Halford & Brough in the Morning - Could The Sedins Be Behind The Canucks Bench Next Season?

Episode Date: May 27, 2025

In hour three, Mike & Jason chat with Surrey mayor Brenda Locke (1:24) about their recently-announced 10,000 capacity arena, plus the boys tell us what they learned (27:00). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

802 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday everybody, Halpern Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halferd and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands & Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit them online at Sands-Trustee.com. We are now in hour three of the program. Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke is going to join us in just a moment here to talk about the new arena coming to Surrey. 10,000 seat capacity in the city of downtown Cora. We'll talk about that in just a moment here to talk about the new arena coming to Surrey. 10,000 seat capacity in the city of downtown core. We'll talk about that in just a moment to kick off our three, our three of this program is brought to you by Campbell and Pound real estate appraisers trustee expertise of gambling pound.

Visit them on the internet at Campbell-pound.com. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step guests on Sportsnet 650 call in on the hotline powered by Power West Industries. Don't get caught in the dark when it matters most. Visit them at powerwest.ca. Today they keep the lights on. Our next guest comes courtesy of the aforementioned

Power West Industries hotline. She is the mayor of Surrey. She joins us now on the Halford and Brough show. It's Brenda Locke here on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Brenda, how are you Good morning Brenda, how are you? Good morning. How are you? I'm great. We are well as well. Thank you for taking the time to do this today. So let's start with the news announced last week, criticism of yourself. Why does Surrey need a 10,000 seat arena, Brenda?

Well, I mean, Surrey is going to be where the action is. It's a surprise to me that we don't have one by now. And so having a large centre in our city is just something that's about community building. And you know, Surrey is a young city, lots of sports are played right here in our city. So this will be a great addition. It's an important addition and I know that people are excited about it.

Would you need to lock down an anchor tenant maybe in the AHL or WHL before the shovels go on the ground? You know, we not necessarily, but we're certainly getting a lot of interest and we will be having partners doing this project with us but we don't need the anchor yet but we're certainly getting a lot of interest because people they want to come to Surrey and you know we're a city of over 700,000 people so an arena of this size makes a lot of sense.

Tell us about the kind of partners you need for this project because it's not just an arena of this size makes full on sense. Tell us about the kind of partners you need for this project because it's not just an arena. No, it's not. And you know, you have to figure out how to, you know, as they say, 365 an arena, so it's going to be other people that are music venues, there'll be lots of other people participating in it and we're talking to a number of people that are interested in partnering. We certainly know

and anticipate this is going to be a blended financial model which is something that is important because these are extraordinarily expensive projects. But we know that there are private investors that are looking at it and people that are

looking at things like naming rights and all those other things. So we are working on all that right now as we speak actually. So how do you ensure taxpayers are protected because in the history of arenas and stadiums in North America there have been some very bad deals and they have not, well they have not been good for anyone? Well, you know, I understand that, absolutely. And that's why we're being really careful

about that because ultimately our taxpayer is the one that we care about the most. And so we will be making sure that this isn't going to be a major burden on our taxpayer. But I can tell you that the interest from teams,

from other groups, is going to be a big problem for the people isn't going to be a major burden on our taxpayer. But I can tell you that the interest from teams, from other groups, is really alive in Surrey. And I know that people know Surrey is going to be the largest city

in British Columbia very quickly. And for us to not have this kind of facility is actually surprising. So we've had a lot of interest, interest from not only British Columbia, outside of British Columbia as well. So we're well into the plan. What are the next steps? And if you could provide us a bit of a timeline for when you think

you could get started on construction? You know, the very next steps, within the next few weeks, perhaps a month, we will be issuing an RFP for the development advisor, and that's the person that's going to help us really refine the business case so that we can move forward and

advise the exact location. We have a pretty good idea where we want it to go but they'll be really helpful in keeping us on track with that. And then we'll continually work alongside with other people like external legal counsel because all of these operations are complicated and we need competitive processes all the way through to make sure just as you were saying earlier, we're going to make budget numbers that

make sense for our city. Where do you want to put it right now? Well, right now we're looking at city center. That's the downtown of Surrey and that's really our location. But you know, this is a real large project. This is not just, as I said, there's going to be multiple partners.

We're looking at a hotel space there, we're looking at other facilities, conference facilities there. So you can understand there'll be lots of people with interest in how they're going to work alongside of, of the arena, which is the core of it, but, um, there'll be lots of other interests. This is going to be Surrey Sports and Entertainment

District and something that, uh, this city is more than ready for. Uh, I wanted to ask you about the BC Lions and their practice facility. They've moved some of their business operations downtown. Uh. I think there's a few years left on the lease at their practice facility. Have there been any conversations with the BC Lions on a new practice facility? You know, we're talking, I'm not going to get into specifics that would be offside, but specifics that would be offside.

