Halford & Brough in the Morning - An Encouraging Performance From The Canucks

Episode Date: October 2, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they discuss last night's dominant Canucks win over the Flames in preseason action yesterday (3:00), plus they chat a great night for the Whitecaps as well as some terrific Wild Card baseball (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 a fucking Canucks? Da-na-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. You're listening to Halford and Brough.

Connor Garland, right-wing, in front of them. They score. Derek Forward. Up in the rush, scores a short-handed goal. A swing and a high drive, deep break. Back goes Perez. Track walled. There will be a game three tomorrow. Fly ball, right set of fifth, going back, Judge, going back, Judge is there, makes the catch. Victory for the New York Yankees. Good morning, Vancouver, 601 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody is Halford. It is Brough. It is sports. at 6.50, we are coming to you live from the Kintech Studios and beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Ada, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well.

Hello, hello. Halford and breath of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks. Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. We are in Hour 1 of the program. Hour 1 is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studio, Kintech footwear and orthotics working together with you and step. What a show. What a day this is going to be for all of you sports enthusiasts out there. It's the first hour of this show is all uninterrupted Halford and Brough as we walk you through

everything that happened yesterday. And that will lead into today. A signature day in sports. And at 7 o'clock, we're going to talk to Adnan Verk from MLB Network. What a day to have on someone from the Major League Baseball Network. With the Yankees, the Padres, and the Guardians all winning yesterday. Today, now the first time since 1981, that we got three sudden death games on the same day in the MLB playoffs. Hey. Hey. Sorry about your Reds, buddy.

That's okay. They were the ones that couldn't make it for. The Reds weren't supposed to be there, and then they went out and showed that they weren't supposed to be there. This Red Sox Yankees series has been a lot of fun. All the series, except for the Dodgers and Reds, have been very electric, very entertaining. But you're right, Red Sox Yankees has been played on a Knife's Edge.

It feels like the entire game is played on a Knife's Edge. It's kind of brought back the old memories of those Red Sox Yankees series. Yep. What's now two decades ago? Yeah, and it has to... God, we're getting old. I know we are getting old. There was a Dave Roberts reference last night.

Really? Yeah, like it's, well, because there were so many base, we'll get into this later, but there's so many base runners in that game that didn't get cashed. Every time a guy got to first, he's like, could you have a Dave Roberts moment here? Anyway, we'll get into a bunch with Adnan at 7 o'clock as we set up what is going to be an awesome day, especially with the weather outside. Don't go outside. Watch sports all day.

Adnan's going to join us at 7 o'clock. 7.30, Brady Henderson, our Seahawks insider from ESPN is going to join the program. Seahawks host the Bucks on Sunday in a very weird game. Crazy line movement in that one. I don't know if you're aware of this or not, but Seattle, despite being at home, actually opened as a one and a half point underdog.

When? The very, on the Sunday. I never saw that line. I checked it out this morning. One and a half point underdogs and it swung all the way to three and a half point favorites because of all the injuries that Tampa Bay has had. Is Baker Mayfield a little banged up too?

He's okay. he's going to play but Bucky Irving's out of the lineup they got major injuries at wide receiver not as bad though not as bad as tonight's game the San Francisco 49ers who are going to be without

Brock Purdy George Kittle Ricky Pierceall and there's one of the receiver that's hurt as well Jerry Rice Jerry Rice won't play tonight won't play tonight

that's going to be crazy Sunday in Seattle by the way I know I think they might have to move the start of the Seahawks game they were at least talking about it because the Mariners play at five. So the Seahawks game, we can ask Brady about this. It might start at noon.

So we'll talk to Brady Henderson about all that at 7.30 this morning. 8 o'clock, Thomas Drance is going to join the program. Canucks Talk, Athletic Vancouver. As mentioned in the intro, massive win for the Vancouver Canucks last night in Calgary. 8-1 drubbing of a flames team, which I will point out had many, many NHL regulars in the lineup last night. Lots to like about the Canucks performance in their second to last game of the exhibition campaign. We'll get into all that with the Drancer.

8 o'clock. And then at 8.30, normally when we do what we learn, it's very special guest on the program. Current assistant coach of the Dallas Mavericks and Canadian basketball icon, Jay Triano is going to join the program live from Simon Fraser University. Jay and the Mavericks are currently up at SFU for training camp. A bit of a homecoming for Jay, of course, being the former men's basketball coach at SFU, now gone on to a very storied NBA career as an assistant. The Mavericks, one of the most intriguing teams in the entire NBA here. In Vancouver, right up on Burnaby Mountain, lots to discuss with Jay about the Mavs,

the league at large, can get into some Canadian basketball talk as well with the men's national team. That's going to be at 8.30 today when we normally do what we learns. Do you think he'll remember you from the basketball camps? I'm going to ask. I'm going to ask straight away.

Great 8, Halford, Burnaby North, undersized guard. You're the kid that came with the shoes on the wrong feet. I remember you. Did you say something about you wore plaid shorts? I think I wore plaid shorts one of the days to the camp. And then I think I was... He's like, hey, plaid shorts!

