Halford & Brough in the Morning - Former NHLer Shawn Horcoff

Episode Date: July 11, 2025

In hour one, guest hosts Josh Elliott-Wolfe & Brendan Batchelor look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), plus they chat with former NHLer Shawn Horcoff (26:51) about his 2025 BC Hockey Hall of Fame induction. 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.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da- On the break, catching it home, welcome to the league, who are playing? It's his friend and bachelor, bachelor, bachelor Emotional, and melancholy, the top seed, beating an American in the Wimbledon final for the first time since Serena, six years ago. Bachelor! A lot of goals, he's letting it go, that doesn't, Red Sox win it. 4-3 in the final as they ripped off seven straight wins. Good morning, welcome to Halpern and Bruff. No Halpern, no Bruff. It's Josh Elliott-Wolf. It's Brendan Batchelor, as the intro suggests.

Here with me. We also got a dog, we got Eddie. I'll say good morning in a second, sorry. I know I'm doing things silly. Did you call him Eddie? Yeah, I did, I did. Great start to the show, guys. Good start, good start.

Yeah, okay, anyway, restart. Brendan, good morning show, guys. Good start, good start. OK, anywhere, anywhere. Restart. Brendan, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning. Good morning. Elon, who is not Eddie, that is Elon, good morning. Thanks, good morning, Batch. Yeah, thank you.

We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintec footwear, and Orthotics working together with you in step. You can text in 650 650 on the Dumbar Lumber text line. Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and rental warriors for over 50 years. Visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at DumbarLumber.com and HalferdamBrough is brought to you by sans and associates BC's first and

trusted choice for debt help with over three thousand five star reviews visit sans dash trustee dot com we're filling in it's it's very early as you can tell i'm calling people by the wrong name it's tough you are eddie, Eddie. That's true. Yeah. It's also Dog Days of Summer. All right. Dog Days of Summer. And that's why you heard in the intro, it started with summer league highlights. It did.

That's a good sign of where we're at right now. Yeah. I was saying when we got into the studio this morning, you go to sportsnet.ca, you look at the top stories. And one of them is about the NBA Summer League. I think we here on July 11th can officially declare this the dog days of summer. But it is a Friday on how for the profit and ask us anything Friday. So it's the most clutch day for us to be in doing a show that theoretically might

not have too much content, but I believe in our ability to create content. And I believe in the text line's ability to create content. I was gonna say never has Ask Us Anything been more true than it is today. You can literally ask us anything you want because there's not a whole lot happening in sports. There aren't a ton of breaking storylines

that we need to get to. We've got lots coming up for you on the show, don't get me wrong, but this is your opportunity right now to ask us anything AUA on the Dumb Bar Lumber Text Line. Anything scandalous too, we'll answer it. We often do relationship advice, recipes, favorite recipes, things like that. I can't wait to hear what Eddie has to say about recipes.

It was an immediate I got the first letter right and then I mean I got I got some summerly takes okay so we'll let you fire those office we will not and smile as you deliver those to oh yeah Cooper flag I know him also so the the best correct me if I'm wrong here and but the best ask us Wednesday, $100 AJ's gift card. Or what we learned, we do both. Oh, okay. Yeah, best piece of content for the day

that gets us talking the most, and you'll get a $100 AJ's gift card, assuming you haven't won in the last 90 days. Okay, so with that caveat on there, text in 650650 on the Dumbart lumber text line, and you could win $100 AJ's gift card. So on the show today we do have a few guests. At 6 30 it is one of the BC Hockey Hall of Fame inductees Sean Horikoff played a thousand games in the NHL a lot with the Edmonton Oilers.