But certainly we're talking to all kinds of different teams, but also other people involved in sports and entertainment. Is it important to keep the Lions in Surrey? Of course we love the Lions. They have their training facility here

and so they are part of the city. So absolutely the Lions are important to the city of Surrey. Brendan, we want to thank you for taking the time to do this today. We really appreciate it. Best of luck with everything moving forward and this is very informative. Thanks again. Oh, thank you for your interest. Have a great day.

You too. Thank you. That's city of Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke on the new 10,000 seat arena coming to Surrey here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. So, you know how we talk so much about the Canucks practice facility? We love practice facilities here in Vancouver. There's so much practice facility talk.

Just the idea of them. We love it. Yeah, well, the Lions one is super old and tired. Yeah. And I know they had an issue last year with, um, so there's a grass field that they usually practice on at the facility, but, but sometimes when the grass isn't in great shape and you know,

that happens, uh, sometimes they move over to the turf field and the turf field wasn't very good. In fact, the CFLPA came in and said like, uh, you guys can't practice on this, this isn't safe. So they had to go to another turf field, like at 10 minutes away or something like that. Um, and it, it sounds like they're not going to be long for the city of Surrey.

And I felt like there was a bit of like, Hey, I don't want to talk about this right now. Oh, did you get that? Did you get that feeling? I got that sense. I don't know. Sometimes politicians do that. Sometimes we're talking to many, many sports teams.

You know, the Lions, one of them. You're a pretty sharp knife there, ref. So I think on the practice facility watch, we're still going to be talking about the Canucks, but we should also be talking about the BC Lions and where they're going to put their facility. Yeah. And it's another interesting part of this is,

I don't know if you know this, but NHL players on average make more money than CFL players. I was not aware of that. So the practice facility for the Canucks, you want to be closer to the big houses. Yeah. And the practice facility for the Lions, if they move that closer to downtown, some of the players might be like, ah. Yeah. Taking the SkyTrain to practice.

Well, that was the nice thing about having it in Surrey. There was some affordable housing around there that the players could stay in. They could just like, yeah, I could just get right there and then I could take the SkyTrain downtown to the games. Circling back on one thing you were saying about

the turf field, the one that's kind of been chewed up now. Yeah. That is a ongoing problem throughout the lower mainland is because of the rapid growth, like there's been a billion turf fields installed throughout the lower mainland, because it makes sense for the temperate Vancouver weather, right? It's tough to keep grass pitches and grass fields functional, right? They get torn up pretty easy. Holes, dogs digging holes in them.

However, I mean, I've noticed this just through playing like adult soccer and then coaching youth soccer. Those fields get ground down to a nub. Yeah. Her field. And I mean, if you can see a worn out turf field and the damage that it inflicts on the players, because that's where you get a lot of the ankles and a lot of the knees being done on those turf fields, the ball doesn't travel naturally on it.

They just get worn down because they are used excessively. I mean, if you go by any significant turf facility in the lower main line on a weeknight, not only are they jam full, they're split in half and they've got, you know, three or four different teams training on them at a time, incessantly, repeatedly, seven days a week, as soon as school lets out right until it's dark.

And I'm gonna be very curious to see what the cost of the replacements on those is because, I mean, just speaking, come on, the ones at Burnaby Lake, they get worn down, worn down, and they are not in fantastic shape. And I know it costs a lot of money for maintenance on them.

I know it costs a lot to replace them. So. Yeah. Yeah. So the practice facility watch will continue and we've added the BC Lions to that now. I think this arena is a ways away. Uh, in Surrey, itelyna is a ways away. In Surrey

it's at least a few years. They got to go through all the political stuff and they don't even have a refined business case for this. Right. Because they're going to need to bring in a consultant to actually refine that. So this is very high level stuff. I've heard that the Vancouver Giants are happy and Langley right now.

I don't know if the WHL would go to Surrey if that would be a move or a new franchise, or if the Canucks would consider bringing their AHL team from Abbotsford and moving them to Surrey, but I know they've been pretty happy in Abbotsford. Certainly happier than they were in Utica. I want to do a quick, what we learned. The Vancouver Whitecaps are hosting a watch party. Yeah. On Sunday, they're going to have a outdoor big screen on Terry Fox Plaza at BC Place. The doors will open at 4.30 and kickoff

is set for 6 PM. It's a $5 donation proceeds going to the Whitecaps FC foundation. So just go onto the Whitecaps website and they've got all the information there. If they are, you know, if it's tickets are required and the tickets are required, you might want to get them soon because I think it's going to be a nice day on Sunday.

And you know, if you don't want to shell out for one soccer. Sure. Go down and watch it live with all these Whitecaps fans. Give us a moocow on the Whitecaps watch party for their big game, biggest game in franchise history, this current version of the white caps at least against Cruz Azul. In Mexico City. By the way I looked at the weather for Mexico City, not that hot. No. Are we gonna be hotter? Because we're close to 30 degrees. We might, it's gonna get real hot tomorrow. Take that Mexico.