This is a skateboard camp, pal. I don't know what you're doing here. But you know what? Just to expand on this, I have really fond memories of that camp. I don't think I ever learned more about a singular sport in the span of a week than I did up there.

It was really good. J. Triano, when we were kids, was Mr. Basketball in Canada. He was the guy. He was the guy. He was. If you needed anyone to talk about basketball at any level, he was the dude.

And yeah, now he's been, I mean, he's been around for 607 years old now and he's still doing the thing at the NBA level. Yeah, that's awesome. I'm excited for this. I think this will be really interesting and what we learned will just be like, hey, I learned we're talking to Jatriano right now. Yeah, right. So do we give

the listeners of what we learned day off? We could just sprinkle some in throughout the show. Okay. You know, just do them here and there. Sure. Yeah, why don't we do that? But this means you really have to step up your game. Dunbar Lumber Textline is 650, 650. Get them in now. If you get a what we learned read today, it means you're a very good what we learned submitter.

Okay? 650, 650, Dumbar Lembert's X line. Hashtaget at WWL. That's what's happening on the program today. Greg, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No.

What happened? I missed all the action because I was. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Missed it? You missed that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance.

Making safety simpler by giving safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training, visit them online at BCCSA.ca.ca. We begin with a massive performance for the Vancouver Canucks last night in Calgary. They douse the flames. 8-1 in exhibition action. I do want to play the game winning goal, the eventual game winning goal. It came on the power play courtesy of Elias Pedersen. Here's what it sounded like early in the first period. The game-winning goal was scored. The second of eight goals for Vancouver Canucks. Canucks win 8-1. Here's PD on the power play.

Pedersen right side threw it to the back door. I think he was hoping for a tip from Debrusk, but it went wide of the net. Now here's huge high slot to Elyas Patterson. Right-side. One-timer, he scores. Elias Pedersen wires a one-time slap shot from the right circle over the glove of Ivan Prosvatov. The Canucks strike on their first power play of the night and lead the flames two to nothing.

Oh, that was like old times. Just like old times. Why, what we learned is PD is back. Yeah. It's vintage PD and he is back. But we are starting with the guy that's set up that goal. Yeah, you know what? Sometimes this show has a habit of like, yeah, yeah, yeah,

Quinn Hughes was also good. But I think particularly in a season like this season where so much of it is about Quinn Hughes, we have to remind ourselves like how good this dude is. A goal and two assists last night for the Vancouver Canucks. And, I mean, his goal was very nice on a two-on-one with Brock Besser. you had the nice pass to Pedersen on the one timer put it right where

PD needed it to be but the first assist he had the stretch pass to Besser was also brilliant as well I'm not sure what the flames were doing defensively there or I know we were joking on our text chat is like maybe Adam's foot maybe Adam foot system is just like having one guy goal suck yeah we know breakaways he's a breakaways guy

we know what Adam foot hockey looks like now a lot of breakaways a lot of breakaways and hope the other team falls asleep. Guy just beaver tailing a stick. He's like, let's go. Anyway, Quinn Hughes, just a brilliant night. But we get so used to this. And I know everyone's really excited about some of the young players on the Canucks defense.

And of course, they've got guys like Philip Peronick and Marcus Pedersen locked up long term. And there is a sense, and there's a small sense. Like, you know, like even if Hughes doesn't sign long term with the Canucks, there's still, you know, something pretty good at the Canucks Blue Line. And that is absolutely true, but let's not fool ourselves. Like Quinn Hughes, you add Quinn Hughes to what is coming and what is already there. And you're just like, man, this is the best blue line in the NHL. Well, here's what I was thinking about this last night.

I'm like, what's a good definitive take other than Quinn Hughes is really good? Not that that's not a good take. It's always important to remind ourselves of that, how good he is. but I think last night just kind of reinforced and reiterated how important it is that he stays healthy for the entirety of an 82 game campaign. Now, it's difficult to do with the Olympics. Guys are going to be targeting him without question.

And I think, you know, this has always been, it's not exclusive to Quinn Hughes, but it's always been an opposition's MO that when you have a player of that caliber, you want to take a physical approach with them. And we saw it in the playoffs two years ago, specifically in that first round against Nashville where Kiefer Sherwood and the remainder

of the predators, right, that's going to be one of our major priorities is putting a body on Hughes. Hughes only played in 68 games last year and of the 68, there was probably, I'd say, 20 to 25 and I might be being conservative in that estimate where he was nowhere near 100%.

So you're saying at that point he probably played half a season healthy. I'd say, maybe a little bit more. I think it's a focus of his and the organization. And that seems obvious, right? We'll stay healthy, but I do wonder if we'll see any variations in how he plays. If he, you know, with the depth that the Canucks have on the blue line,

maybe he won't have to play as many minutes. Well, that's what I was going to ask you is like, here's my question. What do you do about it? Do you train? I don't think there need to be nights as many nights where he's playing 30 minutes a night. Because we do need to talk. And I think they need to find. a way for him to be able to get rid of the puck more easily.

