Halford & Brough in the Morning - Former NHLer Andrew Ladd

Episode Date: September 22, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason look at Week 3's NFL action with Too Deep Zone's Mike Tanier (2:22), plus they speak with former NHLer Andrew Ladd (26:20) about his foundation's new Youth Sports initiative "1616". 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.

They blocked him the last time. The ball is spotted. The kick is away. It's blocked! It's picked up by the Eagles. Running with it is Davis. 30, 20, 10, 5. Touchdown.

Game over. George Davis. Are you kidding me? Locked him again. Are you kidding me? Locked him again. Have you ever seen anything like this? 7 o'clock on a Monday

Happy Monday everybody Halford Brough SportsNet 650 I believe that's the voice of legendary Eagles radio man Merrill Reese wild game for the Eagles yesterday.

The NFL makes no sense by the way. None. How did the Browns beat the Packers 13 to 10? Their defensive line, man, is pretty ridiculous. How did the Vikings

lose their starting quarterback and one of their starting running backs and then put up 48 points in a win over the Bengals. Because Justin Jefferson is not very good. How did the Panthers beat anybody 30 to nothing? I don't know about that one. You are listening to the Halford of Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brub of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates.

Get out of the penalty box of debt. I want to call it the deadlety box. I'm working on that one. Not Justin Jefferson. J.J. McCarthy. Okay. Get out of the penalty box of debt. debt.

They both have J's in their name. I think that's what it got me. They play very different positions, though. But like Justin Jefferson, one throws the ball to the other. I know, but Justin Jefferson is a J.J. That's correct. Yeah.

Yep. So is J.J. McCarthy. He's a J.J. He's also a J.J. And it's Monday. And let's be honest, I just suck. Unlike Sands. They'll help you get back in the game with a financial fresh start.

Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. We are in our two of the program now. Tanier, our NFL insider from the two deep zone is going to join us in just a moment here. Our two of this program is brought to by Jason hominick at Jason dot mortgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you.

Visit them online at Jason. Dot mortgage. To the phone lines we go. Our next guest is a presentation of the Clayton Public House. It's Mike Tanier, our NFL insider here now on the Halford and Breff Show on SportsNet 650. Good morning, Michael. How are you? That field goal call was indeed

legendary Eagles announcer. Merrill Reese and you have not lived until you heard a call like that going across a Philly bar when the Eagles come away with a very surprising victory and they covered the spread and they covered the spread

that was my buddy next to me was jumping up and down screaming on the first thing about the win and then when they showed the replay because he didn't see the Jordan Davis he was celebrating too hard to see the Jordan Davis touchdown began shouting we covered we covered we cover we covered it's like do you believe in miracles

I won my $10 parlay. Okay, is that, was that game, we'll start there now because we're talking about a big win for the Eagles, improbable win. Is that a great Eagles comeback or a massive Rams choke? It is a little bit of both, but you have to look at it on the Eagles side of the ball because the Eagles' offense was flatlining.

It struggled kind of through the first two games. The first half of the game, the Eagles couldn't even get a first down. The crowd was billing. The crowd on the Philly Bar was also billing. And then the Eagles turned things around by getting the ball to A.J. Brown more diversifying their offense, you know, finding some mismatchesage. Jalen Hertz seemed to figure out what he was doing. That part of it shows, okay, the Eagles woke up. They were also playing very good defense. There was a choke element, too, and not just with the blocked field goals, two of them, that the Rams suffered. It's a Sean McVeigh got so conservative. Sean McVeigh is just playing for a field goal before halftime.

He is punting on fourth and short. He does go forward. fourth and one, but, you know, that that gets stuff. The Rams, I think when they led 196, almost played like they have the game in the bag. You can't play like the game is in the bag, not in the NFL, not against a defending Super Bowl champion. So the Rams kind of let off the gas a little bit, and that gave the Eagles the opportunity for that shocking comeback. So big picture, the defending Super Bowl champs are 3 and 0. They've won a road game in Kansas City. They've covered what they needed to do at home against Dallas and Los Angeles.

where are you at on the Eagles, again, early days, but they are just one of six undefeated teams in the NFL right now. Well, you know, they're on the list. Like if you start putting together your Super Bowl list, it's like, okay, bills, yep, on the list. Eagles, yep, on the list. And then you start looking at teams like the 49ers and like, well, yeah, they get healthy on the list.

And then you look at the cults and you're like, eh, I'm sure we'll talk about them in a moment. There's no rest for the wicket for the Eagles. The Buccaneers are another undefeated team. and they face them in Tampa next week. Tampa, Eagles have had fits for decades going down to Tampa. It's like, you know, it's like mortar for them. So that's going to be tricky.

Broncos are going to be a tough out after that. Then the Giants come and that helps things out. So, you know, by week nine, the Eagles should probably be around six and two. And if the Eagles are around six and two, that's about where they need to be to stay in the Super Bowl picture. You're still not on the Daniel Jones bandwagon with me? If you're your fantasy quarterback, you have to be happy. The Colts, again, you are who you are. They're the worst three-and-o team that has blown out two of their opponents that I've ever seen.