We're gonna have Mexico City heat here. Well the Whitecaps also play tomorrow, 7.30 at BC Place, in the heat. Right. Although it'll be at night. The Whitecaps will fly on Friday afternoon down Mexico. Assistant head coach Michael D'Agostino is gonna join the program at seven

to set things up for the game on Sunday. And yeah, as you mentioned, go to Ticketmaster dot C a forward slash white caps for tickets to the outdoor watch party. Yeah, this would be a good opportunity. Of course, it will coincide with the biggest match that the MLS version of the white caps have had. So it should be a good day. It should be a lot of fun. Tomorrow will be hotter in Vancouver than in Mexico City.

Let's go. Unbelievable. Let's go, Vancouver. OK, my what we learned still doing that. Yep. I'm going to do it till the end of time. I like. Let's go. Unbelievable. Let's go Vancouver. Okay, my what we learned. Still doing that, huh? Yep, I'm gonna do it till the end of time. I like what, let's go. I think I can make it my thing. Get hats.

You can make it your thing? You've stolen it from thousands of other podcasters. Or have they stolen it? It's a uniquely Mike Halford thing. Yeah, no radio slash podcast guys ever used let's go as a slogan or the name of their podcast. It could be onto something It's not even the blue jay slogan this year. I think there's probably like 30 podcast called. Let's go 40 years from now time for your pills, mr. Halferd I

Remember, uh, what's the the the lights up? Let's go really? I think that's it. It's terrible. Okay, my what my what if it's a day game? Let's go really I think that's a terrible okay my what my what if it's a day game Lights down yeah lights down like just let's go though my what we learned is also on the soccer front You're having some trouble with your chair there, but the arms aren't locking in Okay, let's go arms Lock in okay. We're locked now Lock in. Okay, we're locked now. Ronaldo's time in the Saudi League appears to be coming to an end. After Al Masser, his team, that he did lead the league in scoring with this season, failed.

Congratulations. Yeah, 25 goals. How did he pull it off? Scored a lot of goals. If you look at the top goal scorers in the league, it's all, not necessarily guys of his ilk, because he's only one of one, but it's all the sort of big name high prize Benzema Mitrovich Sadio Mane all the high priced European former European landed players they brought over so which MLS team is he going to he's not Greg as a matter of fact

according to Marka, which is a South American football magazine There is get this, an unnamed Brazilian club that has made an offer to Ronaldo to bring him on board because there are four Brazilian teams that are going to participate in the upcoming club world cup. Okay, I'm gonna name them.

Yep. And you tell me how bad your pronunciation is. Palmaras. Yeah, that's a good one. Flamengo. Good. Fl pronunciation is. Palmaras. Yeah, that's a good one. Flamengo. Good. Fluminense. Fluminese.

You don't say that second N. Okay. And then, I mean, it looks like Botafogo. Botafogo. Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah. You need- Oh, do that, Hig. That was good.

Botafogo. Oh, that's a guy that grew up in Burnaby. Yep. I know things. So who is more likely? I have no idea Hey dog, you're a big flamingo guy, right? Yeah, I think it's supposed to be border fogo because they were the ones that issued a statement border fogo. No, not there's no it's not bored I know it kind of looks like butter fooco. Yeah, it is but it's not The border fogo gaffer did say that if Ronaldo was to be made available

and was accepting in the offer, they would, quote unquote, can't say no. So we'll see what happens there. The Club World Cup, of course, is going to be going on in a matter of weeks. It's going to coincide with the numerous international breaks that's going to decimate MLS. So just to confirm it. Yeah. And I know this, I want to confirm it though.

Sure. If the Whitecaps beat Cruz Azul. Yes. And get a spot in the club world cup. Yes. It's not for this one. No, it's for the next one in 2029. When is it actually?

2029. No, it's not. If I'm not mistaken. I think it's 20, it's got to be 2027. It's down the road. You can't qualify for a tournament. We don't even know what the whitecaps are still going to be in Vancouver in 2029.

Can't you? Okay. Yep. All right. Anyway, so, but Joey Bud Fudo, I can't even say it. Yeah. God, I'm Dolly. What?

Dolly. Well, can you say Dolly Wall. Uh, they are actually in a group in the club world cup with Seattle and, uh, PSG and Atletico Madrid. Okay. Mukow that. Also unnamed text you're texting in that Tom

Brady's podcast. Yeah, no, I know. It's apparently called Let's Go. I said that on the air the other day. Did you? No one pays attention to me, ever. Maybe that's where you stole it from. It was Tom, I stole it. A Mike Halford original.