So, you know, like you say, what's the game plan if you're playing the Canucks? It's like get after Hughes and put the body on him. Well, you know, a lot of the times he'll skate around that, but it is nice to have that option where you can just make a quick pass. Maybe it's the breakways. I don't know, Adam Foote. Well, there were some games. last year where Talkett would play Hughes.

I don't want to say an inordinate amount, because for a player of his caliber, I don't even know if there's anything or anything less than 30. You know what I heard a lot of though? What? Was that it was Hughes staying on the ice too long? Yeah. Like he was the one determining that he wanted to play that much. Yeah.

You know, obviously the coaching staff is putting them out there in the first place. But I do think they want fewer minutes from him. Right. And that is one way. to lessen the likelihood of injury. He felt so much responsibility to do everything last year. Let's face it. I mean, with the things that were going on with that team,

he just felt a responsibility. He's like, you know, like, I'm going to do this myself. I got to do this myself. But that's not good for the team. You don't want to have that. And hopefully he doesn't, he, put it this way, hopefully he doesn't need to feel that. way about the team this year. That's a good way of putting it. And I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, I know,

shorty on the broadcast was talking about how fast it was. Um, and also, like, his willingness to take the shot. I also like that it was his third shot attempt on that power play. And the first two, you know, they weren't successful, but he kept going. You know, one shot was blocked and the other missed the net. Although, to be fair, that might have been a pass. Who cares? He kept shooting and that's good. But what I liked most about that goal was the way he slid down into an open shooting lane while Hughes was getting him the puck. It's kind of subtle but he wasn't just standing there

and way too often last season he was just standing there and you know so many people would be like well he didn't shoot because it would have been blocked it was like yeah and it would have been blocked because he wasn't really moving

right like you have to move you don't have to move like skating like crazy to open up shooting lanes but sometimes it's just a subtle glide to open up those shooting So that was really encouraging, and I hope it's a confidence builder for him. You know, I hope it, I hope he's decisive like that and keeps hammering away on the power play for ever and ever and ever now. And we never have to deal with it.

Otherwise, I thought PD was a bit up and down in the game, if I'm going to be honest. He got shoved off the puck a few, too many times, didn't dominate at five on five with Besser and DeBresk. and we'll see if those three get another preseason game Friday tomorrow against the Oilers or if they're just done for the preseason now. But enough about the negatives, right? Let's go back to the goal. What a goal. That was a great goal and we'll leave it at that.

Yeah, and you know what, one thing, and I heard someone explain it to me, it's like you need to have the OV shooting mentality without the OV shooting style because OV's very... OV moves like that. OV glides sometimes like that. He is not as, he is not as stationary as everyone makes. Now, sometimes he's stationary. For sure.

But he does glide to those spots. And I think you have to move more because nobody has the shooting ability that Ovechkin has. Let's just put that out there. He is singular. He's one of one. He's the only one that can hit the puck like that. So to mimic his game is great.

I think in volume, because one thing, if you watch enough Capitals games, like he'll miss the net a ton. And it almost doesn't seem to matter to him. Like a missed shot, the end result. Like he obviously will celebrate harder when it goes in the net, but the mentality is the same. It's just almost like automatic. It's like load, reload, load, reload.

And then away you go. And that's the mentality you have to have on the powerplay. If you're Pedersen, you got that shot. Absolutely. Okay, let's talk about the battles to make this team. We'll start with the defense. I'm going to reference Shorty again. He said on the broadcast that he thinks the connects are going to carry

eight defensemen with the long road trip that comes, starts, I guess, on the fourth game of the season? I think they go home, away home, and then, like, long road trip. Then the big road trip. Okay. And we do have to remember the new rules this season where guys who are assigned to the HL have to play at least one game down there before they can be called back. Now, if they keep eight defensemen, they might have to waive someone unless they don't

keep Coots and Lechermacki. So there's so many balls in the air right now. But Adog, Mancini showed well again that he is, every time I watch him play, I'm like, this dude is a giant out there. He is a big guy and he can move really well, lots of confidence with the puck. His party was spoiled by Fawboard's shorty, though. So that ruined everything. Why was the party spoiled? Because Fawboard got a goal.

He showed him up or something. Yeah, exactly. Well, Fibord, by the way. Anyone can score goals. I think Fibord only played one shift in the third. Yeah, he might be injured. He might be injured. There's not a lot of, not a lot of media.

Which he tends to be, he gets injured, right? So good for Mancini there. But I mean, I think Mancini and Forbort could have made a pair. Mm-hmm. You know, like they were a pair last night. They were out there on the penalty kill together, which I think is pretty important to note because you need four defensemen to kill penalties. And if you're, you know, you only dress sick.

So if you're one of those defensemen that can kill penalties, that's a big deal. And obviously, you don't want Quinn Hughes killing penalties. He is a, Mancini is a swashbuckler. Good old-fashioned swashbuckler. I was having a text conversation with a listener, I think, yesterday. And we were talking about swashbucklers. I saw it. I originally thought of Yurke-Lumet.

and I was like It's the only other one No, BXA swash Bexha swash buckled A little bit Not in the Lume realm No, but Lume was an elite

Swashbuckler Right, but I don't want to diminish BXA made other guys buckle by punching him in the face He had some swashbuckling Mancini's got great swashbuckling potential Yeah

There needs to be a certain sense of recklessness That's both thrilling and terrifying at the same time DeXA had that When he first Do it enough. Plain and simple.