But their three-and-o team has blown out two of their opponents, and they have a soft schedule, and they play in a soft division. So, yeah, you can get on the bandwagon. They'll still be there. They're going to be in the playoff picture until the end of the year. The San Francisco 49ers are another one of those three-and-o teams. The wins have been low-scoring, unentertaining, and ugly, but they're also doing it with the cast of backups and guys that they picked up off the street.

So there is something to be said that's admirable about what they've done. Where are you at with the Niners after they squeaked out a win to get to 3-0 against Arizona on the weekend? That's funny because I watched that game last night, and I was like, this is the ugliest football ever seen. It was pretty bad. It was pretty bad. Yeah, then I woke up in the morning and watched the Texans game. And I was like, never mind. But with the 49ers, the thing is there's three of those,

they're banking these victories. It's all about the injury report. We're going to be waiting for a NICBOSA MRI this morning. You have a quarterback situation now where Mack Jones re-injured. I think it was a foot injury. And party is limited in practice, and it looks like he'll be back next week. The 49ers do get Brennan Ayuk back at some point, probably get George Kittle back at some point,

if they ever get the full strength. And at week eight, if they're around six and two, with smoke and mirrors and defense and grungy victories and opponents like the scenes, if they're around six and two, they could suddenly turn things around if they're anything close to the team that we saw when everybody was healthy two years ago. How worried should the Texans be about C.J. Strout? A little. He is not blameless for what's going on there. He's starting to press. He makes some dumb decisions. I think he bells on some plays too quickly.

It's just such a bad overall offense. They changed coordinators. They drafted a lineman. They signed a bunch of offensive linemen. They brought in Christian Kirk. Nothing seems to work at this point. And granted, you know, the rookie offensive lineman, he's giving up sacks. He's committing penalties.

But when you see an offense that never really comes together when you change everything, you do have to start looking to the quarterback and saying, what are you doing? You are a rookie of the year? you're supposed to be elevating this team. Why isn't that happening? Is it because we sort of broke you to a degree whereas because there's a next step you need to take

that I think we all have to admit has to happen for this team to get better? CJ Stroud, one young quarterback going in one direction. Caleb Williams, the Chicago Bears, a young quarterback going in another direction. 298 yards passing, four touchdowns, ties a career high. I don't know if anyone uses pass a rating anymore,

but 142.6, good pass a rating. Now, I know it came against the Cowboys, I know the Cowboys defense is pretty inapt, but based on what I saw from the first two weeks and then what I saw last week, there has to be some level of excitement between the way that Ben Johnson's play calling is going and the way the Williams is kind of slowly starting to figure things out. The Bears fans have to be somewhat optimistic about this now. Yeah, it wasn't a super great game or as great as the box score game,

but it was a very encouraging game. There were open receivers downfield, Williams hit them. that's progress he stayed in the pocket he wasn't rolling to his right going to the sidelines and trying to do a magical play he was just operating you know with what the offense was giving him that was progress uh the playmakers where the bears were getting involved they spread the ball to all different guys and they were all they all have made positive contributions even dandre swift the running back who's very much maligned right now all of that was progress and yet yeah the cavalry's defense they've got some explaining to do after leaving so many guys wide open and falling for every end around and and and and flea flicker and trick play in the book. But the bears have to be kind of wiping the brows and saying, yes, this is something we can build on. And we're not in this place where we might have been last week where it was, boy, how long before we start talking about pulling the plug

on the Caleb Williams experiment, we are not there anymore. There was a sequence in that game where the bears ran the ball, I think 13 consecutive times. And it was just daring the Cowboys to step up and try and stop it. And they couldn't. And it was like a beleaguered defensive unit. And then you look on offense, they suffered a huge injury because C.D. Lamb got hurt. Like, it's, it's gone really bad for the Cowboys since the Mikea Parsons traded.

They're not 0 and 3, so I guess there's that that's been salvaged. But the Cowboys look like a mess right now. Yeah, they're one and two because they beat the Giants. You saw the Giants last night. That was also a mess. That's your big victory, and you needed a 65-yard field goal at the buzzer to do it. But, yeah, I noticed that running sequence, and it was kind of like a physical. test for the Cowboys, because the Bears

don't run the ball well. They did not have a very good running game. They're not like the lions were in the last two years where it's going to be or the Eagles with Sequin where it's like we're going to hammer you until they stop. They were just, here's five yards, here's five more yards, here's five more yards, can you stop this? And the Cowboys

can't, and of course when they finally start loading up on the run to stop it, that's when the Calibulians went over the top and got two quick strikes and a touchdown. So again, smart play calling by Ben Johnson, but it is a recognition that this is a Cowboys team the morale cannot be

very high with this team and of course they're going to be facing Micah Parsons next week and I think that that's going to be a real knockout punch of the Cowboys Mike the Seattle Seahawks improved to two and one with a blowout victory of the Saints who were

they made Lumen Field look like the old Lumen Field like they were just like completely disorganized and everything but you know if you look at the Seahawks schedule they play against the AFC South and the NFC South yeah that's

you know like you're looking at the schedule and you know the NFC West I think every team in that in that division is beatable for the Seahawks at least at home or you know split the series like with that crossover and then the other games are Pittsburgh which they've already won

Minnesota and there's one Washington You know, like that schedule looks pretty good for the Seahawks, no? It does look pretty good for the Seahawks, especially after two convincing wins. And, you know, I need to see more from the offense. I need to see more from the passing game than we saw yesterday, where it was kind of like defense and special teams,

and then you just sit on the clock more or less and complete like 11-yard drives. But you look at the entire NFC West right now. You look at the division. The Cardinals, I have no idea what they are. I don't think the Cardinals have any idea what they are. The 49ers, they're an injury report that you have to watch every week and figure out how many of their guys are out there. Of course, they're tough. Rams are going to be tough, but I think some holes opened up a little bit that the Eagles showed that the Rams were not quite what they think they are.

