Halford & Brough in the Morning - Elliotte Friedman On A Tournament For The Ages

Episode Date: February 21, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason chat the 4 Nations finale plus some Canucks news with Sportsnet's NHL insider Elliotte Friedman (3:39), plus the boys get The Moj's (28:05) reaction to Canada's big win over the States as well.  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.

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Music Music Music Music Music Music My nipples are erect thinking about it. Oh no. 701 on a Friday. Happy Friday everybody. Sweet, sweet Friday. It's a celebratory Friday. It's a Fiesta Friday. You're listening to the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Halford & Brough of the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda.

Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour two of the program. I believe we are still working on getting Elliot Friedman on the phone, so he hopefully will be joining us in just a moment here to kick off hour two.

Hour two of this program is brought to you by Jason Hominuk from Jason.mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit him online at Jason.mortgage. We are coming to you live from the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit him online at jason.mortgage. We are coming to you live from the Kintex studio, Kintex footwear and orthotics, working together with you in step.

It's Ask Us Anything Friday on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. If you want to be entered into the contest for best Ask Us Anything, be sure to include the pizza emoji in your text into the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650-650. Colin Ntwasen has an Ask Us Anything. And he said, I missed watching the end of the game last night live because I had to coach my son's soccer practice. What is the biggest sporting event that you missed watching live because of some other commitment?

I know yours. Well, mine is the famous story about the 1987 Canada Cup that I didn't see live. Famous is doing a lot of heavy lifting there. Famous. Yes. It's a famous story. And I was, I didn't have, I wasn't coaching my son's

soccer practice cause I was, well, I was 11 and we had a band meeting at school because too many kids had signed up to play the saxophone and we had to sort that thing out. Saxamophone. Yeah. 26 kids all want to play the saxophone. It was a hot instrument at the time.

So we had this meeting at my elementary school and I missed the game. And- You also though, speaking of famous stories, famous yet again doing heavy lifting, the Seahawks Super Bowl Championship, because you were wandering the streets of Russia, like an unadopted dog.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Trying to find a place to go to watch the game. I missed- Have you missed any? Yeah, 94, a beret, over time from Jeff Brown. What, you missed that? I was, I had to listen to it in the car. No.

Because my parents dragged me along to my brother's baseball game. They said- What? Yep, I would listen to it. How old were you? 94, 15, 14, 15. Why didn't you stay home?

Parents made me go to the game. Said, you got to support your brother. So then I had to. Wow. So I didn't miss it, miss it. I got to listen to it on the radio. You should have been yelling at your brother, you're a monster.

Well, he was. Yeah. So mine comes with an asterisk, because I still got to hear the dulcet tunes. I remember who was on the radio call at that point. It was so long ago, but yeah, that's the one that I missed. Okay, we got Freage now. Let's go to the phone lines now.

Very excited to talk to our next guest after one of the great nights in hockey history. I'm gonna say it. One of the great nights in hockey history last night. Elliot Friedman here now on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Freage? How are you?

I'm good. How are you guys doing? Early morning, late night, great night. Pretty awesome, eh? How much sleep are you working on right now? About an hour. Yeah. And I slept on the plane so the flight was probably about an hour and a half so two and a half hours. Yeah. So Elliot, just to describe your experience at this tournament. I mean, Montreal, the game between the Canadians and the Americans, I don't know if I've ever seen on TV an atmosphere like that. You got to experience it.

And then last night in Boston, I don't know if the atmosphere matched Montreal, but the game certainly did. Well, I mean, I've been now to four big Canada, USA games in the last 23 years. Right. So I was at, uh, I was at the gold medal final in 2002, I was not at the round Robin game in 2010, but I was at the gold medal final in 2010.

You know what? I was at the one, nothing semi-final in 2014. Um, and I was at the two this week. You know, the 2016 one, it wasn't, it doesn't register as much for me, but, so I don't really remember it well, but I, I would say that these were probably the two most supercharged ones. Like, I don't know if you can ever say that these two were bigger than the gold medal games. But I think the atmospheres in the arena were a bit wilder than the gold medal games.

You know, I remember the 2002 game. It was intense, but I don't think it was like Montreal. The 2010 game was certainly intense and nervous, but there was something about that Montreal game that was really something. And then last night, you know, I, like, I, I don't think, I honestly don't think for the players, the politics gets into it, even though Trump called them. I think that they want to win for their teammates and they want to win because the Americans hate the Canadians and the Canadians hate the Americans. Right.

I think all the stuff for them after is just extra. But obviously I think for the Canadian fans in particular, there was a lot on the line for this one. You know, obviously we're a little annoyed at some of the things that have been said. We're annoyed about the 51st state stuff, even though I think it's so stupid that it's never going to happen. It's completely ridiculous. I think that the, I don't know

if in terms of politics and political passion, I don't know if any of the other games was as charged up as this one. And, um, you know, you can feel it on social after the game. Like a lot of the times that it's about pride and just winning as a Canadian, you wanna win the gold medal or the championship. I think for a lot of people, this one was, I don't think so much necessarily the players, but I think the fans certainly were feeling it.