When he first came into the league, that's what I noticed about him. That guy's got, he's a swashbuckling. And then they kind of unbuckled him. Coaches hate when defensemen have this one trick. Lume also played in an era and on a team where he was singular, like a one-of-one, like not like Ovi with his shooting. But, like, Lume was the definitive swashbuckler for this organization. Mancini has a long way to go to get there, but he's got swashbuckling potential.

So if Forbort is okay. If he's not, that's, I mean, all bets are off then. But if forbort is okay to start the regular season, and they're not going to scratch him, I'd be shocked if they did. He's a veteran guy, re-signed with the team, kills penalties. They're not going to, it just scored a goal. Scores goals. Gets up on the defense, gets up on the rush.

Big rush guy. If Mancini makes it, does D.P.D. have to sit or get sent down? You know, referencing Shorty one last time. He said it, it's a good problem to have all these defensemen vying for spots and arguments in the fan base are like, no, this guy should be in, no, this guy should be in. And genuine excitement about these players. The Canucks are going to practice today. So maybe we'll get some more clues about what they could do Friday

or heading into the regular season. And then they play the Oilers tomorrow. home the final regular season or a preseason game before the regular season starts speaking of the practice lines I should apologize to listeners because I got totally

duped by the Canucks practice lines on Wednesday yeah yeah you did well we'll see when the Canucks finally revealed their lineup last night I was like well I guess we made too much of Baines's big opportunity

with Heidel and Garland because that's who he was practicing with, and I was like, okay, well, if they're going to play, that's who Baines is going to play with. Instead, Baines was out there with his old H.L. teammates, Max Sasson and Linus Carlson. And of those three, Sasson had the best moment of the night, scoring an absolute beauty off the rush. Give and go, though, with Jake DeBrus, two guys that can move. Sasson also scored the eighth goal, short-handed on a two-on-one with Baines.

Although, to be fair, I think at that point, half the Flames Bench had kind of already gone back to the dressing room, they were done. Sasson is not a big guy to play center, especially in the bottom six. I actually wonder if they could use them on the wing at some point. Who knows? But he, like, I don't think he's going to make the team. I don't think he's going to make the team. He's waivers exempt so they can send him down. but his speed is definitely an asset

and it was very noticeable on that goal. Now, back to those practice lines that we saw Wednesday and those were the ones that had Baines with Heedal and Garland and Kane with Coots and Lechromackie. Now the latter three didn't play at all

and I imagine we'll see those three together against the Edmonton Oilers tomorrow and I suppose that could be a regular season line. I don't know if the top line of EP 40, Jake DeBrosk and Brock Besser, are going to get another preseason game or if they feel we're good and we still need some spots open

to determine the final spots. But, you know, I'm very curious to see the decisions they make because, you know, I know I made some predictions the other day, but, you know, I'm not 100% confident with those predictions because there are so many moving parts here. Like there's guys that might be injured in Derek Foreboard. There are some tough decisions. Like if you only keep Mancini or DPD, which one do you keep?

Do you go with eight defensemen and 13 forwards or seven defensemen and 14 forwards? What if you have to waive someone, right? Is there a waiver pickup coming? Is there a trade you get me? Like there's so many things that could still happen to determine the final roster of the regular season. There was a big, uh, big roster, sorry, big waiver list yesterday with a bunch of names on it that I don't know. I mean, interesting isn't quite the right word. Neither is intriguing, but guys that maybe would have caught your eye for a team that is in desperate need.

And we'll find out it, I guess it's noon now. It's not 9 a.m. anymore our time. I think it bumped it to 3 p.m. Eastern. But anyway, we'll find out today if any of those guys got claimed. I mentioned Tyson Joe's yesterday. He got claimed. Why who? I think I got claimed by Nashville.

Well, another guy, speaking of waivers, like Labate played my guy yesterday and he keeps doing something every game that he plays. And he's still with the team. Yes. Right. And he was a third line guy yesterday. And IMAX suggested that maybe they put them on waivers just like get him down there with all the huge list of guys on waivers. Snuck him through. Sneak him down.

I don't know if maybe they had some intel. Like someone might be interested in Labate. But, like, he's a guy that I don't think you can say, like, oh, for sure he's going down because he'd be down there already, right? Like, Abbotsford is studying their training camp. He did get called up and played for a Columbus team last year, and it wasn't playing out the string. Like, he joined them at a time where they were right in the thick of a playoff chase. Like, I'm not saying that he's going to be a huge impact guy for the Kinex. I'm not even saying he's going to be in the NHL, but I'm just reading the T leaves a bit and saying, like, every time he goes out on the ice, he does something.

he's also super physical and willing to fight which is something this team needs and he kind of keeps hanging around like that's the thing every time you think the body's done the body's back we have a public service announcement for the listeners

multiple people have texted in they don't know what swashbuckling means sometimes we do this on the Halford and Bruff Show we go down our rabbit holes or we go into the archives and talk about things that we think are common knowledge to the people but they don't know Sean, who's better known as big shoots on the program.

