. So, intern Spencer, hi, first off. Hello. It's your final day here. I trust you've loved waking up early every day and sitting here and watching us blather on. Have you enjoyed yourself? Oh, it's been a great experience. You sound very excited.

Tell us about what we learned. So, since it is American Thanksgiving, I learned what a spatchcock turkey is. You didn't know? I did not know. Spatchcock. Spatchcock. Spatchcock.

Apparently, it's a method of butterflying the bird and it cooks it evenly shorter and gets it more crispy. You didn't know

what spatchcocking is? Never heard of it. You take out the backbone of the bird and then you... Is that the spatchcock? No, that's not. The spatchcock is the technique. Okay. It take out the backbone of the bird. Is that the spatchcock? No, that's not. The spatchcock is the technique.

It's not a part of the anatomy. It's like one of your spatchcock turkeys. Your spatchcock is showing. So what you do is you take out the backbone of the bird, and then you put it down, and you put your hands on the breastplate, and then it's kind of... It's just getting...

It's very graphic. And then you bang it down, and then it spreads out. It butterflies, like you said, right? Last time Halfer did this, many children started crying. It's like, you know, when you give someone, you know, when you give someone CPR and they're like, you have to do the chest compressions. Yeah. And then they're like, if you're doing it right, you might break their ribs because

you have to do it with force. The very similar hand press is how you spaget. The turkey doesn't come to life life it's pretty dead at that point that bird mouth to mouth there's no point is that how they discovered it the first time like a farmer like on a dying turkey was giving him cpr please you know what this might be a good cooking technique yeah he's like glass half empty the bird is dead glass half full he's easier to cook yeah i just invented the spatchcock so that's good that you learned that. You can go home today and do it if you've got the time.

I'm more of a ham and applesauce kind of guy. Are you? Okay. Good. Well, that was a good one. Well done. Moo cow. Good enough. Okay, let's go to the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket. Fire up that dot matrix.

I remember doing the handoff. Chaos behind the scenes. I'm sorry we had to have you guys switch chairs. Why did you time it like that? What? We were in the middle of changing seats. Give me the dot matrix. Yeah, it's fine.

What We Learned Humanoid Edition is brought to you by AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. Celebrate every goal at AJ's Pizza. Get $6 pints of Pilsner during Vancouver hockey game nights only at AJ's Pizza. All right. JD and Coquitlam, what we learned, the young boys have lost all five of their Champions League matches so far. Oh, no. Poor Andy must be inconsolable.

Young boys are losers. What will we do? It's not. We had this bit yesterday. Maybe Brest is better. That's also a team. Brest is a team from France. It's B-R-E-S-T, by the way.

That's info I should have known. Yeah. And then there's young boys. And then we said to top it off as if soccer couldn't get any more ridiculous. Yesterday, they were giving out a bunch of end of year awards. And the award for the best young player is the very unfortunately named Golden Boy Award. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Yeah. Bins with what we learned after watching last night's game. I learned that Se silas clearly needs to be sent down to abbotsford to get his game together his struggle is real yeah i mean it's an issue right now for silas and it's an issue right now for the team the crazy thing is is that there might not be better options right i i think probably what's going to happen, probably, if I were to bet on it, things seem to come out of nowhere with this team.

I don't know if you've noticed, but they got three games left on this road trip, no back-to-backs, give Lankanen all three, and then Demko gets the first home game back against Columbus. Someone texted in and said, Ready or not, Thatcher. Yes. Enough of this.

I mean, it's Columbus on a Friday. You can't rush him. You can't rush him. You can't rush him. It's the perfect night to rush him because everyone will be distracted by the Taylor Swift concert. Exactly. I would also add, someone said,

when do you think C. Love's next start is going to be? And I'm like, I don't know, check Abbott's route schedule. And I wasn't being facetious or anything. He'd probably welcome it at this point, right? I think so. I'm sorry. Unsigned text, PSAsa just a quick psa for our listeners yeah do not google spatchcock at work it's fine it's fine don't you'll be fine it's a good way to cook a bird uh this is an unsigned what we learned but i had this in the notes and i should have mentioned earlier so