Seahawks, if they can play this ball control game and get these kind of big plays on defense and special teams, yes, I don't see a, well, here's an obvious loss. I don't see that on the schedule coming up, and that's a good sign, you know, for a team that's coming off of two pretty convincing wins. Russell Wilson used to play for the Seahawks. How much longer is he going to play for the New York Giants? This is the question of the day, you know, here in greater New Jersey and around the world. And Brian Dayball's looking for the window where Jackson Dart can show up and be the hero, which means he wants to start to go out there and get a win. I don't think you put Dart out there against the Chargers, the way the Chargers are playing.

That doesn't seem like a smart move. Then you've got the Saints in Week 5. And I think a lot of us, even at the beginning of the season, circled Week 5 Saints, is like, that's the game where you put Jackson Dart in if you're trying to, like, control the New York narrative. So, you know, by then, people have just completely given up on Russell Wilson. Well, I mean, they already have, but they will really, really, really have given up on Russell Wilson.

You get Dart out there. It's a delicate situation for the decision makers in New York because they are in job preservation mode. So they're not necessarily thinking about the best interests of anybody. They're just trying to get a little spark of life. they can carry on through the season. If they do put dart out there against the Saints, he would then face Eagles, Broncos Eagles.

So it's a tricky balance of the strike, but I think we have one more week of Russell Wilson, unless we hear at the press conference in about an hour that we have zero more weeks of Russell Wilson, and I, for one, in favor of that. So watching the game last night, Tariko and Collinsworth, especially in the fourth quarter when it got a little bit lopside on the scoreboard,

talking a lot about, you've got, you know, your next franchise quarterback there, and the fans are clamoring for it. And I do wonder, did we just lose Mike there? Mike, you still there? He is not. They were talking about getting dart in the game. And then Collinsworth brought up the point that oftentimes when you're in the middle of your coaching tenure

and you draft a quarterback in the first round, that's not the guy that's going to save your job. That's the guy that's going to be the next coach's like pet prize. So if they do pivot off of Russ and yesterday, oh, man, I don't know how much of that game do you watch, but it was rough. There was an intentional grounding play in the fourth quarter where Russ dropped back and he's still in the pocket and throwing it away, he threw it so high and so over the top

that went down the tunnel. And they were like, wait a minute. And then they called intentional grounding. And it actually really cost them because they had an opportunity to get back in the game. Russ was like, it hasn't hit the ground yet. I don't think it ever did. Can't be grounded.

Keep sailing down the tunnel. Do we have Mike, we got you back on the line now? I'm back. I'm going to admit that he threw so many bad passes. on that particular series left forgot the intentional grounding pass. It was so bad. And then I was mentioning that Tariko and Collinsworth on the call,

they didn't even realize what was going on in the moment because they just thought it was a sailed pass. And then when we dropped you on the call, I was talking about Brian Dable and the new quarterback and Collinsworth said on the broadcast yesterday, to the effect of oftentimes when you draft a quarterback in the first round in the situation the Giants are in, it's not a guy that's going to save the current coach's job.

It's going to be the next coach's point. project. So I think it makes for a very interesting dynamic in New York about what Dable wants to do here because he's got to be one of the top five candidates in the NFL to lose his job at this point. I agree. It's him and McDaniel and then it's everybody else. And Collinsworth's right on the head there. It's like no matter what you do, it's not going to work unless the kid comes out and falls out or you time things especially right. So yeah, so that's it. And we don't really know what DART is. That's the other part of this. keep bringing him out there to run these little zone reads.

We saw him look impressive in the preseason. And you're not just doing this in the NFL, you're doing this in New York. So if you put a guy out there at the wrong time and he becomes the franchise or the samchise or Tommy Cutlitz or some other thing, then you cut this other problem on your hands where if he has like four hot games and then falls apart, then you're definitely on the chopping block. And these are all the factors that Brian Dable has to keep in mind as he makes. makes these decisions.

We're speaking of Mike Tannier here on the Halford and Breft Show on Sportsnet 650. Mike is our Monday morning quarterback brought to you by the Clayton Public House. Pre-game to post game, the Clayton Public House is your home of football. Catch all the action on 15 screens and two giant projectors. Visit them online at the Clayton Pub.com. You mentioned that the Giants have the Chargers next. The Chargers are one of those six teams with a perfect 3-0 record through the first three weeks of the season.

It wasn't pretty yesterday against the Broncos. They were at home, but they got it done. Where are you at right now on the charge? Chargers and Justin Herbert. You know you said it. They got it done because how many times the Chargers not got it done? They didn't charge her yesterday.