You know, I will admit that I was not the originator nor creator of Let's Go. I just like saying it. I'm glad you, it's fun. You admitted that, it's hard for you to do so. It's an air filler. Let's go. Jordan and Van texts in,

Dodd and Drantz say let's go all the time on their show and it's so cringe. Oh. Heartbreaking in real time. That's a tough one. Halford's never gonna say it again. Let's go. Let's go home. Yeah, I do want to go home now. We have four minutes to kill here boys, so you guys better come up with something real quick. Where's your oh? What we learned and I think anything's a dog Nothing, I tried but they're not entertaining enough. So I've let the listeners take over never stabbed you before Okay. Well, let's just go right into the let's go right into the inbox. Let's do it What we learned humanoid edition brought to you is always by AJ's pizza on East Broadway, our favorite AJ's sauce pie and upside down version of the bar pie with fresh mozzarella and basil only at AJ's pizza. Order online at AJ's. That pizza.

Uh, Omar with what we learned with Abby advancing to the semifinal, uh, let's not be that hockey dad who despite team success complains that their boy and star player like a le or Mackey wasn't on the score sheet. Just embrace the fact that there is at least some success happening in this organization with the hope that there will possibly be a trickle up effect for the big club. Omar. Was anyone complaining? You're being that hockey dad.

Yeah, you're being that guy. You're bringing it up. I didn't even think about that. And this is a generational hater show. I didn't think about that at all I was just happy that one Abbots for one and then two Brandon Astle survived. Yeah the assault. I'm probably most happy for already see loves Who was it texted in earlier as a Buffalo Bill? Chastised us admonished us said that we threw dirt on sea loves earlier No, we thought we said we threw him under the bus or something like that didn't bail from Buffalo. Don't call him Buffalo Bill the serial killer from Silence of the lambs Bill from Buffalo. Yeah, Bill from Buffalo. Okay, Bill from Buffalo said that we threw already see love I must have missed it earlier in the year should in the basket. I

Thought we weren't gonna do the Buffalo. I'm just'm just saying that's the image it, you know, brings up in your mind. So that's not. And now you've got a audio component to go on with that visual. Um, earlier in the- Sears was unplayable in the NHL. And we said it out loud repeatedly. Like he-

Because he was. He was. And he's gone back to the AHL, which is not the NHL. And he's very playable. And he's done very well. I would also like to warn people that goaltenders and small sample sizes can do funny Gone back to the AHL, which is not the NHL. And he's very playable. And he's done very well. I would also like to warn people that goaltenders and small sample sizes can do funny things.

And I'm super happy for him that he's gone on this run and I'm super happy for the Canucks and the Abbots for Canucks fans, but don't be fooled by just a short period of high level play. Cause we know he's capable of it. We've seen him have the highs before, but his issues all year long was about consistency. And you're just ignoring that if all you're doing

is putting focus on this playoff run that he's had right now. And it's the same thing when he went to the world championships and got the bronze medal. It doesn't mean he's all of a sudden an amazing goaltender. You trade Demko, it's a little too short-sighted for my liking. I would know. I think that Connuck should respond by trading Demko.

This time. Calling it T-Los. Yeah, this time. This time it's definitely for real. A healthy Demco is still by far your best option for next season. Your key in Ottawa, what we learned, the Canadian Elite Basketball League's Montreal Alliance hosted the Ottawa Black Jacks Sunday at IGA Stadium, named for the grocery chain, not SGA. This is notable because

that's the outdoor tennis venue where the Canadian Open is held. By halftime, the condensation on the floor was so bad that big fans were brought out and spectators were crawling around with rags trying to dry the surface. The game was eventually called. Maybe there's a reason why outdoor basketball never caught on. It was a tough look. I saw the video of all the fans mopping up the floor. It wasn't, it wasn't great.

And it was a bit of a black eye for the CEBL. They had to issue a statement the other day. Wasn't it, didn't it used to be outdoor basketball at the Olympics like ages ago? Didn't we talk about that? We did talk about it. Was there a Canadian team involved in a game that was- Yeah, the final score was like eight six.

Yeah. Because the rain made it very difficult. It was tough conditions. Yeah, rotted out the peach baskets. It was very difficult to play basketball in those conditions. Okay, before we go to break, I do want to do an ask us anything from Harry

This is important because I've seen a couple people ask this now It's about a gentleman sweep. We all know the concept of a gentleman sweep, right? I'll explain it anyway It's when Silence for yeah dog. No idea. Yeah, it's when now here's a hold on hold on you give the game, right? You give the team a game now yeah Haring lightly let them win one game before you annihilate Harry is wondering if it has to be only If you go up three nothing yes in the series yes, and the answer Harry is yes You give them the fourth game right which is exactly what Florida did to Carolina last night

I didn't want to say it when we had Adam Gold on the show earlier because he seemed like he was really enthusiastic Brad Marshawn is a gentleman. Yep, and Matthew Kachak another huge gentleman You have to be up three nothing and then you just kind of toss the other team a game now The ultimate gentleman's sweep is if you give them a win on home ice That is the ultimate science. Yeah, give them something and you also go back home to win it in five But if some people have said oh, it's any combination of winning no five games were you giving? No, you would give them the first game right? You're like. Yeah, just take it well Really that would be pretty confident though. That would be a ballsy gentleman sweet

Can I just say how much I hate that I like Brad Marshawn now? It's a tough thing to wrap your head around. It's really annoying me and I don't like it, but he's become so lovable, it's sickening. He's very, very likable now. Yeah, I know. I don't like it. I don't like it at all. But I do enjoy him.

