Halford & Brough in the Morning - BC Lions Ryan Phillips + What We Learned

Episode Date: June 26, 2024

In hour three, Mike & Jason chat with BC Lions assistant head coach and defensive coordinator Ryan Phillips ahead of tomorrow's home matchup versus the Edmonton Elks (3:00), the boys tell us what they learned (20:00), plus we hear from the humanoids (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.

8.02 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough of the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver Honda is 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.

BC Lions Assistant Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator Ryan Phillips is going to join us in just a moment here. Look ahead to tomorrow's game. Lions-Elks, 7 o'clock from BC Place. Hour 3 of this program 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. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio.

Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sorfi, what are you waiting for? Kintec, that's what you're waiting for. To the phone lines we go. Ryan Phillips joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Ryan.

How are you? Man, I'm doing well, doing well. How are you? We're good. Thanks for taking the time to do this. We really appreciate it. So we got a lot to get into here, looking back on the game in Winnipeg,

looking ahead to Thursday's game against the Elks. But I did want to ask you, so this is your 16th overall season with the BC Lions organization as a player and now as a coach. I got to go all the way back to the opener. You've been almost two decades with this group. What was it like to see like 50-plus thousand people at BC Place, the really cool pregame concert with 50 Cent,

just the energy and the crowds for a CFL game in Vancouver, having been with the organization as long as you've been with the Lions. Honestly, it was special. It made me reminisce about the 2006 Western Finals and those times where we were having 45 to 50 plus

great cups, obviously in 2011 and so forth. It was great to feel the energy in the building. You know, obviously we didn't have the concerts and things like that back then. So that was an added plus. But outside of that, just the energy in the building, seeing the fans outside. Like I like to stay downtown at the hotels the night before the game and so forth. So I could just walk to the stadium and to be able to walk through and just see the fans and just see the environment and the smiles and so forth, so I could just walk to the stadium. To be able to walk through and just see the fans and just see the environment and the smiles and the happiness

and just people being enthusiastic about BC Lions football, it was just huge to be able to see. So I was happy about, you know, obviously where we're growing and, you know, what we're getting to, but also the fact that we're able to put wins in the win column definitely makes it an added bonus. So it's great to see us obviously getting to that point. Yeah, because there's a lot of excitement around the team

because of, you know, increased crowds and the performance on the field. And of course, there's that, you know, the carrot that's dangling at the end there, hosting the Grey Cup. As a coach,

how do you go about making sure that the guys don't get too excited or looking too far ahead, but also using that as a motivator, knowing that the Grey Cup is going to be here in Vancouver this year?

Well, I mean, it's hard to avoid, right? I mean, you're seeing it on everything. Whether it's billboards, you know, just regular talk. You know, whether it's even through the media from an aspect of, you know, how good or, you know, how much promise our team has based on our rosters and so forth. So it's something that you really can't avoid. But, you know, you continuously preach the one day at a time,

the one week at a time. And the reality of it is you have to win games to be able to get there. And if you're not winning games to be able to get there, then you won't be able to host. You won't even be able to be given the opportunity to be able to be a part of a great club, let alone playoff football. So, you know, we've got to win one game at a time. You know, the West is really tough as it is.

Teams are playing well. It's going to be a competitive year throughout the course of the league. So, you know, we want to take it one day at a time, make sure we're taking care of one another, making sure guys are staying as healthy as possible. And, you know, I feel like the more healthier teams, the teams with the right mindset throughout the course of the year, will be able to weather the storms that you get throughout the course of time

and that puts us in a position to be successful. And then those goals are attainable. I just want to go back to last season for a little bit. What was the story of your defense last season? I think, honestly, the story for me was, you know, we had some great times, had some good times, and then had some times where, you know, we didn't play up to our standard. And I think we had more great times and good times than anything.

You know, statistically and things like that, things say, you know, that we were, you know, pretty solid and one of the best as far as it goes. But for me, you know, I just have a high standard of just being that team all the time. And that's kind of what it was. You know, we had an opportunistic defense in the sense of obviously getting sacks and things like that, which is great. But at the end of the day, it's all about wins and losses. And yeah, we had 12

wins in the regular season, got a playoff win and so forth, but you want to do enough to get to that edge. And I feel like we did perform well in the Western Final from that aspect, and it's about playoff football from that. But regardless of the fact, though, if you didn't do enough to win,

then it doesn't matter, and that's what it is for me. So I want to see us continuously grow, continue to get better, continue to be dominant in that phase. And, you know, this is the CFL, and you're going against good teams and good offenses and good coaches. But for me, the standard is still what it is. I want to be dominant every single time we touch the field. And, you know, I want to see us continuously grow in that fashion.

What do you find yourself preaching a lot to your players? Take us behind the scenes to some of the details that you'll be going over with your players as you prepare for tomorrow's game against the Elks. One, we don't take any team for granted. I don't care what the record is or anything like that. They're a professional team. We're professional players. So we've got to go out there and take care of our own business.