Went to a Stanley Cup final in 2006 with the Oilers is now a member of the Red Wings front office he's a AGM and also GM of their AHL affiliate so he will speak to us at 630 and also his son just got drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins so continuing the legacy of the Horcoffs in the NHL at 730. We're gonna speak to Rebecca Tauber from The Athletic and so she had a piece on extreme heat disrupting athletic events worldwide. Is sports ready for the future? Scary question. It's an interesting conversation to have though because you know the World Cup for example is gonna be hosted here in Canada and in North America and the US and Mexico next summer. And in preparation for that, we've seen the Club World Cup taking place this year. But there have been, you know, all sorts of issues with heat players commenting as as you know, we were reading in Rebecca's piece about you

know how tough the conditions are to play in and then there have been you know lightning strikes and storms that have caused massive delays in games which is not something we're used to seeing traditionally so interested to get Rebecca's thoughts on the changing landscape in terms of the weather and how it's impacting the world of sports. And then at eight o'clock it's the Moge and we'll talk about the BC Lions and they're getting set to take on the Edmonton Elks. Lions two and three on the season got Nathan Vork back last week had a had a skirmish a fight after the

game as well and so we'll get into everything going on with the BC Lions as they look to move to 500 on the season. So working in reverse, it is the Moge at eight. It is Rebecca Tauber at 730 and at 630, Sean Horkoff will join us. That's what's happening on the show. Elon, let's tell everyone what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was...

We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Missed that? You missed that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools resources and safety training visit bccsa.ca I have to get reused to this show and being like oh I gotta read something before I move on to uh to anything so I'm conditioned I'm back I'm good we got this moving into what happened where do you want to start here? So there were a couple trades made in the NHL yesterday. There were also some like drafty news, some developmenty news, both with the Canucks and around the league. What do you find the most interesting of those options? I would say the developmenty news is what's most interesting to me because you and I were talking about this when we were on the air on the

midday show Yesterday and it was almost like we had a crystal ball because we were chatting with Dave Hall from Canucks army about Braden Coots signing with the Canucks and what that meant in terms of where he might play in the next couple of years as he Signs his entry-level deal that means he's no longer eligible to go to the NCAA, which we saw Gavin McKenna decide to do this week. And Frank Ceravelli yesterday afternoon, reporting that starting when the new CBA begins, so not this coming season, but in 2026, 2027,

each team will be able to send one 19 year old aged player to the AHL. And this is a big change on the way things have worked. And we're speaking specifically about players out of the CHL here, because for a long time now, if you were drafted from a Canadian hockey league, Western hockey league, OHL, QMJHL team, you know, you couldn't play in the AHL until you were 20. So you either had to be in the NHL or you had to go back to junior. And this, I think, had a negative impact on multiple players' development.

The most notable case in recent years was Shane Wright with the Seattle Kraken, who, because he couldn't play in the AHL, but they were able to send him on a conditioning stint for a while, had a season where he played in the NHL, the AHL, and then on two different OHL teams because he got sent back to the OHL and was then traded. So for players that are in that kind of tweener spot where they've been signed by their NHL team, so they're not eligible to go to college, they now don't have to either be an NHL player or go back to junior where they may have advanced past that level. Each team can send one 19 year old aged player to the AHL and this may apply specifically to Braden Coots, not this season, but next season. If you know, he has a really good year in the WHL with the Seattle Thunderbirds and next year

They want to turn him pro and make him their one player that they can send to Abbotsford to further his development They can do that with him. They can also do it with Alexey Medvedev who they signed yesterday, which is another thing we can add to what happened the Second CHL prospect that they've signed this week. So he also is now no longer eligible to go to the NCAA. Yeah, so it's interesting. I do wonder how often it's gonna be implemented this 19 year old spot in the AHL if it is eventually made official here,

because it does feel like it would have to be such a sweet spot of talent, I guess, or potentially the one thing I've thought about is like, what if you're just too big to play in the CHL, right? Like you've kind of, your body has matured faster than some of the other players around your age and whatever team that drafted you looks at you and they're like, well, he could dominate in junior because he's just bigger than everyone. But if he goes to the HL, maybe it's maybe skill wise, there's still something to develop. But maybe that's, that's how you kind of even out the playing field a little

bit for, for whatever prospect we're talking about here. But I also do think it's going to come down a lot to like Brighton Coots would be the Canucks option, but I do think it's going to be more frequent for top five to 10 picks. I would say. Yeah. It mostly first round picks or players that are drafted and then take a big leap in their development in their draft plus one year, right?