There was no charger. They didn't. They didn't charge her anyway, and they didn't have one of those games where Justin Herbert had like two phenomenal highlights, and then you look at the end and like, well, how did they only score 16 points and lose by three? I don't understand.

In this particular game, Herbert had the highlight or two, but he was also distributing the ball very well. You know, he's getting the ball to guys like Quentin Johnston who now can catch it. they aren't just like dropping everything thrown their way and that's a big plus defense is playing very step mostly mistake-free defense gave up one or two lapses that was all the broncos points yesterday so it's a good situational football team it's a good complimentary football team right now and you have to just you have to just pencil the chargers in as a playoff team right now it's like

they have their three and o in division that alone tells you it's like they've got all the tiebreakers they need right now and that if they just win the games they have to do they're going to be in the playoffs and let's see who they are then, because as we all know, the Chargers in the playoffs, that's when the Chargering really happens. Can you kind of say the same thing about Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? I feel like there's some similarities there. There are some similarities. I think Mayfield is really changing.

Like, McPhail is out there with no Godwin, no McMill, and he had three injured offensive linemen this week. Those offensive linemen got hurt against the Texans pass rush. And he goes out there in the last two minutes of the game, and it's like ice water. completes a couple passes, gets the job done, scrambles for positive yardage, gets up, fired up, looks like he's firing the guys up. I think we've slept on how good Baker Mayfield has gotten in the last two years. He has really grown into who he is right now.

And the only reason I'm not higher on the Buccaneers right now, because they're undefeated. They'll be facing the Eagles next week is they have so many injuries. It's almost like they're the 49ers part two, where you're like, okay, who's healthy enough? Can they make a run? Or are they going to have this, like, catastrophic failure where there's not enough guys to beat the teams they have to beat.

Okay, I want to go over a couple of quarterback situations. First of all, Minnesota, does Carson Wince give them a better shot than J.J. McCarthy? I'm going to tell you right now, I think it was 17-0, the first time Carson Wins completed a pass yesterday. Carson Wins did nothing until it was like he had gotten the ball like near midfield, and it was 17-0 Vikings, and then he threw a slant. Jefferson, and Jefferson around 25 yards, not set up a touchdown. If the Vikings are playing that well, it doesn't matter who their quarterback is.

I think that they have to maintain their commitment to McCarthy. We've seen very little of McCarthy. We've seen plenty of wince in the last six years, and we know what that's going to be. The Vikings have to take away from this is we have to play that kind of defense. We have to get those kind of plays from guys like Jefferson, and we have to support this rookie quarterback, not throw them under the bus, you know, in search of another one of those weird seasons with a backup. And now the Atlanta Falcons, what are you seeing there? It's troubling that the first time Pennix has any adversity.

He throws a pick six or ugly pick six. His brain melts right after that. He loses all his composure. He has a couple of series where he's like bouncing the ball. Then he throws another interception. And then they turn to Kirk Cousins. Again, this isn't like giving Joe Milton some work at the end of the game, which is what the Cowboys is.

You're turning to like the 37-year-old 25. million dollar veteran on the bench. This isn't good for the long-term health and well-being of Pennix who already looked like he was pressing it for his first mistake. You know, we saw that from Pennix when he was with the Huskies. Like there were games where he was just way off. And I'm not even talking about, like you remember they went to the semifinals and Pennix had an incredible game, get to the final, he wasn't good.

We saw that in the regular season. Like there were games where I was like, this guy is incredible. and other games like, this guy's rattled. Like, what's going on here? So I wonder if that's just part of his makeup that he needs to figure out. It might be because, you know, when I watch a college quarterback and they get into the Big Bowl or the championship series and they have that terrible game at the end, it's like, okay, you face a powerhouse.

You face the juggernaut there. So maybe that isn't the best test. You know, Washington didn't stand up to. I forget who it was Texas or whoever it was who slammed them. But when you see it happen in the NFL, you realize this is a major problem that you have to manage the young man so that the mistakes don't snowball. A lot of quarterbacks, when, so it was an example, the mistakes would snowball on them,

and all of a sudden you had like a basket case in your hand. You got to manage that, and you don't manage that by putting Kirk Cousin in the game in the fourth quarter. You let the guy go out there and dink and dunk and try to kick a field goal so he feels more confident, a lot to watch as the Falcons try to navigate this. You know who it was. They beat Texas. That was his incredible.

Okay. That was an incredible win. and then they lost to J.J. McCarthy and the Michigan Wolverines. Well, that's it. You get this hardball team coming at you, firing on all cylinders, and you lay an egg. You can't really hold that against the college quarterback, like I said, but yeah, it is noteworthy that you guys mention it and that we're seeing this. Mike, this was awesome, buddy. Thanks for taking the time to do this today. As always, we really appreciate it. Enjoy the game tonight. Baltimore, Detroit should be a really good one. We'll do this again next Monday. Absolutely. Take care and enjoy your week.