A couple other people texted in. They're like, hey, what does swashbuckling mean? According to Google, it's a person who engages in daring and romantic adventures with bravado or flamboyance. Flamboyance, daring behavior. Think Zorro. Jack Sparrow. I would say like a swashbuckling defenseman will carry the puck through dangerous areas with gusto. Yes.

You'll make lots of noise like, oh, Uh-huh. Ha-ha! You thought you had it, but now you don't. Yeah. You might swing it on a chandelier once in a while. Okay. We got to go to break.

Holding a princess. Are you just describing Zorro? Yeah, kind of. Kind of. What did we say, Zorro? Who did you say? I said Zorro. Oh, you said Zorro.

Jack Sparrow, yeah. Is that the guy in the Princess Bride? No. Jack Sparrow's Johnny Depp. Nico Montoya? Yes. All these characters. Okay.

Way up against it for time. You killed my father. Prepare to die. Exactly. That's what Mancini said after the game yesterday. Murph was like, what the hell are you talking about? I'm slightly afraid. Weird interview.

Okay. Is that a rape here? Now we're up against it for time. When we come back, we are going to get into the baseball story and cover anything else that happened last night in a very busy world of sports. We can also dive into the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket at 650, 650, and get your thoughts on last night's game, an 8-1 demolishing of the flames in Calgary. It's all coming up in the second half hour of the first hour.

of the first hour you're listening to the Halford and Breath Show on SportsNet 650. Canucks Talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on SportsNet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. 633 on a Thursday.

It's a trash Thursday here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough of the morning is bratsy by Sands and Associates. Get out of the penalty box of debt and back into the game with a financial fresh start. Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. We are still in our one of the program. It is still what happened on the program. the show. We haven't got to everything yet. So settle down.

Settle down now in the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket. Listeners are spicy today. Spicey and wrong including Rob and Surrey. Rob, you're wrong. Very, very wrong. Hour one of this program is brought to by North Star Metal Recycling.

Are you going to expand? Nope. 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. Before we get to the other stories in sports, one last thing from last night's game. Okay. Do we need to talk about the Canucks opponent?

I know it's only the preseason, but I do wonder about the flames this season because quite often teams only have one, I'll prove them wrong season in them. Right. Because it takes a bit of luck, some good vibes, and then just, everyone buying into the, okay, we'll prove them wrong. And then at the end of the day, like the flame still fell short. Like, they didn't make the playoffs. The great question is what happens after you've proved everybody wrong?

Then what? Yeah. Because that's what they did last year. Or did they even because they didn't make the playoffs. I know, but they hung in there. They hung in there. They had more points than the Montreal Canadiens who made the playoffs. Like, it had a good year last year and they proved everybody wrong.

Like the Rasmus Anderson situation hasn't resolved yet. um the guys are getting like backlund's one year older and and uh and cadry's one year older and and you know i really hope huberto's okay because that injury that he got right at the end of the game that would like he's taking the puck hard to the net because he's probably pretty upset with the way the game had gone for the flames um i know herona got a penalty on that i don't think he did anything wrong took the hard took the puck hard to the net um ended up i think his head might have hit Lankinen's mask or something like there was anyway it didn't look good when he went to the ice hopefully he's okay because that'd be a heck of a way to get seriously

hurt like at the end of an 8-1 7-1 they would think it was 7-1 at that time he got hurt and then they made it 8-1 right short with a shorthand goal right it would be a heck of a way to get hurt I I hope he's okay okay so but the team like I don't know man I if doesn't Dustin Wolf, he might just have to be their savior. Like he might have to, he might have to play, you know, a Luongo-esque 65 games or whatever and be great in almost all of them for them to just hang around because I know they got some young players, but I don't know if they have any elite young talent.

Do they have any, the flames have any elite young talent besides Dustin Wolf? Correct. The defenseman. Okay. Yeah. But outside of that, not really. So that last night they had Cadry, Hubert O, Anderson, Weeger,

Backland, Farabee, Frost, Coleman, Sharon Govich, Coronado, Zari, Ball, Pospicilla. I went through the list. And it was three quarters at least of what their NHL lineup is going to look like. And in that, no, it was not Dustin Wolfe, but it was the two guys competing to be his backup this year. And was it Dan Vladar they had last year?

Yeah, he's with Philly now. And he was good last year for them. Like he filled in admirably on the nights that Dustin Wolf wasn't doing heroic. Did he price himself out? Yeah, and the backup position means something in every market because guys have to play. Like, Wolf playing 65 is probably not going to have.

That's a lot. Anyway, so Rob and Surrey was saying, you know, oh, don't give Pedersen any credit for last night because he was playing the Calgary Ranglers. And I said, well, that's wrong. It's categorically wrong. You could not be more wrong. And then he said, well, they had guys like Perak and Kooley out there.

And I was like, those guys are going to be on the team. Or in the case of Kooley's fighting to be on the team. Perak was minus four. I know you love plus mine. as our first plus minus reference of the year. Nice. Still sticking. Anyway, Rob was wrong.