You know, we see all the time, like it made complete sense for Gavin McKenna to go to college now that that was an option for him because he was a two point per game player in the Western Hockey League last year. So, you know, prior to this, he wouldn't have even had that option. Gavin McKenna would have been back on the Medicine Hat Tigers this year, probably putting up three plus points per game. So, you know, I think it's just another domino that we're seeing fall in the evolution of development of players.

And this evolution is really good for players because now if you're someone like Gavin McKenna, who is highly touted to go at the top of the draft, guess what? You can go play in the NCAA if you're a player like Braden Coots, who let's say he has a big step in his development, really produces at a high level in the WHL this year. Well, now it's not a, you've got to find a way to keep him on your NHL team

so you don't send him back to junior where, you know, he's advanced past that level. And I think the core conversation around all of these things is the opportunity to play against older players for guys who are ready for that. Because if you stay in the CHL, you're playing against mostly teenagers and in fact the average age of the CHL is likely going to skew a little bit younger now that 19 year olds can leave to go to the AHL and 18 year olds can leave to go play NCAA hockey. So, you know,

I think we're going to see a changing landscape in the level of hockey at the CHL too, which means there might be more need for some of these players to advance to another level to continue their development. And you mentioned, so the the Canucks do make another signing yesterday, another ELC signing in Alexey Medvedev and he is the second prospect they've signed this week from the most recent draft. And so when we're talking about 19 year olds going into the AHL, I do feel like it'd be wild to see a goalie selected by a team. That goalie would have to be so good.

And it'd have to be at such a weird level where the team Is confident they can Thrive in the HL I guess but not confident enough that they can play in the NHL So I do I feel like we won't see goalies take up that spot frequently But it is it is worth noting that now he can't go to college. Yeah, so I and also One thing that isn't clear about this yet because it hasn't been confirmed, this is just Frank Ceravelli reporting this at this point

in terms of these 19 year old players. I do wonder though, if it'll apply to the ECHL as well. And if it does, then, you know, as you said, not every team is going to have the need to send a 19 year old to the AHL every year. But, you know, Alexey Medvedev last year, albeit playing on a very strong London Knights team, had a 9-12 save percentage in 34 games. So let's say there's a world where he goes back to the London Knights this year

and he's one of the best goaltenders in the OHL and puts up tremendous numbers. And you know, you talk about size, like, you know, he's pretty big goaltender listed above six, two, if I'm not mistaken. So, which isn't huge for goaltenders, but you know, to your point earlier about guys who grow earlier or more physically mature than some of the players at the level they're playing at, I do wonder if this, you know, new addition or provision that will allow these players

to turn pro would apply to the ECHL as well, because you're right, I'm not sticking a 19-year-old goaltender in the AHL unless he's like the second coming of Martin Brodeur potentially. But I do wonder if teams have no other players that they want to send to the AHL Could you stick alexi medvedev in the ECHL next year get him a taste of pro hockey? Maybe you don't play him every game He's able to work on his development and rather than going back to the OHL where he may have Dominated and not be facing pro level shooters if he can get that experience earlier So it's an interesting conversation and you know just like you know there's been a lot of

talk both on this show and you and I have talked about it this week about the the change with NCAA hockey eligibility and how that's already impacting the way players make their decisions. You know it's gonna be a team to team and player to player basis whether guys go to the AHL at 19 or not. And I'm gonna be interested to see how teams, you know, differ in their decision-making process around the best pathway for players to be developed here, because, you know, this is now a blank book,

an open book, a new page that's being written in player development. And there might be some trial and error here in terms of figuring out what is best for some of these young guys in terms of when to make the jump to pro, when to make the jump to college and everything like that. Speaking of that, do you guys think Kootz season the NHL games next year for the Canucks, even preseason? Preseason, absolutely. Yeah.