And that's the reality. So, you know, I make sure those guys focus on themselves. It's not about what the other team is doing. It's about more so what we do and how we do it. When I say that we're a dictating defense, that means that we go into games telling you what you can and can't do. You know, we don't want to be counter punchers. And I tell them that all the time.

The best counter puncher in the world is Floyd Mayweather. He's retired and we ain't him. So let's go ahead and be a dictating defense, fast and physical, be able to be aggressive to that extent, and then at that point then, the big Q has to play left-handed. And I say that just based on the fact that it lets you play offset,

lets you play and have to figure out what you're going to do, which is away from your normal, away from your consistent calls or consistent plays, and I think that plays to our benefit when we get teams to do that. So that's what I preach most of the time. You know, when we start out fast and start hitting up with heavy blows, that makes teams have to play from behind or even play off course.

And I think at that point, then we can take advantage of those moments. So last season when you were – let's talk about the few times that you were frustrated with the team and thought that the team could have played better defensively. were some of the things that you weren't doing uh tackling that's important yeah i mean those things are just you know big from that aspect right you can't play defense without that so you know being aggressive at the point of attack is something that you want to be able to do um you know we could talk about x's and o's and things like that, but at the end of the day, you know, you present yourself with opportunities, and every play is going to be the perfect play.

Every play is going to be the perfect call for that aspect. But, you know, at the end of the day, sometimes like you're able to change the outcome of those things just by being aggressive, just by being, you know, playing downhill, having that assertiveness, having that mindset that I'm going to be the one to make the play and not relying on the next guy to do it for me. So there are times that I feel like sometimes we didn't get that,

and that's even despite maybe me not putting them in the best position as far as that is. So some of those things end up going hand in hand, and we always need to find a room to get better in that sense. So when it comes down to tackling and some of those things like that, and then just not making the play sometimes. We had some opportunities where quarterbacks would give us an opportunity to make a play. And, you know, we didn't go out there and make it.

And, you know, for me not being a knockdown guy, you know, for us to be able to go down and, you know, go up and make an interception or, you know, change momentum of the game and be a game-changing play, I want to see that happen a lot more for us, you know, especially not even just last year, but this year as well. How much do you spend talking about the technique of tackling or do you assume just most of the guys know how to tackle and they just have to be willing to do it um i mean you only go through it so much right i mean you know at this stage of people's careers you know they've been kind of you know molded and groomed to understand what tackling is um obviously you know you want to continue to, you know,

talk about the techniques of it and things like that as far as it is. But due to time, just due to, you know, the fact that you can only be in pads for certain things on a certain amount of time and also just take care of players, right? I mean, there's only so many times that you can allow players to hit and fall on the ground throughout the course of a week. You know, even for us, let's take into account the last three weeks. We've had three short weeks in a row with six-day turnarounds. Well, the reality of it week, you know, even for us, let's take into account the last three weeks. We've had three short weeks in a row with six-day turnarounds. Well, the reality of it is, you know, we're not going to be out on the field

telling guys to fall to the ground and go tackle and practice tackle and technique. You know, that's just not the reality of it. So, you know, you want guys to be able to, you know, know those things. Yes, you go through those fundamentals, even throughout the course of training camp and all those things, but some of that, you know, for the most part, is just a mindset, you know, a willingness to be aggressive, a willingness to, you know, strike somebody at the point of course, a training camp and all those things. But some of that, you know, for the most part is just a mindset, you know, a willingness to be aggressive, a willingness to, you know, strike somebody at the point of attack, you know, with the proper form

and, you know, being able to, you know, obviously run through without slowing your feet down and receiving the blow. Those things are like a lot mental from that aspect. And then at that point then once you get over that hump, I feel like at that point you give yourself a better chance and better opportunity just to get the guy down. Take us through a short week. What are the challenges with only having a few days to, first of all,

rest and recover from the win in Winnipeg, but also prepare for your next game? Yeah, I mean, it gets tough in a sense. Well, I tell everybody it's a 50-50 deal for me personally. I don't like the short weeks based off of recovery, based off of, you know, you got to kind of make that deciding factor if you should get back on the field faster, especially if you're coming off a win or a loss, right? If there's things that you need to rectify or change,

you want to have that opportunity to do so. But rest is just as important. And, you know, if you want to give that extra day of rest, what on a normal week you might give, you know, the team two days, you know, even on these days when it gets to the second and third week of having a six day turnaround at that point, then you want to give them that rest. So it cuts into your practice week. But even for me, coaching wise, I think sometimes it's great to have them because it keeps you from

overthinking, you know, it keeps you from over game planning. Sometimes like sometimes time is not the best thing for a coach. You know, you now start trying to put in 20, 30 plays, you know, and all that just because you feel like now I got the practice time or I got the time to be able to do so. And sometimes that gets in the way. So sometimes in short weeks it kind of gets you to settle back and say, you know what, the things that we're doing right now are good.