I think what happened was how politically charged it was from the outside. The players were able to funnel it with hatred for one another because both teams played the part like perfectly. I don't think playing it's the right term. Like they were, it was like a full bodied, um, you know, it was genuine. It was genuine. Yeah. Here's what I'll say, the Americans came in and led by the Kachaks were bold and brash and ready to talk to whomever would put a camera in front of their face and loved every camera that was in front of their face and were ready not to anoint themselves that we're the guys now.

They were. They felt like they were the guys now. This is our sport, our time. I think Brady and Matthew embodied that more than anybody else. And then in the aftermath, when Canada won, Canada very quietly sat back and said, you know, we were a little more humble, a little more, uh, we had a little bit more humility, but we heard everything they were saying and Brad Marchand said it in his post

game remarks yesterday. Sometimes he talked a little bit too much before a game and it comes back to bite you. And I thought it was the perfect representation of America and Canada played out on the ice. Yeah. I mean, uh, but you know why it's like, I, I, I can't, it's tough for me to rip the conchard brothers because we eat that up. Right. I don't think we need to, I don't think ripping them is the right term. Like I don't think,

I don't want anything to change going into the 2026 Olympics. Like I don't think anything will. I think the way that they approach it is great. But if you're going to talk like that and you're going to be as demonstrative as they are, that's the sort of double edge. Yeah, that's the risk of putting yourself out there. And frankly, that's why I appreciate everything

that the Kitchoks bring to the game because they do put themselves out there and we need more players like that. Yeah, I agree with that. Yeahitchox bring to the game because they do put themselves out there and we need more players like that. Yeah, I agree with that. They embraced all the media stuff. This was about selling the game, right? This was about selling hockey. The whole point of this tournament was to sell the sport and their whole reason they moved it to February was to sell the sport, to get it away from football and that was accomplished and they played a huge role in it. I mean, look, you're right. Like you put yourself out there, you know, you're going to take the good with the bad.

But, and I saw what Marshan said, it's totally fine. Um, and it's, you know, it's, it's funny. Marshan was the guy who said it because he's one of the biggest talkers too. But like, I, like, I have no hate for the Kachuk brothers after this. Like they, they made the, they were two of the biggest reasons that this tournament was as good as it was.

Um, I know you're only working on an hour's sleep, but we're already talking about the roster for the Olympics. Uh, a year away. Who are, who are some names maybe that didn't make the team that you're going to keep an eye on? Um, and if you want to get into who might not be on the team, feel free.

Like I already threw out there, like I, if I were to bet, I don't think Brad Marshawn is going to be on the Olympic team, but who knows it'll have to depend on some of the younger guys and how much they improve over the next year. But what did you think about this current roster and maybe where it could improve with certain players? Well, the one thing is, you know, I don't worry as much about gold fending anymore.

I think Canada should petition to move the Olympics to Boston because there's something about Bennington in that building. We actually gave Jordan Bennington a Halford and Brough pardon, like a presidential pardon because he's now broken the hearts of the Boston Bruins and the Americans and we think he deserves it. Well, you know, I hope that that sounds like, it sounds like monopoly, like free, like go, avoid jail, like get out of jail free.

I'm sure it has similar power. Um, you know, I'll say this actually, I wasn't necessarily think, like I wasn't necessarily thinking about that. Like last night we were kind of talking about who from this team that meet like Thomas Harley I think is on the Olympic team oh yeah oh yeah like was great like talk about a guy who arrived on the national stage like I look at this group and I'm trying to think like, um, I mean, Marchands again, though,

like if they're going to, like, if the one thing about Marchand that we saw in this tournament, like he was a gamer in every sense of the word, he can be caught now. Like that's the one thing I was like, he had some chances to score and he got caught. That's the only thing I saw about Marchand that made me concerned about him. I think it's, excuse me, I think it's still pretty obvious that he's a really smart player and he can still compete. I'll be curious to see, like, do they think, okay, the foot speed just isn't there? I mean, guys who, I mean, guys who, I mean, Patrangelo is still very much going to be in the mix pending his health. You know, I think another guy who is the tournament

went on reminded us of what he's still capable of doing is Drew Doughty. Oh, he was so good last night. So good last night. You know, like, he, like, you know, he, I think a lot of people were like, I remember when I said I thought he was awesome, he was so good last night. So good last night. He, like, you know, he, I think a lot of people were like, I remember when I said, I thought he was obviously the guy, like I

had even Kings fans telling me I was nuts. And he played fantastic. Um, like I don't think there's too many other players in that Canadian team that I would look at and say they played themselves off an Olympic team. I still think the one guy who's kind of interesting is going to be Wilson from Washington. Like, you know, he's a guy, even though the Olympic games next year are going to be a very different, it's not going to be the NHL game. There's not going to be

fighting, but Wilson, I think is going to be a guy who's still going to be in the conversation. And you know, to be honest, I think, like I think Celebrini, I don't like, I kind of wondered if they should take Celebrini as the 13th forward. I don't know that he was ready for this. I, in retrospect, and I thought about this last night, I don't know that Celebrini was ready for this, this year, but I still think there's a chance he could be ready for this next year. Maybe Harley's the answer to this already, but I'm going to ask anybody. Who's stock rose the most this tournament? I would say Harley would be up there. I'll tell you this, I got a text from a player

last night in the league who said that the best player in the tournament was slavin Yeah, that's fair. He's unreal. I saw good. I I think Brock Faber is another one. Yep Like I think the I think the u.s. Had three defensemen there Slaven Faber and war and ski who had unbelievable tournaments. I thought those guys were phenomenal You know, I think for Canada Harley I think is is a great one. You know, I thought Colton Pareco played very well. I thought Morrissey before he got sick, he played very well.