thank you unsigned what we learned uh submitter hashtag wwo what we learned submitter. Hashtag WWO what we learned. Adam Gaudette goal sellies are back in full force. 11 goals on the year now. Adam Gaudette is in a group, a handful of guys that have 11 goals this year, and that would put them in the top 20 in goals scored. That group includes Connor McDavid and Brady Kachuk. That's the first and last time Adam may ever be mentioned with those two players,

but right now they are all tied with 11 goals. Scoring's never really been his issue, though, has it? He's always been able to put the puck in the net. At the NHL level it was. He didn't score much for the Canadiens. He didn't get much ice time. He wasn't playing top minutes. He wasn't getting... He's got 11 goals. Guess how

many assists he has? Two. One. That was close. Him and Chris Kreider in the running for the Cy Young. They're neck and neck right now. He's been up and down a few times too. He hasn't been with the Senators the whole year. He just scores goals. Yeah. That's all he does. Daniel and Burnaby, what we learned, Pedersen and Suter broke the seven-way

tie for the team goal-scoring lead last night. While I'm fond of the consistency throughout the lineup, hoping for someone to step up and score the first goal of the game one of these days. Remember how often they would score the first goal of the game? Now it's a problem when C-Labs lets in the first shot of the game so often. Makes it a lot harder to

score the first goal. It really, really does. Yes, if you're looking at the Canucks' leading goal scorers, the leading goal tally is just seven goals. Petey and Suter have seven, and then there's a bunch of guys with six. Garland, Miller, DeBrusch, Sherwood, and Besser, and of course the Canucks are currently missing

two of those guys. Oh, now Besser's back, sorry. They're missing JT Miller. This one's from Chad in Kelowna. Chad. What's up, Chad? Hashtag WWL, what we learned. I learned that the Halbro curse or jinx or whatever bad karma vibes you want to call it,

where you criticize and kick an underachieving opponent when it's down, is getting disturbingly powerful. Yeah. Okay. So we had this a bunch yesterday. I saw a lot of people tweeting at me. It's like, this is your fault. You ripped the Penguins.

It doesn't work like that because, first of all, the Penguins are bad. They're a bad team. And if we have to preview an opponent, we can't just be like, they're great if they're bad. We also said multiple times not to jinx the Canucks, and we said the Canucks could still lose this game. And you know what we said? We said the wild card was Artie Seelov's. So there was no jinx yesterday. The jinxes come when we make fun of a team

and don't allow for the possibility that the Canucks could blow this, or we make fun of a player and say, this guy hasn't done anything, and then he scores a bunch of goals. There was a classic jinx, I think, with the Predators when they came in and we were like, Stamkos hasn't done anything, then he scored twice.

Yeah. That was a Halbro jinx. There was a bit of a jinx with the Islanders too because we were making fun of the Islanders and we were like, where are these kids? These guys are the definition of mid. And then they dominated the Canucks at Rogers Arena. That was a jinx.

I'm not allowing. I realize that there is a halberd of jinx. Okay? I'm not allowing yesterdays to be that because we did prep. We did prep and we said not to jinx. And we said, hey, Seelops is in goal. That's a wild card, and it turned out that way.

But you will note that we've said absolutely nothing about the Buffalo Sabres today. The Sabres are good, man. They're awesome. That is a good, good team in Buffalo and has been for decades. Young team on the rise. I like everything about them.

Lindy Ruff is back. That's good. They actually, they're not terrible this year. They're not terrible. I'm so confused about how to jinx or unjinx. I just don't want to talk about Buffalo. Let's just let that game go. This isn't what we learned, but I do want to read it.

Yeah, that's true. It's a beautiful day in Buffalo. Go ahead. Kyle, the bus driver. I think Canucks management knew going into this season the defense wasn't going to be good enough but they punted on fixing it because Pedersen's play had become so alarming that they prioritized getting him a winger in the offseason instead of bringing in a Tanev or keeping Zdorov.