We can add a few tweaks and a few counter punches. But other than that, you know what I'm saying, like, you know, what we're doing is well and it gives those guys opportunities to really own the game plan and own the plays and master them. And in that way, now you're able to play fast without a whole bunch of thinking and so forth. We are speaking to BC Lions assistant coach, Ryan Phillips here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Lions are in action tomorrow. That's Thursday night,

seven o'clock from BC place. Ryan, on the defensive side of the ball, I did want to ask you about Christian Covington. He joins this year, pretty high-profile free agent after spending seven years playing over 100 games in the NFL. How has his transition to the CFL been this season so far?

From an energy standpoint, from a commitment, from a guy that wants to be successful and so forth, it's great. I think sometimes we take a big step or a big thought process of because someone has played so long in the NFL and so forth that they're still not going to go through a transition period. He's still transitioning to the CFL just like most guys, getting used to being a yard off the ball,

understanding how things might be a little bit different schematically, just a little bit to that extent. Some of the positions he may be put in based off of, you know, playing, you know, three technique or five technique or, you know, whatever it is that we have him doing at that moment. So, you know, those things might be a little bit different. And those are things that he's still going to be able to adjust to. I think the fact that he is dedicated, committed and wants to be great and wants to, you know, give us the best opportunity to win. Obviously, being a hometown kid and so forth, I feel like, you know, he's still going to bring us all the energy that we need.

And he's still, you know, going out there making, you know, plays and so forth. But at the end of the day, like I said, I feel like, you know, the added pressure that he is having at times that needs to be – and I keep reminding him about that. Like, don't put added pressure on yourself. Don't, you know, feel like you got to come here and save, you know, or be the hero or anything like that. You know, just go out there and play football. Have fun while you're doing it. Like, we're a good team. And, you know, feel like you got to come here and save, you know, or be the hero or anything like that. You know, just go out there and play football.

Have fun while doing it. Like, we're a good team. And, you know, we were good before. And now, you know, you're going to be an added addition just to make us better. And when you have that approach now, like I said, I think it relieves some of the pressure that he may have been coming in with or even some of the added attention. So I think, you know, throughout the course of time,

he's going to continue to get better. He's going to continue to start making plays. And I'm pretty sure, like I said, he'll be on the highlights for the coming weeks. And, you know, for us, like I, he's going to continue to get better. He's going to continue to start making plays. And I'm pretty sure, like I said, he'll be on the highlights for the coming weeks. And, you know, for us, like I said, he's a great addition for us. Ryan, you are known as a very competitive, intense individual. You were a winner when you played for the BC Lions. I now see in the notes that were sent along about some of the things you enjoy,

you also enjoy the Seattle Mariners because you grew up in Seattle and you're a Mariners fan. What's it like to be as competitive as you are and enjoy winning so much, cheering for a team, lifelong fan, I imagine, of the Seattle Mariners? You know what? It has its trying times. I mean, you know what? I'm going to say this. I'm going to say that we're in first place right now, so I'm going to milk it.

I'm going to milk it right now, even though we're not in the best division in baseball. And that's the thing for me, though. Like, our division is not very good. I mean, when you look at some of the other divisions amongst the league, you know, their second-place teams, even if you look at the Yankees division and so forth, you know, their second- and third-place team would be first place in, you know, two or place teams, even if you look at the Yankees division and so forth, you know, their second and third place team would be first place in, you know, two or three other divisions as far as it goes. So, you know, they got maybe four teams over 500,

and that's not the case for us. Now, that's not our problem. You know, we're going to take what we can get. But, you know, the scary part about it is, you know, we're going to have to run into one of those teams, you know, to some extent, you know, when it comes down to the playoffs. And that's my worry, you know, as far as it goes. But, you know, the more healthier, the better.

I think the fan base and things like that is great, you know, from that aspect. You know, they got games coming up, you know, during the Fourth of July weekend and things like that. So, you know, I feel like the buzz is good for right now. While they're in first place, I think it's great for the city. You know, things are going well from that aspect. But just as a true fan, you know, I'm a milk to first place. You know, I mess with Bowman about it because he's great for the city. Things are going well from that aspect. But just as a true fan, I'm a milk to first place. I mess with Bowman about it because he's a Yankee fan.

So when they end up sliding down or getting to second place, I'm like, yeah, we're way better than them. He gets so frustrated. But other than that, I'm just worried about that playoff time because we have to be able to win a playoff series. We got the one against Toronto a couple years back and so forth, but we but we gotta be able to take the next step and hopefully you know we can get some things in gear maybe make a you know a trade buzz or something like that throughout the course of this time and then you know hopefully you know we can get things going from that point

you're gonna be frustrated if they don't do a big deal the trade deadline aren't you yes like there's absolutely no doubt about it like my thing is i I feel like I'm not going to say we're one player away, but you've got to just have someone else that's just impactful. My thing is, even if you look at the division and you look at the difference, even our plus and minus margin, when you look at the teams that are at the top, like the Yankees and the Phillies, those guys are plus 100. The Dodgers, we're in the 20s. And that's not good. That means that we're not winning games convincingly.

You know what I'm saying? And so forth, like, you know, from that aspect. So, you know, these two-to-one games and these three-to-two games, that's not really good. You know what I'm saying? For me, I feel like batting can always be a little bit better from that aspect. So, I think we need to find someone, like I said, that can literally be consistent, you know, in a batting standpoint.