You know, I would say this too. I thought Sam Bennett was really good. Like he didn't play a ton, but every shift you noticed him out there and he scored a huge goal. And I know this really is important to Vancouver listeners, but I know the Leafs are really hoping this one jump starts Marner. He scored a big goal and he had two assists in the championship game.

I have to say this, I think there's a few Americans, I am really curious to see what this does for Kyle Conner. It had to be really hard to miss that game last night and you know I hope he channels it properly and uses it as the proper motivation but I thought Larkin was really good. I thought Gensel was really good. And even though he made the mistake on the winning goal, I thought for the most part, Matthews was really good. I thought Jake Sanderson last night was really good,

even without the goal. Like the one thing that I left this impression of is, you know what guys, is that if you want to be a great player in this league and you want to win, you have to be able to defend. You have to be able to check. Like even McDavid, who's the best player in the league, you know, he had the spectacular goal against the United States in the round of Robin. And of course he had the winning goal last the United States in the in the in the round robin and of course He had the winning goal last night, but the Americans made it really hard on him he like nobody creates a room more than McDavid does and

They had him bought bottled up a lot of the time like he had to work for every inch he got And it's only because he's so great that he got some of those opportunities. But, you know, like you look at all the players in this tournament, especially on the Canadian and U.S. team, everybody checked. Everybody played defense. Everybody. And, you know, when the details went sideways, which they rarely did, we got the game winning goal last night. So like, if, if I'm looking at that game last night, I'm looking at everybody on the NHL team I watch.

And I, and I'm saying, are they a hard two way player because that's what it takes to win both in the NHL and internationally best on best. Yeah. I thought, I thought Matthews played really well too. I mean, he jumped the route between Taves and McCarr on the first goal behind the net. So I thought McCarr looked like he fell asleep

a little bit there. Um, like it's those little mistakes. What I think was remarkable about the winning goal was just how bad a defensive breakdown it was for the Americans because for the whole tournament, they played so well defensively. They're incredible.

And that is like a glaring puck watching mistake where they're all looking at Marner. I don't think it was even puck watching. I think that what Matthews was thinking was Marner was going to come up the wall and he thought maybe it was his assignment that he was going to beat, was it Hanifin who was there? That he was going to beat Hanifin out of that

corner and he thought he had to help. Yeah. I don't think he was puck watching. I think he was in our, I think he was thinking, okay, in our system of Marner gets there, I have to do this. And that's what I think he was doing. You think in the back of his mind, he was like,arner gets there, I have to do this. And that's what I think he was doing. You think in the back of his mind, he was like,

there's something else I need to do too. All right, McDavid and the game is over. Yeah, it's pretty amazing. I mean, the game is so quick. That's that, that even the, even the best players, right? Like, uh, you have to make a decision sometimes and sometimes the decision is wrong.

And often it happens when you're trying to help out, like you say. Yes. So let's talk a little bit of Canucks. There's three players that I want to talk about. First of all is Quinn Hughes. Now we've all heard the stories about what happened, it looked like he was going to go and

then he didn't ultimately go. The only question I have for you, is there any reason, I just want to put it out there, is there any reason to believe that there could be hard feelings between Quinn Hughes and the Vancouver Canucks? Is there any narrative out there that the Canucks blocked Quinn Hughes from doing something that

he wanted to do? I don't know. Like the one thing is I, I really, I, I am, I am careful about these kinds of questions, Jason, because I haven't spoken to Hughes directly. And I think that you have a real danger, especially in a market is as I respectfully say, as far as Vancouver's, I don't want to put

words in Quinn Hughes mouth. Sure. I think what I, what I think is that he wanted to be there whether he was going to play or not. Right. And, and I was, I was told and that if he couldn't play, the Canucks just didn't want him to travel. They thought it was a lot to ask a guy who wasn't cleared to play to go Vancouver. One of the unfortunate thing about the timing here was that the day before they needed him, he was still in the East Coast somewhere. Like I think, I'm not sure where it was,

if it was New York or New Jersey. That's probably a lot easier. But you know, one of the things, and I was talking about this with someone last night, you know, Jack had had a tough tournament. And I think that, although I thought he played much better last night, you know, Jack had had a tough tournament. And I think that although I thought he played much better last night, I think that, you know, Quinn would have wanted to at least go there to support Jack, even if he wasn't playing. So I think if there's, you know, I saw it,

the whole process, they're gonna have to fix this. And I think they will before the next one of these. So the whole process put everybody in a kind of a bad spot. I think Quinn wanted to go, but I'm not willing to go as far as saying this is gonna cause irreparable damage to the organization. Like I think it's really irresponsible to say that without speaking to Quinn directly.