Thanks. That's Mike Tanier, our NFL Insider, from the two deep zone substack here on the Halford and Brough show on SportsNet 650. So we got a lot more to get to on the program. Andrew Ladd's going to join us on the other side of the break. Yes, that Andrew Ladd, long-time NHL or two-time Stanley Cup champion. He is joining us today to talk about one of the Ladd Foundation's initiatives called 1616 program created for players, parents, and coaches. A lot of youth sports talk going to be coming up. At 8 o'clock, we're going to talk to Saty Arsham. We're going to get back in to the Canucks talk because we've got a bunch of preseason stuff and some of the remnants from training camp.

Jason, speaking of Canucks preseason coverage, it is brought to you by Big League Sports Excellent. Hey, that's my hockey shop. Yeah. That's my buddy Benny that owns that hockey shop. I play hockey with them. We both play poorly because we're getting old. Score the sports excellence exclusive.

I don't know this stuff. You're going to have to tell me about it. Bauer Vapor LTX Pro lineup of gear at Big League Sports Excellence. See, I don't know that stuff. that's why I go in there and I'm like I need new this get me it it's a great hockey shop

and seriously sometimes I just go hang out there it's a great sports shop LTX is part of the Vapor line from Bauer series of products all branded LTX brand new spanking gear Pedro my dog loves the hockey shop

because he gets treats there perfect it's like honestly a hockey shop should be kind of like a community where you can go hang out. There's always like a game on there that people are watching. So really happy to have Benny in Big League Sports Excellence

on our show now. So if you want to check them out and get your Bauer Gear or dog treats, visit them at 2151 Burrard Street in Kittsalano, Big League Sports Excellence. Now a part of the Halford and Brough show on SportsNet 650.

We got to go to break. When we come back, Andrew Lad's going to join the program. You're listening to the Halford and Breath Show on SportsNet 650. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Strance. Get your daily dose of Canucks Talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on Sportsnet 650 or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app.

Drop going back now. Here's Johnson feeding it across. Scores! Andrew Latt! 7.30 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. Halford Brubbs, Sportsnet, 650. Alfred and Brub of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates.

Get out of the penalty box of debt and back into the game with a financial fresh start. Visit them online at sands-trustee.com. We are now an hour or two of the program with the midway point of the show. Former NHL or two-time Stanley Cup champion and Maple Ridge native Andrew Ladd is going to join us in just a moment here for a very cool new initiative, which is something that we talk about a lot on this show. deals with youth sports. So we're going to get to that in a second. The highlight of our two,

hour two of this program, spread to by Jason hominock at Jason. Dot Mortgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you, visit them online at jason.orgage. Our next guest is joining us to talk about a new initiative

through the Ladd Foundation called 1616, a program created for youth hockey players, parents and coaches, real life stories from NHL players, helping young athletes build resilience, character, and the tools to face challenges both on and off the ice. As I mentioned, long-time NHL or two-time Stanley Cup champ, Maple Ridge's very own. Andrew Ladd here now on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650.

Morning, Andrew. How are you? I'm good. How are you guys doing? We're good. Thanks for taking the time to do this. We really appreciate it. So let's talk about 16-16. For those that are unaware, that's the number that you wore in the National Hockey League. He's also the number of years you played in the National Hockey League. And now it's a very important initiative and something dealing with youth sports,

with Jason and I talk a lot about on the program. So we're really excited to get you on. So first, let's talk about what the program is specifically and what you guys are doing with 16-16. Yeah, it's a 10-week virtual program that helps players build confidence, connection, and character. So essentially, the research shows if you can focus on those, we call those three Cs, and you can help players grow in those areas that they'll have

the best chance to thrive in sport. So it makes a lot of sense, you know, for me, understanding how much those three areas meant for me over the course of my career, not just at the rank, but beyond the rank and in my life, the idea is to really help kids build and foster those skills so that. Oh, did we lose them? there. Believe we lost you. Maybe drop that line and try and pick it back up.

That's Andrew Ladd, former NHL or Maple Ridge's very own. So the initiative, it's getting the mental side of the game and mental health, but also like the mental skills coaching that a lot of guys get at the professional level, trying to have that trickle down to youth sports because of the increased pressure that young athletes are faced with. And we talk about this a lot. Like with the rise in academy programs and elite level performance and singular sport, there's a lot more pressure on kids than maybe back in our day where it was like,

just go play and have a good time. And then we'll take you to your next sport after that. Your mother and I are going shopping. Right. Goodbye. Have a good time. Come home if you want or just keep playing the sport that you're playing. But it's interesting because, you know, given the fact that Andrew Ladd spent 16 years in the National Hockey League,

He obviously put together a pretty long database and catalog of guys that he could lean on to help. But I know that the Canucks are involved in some capacity with Jim Rutherford as well. Adog's working furiously on the phone here to try and get Andrew Ladd back on the line. I will say this. Like, it's funny the amount of feedback that we've received when we talk about youth sports. And for us, it just comes really naturally because we're both involved in it in a parental aspect, also from coaching as well. Yeah. I'm in the position of putting a lot of pressure on the players.

Love to put the pressure. They can't have the pressure without someone to put the pressure on them, right? You know, that's important. I think we've got Andrew back on the line now. Andrew, do we have you? You do. Okay, great. No, all good.