And then, like I said, be able to carry on from there. Ryan, do you want to be our new Mariners insider? Pretty good at that, too. I wouldn't mind it. No, I wouldn't mind it. I wouldn't mind it. But sure, no, it would definitely be a funny task. You know, honestly, like, it's just good, though.

You know, I like to be able to obviously go to the games and things like that, especially when the weather is good. It's, you know, one of the better times to be in that stadium um from there and you know it's a good environment just to bring the kids and all that and you know the tickets are reasonable as far as it goes right now but you know you just want to see winning baseball and you know get back to the to the glory days of you know the king you know the king griffey's and all that but even then we didn't win right i tell everybody that you know like yeah it was fun and you know a couple times we won 100 games and all that but but even then, we didn't win. I tell everybody that, you know, like, yeah, it was fun,

and, you know, a couple times we won 100 games and all that, but despite the all-star lineup that we had, we still didn't win. So we got to do something, you know what I'm saying? If I can get those guys in the batting lineup, then I'll put my money on this all day. But we don't have the King Griffies and the Jay Buhners and all them guys. Those guys, they walking in. So, you know, until that time, we need to find somebody to go add a little bit more punch, you know what I'm saying,

to our batting lineup. Well, speaking of wins, Ryan, go get one tomorrow. It's the Edmonton Elks. It's the BC Lions, 7 o'clock from BC Place. Thanks a lot for doing this today. We really appreciate it. No, I really appreciate you guys having me anytime, and I hope we see you Thursday.

Sounds good. Thanks, Ryan. Thanks, Ryan. That's Ryan Phillips, BC Lions assistant head coach, defensive coordinator, and now Halford and Brough show Seattle Mariners

inside. It would be funny if we brought him back for Mariners talk if they do the playoff for playoffs and don't ask him a single Lions question

like it's all Mariners. Yeah. No, I know you got a huge game tomorrow. I'm trying to get to the Grey Cup, but come on, come on, come on.

Forget about that for a second. Okay. Speaking of baseball, I've got a what we learned. Baseball, but not Major League Baseball. Who are you, me? Korean Baseball League? It's not Korean

Baseball. I'm not trying to mow Laddie's lawn. It's not very often. You didn't have to say it like that. Please don't. But I did. It's not very often that we do college baseball here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. As a matter of fact, this is the first time we've ever done anything related to college baseball on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. But on Monday, Texas A&M lost to Tennessee in the NCAA College World Series. Best of three.

After the game, the head coach of the losing team, Texas A&M, a guy by the name of Jim Schlossnagel. Schlossnagel. That's a good name. Say that again. Jim Schlossnagel. I feel like we need David Letterman to be here. Schlossnagel. Buttafuoco. Well, old Schlossnagel. I feel like we need David Letterman to be safe. Schlossnagel.

Buttafuoco. Well, old Schlossy, that's what I'm going to call him moving forward. He was asked about his future as the head coach of Texas A&M. Not a crazy question to ask, right? At the end of every season, if there are reports that your coach might be entertaining other offers, it's fair game to ask, even if it is after the end of a gutting championship World Series

loss, right? So, reporter, game reporter, I don't have his name in front of me, unfortunately, asked old Schlossy. I've got the question in the clip. Oh, do you? Okay, well, let's just let the clip run then, because this is a old Schlossy. He makes it clear that he is dedicated

to texas a&m let's hear the audio coach with respect to the difficult outcome tonight but with the rumors circulating today about a specific job opening what do you have to say about your future in haggeland yeah i mean i think it's pretty selfish of you to ask me that question, to be honest with you. But I left my family to be the coach at Texas A&M. I took the job at Texas A&M to never take another job again. And that hasn't changed in my mind. That's unfair to talk about something like that. That'd be like you asking Montgomery if he's going to sign in the draft,

but I understand you got to ask the question, but I gave up a big part of my life to come take this job. And I've poured every ounce of my soul in this job. And I've given this job every single ounce I can possibly give it. It's right. That coach. Thank you very much. Thank you.

It'd be funny. Thanks. Thank you very much. And then what happened? He took another job 24 hours after admonishing a reporter for asking about potentially taking another job. Old Schlossy took the Texas job. God. What a dick. Never believing a word that Schlossy said. The reporter shows up in that way as well.

I understand not wanting to answer a question. I understand punting on a question. I think that's very selfish of you to ask that question. The balls on old schlossy big brass ones how do you go after a reporter for asking you about a job when you've clearly already taken the other job yeah clearly took it no no this was the job for life play the part again where he says i took the job at texas a&m to never take another job again dead i took the job at Texas A&M to never take another job again. I took the job at Texas A&M to never take another job again.