Let's move on to another irate listener. I think this was Chris and Duncan, who was upset that we hadn't talked about what the Vancouver Whitecaps did last night. Chris and Duncan, we were just saving it for now, giving it its own love, its own half hour of the program. We won't spend the entire half hour. But the Vancouver Whitecaps last night captured their fourth consecutive Canadian

championship in their first ever 604 Darby against CPL side Vancouver FC. And it was more than just the fourth consecutive Canadian championship last night. Jason, there was a very special moment in this match. After nearly 200 days away with an injury, over 200 days away with an injury, the captain Ryan Gould subbed on in around the 73rd minute and in a very nice gesture, two great gestures yesterday. One, he got subbed on for Thomas Mueller. Mueller jogs over to the sideline,

takes off the captain's armband and put it back on Ryan Gould and gave him a hug and rubbed his head and he said, go get him. You little scamp. And then Ryan Gould went out there and in another great moment from last night, scored the fourth goal and here's what it sounded like, the call

from one soccer, Ryan Gald, the fourth goal in a 4-2 victory in the Canadian Championship for the White Caps. Here's Goulds. So much time, so much space, picks the pass. Nelson, goals! He's back Vancouver! It was great.

Adog came in this morning and said, it was weird. You got a weird vibe from it because the white caps went in. They were expected to win. If you looked at some of the betting lines going into that match, you couldn't have made any money unless you were betting hundreds of thousands of dollars on the white caps. They were massive favorites. And then in the first 20 minutes of that match, they scored twice, and they hit the post twice. They were all over Vancouver FC.

And then the foot quite nicely and rightly was let off the gas a little bit. And kudos to Vancouver FC. They scored a goal. They actually scored a second one in the second half. The score didn't get out of hand. Everything kind of went right. And then the celebrations were pretty muted afterwards because white caps were expected to win this. You're talking about one of the best teams in MLS against

and no disrespect to Vancouver FC. I'm just looking at the standings, one of if not the worst teams in the CPL. The White Cups getting Gould back last night was actually bigger than winning that title. Yeah, because... The title was expected. Gold, I mean, we knew Gould was coming back,

but for him to be able to come on and actually score a goal was pretty cool too. And he looked his usual sprightly self dancing around the pitch. I'm telling you this. This team is so close right now. to having as full of strength squad as they can get. Once they get white back,

and then we talked to Axel Schuster yesterday about Blackman, once they get him back, because it sounds like they're going to try and get him back with one or two games left in the regular season, they've got a real chance to win MLS Cup. Are you surprised by the Blackman news? I thought his injury was going to keep him out a long, long time. In the aftermath, the first couple days afterwards,

they just confirmed essentially that it wasn't like a catastrophic knee injury. Okay. I think he suffered a pretty bad ligament sprain, but there was no tears, and that was going to rule him out. Again, they were already already dealing. In the course of a year, some injuries are going to happen. So you could kind of say, like, yeah, they lost Vezalinovich and Atikube, but all teams lose guys. It's very rare that you go through a year with everyone being in full health. But it just feels like everything's peaking at the right time for this team.

And the stuff that we were talking about yesterday with Mueller about how he just raises the level of everybody. because he's so fanatic and, like, he's obsessed with winning. Yeah, yeah. And it just rubs off on everyone because they look at it. And it would be very hard to not give, like, 110% of whatever other platitudes you want to use when one of the greatest footballers of your generation is there in training with you, like urging you on to do better. That is going to lift you, right?

If there's a handful of guys that have that kind of clout, Mueller's one of them. And the guys on the squad have responded in kind of. I'm very excited. They've also got talent. They're extremely talented. If they can put Mueller, Gould, and Brian White together on the pitch at the same time, and that's what I threw it actually yesterday. He's like, yeah, well, that's the plan.

They just have to get it done in the playoffs now. So they're guaranteed a top four spot in the playoffs now. They got three games left in the regular season. They finish on October 18th. That's the final regular season. season game at home against Dallas. They're guaranteed top four, which means they're guaranteed

home field advantage in that best of three round of the playoffs. Okay. And I got a feeling that they're going to push and they it's going to be tough to get the number one seat, but I could see them getting a couple of like multiple home games this playoff

if they're able to go deep in MLS. Because it's a weird format, right? The first round is a best of three and then it's just. Less we forget the sort of wild card round. first between the seven and ten and eight and nine but that's for losers that's for last year's white caps team but this year so the first round the wild card goes and then the first round is the best of three so everyone gets a home game right that's that that's the point yeah yeah essentially yeah and then it's just one game knockouts that's right and all the way and the higher seed hosts

and the higher seed hosts yeah and then away you go all the way to mLS cup in the western conference right now, why shouldn't they be able to get the number one seed, San Diego and Vancouver tied in points? And Vancouver's, I think, got a game in hand. Yeah, they should be, they should. They win out there in control of their own destiny that had a home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Sunday's match actually becomes a pretty big one because they've got a lowly opponent coming. I think it's San Jose. It's like a, it's a matinee on Sunday for the white caps at home. It is. Yeah. So that's where you really want to make it known like, hey, we're coming for this entire conference.