If Petey had no fall off last year maybe they'd do more to fix the defense. What we're seeing this season are the bigger, longer term consequences of a star player having a crisis of confidence. There might be something to that. I think their number one goal this offseason was finding a winger

to play with Petey and Jake DeBrus came in. I'm sorry. I'm laughing. It's like, how deep can the Petey haters go? It's like, now we blame them for the

but that was the priority right that's all i can't have them playing with mckay if anymore and to be fair they couldn't it's like it's like the collection of a writer's room dedicated solely for pd hating they're like what else can we come up with what if we blamed him for the defense and just the composition of it. Well, honestly, if he was a little nicer to Seelovs, maybe Seelovs would be playing a little bit better. I think that the Canucks

made two bets on Desjardins and Forbort that uncharacteristically for this management group are not working. And I mean not working in a major way way for Borg, because he's been there's been I mean, obviously, there's been a lot of issues away from the ice and his health. And Deharnais, I don't know if they got sold a false bill of goods or if they talked themselves into him after seeing him in the playoffs and being enamored with something there. I do remember Jason Greger coming on our show and speaking glowingly about what a find this might be for the Canucks.

But, I mean, to me, it's not like they didn't try. They added two guys that I think that they assumed were going to be full-time NHL defensemen. When they signed Forbort and Deharney, my first thought was, there's your third pair. Your second pair is going to be Soucy and Myers, and that's going to be a stretch. But you have addressed it.

But it's gone completely the opposite way. They've had first 20 games of the year, the impact that Forbort and Deharnais made, you can't even say it's negative. It's more minimal. They just haven't been there. I also think it's just really tough to fix the defense. Sure. I mean, it's just difficult tough to fix the defense. Sure.

I mean, it's just difficult. Sure. And I get what the texter is saying. You could have allotted more financial resources. But then you still got to land the player. Yeah. You still got to find the player. Yeah.

The way, I don't know if anyone watched any of the Bruins Islanders game yesterday, but Zdorov had a nightmare shift. Yeah. And he had a giveaway. It was right at the end of the second period. Zdorov had a nightmare shift. Yeah. And he had a give away. It was right at the end of the second period, and it allowed the Islanders to maintain zone possession for a while. There were other mistakes on that shift by Boston players. I think McAvoy was the other defenseman out there.

But Zdorov started with just kind of like a careless turnover that didn't need to happen. It was a bit of a lazy play, and then the Islanders tied it up. Anyway, Boston ended up winning the game, so there's not a lot of talk, but people in Boston are not happy with Zdorov. Go search his name. It's basically Bruins fans ripping this guy.

It's not easy to find defense, and that's why long-term, at least, there's some optimism within the Canucks organization with some of the younger defensemen that they've got. I was going to do basketball fills, what we learned about college basketball, but it's too long

and I'm going on the road. I just will say that the last few nights... Bunch of upsets. Yeah, and the last few nights, I have stayed up later than usual because I can't turn off. The Maui Invitational is the most hilarious thing. For those that don't know, it's this annual tournament that they have. nights um i have stayed up later than usual because i can't turn off the maui invitational is the most hilarious thing for those that don't know it's this annual tournament that they have

at the uh what was the lahaina event center yeah yeah it's basically like a conference center it's a really small conference center it only holds 2400 people it looks like you're holding a basketball game in a conference center. It's not like a fancy downtown Vancouver conference center. But the best part of it is that it only has two bathrooms in the entire facility. There's porta-potties outside. There's a million, but they have to. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's like, where's the bathroom, the singular bathroom? I want to play college basketball, man. You get the Maui Invitational, and the other guys are playing down in the Bahamas. The Nassau tournament, yeah. I'd like to play college basketball, man. You get the Maui Invitational. The other guys are playing down in the Bahamas. The Nassau tournament. Yeah. I'd like to play college basketball too. I know. I'm 45.

It'll probably be hard. But you never know. I still got all my eligibility. Who's that guy doing it on the court? All right. It's been a fun show. Thank you all for listening. And intern Spencer, best of luck with everything moving forward.

It was fun having you aboard this week. We got to get out of here for today, but we will be back tomorrow in a very unique day because it's Black Friday and there's a bunch of games across the NHL beginning early in the day. For now, though, we got to say goodbye.

Happy Thanksgiving, America. I have been Mike Halford. He's been Jason Brough. He's been A-Dog. He's been Laddie. He's been intern Spencer. This has been the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.