And that hasn't changed in my mind. It changed 24 hours later. And it was probably already changed. And it was already done. I mean, there was a reason that the reporter was asking about him possibly taking another job. The nerve of this jag off. The gall. Like, what are you doing? What would possess someone? And to go

to the Longhorns, too, from being an agitator. Sure, but that aside, what would possess someone to do that? What did he think was going to happen? He had already taken the other job. Yeah, what was he hiding? Yeah. But even if you hid, like, hide it better,

but don't admonish the poor guy for asking the most obvious. He should go to the next press conference and just be like, so, hey, it's me again. We don't normally do this at press conferences, but I'm going to play a clip. I got my recorder here. I want you to hear this. Here's the thing.

If this guy ever tells you anything ever again, would you believe him? Not all shossy. Because that's lying to, I mean, that's not even political lying. Like, politics is good at lying. They're good at promising one thing and doing the other. And it's kind of understood. He wanted to host the team wrap-up party.

Yeah, it's a politician. He wanted to do the team wrap-up party, and then he was going to tell them. Maybe. He didn't want going to tell them. Maybe. He didn't want to get out that early. Why not just take a little more of a, just like, I'd rather not talk about this right now. I want to keep the focus on. No, no. How dare you?

How dare you? Could you please expand on why you're wearing the Longhorns jersey? Oh, God. No, I will not. So anyway, moo cow old Schlossy. Good luck at Texas. Okay, we're up against it for time. When we come back, we'll do Humanoid.

What we learned, get them in. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650-650. What did you learn over the last 24 hours in sports? Let us know. And to put a bow on a very fun segment about the BC Lions, I need to tell you that the roar is back at BC Place for the BC Lions 70th season. Get your tickets now at BCLions.com.

You're listening to the Halford and Braff Show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, it's Big Nazar. Have your say and join me on the People's Show with big takes and even bigger bets weekdays 3 to 4 on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts.

Now for my favorite part of the show. What does that 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. It's what we learn time. On the show.

8.32 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough for the morning is brought to you by Pacific Honda, North Vancouver's premier destination for Honda vehicle sales and service. 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. It is what we learn time.

Hour 3 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. Okay, we have a few what we learns that we need to do before we turn it over to the humanoids. Friendly reminder, Dunbar Lumber text line is 650-650. Text in what we learned. Now, there's no giveaways today.

We apologize. It's getting close to the dog days of summer. There are fewer things to give away. Frankly, we're just out of energy. I would suggest that you, the listener, use this as an opportunity to practice for when the real thing happens. Work on your What We Learn game.

Hone your craft. Send one in. We have a couple texters, as a matter of fact, texting in today, thanking us for when they won Best What We Learns because two listeners, including Todd Has Bad Takes, got to reap the fruits of Best What We Learns because two listeners, including Todd Has Bad Takes, got to reap the fruits of their What We Learns yesterday. They got to go to see Snoop last night at Rogers Arena

because we were giving away Snoop tickets for Best What We Learns a little while ago. And they had a good time? Yep. Todd said, I believe the quote was, I took my son and it made me feel like a good dad. So that was good. Taking him to the Snoop concert. Yeah, that is a pretty good dad move.

Pretty good bonding experience. It's a good dad move. So that's good. So anyway, get yours in. We got, Brough has one. I think A-Dog and Laddie might have a collective dog one. I don't know. I have my own. Thank you very much. I have a tiny one. Yeah, you do. He always has a tiny one. We start with Greg because this was supposed to be the week

of Laddie. So I'm going to throw you on the spot here, Laddie. Yeah, you do. He always has a tiny one. We start with Greg, because this was supposed to be the week of Laddie, so I'm going to throw you on the spot here, Laddie. What did you learn over the last 24 hours? And it doesn't have to be about sports. I learned that there's a lot of hubbub around the Prince George Cougars. Hubbub, you say? Hubbub. The sale of the team, the potential sale of the team. They just had a fantastic

season in the WHL, but there were rumors flying yesterday that Vancouver Canucks very own Francesco Accolini had interest in buying the major portion of the club and also purchasing the Chilliwack Coliseum and moving the team to Chilliwack. So they would have the Abbotsford Canucks, the Chilliwack Chiefs, or excuse me, the new Chilliwack WHL team, the Chiefs are the team that's at the Coliseum now, and of course the Canucks.

But the team immediately responding, reaching out to media, saying that no, it is just a portion of the team that is for sale. The team's owned by, I think, six different groups, and the portion of the team that's for sale is not a majority portion. So the team is not going anywhere. They claim. They're committed to Prince George, they say. Remain committed to Prince George.

Laddie, I'm going to put you on the spot here. He loves putting people on the spot. Well, you're a big junior hockey guy. What are the strong markets in terms of junior hockey, major junior, WHL, in BC, and what are the problem markets? Well, Kamloops, Kelowna, the interior teams do pretty well. But Prince George has always had. Prince George has struggled. I wouldn't say low tier but they're on the lower half uh they draw about just over 3 000 per per game so not not terrible they have a great facility the

cn center and prince george is a fantastic arena but they just haven't been able to draw like they they've always been sort of 50 capacity at the most most. There's five, right? Five owners? Kamloops, Kelowna, Prince George, Vancouver, Victoria. Those are pretty stable teams in the WHO, I would say. And Kamloops is probably the front runner in my eyes. They're kind of the staple. Yeah. But even they've had some shaky years at Kamloops. I mean, they had that run.