How about how during the season is possible? Yeah, I mean, I mean, he's I know he's obviously very young He's very young and also he's not a large player, right? He's undersized So I would say the odds are against him playing regular season games, but they're not Zero, especially with the the Canucks, you know at the moment issues with depth down the middle of the ice. I was wondering, like injuries crop up all of a sudden, he obviously has that ELC, so you're like, oh well.

Yeah, so he's possible, you could play him the, you know, under nine games or whatever it is and then still send him back to junior after that. So there is a possibility, but I would say that it's more likely that he, you know, comes into training camp. Uh, he'll get to play in those young guns games. Obviously it's not the typical young stars classic in Penn Ticton, but they're going

to play those games against Seattle. He'll get that experience. I would imagine he gets at least one NHL preseason game. And then beyond that, it'll be sort of, you know, how do the factors around, uh, the roster develop in terms of, you know, do they go out and get another center man? Do they have injuries or not? And then also just straight up how he performs in camp

and if he shows that he's deserving of that opportunity. But generally speaking for a guy drafted in the middle of the first round, it would be highly unlikely that we see him in the NHL this year. I know Halford loves his Jet Luchenko comparison. So maybe it's a similar situation where he plays a few games and it's like, well, you got a taste.

Now go back to it. We were saying he's got the changeable last name, the cooed, for that reason alone from a marketing perspective, you got to get him up here. Got to give him a go. Other news yesterday around the NHL a couple trades. The first one, the Pittsburgh Penguins, acquiring Matt Dumba and his 3.75 million from the Dallas Stars, including a second round pick going to Pittsburgh. So what's next for the Dallas Stars is going to be a big question. And then another trade, Ryan Reeves traded from the Toronto Maple Leafs to the San

Jose Sharks for Henry Thrun and Reeves was the one who announced his own trade I guess I should have thrown to that better I'm out of sync we're out of sync that's on me you got it okay here we go here's a clip we can blame Eddie for that one that's classic Eddie here's Ryan Reeves breaking his own trade. Well, you got one of the best players in the world coming in here for sure. You know, Mitchie was one of the best players in the league the last couple of years and you guys are going to love him. I'm jealous I'm not playing with him anymore.

What's the first thing that comes to your mind when you see a line like this of fans waiting to greet them? It's good to see that they still love me. I'm not going lie. You guys are actually gonna get the first scoops here. They may start hating me pretty soon, so I just got traded to the Sharks. So we'll see how that goes over with the fans. So yeah, that was Ryan Reeves at an autograph signing. Announces his own trade. In Vegas, right? Because he's being asked about Mitch Marner. Oh by the by I've been trading Let me talk about Mitch Marner first and then by the way I have been traded and then he was also like you might hate me because I'm playing for the Sharks and they were like You know what buddy? It's San Jose. I don't I don't know if you're gonna be too much of a threat this year. It's all good

But it is fun players announcing their own trades and Vander King kind of yes That's what I was gonna say is if Andrew Kane kind of did too. Yeah, that's what I was going to say is if Vander Kane kind of broke his own news that he was coming to the Canucks as well. I'm here for players just breaking their own news, right? I'm sure Elliot Friedman and the insiders don't necessarily want to hear that. But why not? Why not? Just, yeah, by the way, I just got told I've been traded. Like we could use more of that. We need we need that kind of content for

sure. I think it's fun. So that's what happened. Do you want to... Screeves like even look at Macklin Celebrini funny. Yeah, I'm gonna get you. He's probably he's probably gonna play more in San Jose than he did in Toronto. I think it would be an indictment of where he is in his career if he doesn't. Yeah, that would be tough. That'd be a tough thing to hear. Did want to squeeze in a few ask us anything

so you can get those in 650, 650. On the Dumbar Lumber Text Line, someone has essentially alerted me to what day it is. It's July 7th, which means it's 7- It's July 11th. What did I say? You said July 7th, which means it's 7- It's July 11th. What did I say? You said July 7th. God, what's happening?