That's totally fine. So. I said something really, really inspiring, too. I was going to say, we probably missed the best part of the entire phone call. But that's fine. We'll try and do it again. So what I wanted to ask was about the mental health initiatives and the mental side of things. From your playing career, I'm assuming that you,

you sort of received the guidance and the counseling and the advice while as a professional. And so, well, this really works. How can we kind of implement this at a younger age for younger athletes? What was it about? When in your career did you first sort of deal with the mental side of things or work with a mental coach and how important was it for you at that stage of your career? Yeah, so I was very good at putting my head down and grinding outworking people. And like that mindset served me extremely well, right?

got me a thousand games, got me two Stanley Cups. And then I hit a point in my career where, you know, I was probably 35. I was in Long Island. And that mindset wasn't working anymore. And it was a very interesting time for me because I just felt, I was like, oh, like, identity slipping away. What do I do? Didn't really understand where to go.

And I had the, like, I just internalized everything. So I just, over the course of the years, just push everything down, keep working, keep working. so you have all this stuff that's building up inside you and it can be a really lonely place so like my skill of like actually talking to people or using the people around me that are there support me to actually talk through some of this stuff I wouldn't do that so

it caught up to me to a point where I was like oh I need to talk to someone now like something's off and as I started navigating that I hired a coach and I quickly realized, oh man, like there was a lot of skills that I thought I had, that I didn't.

So in that moment, it was like, oh, well, like I would love to get these skills to kids at a younger age so that they're not hitting a wall at 35. They can start practicing and adapting at, you know, 10 to 12, you know, when the sport is supposed to be fun too. So just to confirm, this is free. This isn't a business for you. this is how did why did you decide to do this and just maybe give us some of the details

is it for individual players is are you working with teams to do it how does it all go yeah it's completely free um so we had about 438 teams across north america go through it a bunch in bc so if you're essentially a 10 to 12 year old player you can join you can join as an individual um optimally we want groups to go together through it as a team. You know, that's the value, and you guys would know this as parents, too, of playing team sports is figuring a lot of this stuff out together, understanding how to work as a group, how to lean on your teammates, how to be a supportive teammate, all those are different aspects.

So the program is definitely optimal when done as a group. And it's 10 weeks long. You learn through, so we have real life stories from NHL. PWHL players and so the kids get to learn through their story so you get to see kind of like you know a Mark Giordano and his journey through hockey and how you know he was a late bloomer and he would just focus on on what's on himself and what he needed to improve on and and that mindset kind of helped him just keep getting better and better and better even though he may have bloomed a little later than some of those of his peers so stories like that we're

kids can connect and reflect on where that's showing up in their life and use that to learn. When you think back on your NHL career, I want you to think of a high character player that was a teammate of yours and what that meant to you and what that meant to the team to have a guy like that on the team. Yeah, it's funny. So I actually do mental performance coaching now and we talk about character being a, like, it's a legal performance enhancing drug. But I, and I think you find, like, I think you find that in, like, the superstar players where they have, um, they have the skill set and they have the character to match that.

And it gives them longevity. It allows them to be great leaders in the game. And so, you know, someone like, you know, I started off with Rod Brindamore, uh, who's, who's a great example of, of character and work ethic and resiliency and just, um, pure grit, you know, Eric Stahl was very similar, Jonathan Taves, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, all really like high character people that when you're in tough situations, they would not only, hey, like, be people you could lean on, but also call you forward and push you in the right moments. So I think part of it is figuring that part out too. So what do you tell kids about character? Like if some 12-year-old kid come up to you, be like, what does, what does character mean? Because like, it's throwing around a lot, you know, and I think sometimes kid would hear that about like, I know characters on TV shows. They're called

characters, but they don't really know what it means. Yeah, when we talk about the different aspects within that, so whether you're talking about resilience, whether you're talking about integrity and what that means. So, I mean, a lot of kids, right, well, when I talk about integrity, it's, you know, most people, they talk about, hey, doing the right thing or wrong thing. And, And so I like to add to that and be like, hey, like, you're going to make mistakes. You're going to do the wrong thing sometimes. So how do you respond in those moments? So how do you clean up your mess if you make a mess?

Those types of things. So we're actively helping kids understand that, hey, like, those things are going to happen. And then your actions and what you're committed to in that next moment and the choice you make from that standpoint is super important for building character in those moments. This might be a bit of a weird question, but like, how do you make it cool to be a good teammate? How do you make it cool to be the guy that's listening to the coach and, you know, being respectful of teammates because, you know, I played on a lot of teams growing up and a lot of the times like the quote unquote cool kids were the ones that weren't following the rules. Yeah, I think, and so part of our program is it's not just for the players, it's for the parents and coaches. So with our content, you have, there's content for, the parents to reinforce the concepts and coaches.

And I have a 12-year-old, 11-year-old, and a 9-year-old right now. So they're like right in the mix. And I think as a coach, a lot of it is what you reinforce. So what are you valuing? What are you giving your kids or on whether it's your team credit for? What are you calling out with your group? So we have a tendency to focus on, hey, just results and goals and those different things. you're showing those kids that those are the things that you value.

And that's only a small portion of it, right? So, I mean, for instance, on our team, like, we have two, we get out two awards every game. One is for attitude, one is for effort. And I tell the kids all the time, hey, those are the two things that you can control day in and day out, right? Everything else is around it, like other things are going to happen. Sometimes you're going to have results.