I love the MLS schedule, by the way. They're like, and then we go to Orlando City. It's very strange. How about a cross-country trip? And then back to Vancouver. Cross-country trip to Orlando, it's your only game. Couple other notes to finish off the Whitecaps conversation. The MVP of the Canadian Championship went to Ali Ahmed, who is playing at an outrageous

level right now. I don't know how much longer he is for the Whitecaps after this season. I think between the work that he's done on the international stage with Canada, where he just tore apart Romania in that mat, the friendly that they played, and really got a lot of eyeballs on him. There was rumors that he was going to make a transfer to Germany. The white caps held off.

He is playing phenomenal, phenomenal football right now and just another, like, really talented guy that the whitecaps throw at you. They had no answers for him last night in VFC. Jaden Nelson got the best Canadian young player award. He set up the Ryan Gould goal, the fourth goal of the match. So there is your white cap coverage. We will be back.

Hopefully get a guest on next week as well as we get closer and closer to the start of the playoffs and then that MLS Cup run, which we want them to go on. We will now turn our attention to the baseball. And I mention it off the top, and we're going to talk to Adnan Verk at 7 o'clock. So there's going to be a lot of baseball talk, but justifiably so.

We are, for the first time since 1981, looking at a major league baseball playoff day in which there are three, one game, do or die, winner take all games. Oh, that happens all the time, right? First time since 1981, Greg. What? 1981, 44 years ago.

And we get it today. It's going to be a good day. 12 p.m. 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. other start times. But we got to go over what happened yesterday. And what an exciting game in what's been a really exciting series between the Red Sox and the Yankees. And it was one of the most polarizing figures of the series so far.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. Who made two massive plays, including zipping around all the way from first base to home on an Austin Wells single in the eighth. Here's what it sounded like game-winning run. Yankees beat the Sox 4-3 and force game three. Seventh pitch of the hit bat coming to Austin Wells. And he lines went into right field.

Fabo! Chisholm to third. He's being waved. Eaton coming home. Here's the throw. He's side. And the Yankees have a lead on Austin Wells single. And the speed of Chisholm.

So it was a three-two count with two out. So Chisholm was going. So it was only a single by Wells. But because Chisholm's so fast and he got a jump, he was able to score all the way from first on a single. Outstanding play by him. He also made an unreal play in the field at second base to prevent the stocks from scoring a run.

Playing some inspired baseball. So this is the guy that didn't play in game one. Despite the fact he was a 30-30 guy this year. The analytics, the metric said you can't have them go up. in a game in game one against Crochet, a lefty. Again, you look at what he did yesterday and not at the plate, right?

Base running, phenomenal, defense, phenomenal. Just makes you wonder why he was out there for game one. The other guy that sat in game one, Ben Rice, had a two-run Jack in that game yesterday. So two guys that didn't play in game one had huge effects in game two. This series is great so far because every play matters.

You know, in the bottom of the fifth, the left fielder, Duran, comes in and it's a hard, ball to catch but he got himself in position to catch it and then just kind of flubbed it and you know the broadcasters were suggesting maybe

the glove got in the way of his vision or something regardless like he didn't catch it. It wasn't a great. He should have caught it. It wasn't great. It was ruled a hit. Which it shouldn't have been. Yeah it's an error. It was ruled a hit I think because like

he had to come a long way and he kind of had to dive but you're expected to make that play. The announcers didn't do him any favors either. I think on replay they're like, he makes that play 99.9%. But it's a hit in an RBI. What a time for it to not make the play.

Yeah, but great series so far. And you mentioned, you mentioned that it's, you know, the nerves when you're watching it. And a lot of it has to do the fact that there's so many base runners that are getting on. Like these aren't one, two, three innings.

There's oftentimes either like first at bat walks that are being issued. How many double plays if they're been or attempted double plays at the very least. And when did Anthony Volpe learn how to field? When did that happen? They yelled at him enough that he finally just smartened up. Phenomenal in the field.

So Laddie, walk us through today. As a Jay's fan, just sitting in wait for who's going to win between the Red Sox and the Yankees. What do we want to see today? The longest game in baseball history? Is that out of the realm? Could you imagine? That brings in the Jay's excuse of like, well, these guys were playing at a high level. and while we were sitting around getting rusty.

They need to burn... 44 innings will change that. Yeah, they need to burn through every single available arm time. I want Volpe to pitch. Yeah, right? Jazz Chisholm's out there and the top of the 19th, you know? That would be good. Okay, so the other...

It is crazy that, you know, it all starts for the Blue Jays and the Mariners on Saturday. It's right there. Like this, we were always talking about like these great sports weekends now, which is so awesome. Yeah. Last weekend, I was like, this is going to be a great sports weekend. And this one's going to be wild. This one's going to be...

Seattle's going to be a gong show this week. I'm glad there's no Canucks preseason hockey. I mean, there is Friday night. But like on Saturday and Sunday, it's baseball and maybe I'll mix in a little NFL on Sunday. So let's get to the other games from yesterday. I got a few minutes left here in the six o'clock hour. This is the Padres also evening up their series against the Cubs,

thanks to a Mani Machado two-run Jack and a dominant performance from my guy, Mason Miller. Padres beat the Cubs 3-0-0 on Wednesday, sending their NL Wild Card Series to, like all these other ones, a decisive third game. Here's what Machado's two-run Jack sounded like in a 3-0-0-0-win. And Machado cracks the first pitch to deep left field.