It's the first morning in a while. I know. I haven't woken up this early. I know. I know, hey, when I came in and I saw both of you guys give me that, like my first 430 AM wake up look, I'm like, yeah, I feel you, Matt. It's okay, I have young kids.

Oh yeah, you probably do. I'm used to being sleep deprived all the time, so this is old hat for me. Andy saw me and he was like, he's gonna call you Eddie today. He's that's how the show is gonna start So anyway, it's July 7 11th. It's July 11th and that means it is 7-eleven free Slurpee Day free Slurpee day. Ah, there you go. One of my favorite days of the year So we get a text in from Phoenix in honor of free Slurpee day at 7-Eleven, what is the best Slurpee flavor of all time and how do you attack the Slurpee machines?

That's a good question. I'll be honest, it's been a minute since I've had a Slurpee, but I think you have to mix flavors, right? First of all, you got to start there. If you're a one flavor person- I flavor person every single one of them I don't even care what it tastes like just making a complete abomination Yeah, I want the 7-eleven guy looking at me funny by the time I get up to the counter Yeah So now do you pick like a few flavors and layer them or do you just mix it all in? Stir it up and like oh stir it like swamp. Well, do you remember swamp water?

So is it like do you do swamp water Slurpees or? I think I like the nice, like the texture. Yeah, like when it looks fun. I want to make it look like art almost. It's similar to like, not just like the aesthetic appeal of it, but also like when you, for example, you get an ice cream cone, you get two scoops, you get a couple of flavors.

You have that moment where you're transitioning from one flavor to the other. Oh buddy. You can get that with your Slurpee as well. A moment. So my wife is a one Slurpee flavor person and I think less of her because of it. She only gets the Coca-Cola flavor, but I'm a mix.

Yeah, well, and if you're a one flavor person, that's fine, but Coca-Cola as the one flavor, I don't know. I do say I will say I usually only go for the the pop flavors. Like cream soda might be my go to. And then I'll get like Coke and root beer or whatever else is there. I'm with you there. That cream soda is probably at the top of my rankings for slurpy flavors, which interestingly enough, we were talking about the Dude Soda

ice cream float at Bells and Whistles earlier this week. Maybe that's something Randeeb can branch out into now as well is a Dude Soda slurpee flavor. Hey, you might be onto something. Wow. Good for him. Look at it. Just expanding markets.

We're doing all the work for Randeeb. Yeah, exactly. We'll just hand him the ideas. You need this for batch soda. Yeah, that's true. Can I say as a dessert connoisseur I'm always so impressed by Bells and Whistles dessert menu? Like it blows my mind. Like you just don't see that at most bars. It's an underrated thing. Yeah it's very impressive. And one more before we go,

Mike Theorologist from Brockville asked us anything. Josh, this is for me because I'm Josh, as a man who wears his hyphenated last name proudly, what are you going to do with your name if you have kids? Triple hyphenate. Now they're probably just gonna have Elliot Wolf. Cause my wife took Elliot Wolf. Oh, okay. So now we're all with just one family.

I will say the concept of triple hyphenated names is a play by play guys nightmare. Yeah, maybe I should. What if both of their names are hyphenated? Could you have four? Quadruple, yeah that my my wife did have a name that had a space in the middle So we were like we can't even like we can't even consider this because it would be four names Yeah, be way too many. Oh, man. I think that's kind of crazy I think we're well

but as as Generations continue and people with hyphenated names marry other people with hyphenated names like we could get to the point where people's last Names are six eight ten Could you well name a playboy calling that no you just have to make give them a nickname I think of that or you just pick the first First last name to or you go to them and you say okay, you've got 12 last names you get to pick one Are you just respecting me sometimes I just tell people my name's Josh Elliott for the sake of ease but Josh Elliott as opposed to Josh Wolf