Okay. Uh, Elias Pettersson, I know you addressed this on the podcast that you just recorded and it's released. I have to admit, I was a little bit confused by what you said because you said, I know Pettersson is battling something, but there's pushback to that. Did you mean to say that you've heard that

Pettersson is battling something or you know that it's out there that Pettersson is battling something, but there's pushback to that or do you think Pettersson is hurt? Uh, it's, I think it's the second one you said there, it's been, it's out there that he's battling something. I think he said it, has he not?

Um, uh, but I don't know, like again, I don't feel like stepping into anything this morning. I'm, I'm trying to have a quiet day. I'm sorry. It's just, no, it's, it's, it's okay. Like here, if you're doing your job, Jason, I don't have any problem with it. I just, I just have to tell you, like, uh, I don't know.

I like, you know, like there's people who say that he's hurting. There's people who say that they don't think it's something that should be preventing them from playing. I don't know. I just, I don't know. There's like, there's just like, you know what? Like he, the don't know. It's just like, you know what? Like he, the guy needs quiet. Like he just needs to, there just, there just needs to be quiet around him. But

even here, like, you know, when, when he only played 10 minutes in Sweden's last game, you know, they, they had a flu that was ravaging them. Uh, you Zabinajad even showed up at the rink. He was there two hours before the game and then they sent him back to the hotel. And I said, Oh, was, was Patterson bothered by the flu like a bunch of other guys were? And people were like, no. And I don't know.

It's just been, just overall, it's just been a really weird year. I think that's, that's the best way to say it. I can't really grab a handle on what's going on there. Well, I don't really want to talk about it anymore either. I'm not even, if you think what you're saying, I'm talking about.

The guy just needs to play and play to his level. That's that simple. One final one, Brock Besser, we are getting close to the trade deadline now. He is a pending unrestricted free agent. What is your sense of what's happening with Brock Besser and the are getting close to the trade deadline now. He is a pending unrestricted free agent. What is your sense of what's happening with Brock Besser? I have to catch up on a lot of this stuff today and tomorrow. A lot of that stuff took a back seat over the past couple of weeks.

So, I mean, when I went to this tournament, it didn't appear that they were close and I just have to check and see if that's changed in any way, shape or form. Freage, you're the best buddy. Thanks for doing this today. Thanks so much for doing this, Elliot. We really do appreciate it. All right guys, have yourselves a great day.

Yeah, you too. Thanks. That's Elliot Friedman, Hockey Night Canada, Sportsnet, NHL Insider here on the Halford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. So, yeah, I mean, Elliot, listen, he was dialed in on this four nations tournament. He was working hard at this tournament.

I'm sure there was a lot of nights where he didn't get a lot of sleep. So task him those questions. I was going to ask them anyway, but it's okay that he said he didn't know. So PD's injured then? On a few things. Well, I think it was important to...

Why don't we play the audio from 32 Thoughts so the listeners have an idea of what we're talking about. Sure. Sure. That seems like a reasonable thing to do at this moment. Here now is Elliot Friedman from last night's Late Night 32 Thoughts podcast on Elias Pedersen. And I have to say like this whole Peterson thing. Yeah.

Yeah, it was, it was rough for him here. Really rough for him here. And I'll say something too, like, I don't know what to, like, I know he's battling something. I don't know. I don't know. There's a lot of pushback on that. I don't even know what to say about it. So I'm just going to stop there, but there's

a lot of pushback on that. So I asked him, did he mean there are people out there that are saying he's battling something? Yeah, I know. And then he said, yeah, that's what I meant, as opposed to him saying, I know he's battling something because I just don't want it reported that Elliot said he's hurt, right?

I don't like, Elliot is not saying that. He's saying there are different opinions out there and he's actually not coming down on either side. He just sort of screen grabbed what's been going on over, I don't know, feels like the last 16 months. Is he hurt or is he not? If he is hurt, is he able to play?

It's a classic endless debate that's been going on and Elliott said that based on the people he's talked to, there's, I guess, parties, both parties on both sides of the aisles, the injury front, the not injury front, you can play through this, you can't play through this. At this point. But I wonder if this is gonna elevate. Because when Eichel was struggling in Buffalo, the health issues, there was a disagreement there, ultimately led to his movement from Buffalo to Vegas

and Jamal in North Van texts in, this is kind of like San Antonio Spurs versus Kauai. Right? It reminds me, it's not there yet. It's certainly not even close to there yet, but I'm just wondering if this could escalate a little bit. The Moj is going to join us next. Speaking of escalation, a lot more energy in the next segment of the Haliford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd. And Thomas Drance.

Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to two on Sportsnet 650 or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. I did not eat four burgers. Yes, it's the Moche. I don't want to go to Winnipeg. Nobody wants to go to Winnipeg. Yes, I love food. I did not eat four burgers I don't want to go to Winnipeg. Nobody wants to go to Winnipeg. Yes, I love food I went online and kind of did a little surfing Halperd's fine, but you know, it's just grumpy all the time Moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, Moj, it's the Moj. 7.34 on a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody. It's Fiesta Friday.

You are listening to the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough of the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly and knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour two of the program. Moj is gonna join us in just a moment here. Hour two of this program is brought to you by Jason Hominick at jason.mortgage.