Sometimes you're not. But if you come to the rank and you control your attitude and your effort and you're treating your teammates, you know, in the way that we want to see, where you're calling people forward and you're being positive and you're showing them that you're working hard for them, then, you know, as a coach, I feel like you're reinforcing the habits that you want to see and that will be rewarded

and the kids can follow suit. We're speaking to a former NHLer, two-time Stanley Cup champ, Maple Ridge native, Andrew Ladd here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650, discussing 1616, his new program, helping young hockey players, parents, and coaches. So I wanted to get to the hockey parents. support part. By the way, you can check this out at 1616.org if you want to check it out while you're listening.

You talk about practical tools like conversation starters for hockey parents because the car ride home can be a prime time for connection. What do you guys try and guide when it comes to that ever important car ride home from a game or practice? Yeah, I mean, there's been dedicated research to the car ride home. So that's the other thing about our program. all based in research. So the car ride home, for instance, it really just gives you conversation pieces to steer the conversation after games.

And we had a dad who went through our program last year and essentially said, hey, like his relationship with his son completely changed based on the conversations they would have in the car right home. Yeah. He went from being critical and just trying to, you know, And I think it all comes from a place of, hey, we want to help our kids. And we want to like, we want to like make sure that, hey, like, we're filling them in on like where they can, you know, they had mistakes and where they can improve and all those different things.

And so it comes from a good place. So I think being able to have, you know, something or someone be able to like, hey, like pull back and say, hey, these are the important conversations that will actually lead to where you want your kid to go. So to have stories like that where we're like, hey, like we're able to shift the dynamic of a relationship between a parent and a kid solely based on the conversations that they're having after the game in the car, that's, that's been pretty cool for me as, as this program's been getting going. It's an important thing to bring up because, like you said, what if you make them walk after they lose, though? the walk talk on the way home where you yell things in the car like how do you get back in the car you have to play better no i think i get i get what you're saying i kid i kid well my so my kid and i like we've actually not consciously but like i made the choice at a certain point like we're just not going to talk about the game after the game anymore because i mean there was a variety of different reasons for it i think it was falling on deaf ears i think that even though it was maybe i was trying to do a good thing by correcting mistakes in the moment it just wasn't resonating but It's funny because I looked at it from having played sports. And I was like, I know after a game, I wasn't interested in talking about it.

I think because I was either too amped up or too pissed off. I didn't want to hear it, right? There's a lot of parents, though, there that didn't play. A lot of them, right? And they don't know. They think this is like anything else. Like you see a mistake. You try and correct a mistake that there's better times to talk about it or everything.

And I think it's important that you talk to the parents on that level that, hey, while you're trying to do something good and it's coming from a good place, the timing might be way off specifically in that car, at home. Yeah. And I think it's, yeah, there's the,

the outside conversation, and I know this a lot just for myself too, is like, and then there's the internal conversation. Sure. So I know when I played, like I had,

my internal conversation was actually focused on kicking my own butt constantly, right? So, and listen, I have, I have three kids and they're all very different,

right? One is a lot like me. Another one is, is, just loves to go to the rank and have fun with his buddies, he's not as intense about the results. And so even understanding, hey, where are they at is,

because I know, like, my younger ones, he's going to kick his own butt. Right. So how do I take his focus and actually put it on something that he did well? Or, you know, what he enjoyed just being at the rink with his buddies in the dress room or what song he liked, like what post game song, he, like, just different things like that. So you're taking their focus away from the internal conversation that's going on

and at the same time teaching them, hey, it's not life or death. Because a lot of times, you know, as we're parents, we make these games that, you know, 10 to 12 years old mean so much more than they actually do. And when you think of a different standpoint of a, hey, we're just constantly, these kids get to constantly practice these concepts every day. And I tell the kids all the time, like one of the best parts about sports is you always have another chance. Get another shift.

You have another game the next day. You have another practice. So you always have another chance. And that's the beauty. You can reset that mind and get ready for that next opportunity. Back to your playing days for a second. You mentioned the sort of the start of 16, 16, and the idea behind it was when you realized as a player that working hard and the hard work wasn't going to cure everything like it had in the past. And that's something that we tell young athletes all the time, right?

It's like work harder, work harder. and then work a little bit harder and everything, all your wildest dreams will come true. And, you know, it's a good message to send along because hard work universally is a good thing. What was it like for you when you made that realization that you couldn't just work your way out of something? Yeah, it was just like a robot, like I unlocked so many different things for me.

So the best way to relate it is like over the course my career physically, like you would find different ways to train that would. make you better. And then all of a sudden I was like, oh, this is something that will allow me to have an edge. And yeah, it was, it was interesting because like, like you said, like working hard is like it's a skill and it's a great skill. And I would say like our generation really leaned into that, right? Like, hey, you have to work hard. And we've all been in dress rooms with people and you know, like I said, my kids are all different. They all have different skills. Some of them are great at like working hard. Some of them are great at connecting with with other other kids and

being the connector of a group and leading other kids. You know, we all know the kid who's like has the most confidence in the world and their belief in themselves is off the charts. And all those little things are like, they're fabulous for young kids. And how can we help them develop? Like how can we help develop the kid that is super confident, maybe not as resilient? Or how do we develop the kid that's a great connector, but maybe not as confident. So when you start thinking about all these different areas are like, great, they're awesome, they're really good at one thing, and there's an opportunity to level up in these other areas of their life and their character and their confidence as well.