Yeah, I don't know. It's just the Josh Wolf has like a like, I don't like secret agent Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I picked Josh Wolf. I Don't know. It's the it's the Josh. I mean Josh. Oh, it's fine. But I do. Josh Wolf. I don't know. It's the first one there. I mean Josh Shelley it's fine but I'm saying Josh Wolf is right there. Josh Wolf is more of a radio name. International industry. Josh Wolf. Anyway. Rolls off the tongue. The BC Lions it's the biggest rivalry party of the year Lions versus Roughriders Saturday July 19th at 4 p.m. with the watermelon smash on Terry Fox Plaza. Get tickets at BCLions.com. On the other side, we're going to speak to Sean Horcoff going in to the BC Hockey Hall of Fame. It is Halferd and Braff, Josh Elliott-Wolfe, Brendan Batchelor, Sportsnet 650. Green knocks the puck down and keeps it in for Edmonton. Ryan Smith attacking, Hemsky's there with him, so is Horcuff.

Smith from behind the net, a wrap around, Horcuff scores! Horcuff stands! Edmonton wins! Welcome back to Halfern & Brough, a Yesta Friday edition of the show. It's Josh, Aliah, Wolf, and Brendan Batchelor filling in for Halpern and Bruff. And the show is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80%. With no more interest, visit sans-trustee.com. Keep your text coming in, 650-650, on the Dumbar Lumber text line as well. But right now we go to the hotline powered

by Power West Industries. Don't get caught in the dark when it matters most. Visit them at powerwest.ca today. They keep the lights on. It is Sean Horcoff has played a thousand games in the NHL going into the BC Hockey Hall of Fame tomorrow and is a member of the Detroit Red Wings front office currently. Appreciate you taking the time, Sean. How are you?

I'm doing great. Thanks for having me. No, we appreciate you taking the time this morning. So what does this mean to you going into the BC Hockey Hall of Fame? Well, I mean, it's just an outstanding honor. First and foremost, it's not something that So what does what does this mean to you going into the BC Hockey Hall of Fame? Well, I mean it's just an outstanding honor first and foremost, it's not something that you Think about or you know really actually quite surprising when I got the call But obviously very honored to be a part of it some great names long with the great names

Being able to join that so Like I said when you're when you when you play in your career, this is the kind of stuff you kind of think about, but as you retire and the years go on, you're, you know, it's fortunate to be thought of in a situation like this. And I'm sure a moment like this gives you a chance to reflect on your career and some of those experiences. How do you look back on a thousand plus games in the NHL

now that you're nearly a decade removed from playing? Yeah, it's funny, it sure goes fast. It doesn't feel like, you know, a thousand games, it doesn't feel like it now sitting here back and looking. I think you're right, the one thing it does, it does allow you to go back and kind of reflect a bit. It's funny, when you retire, I fortunately moved on to and kind of reflect a bit. It's funny when you, when you retire, you know, fortunately moved on to, to management kind of right away and started working again. So I, you know, right away, like right that September. So I didn't really have a lot of time to sit and kind of reflect and, um, you know, being, you know, when this thing kind of came up and thinking about the

soul, you know, celebration of summer and talking to some family, definitely reminiscent about some of the times, but, um, exciting, obviously growing up as a kid, it's first of all, it's just your dream to play in the NHL, even just for one game. Um, and then once you get there, you realize, you know, just how great it is and you don't want to leave. So you, you find a way to do anything you can and, and hang around for as long as you, you know, as long as you're able to. So for me,

just to get to thousand games was a just a humongous honor and something I'm very proud of. You spent the vast majority of your career in Edmonton with the Oilers went to a Stanley Cup final. What do you remember from, from your time playing there? And, and what do you, how do you kind of look back on your time in Edmonton? With, I mean, honestly, it was the best time of hockey career. You know, um, as a player, I was able to experience the ultimate highs and the ultimate lows, you know, we were, you know, we've, there were

seasons where we were the last and we had the first overall pick and, you know, there's all these two seasons that we got to the game seven Stanley Cup final. Um, you know, I think one thing about playing in Edmonton for a player that's great is it holds you accountable. You know, there's the fans are, you know, such passionate, passionate, knowledgeable fans of the game.