If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Do the exact opposite of that, okay? Visit him at jason.mortgage. To the phone lines we go. Moj joins us now in the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650.

What up, Moj? You know, I tuned in this morning and I just wanna like, when did Adog become Ian Clark on Go Tending? I know. I know. I know, Moj. We've been having a little bit of trouble

with our teenager. I'm a picky man, Moj. I expect perfection. So just to put everyone behind the scenes here at the Halbrow Show, I'm doing the intro to the segment and I look over and I can see Adog kind of not arguing but being on the receiving end of an argument on the phone and then Laddy looks at me and says,

Moj is getting on Andy for his Binnington take. It's all in good fun. Go ahead, though, go ahead. Well, I mean, you watched that game. I thought Bennington was fine. And the crazy thing was, I don't know about you guys, but I felt more confident in him as the game moved along. Yeah, yeah. The confidence in Bennington's game for me grew.

I wasn't nervous at all after the first period. In fact, I said, this guy's got it. You gotta remember, this guy won a game seven Stanley cup in Boston, right? He knows what these high pressure moments are about. And I think that might've been one of the key factors in John Cooper picking him for this tournament. What was it like for you going through the emotions of last night's game? And then how did you celebrate when McDavid scored the golden goal?

Well, I was at a buddy's place. There's four of us middle-aged gentlemen of a certain vintage, you'll say. Um, and you know, we're all wearing our Canada jerseys, right? I mean, we're just watching the game and it was weird. I don't think I've been emotionally invested in a game like that, maybe since the Olympic final in 2010. Um, and it was weird because they just kind of watched it. Wasn't he getting too high, too low? It's kind of that even keel. But when McDavid scored all of us, the place erupted, right? We're all high fiving each other.

I mean, we sang old Canada, what we saw on the TV broadcast. Um, in terms of an emotional investment, I think, you know, this, this goes back for me, at least like I said, 2010, I don't think I've been emotionally invested in a game as I was last night. And you know, for this generation, I think about it, this was their 72 summit series. And again, I'll die on this sale, that 72 was much bigger than last night because it was about good versus evil. It was about the fact that we didn't know anything about these players from the Soviet

Union. But for this generation, given the current political climate it's like John Cooper said the country needed this win right and we got it last night and that's what made it so special and I don't know if you guys saw some of the stuff on social media I thought it was hilarious somebody had said we're tweeting Trump and stuff they said Canada has made the US the 11th province we've already taken over Boston and are raising the flag and had a picture of the post game ceremony. So it was a lot of fun to see what was happening

on social media. Yeah, so we were all the same when McDavid scored. Everyone was popping off pretty good. Actually, the Hollywood theater broke into in unison O Canada at the end of the game as well, which was pretty great. The guy on the other end of the Connor McDavid goal, let's not focus on Connor Hellebuck,

let's focus on Austin Matthews, who had a lot of moments last night and had a lot of good moments, but in the overtime, he's gonna be remembered for two things. One, not being able to beat Bennington on, that was the blocker save, right? The glove save was on Kichuck and the blocker save was on Matthews.

And then Matthews with a really egregious read on the McDavid goal. Your thoughts on Matthews, do you Matthews with a really egregious read on the McDavid goal. Your thoughts on Matthews. Do you think he wants a redo on last night? Do you think he wants a redo for overtime? Missing a chance to end it. And then the coverage on the goal. Hey, I'm not going to pretend to be Scotty Bowman, but I know one thing just about in any sport, take away the most dangerous threat. And at that point, I'm more worried about leaving Connor McDavid alone in the slot than I am going fishing for Marner alongside the boards. And to me, I mean, you can talk about Fox on that play as well, but man, I just don't understand

how you leave arguably the best player in the world alone in the slot with that time and space to let go a shot. So, um, it was interesting. You know, it's interesting to fellas. I don't know if you heard Ron McClain in the pregame show, he referenced 1972 shocker, um, and he said, was there a tragically hip lyric to go with it? But he talked about the fact that, um, he was talking about how they broke down the Soviets and they said the talent eventually beats the system, right? And if you look at the first three goals last night, they were all greasy goals.

They weren't pretty goals. They were just, you know, greasy. I mean, and then the last two goals, well, talent kind of came through because Bennett's goal and of course, McDavid's goal, those were goal scorers goals, right? So it was interesting to see that the fact that eventually the talent did win out. We're speaking to Bob the Mojmar, John of it's here on the health and breath show on sports net six 50 Moj is a presentation of the Clayton public house pre came to post game Clayton public houses, your place for football and all sports 15 screens and two giant projectors. Um, okay. So in your notes, you've got Matthew Kachuk, wrong and maybe selfish decision.

I'm gonna throw to you here because while you may be stealing my thunder, I wanted to dive into this as well later because I think I know where you're going and I think I agree with it. Talk about Matthew Kachuk being the wrong and maybe selfish decision last night. Well, you ask any player whether or not they can go,

they'll probably tell you 99 times out of 100 or nine times out of 10, yeah, I can play. Especially in a game of this magnitude, right? Matthew Kachuk went into this game banged up and he said he could go, but I'm gonna quote former Connecticut GM Brian Burke on this one and Burke, he had a great line, he goes, I don't care if you can start the game. He goes, I want to know if you can finish the game because if you can't finish it, you're leaving your team shorthanded. Right? Now, if this was a regular season game, okay, maybe I can understand that decision, but it's not exactly like they're going to put max fricking satsum in the lineup.