By the way, Canada lost in the 1936 Olympics 19 to 8 to the United States in Berlin. Nailbiter, nailbiter. They couldn't get, they were, the United States, they were mutters. Yeah. You know? They love blaming the mud. And Canada was like, we're dry surface guys. They were finesse basketball team. This mudda was a mudda.

This mudda was a mudda. Okay, we're gonna go to break. When we come back, more humanoid, what we learn is Kate Year's in, Dunbar Lumbertec's line is 650 650. You're listening to the Haliford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satyar Shah, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the post game show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app.

Now for my favorite part of the show. through your favorite podcast app. ["It's What We Learn Time"] Now for my favorite part of the show. What'd I say? Talk to the audience. Oh, God, this is always dead. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time It's what we learn time

On the show Halvern & Brev of the morning is brought to you by Sands & Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit them online at sans-trustee.com. We are in hour three of the program, it is what we learn time. Hour three is brought to you by Campbell & Pound real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell & Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-Pound.com today. at Campbell-pound.com today. We just continue on with the humanoid what we learns here. I actually do just want to do a quick what we learned myself. Oh my, we're going back to Hellford and Brough what we learned. Go ahead. Is that allowed?

The New Jersey Devils have named Brad Shaw as an assistant coach. I saw this. So Brad Shaw was the interim coach in Philly, after Torts got fired and Brad Shaw has been in Vancouver too. Yep. And a lot of people wondered if he might come to Vancouver and be part of Adam Foote's staff and the reason that I bring this up is not because we're huge New Jersey Devils fans here. You might huge New Jersey Devils fans here.

We're a New Jersey Devils assistant coach. We particularly care that they've named Brad Shaw an assistant coach, but more just a reminder that the Canucks still have to fill out their coaching staff. Just add it to the list. They got a head coach, which is great. They need assistant coaches.

So right now the coaches listed on the Canucks website are Adam Fudd, the head coach, Yogi, the assistant coach. Sergey Gonchar is still listed as a defensive development coach. And then you're into the video coach, Dylan Crawford and the Sedines player development. So I think they've only got Adam and

Yogi as the guys that are going to be on the bench next season. What a duo, Adam and Yogi. Right. Um, and this is a big deal because Adam Foot. He's inexperienced. He's inexperienced. He's never had a head coaching gig before.

You know, and there was talk that they might, or speculation at least, but we wondered if they might bring in someone like, um, uh, a Brad Shaw to, to provide some experience for the bench. Um, I do. Has it been confirmed that Manny will be back? Manny Mahoultra will be back as the head coach in Abbotsford. Is there a possibility that they, they could bring him up to the NHL bench after all this?

Sure, why not? I mean, it just seems like the Canucks are like, yeah, all options are on the table for everything. I can understand why this has been hanging in the ether, though. Well, one, if they want if they're deciding what they want to do with Manny, either keep them in Abbotsford or move them up to the NHL bench, both of which are viable options. Well, on Manny will have a say in it. You could understand that they'd be like, you know what? Why don't focus on the Calder Cup playoffs first? Right.

And then the other part of this is that there's still a lot to be decided across the NHL in terms of coaches. The Pittsburgh Penguins still do not have a head coach. The Seattle Kraken still do not have a head coach. The Boston Bruins still do not have a head coach. The Boston Bruins still do not have a head coach. They've still got listed as Joe Sacco as the interim. But he's not the interim coach. They're looking for a new one.

And then you would imagine that with new coaches coming into new places, existing coaching staffs probably hit the skids and they gotta find work elsewhere too. Did you see the tweet I just shared with you guys in the group chat from Kevin Weeks? What's that? Kevin Weeks, per sources, Jay Woodcroft, Mitch Love, and Marco Sturm are among the favorites

as potential hires as head coaches for the Bruins, Penguins, and Kraken, I assume, respectively. Okay. Marco Sturm, formerly in E3. The three of those guys will just get together and just be like, okay, well, I'll take the Kraken. You want the Bruins job? Yeah, go ahead, take the Bruins job.

So though, yeah, I would imagine that, given that those guys that interviewed for seemingly every other head coaching job as well, that they'd be in the mix for the final three here. But yeah, like I said, there's gonna be guys that are gonna shake loose. By the way, we never discussed last week, cause there was a lot of other things going on,

that Chicago decided to take them into the, the new generation was going to be Jeff Blaschel. Yeah. It's a second kick at the can though. Those coaches can sometimes work. Yeah. Learned a lot of stuff in Detroit. His first, he felt like the ultimate placeholder coach in Detroit. Like you're here as the guy that the playoff consecutive playoff streak is going to end with. And then you're going to be here until we get a better head coach to get us out of the dark. You're going to get a lot of blame.