Um, you know, the, they support you. Um, you know, when you, I remember our Stanley Cup run there was just outstanding, the support and the talent. It was unbelievable. The, it's such a home-ice advantage when teams came in that the noise, just the enthusiasm, the energy in our crowd was second to none. It was such an advantage. And I know now it's very similar for those guys making their runs today. So, you know, I look back on my time in Edmonton as the best years that I played in NHL.

It's kind of come into question lately the amount players want the pressure of playing in a Canadian market, at least here in Vancouver, is that something you wanted as a player? Was like, hey, I want to play in a Canadian market and a place that cares about having success with the local hockey team? I do. You know, there was tough times. Obviously there were times where I was a fan favorite. There's probably times where they hated me, you know? And I think that's part of it as a player.

You know, I think it made me better, you know, having learned how to deal, how to play in situations like that and learning how to deal with pressure. I certainly know it improved me as a player. It held you accountable. Like I said, you had to come every night and bring it and be expected to show up. I think one thing that the fans in Edmonton appreciate is hard work.

They appreciate effort and intensity and it was something that I kind of tried to model my game around. But you're right. I mean, I read the press and I don't know that I guess there's lots to be made of it, but at the same time, those are the type of players that organizations want. They want players that are going to face that stuff head on. Um, that's going to motivate them. Uh, they're not going to shy away from that.

And I think that's, you can find players that, uh, that want to play in situations like that, it's only going to make your team better. Former NHL or Sean Horkoff with us here on Halford and Brough this morning on Sportsnet 650 part of the 2025 BC Hockey Hall of Fame class of inductees and you alluded to it a little bit there Sean but you know certainly in the wake of back-to-back Stanley Cup finals for the Edmonton Oilers you had that experience of going all the way to the cup final in Edmonton. What do you remember about that run in particular about, you know, how the city came together to support you guys?

And you know, when you look at the current Oilers team and what they've been through going all the way two years in a row and being able or unable to get it across the finish line, what do you take away from what you learned through that experience and what the current edition of the Oilers might be able to take away from it in spite of the disappointment? Well, I haven't been there to watch any NHL games in the city or playoff games on these last couple of runs for these guys,

but I'm assuming it's different. Honestly, these guys are expected with Connor and their team and obviously the success that they have there. These guys are expected, um, to make a run, right? I think the fans are expecting a long run, especially after, you know, last year, especially going into this year with us, it was more of a surprise. You know, we kind of, you know, we snuck into the playoffs late. I think it was, I think we snuck in with two games to go, um, in the regular season and

just kind of went on a magical run. You know, so I think for the fans, it was probably certainly unexpected. We played Detroit early in the first round and they were a powerhouse and we're fortunate enough to get by them. And I think once we did kind of gave us as players, a ton of belief. Um, and I think the fans were like, Jesus is amazing, you know? And then, and then obviously the success of, uh, you know, the second round against San Jose, just kind of think each round it just grew and, and grew.

And there wasn't really any heavy expectations on us, right? I think it's completely different with the players now, um, you know, that are, that are faced with what the players are facing now in Edmonton. And, and you can see it, I think think, when you have such great players like that, you can see it in Connor and Leon, just how much they wanna bring a cut back. And I'm confident at some point they certainly are. They're two of the world's greatest players,

and they're darn close right now. They're just, I think this year, more than anything, they just ran into just a fantastic team in Florida, really, really super deep team, and which made it really tough to get to get over that help. Going into the BC Hockey Hall of Fame as a guy that grew up in Castlegar just talk us through your development path through BC Hockey obviously through the BCHL and then to the NCAA, because we've talked a lot this week

about how some of these development paths are changing. We're hearing that 19-year-old players, one 19-year-old player per team may be eligible to go to the American Hockey League going forward. Guys that play in the CHL now are gonna be eligible to go to NCAA. We saw Gavin McKenna make that decision this week. But take us back to your time

coming through the developmental ranks in this province and how that sort of molded you into the player you became. Yeah, I mean, I played and played in BC right up until I left for college at Michigan State. I grew up in Cassadar and played all my minor hockey here. I was growing up this area of trail and Nelson and Beaver Valley,