If Kachuk can't go that Kyle Connor sitting in the stands last night, averaging 35 goals over the last seven seasons. And he didn't play cause Matthew Kachuk made the decision that he would be able to not only start, but to finish the game. And he didn't. And to me, that was an egregious mistake on Kachuk's part and even the management team of team USA, because like I said, it's not like you got to put in a line as Carlson or Neal Zomon or Max Max Sassen or like some fourth line fringe player.

You're talking about a 35 goal scorer in Kyle Connor and they made the wrong decision and I'm sorry. Kachuk as much as we love the passion and the intensity that he brings to the table along with his brother, in that instance it was a bad decision, it was a selfish decision. Okay, I'm so glad you brought this up. So in the aftermath of the game,

Mike Sullivan was asked about dressing Matthew Kachuck. Cause keep in mind, Kachuck basically played half the tournament prior to this. He basically sat out half of the Canada game on Saturday after he got hurt and then didn't play the final game against Sweden, right? So he was obviously banged up. I think he was beyond more than banged up.

I think it might be a fairly serious injury based on what his brother said. But Sullivan said after the game, when asked, impressed about his decision, he said, quote, Matthew Kachuck has an impact on our team in such a way that even if he wasn't 100% and we weren't able to utilize him for a lot of the game, his presence on the bench and in the locker room means so much to this group. My follow-up question would have been like, did you use that same explanation to tell Kyle Conner why he wasn't gonna play? That even if Matthew Kachuck was gonna stand on the bench, it was more than Kyle Conner.

Cause that's a crazy thing to say in the aftermath. And I'm with you. Kyle Conner is like, I can be encouraging too. Yeah, and you know what else I can do? Play. They had two guys on that team last night, Moj, that played six minutes, Kachuk and Kreider. And both those guys got the nod over Kyle Connor. Like that to

me is it's very difficult to defend. And I get that Kachuk is an emotional leader and everything. But I think, and I'm kind of with you on this one, that Kachuk was probably like me playing six minutes and then sitting on the bench for the rest of the game was more important than putting somebody else in the lineup. I'll also add this. Josh Morrissey wasn't able to go last night. Josh Morrissey was ill and he was a late scratch and he got replaced by Thomas harder. You don't think Josh Morrissey wanted to be out there. He wasn't though. No, I'm 100% on board with that. And again, like,

Oh, I love that line that Burt came up because I don't care if you can start because I want to know if you can finish right. And for Kachuk to play in that game last night. And again, I understand if it's a regular season game, if this is game seven of the Stanley Cup finals, and he's playing for the Panthers, and you've got some fourth line, you know line fringe type player up from the American Hockey League that takes the spot. I can understand that decision then, but I just don't understand it when you have a player of Kyle Connors caliber ready, willing and able to suit up for your team. To me, it was just like I said, it was just the wrong decision, it was a selfish decision

and it was a bad decision. Fill in the blanks here Moj, this tournament or maybe last night's game, was it coming out party four? Well, I know everyone's talking about slaving and I mean, it's strange cause it's not exactly the guy, he's, he's been around the league for a while, you know what I mean? Yeah.

Um, conversely though, um, I'm going to go for, I'm going to talk a little bit about Brady Kachuk and I'm saying Brady Kachuk because he's been in the league, what, six or seven years? And we've seen him in a playoff game yet? No. But man, you talk about a guy who's a money performer who will probably excel when the senators do reach the postseason. For me, it was Brady Kachuk. I thought, you know, you talk about Harley a bit as well, but for me, I just like, I'm looking at the Kachucks and especially Brady and what he brought to the table.

Um, to me, he was one of those guys that you can say it was a coming out party for. And I heard you talking earlier about the American defenseman. I mean, you know, they, they were pretty solid on the back end with some of those guys and you know, you talk about favor and you talk about slaving. Um, but for me, like I look at it and I think about a guy like Brady Kachuck and how much I'd loved it. And fans in Ottawa would love to see him play in the playoffs. Well, it made me think, you know, the Sens better make the playoffs this year or real soon because Brady Kachuck gets a taste of playoff style hockey.

He's going to want more of that. His brothers won a Stanley Cup already. You get to the point where you're like, I want some of that. His brothers won a Stanley Cup already. You get to the point where you're like, I want some of that and frankly, it's getting embarrassing that my team isn't in the playoffs yet. Um, it actually struck me during that game that he'd never played it. Cause they mentioned it on the broadcast.