This is going way back where they sell out after sell out after sell out. They hosted recently, too. Kelowna does really well, attendance wise. The Rockets are a big deal there. But yeah, Prince George, for whatever reason, is always a tough time drawing big crowds. And they seem to have, I don't know if you guys remember, but Dan Hamhuis is one of the owners there in part of the groups.

And he actually kind of came in there and saved the day not that long ago. And they bought a major portion of the team. But it sounds like they're still struggling to turn a profit there, which is tough to see because, like I said, it was a team that had a great season last year. Okay, good one. Moo Cal. You know what?

Let's get that tiny one out of the way. Andy, you got a little one? Well, yeah. A lot of the NHL teams are starting to release their new jerseys for Fanatics, which, of course, are coming out this year. The LA Kings one is awesome. It's the throwback. They went back to their old school, the 90s one.

The silver and black. Yeah, it looks terrific. I mean, the Canucks one, a bunch of people have been posting it. I don't think it's been officially posted yet. Honestly, to me, I'm not a big jersey guy. I don't know the ins and outs of how they make. It looks like the Canucks. They sew them.

Yeah, well, I know they make them with hands and sewing and stuff like that. Knitting, I think, is involved. It looks like a Canucks jersey to me. I mean, I don't know. I can't tell the difference between this finesse one and the Canucks. There weren't supposed to be many changes, though, were there? No. Generally speaking, no, from my understanding.

But I don't know. The Canucks one looks identical to me. I don't really notice much of a difference. But I'm still waiting for the Ducks to do their official one because the leaks look pretty cool. The Kings ones look fantastic. Yeah, the Kings ones look awesome. What are the Ducks going back to again? Are they going back to anything?

It sounds like they're doing the 90s, the one they started with, but just using the modern color scheme. The goalie mask duck bill logo with the new color scheme. Are they going to stop being so orange? No. Or more orange. They're leaning into the orange. I prefer the old retro

color scheme, but honestly, if the leaks are to be, if the leaks are correct, the new one looks pretty badass. It looks like the Kings got rid of the... They look good because their current jerseys are the worst in the league by far. I think the leaked ones look awesome. I hope they're the real ones. They look really good. Kings got rid of the chrome buckets it looks like, too. They're just going with the black.

Are the Golden Knights still going to do the chrome buckets? I haven't heard. So the biggest story here though, isn't that the Jersey designs themselves. It's it. The NHL is reaping the benefits from the major league baseball fanatics debacle because the jerseys were so bad, the quality of them. They're really taking their time.

Well, the CEO freaked out and he acknowledged that they messed up. So they put all that effort into making up for it with the NHL jerseys. So the NHL months won't be see-through when the players sweat? It says, the first thing you notice about the new Fanatics NHL jerseys is how heavy they are. Not in a burdensome way, but in a

material way. They're substantial. They're significant. They're 100% cotton. Basically, they took what the MLBers were saying the opposite about the MLB jerseys. They're not see-through. They don't fall apart in the wash. Can't see your underwear.

Good one, Andy. Mookow that. Graf, do you want to go? Yes, I had a couple. I did want to mention that Glenn Sather has retired long time, obviously, in the league as both a player a head coach front office executive he was one of the first figures in the nhl that i did not care for as a kid because glenn say they're always when he was the head coach of the oilers he always looked like he was the head coach

of a really really good team yep he kind of had that confident sneer yes on his face serial sneer yeah serial sneer he hated the raccoons uh sorry raccoons i always get in trouble for that my pronunciation you said it rakens one time no i didn't i said raccoons i'll see them yeah i said raccoons and everyone's like it's raccoons. At any rate, Glenn Sather, he's 80 years old. He was the architect of the Edmonton Oilers dynasty that won the Stanley Cup five times. And then he went to the New York Rangers, where he's been a longtime executive, inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1997, 80 years old, and happy retirement to Glenn Sather, who, again, he was one of the big figures in the game, and his tradition will be carried over by Phil Pritchard,

the keeper of the cup, who has always maintained Glenn Sather's hairstyle from the 1980s. There's only two people that had that hair. One was Glenn Sather in the 80s, and two was Phil Pritchard for forever. Yeah. Lighting up a stogie just in his honor tonight. So give me a mookow on that. I do have one more.

Oh. Game seven of the 2024 Stanley Cup final was the second most watched NHL game across North America on record. Now, the data is only since 2004. Okay. 16.3 million. The second most watched NHL game since 2004. Now, the press release from the NHL doesn't say this, but I believe that the Canucks still own that record then from game seven of

2011, because in Canada, um, there were more people on record that watched that, um, in Canada, the number, the average audience was $7.55 million, uh, million for the, uh, Panthers Oilers. And in 2011, it was $8.76 million on Hockey Night in Canada. The two most watched NHL games in the last 20 years. Involved Canadian teams. In Stanley Cup Game 7s.