Yeah. Are you OK with that? Jeff Blamehill was his name. I know we've discussed this before. Well, it's not like the Blackhawks are ready to roll into the playoffs next year. But you thought. Blasheal could be like, you know, one thing I do well is I take criticism.

Yeah. I'll take the bullets. I'm Jeff Flashfield, it's what I do. I just want to coach again. I thought it was a strange, I thought it would be a more inspired hire. You're always looking for inspired hires and there just aren't enough inspiring coaches.

Speaking of inspired hires, Sean is asking, would it be possible, do you think we might see one or both of the Sedin's behind the Canuckabinches next year? I think that it would be a great idea. Me too. would it be possible or do you think we might see one or both of the Sedenes behind the Kanuka bench next year? I think that it would be a great idea. Me too. I mean, I think,

well, here's the thing though, if they don't wanna be, there's different types, obviously, of coaches with it or against. Yeah, this is assuming they want the job, of course. Cause I think the player development role is still very much a coaching role, but it's a lot more.

I think the Sedenes have to decide what they want to do with their careers overall. Yeah, they may not be interested in this. The one thing I've heard is that they really enjoy working with the players out in Abbotsford. They enjoy doing that. And I've also heard that, you know, in a few years when their kids are done in high school, maybe they're not in Vancouver anymore.

However. You know, it's the same, you hear the story about, you know, it's been written about in the province newspaper by Patrick Johnson. Jim Rutherford's son is in high school and he's got one year left and maybe after that Jim Rutherford takes the family and goes back to Carolina. You know, the Sedines don't like need to work.

They want to work and They, they want to work. And, um, and I think, uh, I think they really do enjoy working with players. Like I said, they enjoy working with, uh, uh, Linus Carlson, uh, in Sweden and guys that want to learn, I don't know if they want to be behind an NHL bench. However, from a purely selfish standpoint, I absolutely want them to be behind the Canucks bench. Because. It'd be awesome. They're, in my estimation,

they're the two best Canucks of all time. And that's all encompassing. Their attitudes towards the game, their affinity for the market, the fact they never left, they're, all of it. The whole story. All of it, they're the two greatest Can contracts. And if you could somehow, somehow encourage them

and make them see that like this level of coaching, because player development is one thing, but player development is very much a one-on-one thing. Right, I think that they're, even if they were naive to the gig and maybe had to learn their way onto the job, I think it would be a great thing. And I, again, I think from I think from a feel good perspective, which we don't have enough of in this market

from that time, I think it'd be great. Now I don't know if the feasibility and the reality of it matches up to this Pollyanna view that I'm taking of it, but still, I'd love to see it. Justin in East Van is very committed to telling us that- Is this the cheese rolling? In addition to the Stanley Cup drought, Canada now has a two-year cheese rolling drought.

Yeah, it's been a while since, well, not that long. Delaney Irving, remember she won the women's race? Knocked herself out in the process, yeah. Did she? Yep. She got a massive concussion. Oh, okay. Yep. It's a bit of a dangerous race.

Yep. The Germans are now dominating the circuit. Would you see the video that he, like that model's guy's got air, man. Like he went really high into the air. That does not look safe. Well, that's what happens when you race down a hill. Yeah, it's- A steep hill.

Yeah. Do you know there's one guy, Chris Anderson, who won it 22 times. It's impressive. And you can win it, like one year he won it. So here's how it goes, it's a little confusing. There's like five races. Four of them are men's races

and one of them is a women's race. And they do this because there's a lot of entrants and they can't have them all on the hill at the same time. Makes sense. But this Chris Anderson guy went in all four races one year of the men's races and won them all. That's incredible. That's great.

That's an incredibly specific and special skill. Yeah. Like, what do you do? I'm really good at the cheese race. Yeah, like really good. Really good. Running downhill, I'm a master of it. The thing is, I'm asking asking you to run off the hill,

but running downhill. But after a certain point, you stop running and you just let gravity do its business. Yeah, maybe he doesn't, maybe that's his technique. He stays on his feet. I think you move faster when you just let your body go limp and you just fly down the hill, flipping head over tail. You would break your femur.

We got a what we learned. Oh, my femur. We got a what we learned here from Tyler. This is an update on one that I had earlier in the week. Maybe I even been last week from the double IHF summit that they had during the World Hockey Championships about Russia being banned from the Olympics. That has been confirmed now.

The IOC executive board announced it in a statement to Reuters. This just came out a couple of hours ago. They are going to be replaced by France, apparently, at the 2026 Winter Olympic Hockey Tournament. So no Russia in the return of National Hockey League players in 2026 in Italy. And France is going to get the spot there. All the Russian players get French citizenships. Ovi is like, bonjour. Is it tough? Are you allowed to do that?