And I'm like, oh yeah, he hasn't. And they're like, he's perfect for the playoffs. Yeah, he is. I mean, he was terrific last night. And I think that just, I mean, if we're setting up storylines for the stretch drive, can Ottawa make the playoffs because the race there is so

close. Uh, there's a lot of teams looking to get into the playoffs in the East. Hey, um, sidebar story, we're on the topic of the Kachaks and I heard you guys talking about marketing NHL players. So you, you know, you talked about it a little bit with Elliot and I know you talked about it the other

day in between your extensive soccer coverage of all the games you've got. Isn't that so soft for you, right? Um, I had a great chat. There's a guy named Jamie Fritz. Um, he has a company called interstate 15 marketing. If you haven't heard of it, go to their website, take a look at their client page. Um, we were in New Orleans together, actually smoking a cigar outside the

infamous hotel Monteleone by their carousel bar, and we were just outside chatting and this guy's one of the marketing gurus of the NFL or at least, you know, NFL players and such. He's got like 12 hall of famers. I mean, it's just crazy how big this guy's company is. And I said, do you guys market, you have any hockey players in your stable? He goes, now he goes, I'd love to, he says, but the thing is they don't show their personalities, right? He says, and obviously the NHL is not the NFL when it comes to appeal in the States as well. But he said, the biggest issue the NHL is not the NFL when it comes to appeal in the states as well.

But you see the biggest issue with NHL players is that it's so hard to get there, to show their personalities. And, you know, it's kind of funny because you do see personalities in players like T'Chuck, well, Matthew and Brady, and then, you know, let's say maybe even a Marsham. But you know, the funny thing is that the tragic flaw of hockey is that when players do come out and are vocal and say certain things and this and that, they're viewed as selfish, they're viewed as self-marketers, whatever.

It's frowned upon for various reasons. It's something that you'd love to see more because you'd love to get some of these personalities out there, but it's almost counterproductive in the sense that the hockey, the culture of hockey just doesn't allow for it. Okay, Moj, we got a food related, as per usual, ask us anything to wrap up the hip day. This one comes from Oz in Squamish. Ask us anything for the Moj.

If you could either be a contestant or a guest judge on any cooking show, what show would you wanna be a part of? So you've got options like Chopped, Iron Chef, Master Chef, Top Chef, Hell's Kitchen, Cutthroat Kitchen. Take your pick. I don't watch cooking shows, so I'm not gonna like, you know, pick something good. Oh, honestly, I don't watch cooking shows.

I know, but I know the answer for you. You would be an amazing contestant on Chopped. No. Yeah you would you would you know how to cook you could make a jambalaya at anything Moj. No forget being a contestant I want to be like a judge and I'll tell you why and I've been a judge they used to have a shucking competition down at Chewy's in downtown Vancouver and I was a judge for that. Oysters. It was awesome because you get to taste like you just had oysters coming your way for like about three hours and then you finally get sick of eating all the oysters you get to taste like you just had oysters coming your way for like about three hours And then you finally get sick of eating all the oysters you get to taste all the food when you're at judge

That's the best part, right? I mean you get to sample all the fair so to speak I don't want to be a contestant I don't sit there slave make a great meal and then get some guy like Gordon Ramsay yelling at me No, I don't want that. I want to eat the food. Just give me like, you know, Hey, here's, here's my dish. What do you think of it? A little salty and it could use a little bit more of this, a little bit more of that. That that's my gig. I'd rather be a judge. Okay. So judge in an oyster shucking contest is a more than acceptable answer. That's very well done. Actually.

Yeah. It was a lot of fun. Tamara Taggart was another judge. I can't remember. There's a third person too, but yeah, it was, it was a great event. I don't think they have it anymore. Kind of one of those things that went by the wayside after COVID, but man, that was so much fun. Moj, you're the best buddy. Thanks for doing this on a Friday as always. Enjoy the weekend and the rest of the week. We'll do this again next Friday. Enjoy the weekend fellas. Go Canada, go. Yep. Good job Moj. Thanks buddy. Bob the Moj Marjanovic, a presentation of the Clayton Public House here on the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650.

When he said he can make a jambalaya out of anything, I'm thinking like the MacGyver of jambalaya. He would be. Anything he finds and turns into it. See, I don't think he knows the premise of chopped is the thing. Cause otherwise he would have been like the perfect guy for it.

Chopped is you get a mystery basket with multiple ingredients and you have to make a dish out of it. And I imagine- Can't just put it in the blender? For every meal, Moj would be like, you can make a jambalaya out of it. Chopped is you get a mystery basket with multiple ingredients and you have to make a dish out of it. And I imagine- So you can't just put it in the blender? For every meal, but you'd be like, you can make a jambalaya out of it. Okay. It's Ask Us Anything Friday on the Halford and Brough show.

We have not yet picked a winner for the $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza. Really good pizza. And if you want to be entered into the contest for best ask us anything, please text in to the Dunbar lumber text line. 650, 650 include the pizza emoji. Here's an ask us anything without the pizza emoji.

After watching McDavid's celebration, is it wrong as a Canucks fan, I now low key want to see McDavid win a cup? Yes. Is it okay in a year we know the Canucks are not contending? Yes, it is wrong. Very wrong. You can do whatever you want. Very wrong. But you'll be wrong in doing it.

And you should feel shame. Great shame. Sorry. I don't want. There was a two week window where you were allowed to cheer with McDavid. You know when the window ended? Last night. I don't want.

The longer this drought gets, the more my conviction grows that I cannot see another Canadian city celebrate the Stanley Cup. The celebration, like my jealousy will be off the charts. Is that immature? Not even Ottawa? Yes.