Ian Hap will want to go. Mani Machado destroys a first pit splitter. The Cubs do not turn to the bullpen And Machado hits it over the bullpen 3-0, San Diego So the Padres are familiar with this situation Back in 2020, remember when they had the weird Pandemic Wildcard round

And they did the best of three with all those teams The Padres went behind 1-0 to the Cardinals And then came back in 1-2 and 3 And Machado homered in game two of that series as well So they've been here before Big Game 3 at a night. Darvish is going for the Padres I'm 100% behind the Padres here. I really hope they get it done.

Did you see, I think I sent it in the chat. Did you see that pitch that Mason Miller through, the 104 mile an hour fastball? It was, now I'm not talking 100.4. It was pretty fast, was it? He dotted it on the far bottom outside corner of the strike zone, 104 miles an hour. It's an impossible pitch to hit.

He throws the ball so hard. It's not normal how hard he throws the ball. How long is his career going to last? Probably not that long. Enjoy it while you can. Yeah, like the Tommy John is coming for that guy, right? But until then, we, like, it's great. Like, I've never seen a pitch that unhittable, I don't think.

Tommy John's coming from. I'm just picturing Tommy John in like a grim reaper outfit. Just sharpening his scalpel, yeah. It comes. Okay, so that was the Padres Cup stories. Finally, and we haven't paid a ton of attention to this series, but it's been really good as well. Guardians get a win. Brian Rokio with another huge hit.

He was the guy on the final day of the regular season that hit the walk-off home run to win them the central. Rokio comes up with another huge home run. As the Guardians took care of the Tigers 6-1 in game two to force game three, here's what Rokio's home run sounded like. Well hit the ball right, way back and good!

Who should Mariners fans want? in this in this. Great question. Seattle, or sorry, Cleveland or Detroit because Toronto gets

the winner of Yankees in Boston and Seattle gets the winner of Cleveland and Detroit and Cleveland only has home field advantage in this one because Detroit

totally collapsed down the stretch. I thought about this one last night. On paper, do you think Detroit has a better team? Because of Scoobel, I'd be more worried about going up against them in a series

because Scoobles is almost a guaranteed win. Yeah. That's how good he is. However, however, however, I don't know if momentum exists. I'm still having that debate. But if Detroit, the guardians are on like a, they're on like a roll. Yeah, no, no, I know.

But if Detroit wins this series, then all of a sudden, Detroit's got this momentum. And I think they've got the potential to be a good ball team. I'll tell you what, Don Bar-Lumber text message in Baskett, 650, 650. I think Rob and Surrey, who might be in a snit, his nose might be out of joint. Rob, come back to us. You're a Mariners fan, right? Tell us, who do you want to see? Who would you like to face in the ALDS?

Like, I don't know. In a snit? He's in a snit. He's in a snit. You're not listening to Donnie to Allie, man. Donnie likes accusing people of being in a snit. I actually like that. But anyway, if you're a Mariners fan, who do you want to face in the next round?

Do you want to face the Guardians? Do you want to face the Tigers? Let us know. Lumber text line, 650, 650. One last thing on the baseball. Yeah. And we're going to talk to Adnan about baseball, too. the atmosphere in Philly

on Saturday night Dodgers Philly Otani on the mound It's going to be great It's going to be amazing Philly So I've That's some baseball theater

We talked about this last year Like it almost felt And I know this isn't the way that they did it But it almost felt like Philly built a team With Schwerber and Harper To hit Jax to fire up the crowd So they were hard to play against them home

I'm good with it Yeah it's like it's like a beer league softball team with all masher's on it, right? And they got hit 201. Okay, you can't all wear number 69. Yeah, they're all 5 foot 9. They weigh 230 pounds each. They're just like, we're going to hit dingers. Like, that's what they're out there. They're all big owl. We're going to go hit

dingers. And it, but the energy in Philly, because of it is electric, right? Because every time one of those guys gets up there, you're like, they're going for the fences. Well, the atmosphere and the place pops. The atmosphere is on Saturday is going to be off the charts in Toronto, in

Seattle, in Philly. and I'm sure Milwaukee will be electric too. It always is. Right. The Brewers are in the playoffs. All right. We got to go to break.

When we come back, Adnan Verk from MLB Network is going to join us for some more, some more, some more baseball talk. We're going to do, we're going to get into all the sports

today though. 730 Brady Henderson, our ESPN, Seahawks insider is going to join the program. We'll look ahead to Sunday. We can also briefly look ahead to tonight's Thursday night football game. Big NFC West Clash

between the 49. Niners and the Rams. 8 o'clock, Thomas Drance is going to join the program. So we will dive back into the Canucks talk and look back on that big 8-1 win for the Canucks last night in Calgary. It's an awesome time to be a fan of sports. It's an awesome time to be listening to this show. You're listening to the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet, 650.