I think you are, yeah. I'll be wearing a beret. What other stereotypes can we jam into though? Smoky, filtered cigarettes, showing up with a baguette. Yeah. I did it all, I did it all. Jeremy in Abbotsford, what we learned, Brandon Astle, embodies playoff hockey, takes a chair to the knee from a Colorado fan,

and doesn't miss a beat. Guy does play by play, color and intermission, put some respect on his name. Okay, a lot of people are texting in to this, to the Dunbar Lumber text line about this. We did this in the first hour, but if you are just joining us, I want to play the audio from last night.

Here's Brandon Astle calling a five nothing win for the Abbotsford Canucks down in Loveland, Colorado. Two nothing in the time of the incident. Okay. Two nothing at the time of the incident. So the, the fans down there were not in a good mood and they decided to take it out on poor Brandon. Got some Yahoo chap chirping happy from behind. Get out of here. What was he doing? Security. Try that again. So it's two nothing Abbotsford. Puck is dumped in by Glover. Omit behind the net. Yeah you can see Eagles fans are frustrated. As Colorado

know ICE is the puck under a minute to go in the first period. I'm fired up he threw my chair at me. Hit me right in the back of the leg. Like, what was he doing here? Unreal. Have another beer. 56 seconds to go. Carlson out there with Baines and Mueller. That has never happened to me. I thought he was trying to talk to me on something, but he's yelling at me, saying the net was off.

So I think we're starting to get to the bottom of what might've happened here. The net being off, we got another text into what we learned saying already sea loves is a known post kicker and he ticked off the Colorado Eagles announcers during game five. Apparently he's made a bit of a habit of kicking the net off and hasn't been called for. Post kicking is not a thing. It's not a thing.

This is every single goaltender that currently plays hockey pushes off their post. It's how you do it. If the net is coming off based off the goaltender's push, the net is not affixed to the moorings properly. Always the net's fault. Always the net's fault. It's how you move in and out of your post.

You push off the post. You're so easy to fire up. If the net comes off, I hear from fans all the time though. You must be mentally dialed in during the must be mentally yeah I'm playing my position on purpose I don't want to I don't want to class there is a windup there is no way the net should be coming off from a simple push off the post see love Scott called for a penalty shot I want to say earlier in these playoffs For delay of game knocking his net off. So he does have a reputation

Maybe not if you turn around and like flip the net off. Yeah, it's only soccer maybe maybe not a post kicker Maybe just a net dislodger. You just hear it so often and it's so frustrating. Okay, so You're emotional. Please aside. Have you, have you heard this about seal off? No. Reputationally? I have not heard a specific. Okay.

No. I mean, it's not a bad idea. Well, okay. The only time I've seen it, sometimes you can see, well, it's a heavy topic for me. Don't post kicker. You can see sometimes the net's popped up a little bit. Yeah.

And sometimes a goalie will push hard into that post intentionally to try to, but the net's already half dislodged So you can't just finishing the yeah, you're just finishing the job at that point It's like a player accidentally on purpose elbowing. Well, I would as a soccer head was right there I just you know, yeah as a soccer goalie, you can't dislodge it. Believe me. I've tried you can't do it It's hard If I could give myself a couple of breaks in the action

with that level of ease, if I saw that it was. Well, it's just soccer, you're faking an injury, right? Well, that's it. You only. That's all you got left. You don't even have to fake it. So when Canada. I'm old, oh!

When Canada qualified for the World Cup. Yeah. During that run. Which one? A minute to two. Right, the 20, 22. God, it feels so long ago now. I had to think about that.

During the CONCACAF qualifying, Max Crepeau, with like clockwork precision in every match, would go down in the 60th minute with a cramp. And they're like, this is amazing. Like, how does he keep cramping up at these exact moments? And so eventually with a wink and a nudge, and I know you'll find this hard to believe amazing like how does he keep cramping up at these exact moments and so eventually with a wink and a nudge and I know you'll find this hard to believe that John Herdman was bending the rules to his favor no he used it as a sort of

unofficial timeout and all the players knew exactly what to do he's crap and everyone get over here the players didn't even have to be told. They just knew. So as soon as it would happen. Oh, cramp time. K-Po would go down and he'd signal for the sidelines and then the trainer would come on and then he'd drink some water

and magically, magically, the cramp would be solved. Right. At which time the Canadian team would have an opportunity to take a little rest. Get the drones up. Yeah, right. Fire them up and then restructure like what they wanted to do and he did it all the time.

And so, you know, at that time we were like, ah, that little scamp John Herdman, he's just playing in the dark arts of CONCACAF. Then he rewrote the dark arts entirely, made them his own and now he's out of the job. Has a new branch of Dark Arts completely. Flying Dark Arts. Eric with a What We Learn.

This is a funny one. I just came back from Cancun on Sunday and one of the funniest conversation I had with another tourist, a Vietnamese Canadian from Vancouver, was Adog's pronunciation of his last name and his last name is Nguyen. Nguyen. Nguyen. N-G-U-Y-E-N.