And the Canadian teams lost. Well, do you remember heading into that 2011 series? There was some concerns down in the States that, oh, there's a Canadian team in this. Is this going to cut into our viewership? And it only did better. And the same is true for this one. And I think it goes to show that sometimes

American TV executives don't fully appreciate hockey fans in the States. They think they need to be spoon-fed these USA versus USA matchups when if you've got a good story to tell, and Connor McDavid leading the Edmonton Oilers back to force a game seven was a heck of a story, and we all know that that Canucks-Bruins series, even the casual hockey fans fans not even hockey fans

in the United States were talking about that series yeah I remember when you get the likes of um you know Bill Simmons and obviously he's got his Boston connection so he was into that Bruins series and you've got the the barstool power and you, Portnoy's a Boston guy. So he was into that series as well. But when you do have those guys promoting it, then you're going to get more eyes on it. You need the big personalities, the big media personalities down South to be promoting it

and not just promoting it because they're told to. Promoting it because they genuinely do care about it well you remember the 2014 stanley cup final when the nhl landed the dream final of new york versus los angeles yeah and it's just like it went over like a lead balloon yeah no one cared yeah it did the it was like oh new york to la you know jfk to lax east coast versus west coast you know it was going to be this thing and it never materialized because what everyone quickly realized was that uh hockey fans no one outside of la or new york cared yeah it didn't if the series didn't live there's nothing to it. There's nothing to it. But here's the thing. Boston, Vancouver had hate and

controversy and violence. And this one, Edmonton, Florida, had an all-time comeback. So you cannot tell me. No, the markets don't dictate it. It's what happens in the series. It's not the markets. The series is good. You cannot tell me that

Canada is not a factor in that though just because i think the hate of that 2011 series was it was you know given a boost yeah because it was canada sure and i think and i think the drama of the Oilers series was given a boost because of Canada. What a freaking boost. The people watching have to know that it's important to the hardcore fans. If I'm going to get into something that I'm just kind of interested in it, I need to know that there are people that really, really, really, really, really care about this.

And that was a problem. And sometimes in some of these Stanley cup finals that I've watched like that LA Rangers series, you know, I think the Rangers fans went into that series wanting to win, but maybe not expecting to win. The Kings had just won the cup a couple of years ago, uh, and got off to,

you know, the Kings went up three, nothing in that series. Right. Right. So the Rangers fans kind of, and when LA won the cup and we were there. Yes. For cup wins in LA.

It's not the same. No, it is not the same. And I'm sorry if there are some hardcore kings fans who happen to be listening and i'm sure there are some hardcore kings fans in la but i remember when the king stanley cup was announced during a dodgers game and it was all the dodgers fans there were like yeah that's cool you know and some of them might have given a standing ovation and the kings have won the Stanley Cup,

but it doesn't really matter. Yeah. It really doesn't matter. It looks like watching the Panthers guys at the Elbow Room pouring the beer from the cup over the railing into the Panthers fans. There's like 15 people there. It's like barely anybody there. I think when there's a Canadian team in the Stanley Cup final,

it ratchets us up not just for Canada, but also for an American audience because the American audience knows that hockey matters to Canadians. It's why it's compelling for even people that don't care that much about soccer. It's like, you know, I will tune into a big England game because I know it matters so much to those people in England. So I'm going to be able to feel the stress of those English fans. And I think it is a factor.

Moo cow. What a freaking boost. Boost cow. Very nice. Okay, real quick. I said we weren't going to do any NBA draft coverage, but just for you, basketball, Phil, NBA draft begins tonight. And I say begins tonight because it's a two night affair tonight and

tomorrow night. And to be dead honest, most of the intrigue from this year's NBA draft might happen when they do the second round tomorrow night, because that's when Bronny James is expected to be picked. He averaged a grand total of 4.8 points in his one single solitary freshman year in college. Yet because of who he is and who his father is, more importantly, there's going to be a lot of intrigue around who takes Bronny James. I cannot imagine that anyone will go crazy enough to take him in the first round. For example, the Lakers have the 17th overall pick tonight.

It's been said that it would be far too early, far, far, far too early for the Lakers to do this. But they're a little bit worried because then they have the number 55 pick and that might be too late. I don't think that you can mess around with taking a guy that far off the board but it's the nba and it's lebron it's the lakers and it's such a unique situation

who knows i can't fathom a world where he gets taken in the first round but i've known i've been known to be wrong before any team that takes him has to be considering adding lebron to the team right that's right. That's right. There's no one who's like, we think it's a smart pick because we think Bronny's a pretty good player. Because they've put some rules out there. So the agent, Rich Paul,

said that if you're going to take Bronny, you have to give him a standard NBA contract. Not one of these two-way deals where he can kick back up and down between the NBA and the G League. He's going to be drafted by an NBA contract. Not one of these two-way deals where he can kick back up and down between the NBA and the G League. He's going to be drafted by an NBA team. He's going to sign an NBA contract. So he's going to be