Okay, Andrew, we're up against it for time, but before we let you go, can you let our listeners know a little bit more about where they can find information on the program, where it's available, anything else you want to pass along about 16-16 before we let you go? Yeah, so like you guys said, it's free.16.16.org. The program starts October 13th, but you can start any time from then until January 1st. It's 10 weeks long. It is a 5 to 7 minute video every week that teaches the concept. And then there's also other content, like I said, for parents and coaches on how to support. And yeah, you should be able to find everything on the website.

Andrew, this was great. Thanks for taking the time to do this today. really appreciate it very worthy endeavor and always interesting to talk about best of luck with the program i hope it goes it really well for you guys yeah thanks guys appreciate you had me on yeah thank you that's andrew ladd former n hller it's one six one six one six dot org the 1616 program from two-time stanley cut champion and maple ridge native andrew lad i've told this car ride home story before but um we had a tournament uh that was like an hour draw drive away um i think it was two years ago and the game did not go well and it was like it was just you know two very different skilled teams yep and so it's night the boy's tired and we're driving home and I'm kind of like and I'm not

saying anything but I was kind of like ah do I do I do I bring something up here so I was I was in my own head and I'm like you know like you were having the internal conversation I was having the internal conversation. I was very like I'm not going to, I wasn't thinking of like criticizing or anything but I was like okay, how can like really another game tomorrow might be tough too and I'm kind of like

all right, is there anything I can see? Is there anything I can do? And that's when from the backseat he's like is ninjas a real job? See? See?

You probably thought he was replaying different sequences in his head talking about line changes internally the monologue. It is a great point though because it's not they stop thinking about the game I mean look as they get older

it's a little bit different but especially when they're younger they stop thinking about the game like five minutes after the game is over That is a good question though It is a good question We went through it, we went through it's not anymore It is a good point to bring up to it

I was like you can bring it back though You might get in trouble all the kids have this internal monologue going on whether it's about ninjas or whatever I think the thing is is like all this stuff comes from a good place with parents you just want to help your kid and it's not about sports like if they do poorly on a test

and they bring it home you're going to go over it and figure out how they can do better next time it's the same thing the only difference is that the moments after like an athletic event or some sort of sporting endeavor is there's a lot going on on. There's adrenaline. There's a high. There's a load. There's emotion. It's also dependent on the immediacy of the result of the game. Win or loss or whatever. All that stuff. And it just becomes this

point where you feel like you need to say something. But oftentimes you don't like, now we just have this rule where it's, it's not even a rule. Didn't have to be spoken. Didn't it? We're going to do it this way. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, there's no point. Parents ask me all the time on the sidelines. They're like, what are the car rides home? And I'm like, a lot of ninja talk. A lot of, try and get in at least three to three minutes a good ninja talk. And we see how that goes. And we see how that goes. I ask if he's hungry and he wants a bite to eat. And then I just leave it. Yeah. Just leave it. You're not going to do anything in that moment. Honestly, I swear to God, I can say this with almost 100% certainty. You're not going to say anything in that moment that's

going to make a significant difference in a good way. You might make something that makes a difference in a bad way. You might further get tuned out. You might further piss them off. But you're not going to say anything outside. What are you going to say? He's like, you know what? Dad, you are right. I should have got that. puck deep. This changed everything for me. Thank you. You know what was a good thing to say? I had a really good time watching you play today. Yeah. That's not a bad thing. I say that all the time. I love watching you play. You don't have to believe it because I didn't, but you could just say I had a good time watching you play today. It was a lot of fun for me. That's kind of, that's a nice feeling for a

kid where regardless of what they did, it's like I like watching you play. I had a good time watching you play. I like being on the sideline or being in the stands watching you play. I mean, I started cheering for the other team because they're a lot better. I hid my disappointment as best I could, son. And I had a good time. Maybe don't use that one. Anyway, thank you. Shout out to Andrew Ladd for everything

that he's doing here. Again, it's 1616.org. Okay, we got to go to break. When we come back, we're going to get back to the Canucks talk. I know we've been remiss in thoroughly breaking down a 5-3 exhibition loss to Seattle Sunday night at climate pledge arena

lemon pledge arena as I like to call it but we will get back into all of it set to our show is going to join us next so there's lots of individual performances to break down we need more lemon pledge how do we how do we have that as a drop at the ready of all the things it's amazing that you have it no you buy bye anyway

we're going to talk to sad about everything is willander going to make the team no No, no. He won't. Licker and Mackey, also no. Okay, we got a lot to get into on the other side. Sat's going to join us. Final hour of the program is coming up. Before we go to break, I need to tell you fittingly about JanPro

from the boardroom to the break room and everywhere in between. Janpro keeps workplaces tidy, clean and disinfected, perhaps with lemon pledge for a free quote, visit them online at janprow.com. You're listening to the Halford and Breff Show on Sportsnet, 650. We need more lemon pledge.