Small world and even smaller world that that was the topic when I mentioned I listened to you idiots in the morning. I like the fact that there's two guys who meet in Cancun and start talking about the Halford and Brough show and Adog's challenges with pronunciation. That one, you've had some pronunciations, but that one punched me in the face.

Lawrence Nguyen. There it is, folks. We haven't clipped. We haven't clipped. You gotta hear it one more time. Hold on, hold on, hold on, let me set it up. Adog, trying to pronounce the Vietnamese surname win

ngu y en Here's what it sounded like Lauren said the guy win No, you hear that little nope at the end. That was the first of many. Nopes. Oh wow, not like that So I watched you know how you're talking about documentaries on Netflix, there is a very good turning point on the Vietnam War. Okay. Everyone pretty much is a win. A Nagayan? In this documentary and it, I don't want to say it ruined the documentary for me, but every time

the person was talking and their name came up, I'm like, Oh, you can call me a dog. Man, Adog, like, god. Just killing me. I've been banned from several Vietnamese establishments around town. No pho for you. The Vietnamese defamation list is Irene. Irene.

I love pho too. How old are you? 41. And you've never come across this name spoken to you. You know, I'm sure I have. I can only remember so much in my head. Let's go down the road though. The best part was in the aftermath,

he valiantly tried to explain that some of them pronounce it like that, to which I was like, no one does. Well, they are pronounced differently depending on various accents and stuff, but there is not one Vietnamese person that's like, I am a Bob Nagai one. I said, you know when you phonetically pronounce every phonetic, that's exactly what you did in that moment. It was good.

Here's a question for you. Yeah. Why wouldn't Ronaldo consider MLS? In the short term, I think it's probably to play in the club world cup. Long term, I think he will. So he just wants to play in the club world cup and he's like I think he will. So he just wants to play in the club world cup and he's like, any teams taking me?

Yeah. Pretty much? And vice versa. I think the Brazilian clubs would love to have him aboard. Now, the longer term implication, and I'm half joking and half serious. He wants to play in the next world cup, doesn't he? Yeah, and anyway.

Is that a potential problem for Portugal? A distraction? There's a big athletic article about it that I'll forward you after the show. OK. Talking about that. It's become an issue because there's so the Portuguese national team is stacked. Yeah. And they're like, are we still deferring to them? Anyway, I'm half joking and half serious when I say this. There is an element of like, is MLS Messi's turf?

Like, you know, the Sharks and the Jets, Jets like you can't sure like this is messy's league you Chose Saudi he chose MLS like you can't come over here now now Don't get me wrong There are countless MLS teams that would bend over backwards to get Ronaldo in the door because the marketing alone Would put them over the top people if the white caps could beat his team to have you great Just we're just like these guys good guys good? You want to see? I thought these guys were good. But can he do it on some slick turf in Vancouver on a Wednesday night?

That's a real question. Yeah. Exactly. And the answer for Messi was no. I don't know. I think in the short term, the next, I mean, fairly obvious step would be joining one of these teams for the club World Cup and then kind of wait and see what comes next. But it does sound as though the Saudi adventure is over.

Where have you always been on that debate, Ronaldo versus Messi? Messi. Without a doubt? Yeah, yeah. And- Ooh, my Portuguese friends would be mad at you. I know, I know, I know.

I play on a Portuguese team, I have a lot of Portuguese buddies, and they say they, I mean- I'm gonna do the most obnoxious thing right now. Okay. How much? Are you gonna make aious thing right now. Okay, how much Yeah, like is Ronaldo Ovi And Messi said like Ronaldo's the goal scorer man. Oh

We can't I thought it ended when we compared Harry Maguire to Dion Faneuf. That was good man. That was good. I know but we can't. You even admitted it like damn that's a good comparison. It's not bad, it's not bad, it's not bad. This one I can't do it. I'm sorry. I know I'm shutting down a potential conversation and not indulging you but I can't. I'm gonna try. It's too confusing.

Is that the most, I'm gonna keep making these comparisons and just see if that's the most, I think I've set the bar for most obnoxious hockey comparison right there. Ronaldo being a Vetchkin, because Ronaldo is known most of all for what? Goal scoring. Goal scoring, right? And I don't know, Messi and Sid's not that tall.

I don't know. That mean there is that? We're going to workshop this later on, maybe even after the show, I don't know, but the music means we've got to wrap this thing up, maybe even after the show, I don't know, but the music means we've got to wrap this thing up and get out of here for another day. Thank you all for listening and thank you all for contributing. We will be back tomorrow.

Enjoy the game tonight. A reminder, Oilers, Stars, Game 4 from Edmonton. You can hear it all right here on Sportsnet 650 after Sat and Dan are done with Canucks Central this evening. For now though, we've got to say goodbye. Signing off, I have been Mike Alford, he's been Jason Bruff, he's been Adog, and he's been Laddie. This has been the Alford and Bruff Show on Sportsnet.

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