in the NBA next year. He might be on the bench. He might never play, but he's going to be in the NBA, which leads me to believe exactly what you're saying. Whoever gets Bronny might get a chance at LeBron. Now, the other interesting wrinkle, well, there's several wrinkles. One, LeBron sounds like he's going to opt out of his contract, and then

because of his age, you can only offer him a max three-year deal. I guess it's like the NHL has you can't sign an old guy to a 7,000-year deal and then just buy him out. They have rules against old guys signing long deals. Max is

a three-year deal, so he's going to opt out. He might is a three-year deal so he's going to opt out he might sign a three-year deal might keep him in la or it might go in the exact opposite direction the other part of all of this is that we didn't mention this the lakers hired jj reddick as their head coach so you want to talk about the most fascinating basketball team that might not be that good at basketball next year it's potentially the los angeles lakers with lebron lebron's son and then a 40 year old head coach who's almost the same age as lebron and has never been a head coach in the nba before and kind of made his mark in the nba not necessarily as a player but more as a podcaster what what a time to be alive mook how all that okay we got to print out these submissions there haven't been many submissions that's okay we got two minutes though. Okay, we got to print out these submissions. There haven't been many submissions.

That's okay. We got two minutes though. We got two minutes here. Do your thing. What we learned in Humanoid Edition

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Coquitlam, what we learned. First day without hockey has been rough. Luckily, still got hockey talk through next week. Yeah, it's going to be crazy for the next few days in terms of news. I think a bunch of stuff is going to start to break. Probably today. Yeah.

I mean, the Jeff Skinner buyout. It's going to happen at some point. It's going to happen. We'll probably have some trades. and then we've got the draft, and then free agency next week. Don't forget the NHL Awards. The NHL Awards. Two Canucks.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Norris and Vizina. Right, the Vizina's up for grabs tonight. Yeah, I think Connor's got his hooks into that one. Yeah. Hella buck into the Vizina. That was like McDavid, too. Yeah.

Yeah. And Quinn Hughes is going to win the Norris, I'm pretty sure. Ben and Langley. No, I'm going to save that one for last, actually. Unsigned what we learned. What's going on right now? Argentina did Canada a favor by beating Chile. I also learned that England is a snooze fest.

Well, you're right on that last one um yeah so canada now just needs to draw chile in order to advance in the copa america assuming that peru doesn't beat argentina yeah but that's not gonna happen some people quite flippantly were throwing that out there like verified reporters and journalists like all canada needs to do now is draw and i was like don't say it like that because here's the thing. Argentina doesn't really have anything to play for. And Messi's dealing with an injury now. I don't know if you watched them play Chile last night,

but he was getting treatment on his hamstring. And then after the match said, yeah, I got a problem with my right hamstring. So there's a chance he could sit the Peru match. And then that really does change it. Here's the thing. Peru was in the semifinals of this tournament the last time it was played. They lost to Brazil.

So like they do not feel like they're dead in the water. Like they're going to be fighting tooth and nail to get a result. They've beaten Argentina before. So I just want to throw that out there. Matt, not on the island. What we learned, I learned that although I'm not a fan of soccer, I do love it when Halford and Brough talk about it only for the reason that it pisses off some guy on the island.

Hey, island guy, move to the mainland like a regular person. And that is signed Matt, not on the island. Let's make Andrew in Victoria, who at this point has probably taken an unfair amount of abuse, because I don't even think he texts in anymore, bemoaning the fact that we're talking about... He tuned out. Too much soccer talk.

He's saying goodbye forever. Yeah. I like this one from Noahah from east van what we learned what i learned is euro is like watching a choreographed dance and copa america is like watching a knife fight i've seen a lot of memes like this feeling yeah can you explain that a bit more alfred what why is the copa scene as like a bar fight compared to oh the match the game but every game is like that okay so we're way too short on time for me to go down this road, but like,

there are the, like Charmin very astutely pointed out. There's the Brazils and the Argentinas that play this gorgeous, free flowing, skillful football, creativity and everything else. Then there's a lot of these other countries that don't have the resources and talent available,

but soccer is still their national sport. They just slug it out. They're just like, Peru's, that's their everything, is the national team, right? That is their everything. But in order to be competitive, they're not going to trade chances with Brazil. They're going to try and drag them into the alleys

and beat the living daylights out of them. And then they're like, what if we did this all the time against everybody, including Canada? And that's why you have matches that have like 35 fouls in them. So there you go. Okay. Ben and Langley. What we learned.

Brough was this close to having an Euler Stanley Cup and a Sakaris hole-in-one on back-to-back days. Not sure he would be able to come back from that one. Yes. Congratulations to Matt Sicaris who hit his number eight at Northlands downhill, very downhill. Six iron 177 yards.

Some people might have hit an eight. But he hit a six iron and he hit it perfectly and it went one bounce, two bounce into the hole and I died a bit inside. What a perfect way to end the show. Congratulations, buddy.

That was a great, great shot. We got to get out of here for now, but we will be back tomorrow. Signing off, I have been Mike Alford. He's been Jason Brough. He's been A-Dog and he's been Laddie. This has been the Alfred and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.