All tucked away down there. Winnipeg. Yup. Falling on some tough times with crowds. Don't want them. Good. Keep them down. You got to keep them down.

You got to keep, the world needs ditch diggers too, right? Like it needs to be Vancouver. Also because of how close the Canucks have gotten during this drought. Some people look at it like the Canucks have played three games where if they won that game, they'd win the cup within this drought.

Yeah. You know, we've come so close. No other franchise has that. No team has- Distinct, dubious honor. And people are like, well, no, two game sevens. They had game six too in Boston. That counts.

That was a game that they could have, if they won that game, they would have won the cup. That's how it works. I don't want any other Canadian team to win. And I'm sitting here wearing a team Canada jersey, right? There is a massive difference between club and country and that's the way it should be. That's, that's, it should be rivalries and it's awesome when we get to cheer for McDavid. You know what I even said yesterday watching the game? My God, Marshawn got the puck on a rush said yesterday, watching the game, my God,

Marshawn got the puck on a rush and I said the following words, come on Marshy. I was like, come on Marshy, let's go. I'm like, what the hell is going on here? But that's, that's the reality of it. Like we're big soccer guys, like England, you know, the, the club, you know, the English players on other clubs in England are the most reviled. But when you come together as a country.

You got to put it aside for a little bit. You put it aside and you're able to do that. I was cheering yesterday for Mitch Marner and Jordan Bennington, never thought I'd see the day. And not only cheering for them, giving them their praise, their deserved praise, Mitch Marner. That was awesome. I hope it doesn't translate to the playoffs though.

I hope he loses his composure in the playoffs again. I hope he's scared to make big plays because he wasn't scared last night. You know, you got to make big plays. The other guy we should talk about that we haven't really talked about, Rick Tauke. Oh yeah. Think of all the things that this guy has won now. I've compiled a list.

Okay. Let me see if I can do it off the top of my head. He won, he was on the 1987 Canada Cup team. Correct. He was also on the 91 Canada Cup team, I think. Correct. But the 87 was the big one. He was a young guy then, and he'd just come off

the Stanley Cup final loss for the Flyers. Yep. Great Stanley Cup final. The Oilers won that. So that's two big titles. Yep. Um, he eventually lands in Pittsburgh and wins the cup in 2002.

1992. 1992, sorry. Yep. 1992. Yep. Uh, then as a coach, an assistant coach, you won a couple of cups. 2016 and 2017 Stanley Cups with Pittsburgh. With Pittsburgh.

And now you can add as an assistant coach, he won the Four Nations. The unforgettable four, the history, the decorated history of the Four Nations face off. But those are some big moments that Rick Tauke has been part part of. And like, I want to jump off on this cause people were talking about, um, Crosby and McDavid not looking super jazzed when they hoisted the four nations faceoff trophy yesterday. You all understand that the tournament

wasn't about being the best of the four nations. He, everyone gets this, right? They want to go and kick. It was a US Canada thing. They want to go and kick American ass. And that's candidate? They want to go out and kick American ass. And that's what, that was the sole purpose. Like, and then there was two exhibitions between

Finland or against Finland and Sweden to fill the time. The taking care of business part. We got to win these games. We got to sell some tickets. Yeah. And when you barely beat Sweden, but you got to win them. And actually barely beat Finland too in the end. That's what this, that's what it was for those guys.

Like if they had won the Four Nations Trophy against Finland in the final, you would have seen an even more muted celebration. That was about playing the US and beating the US, which is why I go back to what I said in hour one, by the way, download the hour one podcast. It's available for download now. When we look back on this and we've had more time to reflect,

because we're still living like viscerally in the moment, we're going to marvel at how the tournament played out in that if you could have written a script, the ideal script brackets from a Canadian perspective, this was the most brilliant bit of writing you would have ever seen. They actually brought in the NFL to write it writing you would have ever seen. They actually brought in the NFL to write it. This would have been, yeah, this would have blown away

anything the NFL could have ever written. This was, I mean, they went to overtime in the final. They set themselves up for a golden goal in the final. I thought 2010, I thought the Olympics in 2010 where it was Canada winning in overtime on a golden goal on the final day of the Olympics right before the closing ceremonies was an amazing bit of scripting. This was right on par with that.

You couldn't guarantee, you could not guarantee going into the tournament that it would be Canada, US in the final. You couldn't. No. And think about- I mean, we got Canada versus Team Europe in the 2016, that's not what they wanted.

And think about all the things that had to go right just for this to happen. I mean, you needed the results to go the way that they wanted. And think about all the things that had to go right just for this to happen. I mean you you needed the results to go the way that they went. If like I said this yes on yesterday's show, if Bennington doesn't make that toe save against Sweden in overtime in the first game, we're not talking about a Canada-U.S. rematch in the final. Adoc said meh to that save. Yeah, you know what? Lucky, yeah, old lucky Bennington. We're up against him for time. We can continue this in the final hour.

We got Rick Dollywell coming up next, 8.30. We're gonna do Humanoid, What We Learns, and Ask a Senate Anythings, and give away the $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. You're listening to the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.