Um, you know, I was growing up this area of trail and Nelson and beer Valley, you know, I was, was just, had a really rich, rich, you know, impactful energy players at time, Ray Ferraro, uh, Travis Green from Catscarla, Dan Marsh's Dallas Drake. You know, there was growing up as a kid, I certainly had belief that if I could, if I was a good player in this area, you know, I had a chance of playing in a chill. Um, it was hard not to, when there was just current players that were doing it. And, um, so that was obviously a really kind of a nice thing. It was very competitive, even though for a very small area, there was, you

know, the hockey was great. And, um, and it was just, uh, you know, like I said, we didn't have to travel. I didn't travel much as a young player. We played around this area and maybe we'd go to Kamloops or Spokane for a tournament, but we didn't, it's different now. My son was a player and these top teams and kids, they travel everywhere now to go get games, especially in the United States, but it was just different. And then it was probably unexpected.

I just happened to take an invitation to at 15 years old to, um, to go try out for the trail smokers. They were a junior eight club in the Rocky Mountain junior hockey league. And, um, you know, not really expecting anything. It was more so just to get myself in a shape. And I think the decision was probably going to try to play, you know, junior beat hockey and Catholic are that year, but I had a good camp. Um, and I remember coming out of camp, uh, Sean Brant was a coach and, and

I remember him sending to my dad, you know, I think we'd like Sean to, you know, we want to Sean to make the team. My dad just says like, no chance. Like he's going to go back and he needs to play 15 years old. He has to play and Sean said, no, no, no, he's got to have to, he's going to play. You know, and I think there was a lot of, a little bit of an argument there. And you know, dad asked me, what do you want to do? And of course I'm like, I want to play junior hockey and, you know, being a young

naive 15 year old, um, but he was more concerned about it, but thank goodness that they, they convinced him to, to, to, to let me stay. And, and I think that's really kind of where my, my career kind of took off. It didn't start off great that year, but I had a really good second half and, and, and a good successful season. I was rookie of the year in the league. And that was probably the time where I was like, okay, this is, uh, I never going to that summer really motivated to kind of work hard and, and be like,

this is something that I can maybe do for a living. Um, and then played there for two years and I was still at my 15, 16 year old year, and then at that point I decided to go to college, to go to college route. So moved on to play junior hockey in Chilliwack my 17 year old year, and then on to Michigan state after that. You mentioned your son and obviously just recently taken

in the first round by the Pittsburgh Penguins, Will Horcoff, how special is that for you and your family? Yeah, it was an emotional, incredible moment for us. It's much different being in management. It's much different sitting on that side of the aisle as a parent and as an NHL team. I'll tell you that, um, certainly very exciting. There's lots of hard work. He's, he's, he's a very passionate kid. He loves the game. Obviously growing up around it, being an NHL rinks was, I think the passion to play and, and his dream of being an NHL player was probably embedded in him from a, from a young age, but, um, you know, he's, he's a big kid.

I don't know where he gets it from, but he's six, five, and he's just trying to start to mature now, but you know, playing university hockey at the university of Michigan this year. And actually he's not going to be able to be here this weekend because he actually is in Pittsburgh for a training right now with, um, you know, with a bunch of other prospects. So, um, it's two guys not going to be here, but he's obviously excited to be in, in, in pit training.

And then we'll see, you know, lots of work to be done, but exciting time for sure for all of us. Yeah. You know, how would you describe watching him develop through hockey and you had your own experience and you spoke on that coming through in BC and going to Michigan State, and then obviously being a fourth round pick and going to the Edmonton Oilers,

he's a first round pick here, and I'm sure there were times where you wanted to sort of be really involved with his development and moments where you had to step back and let him learn things. And how different was that for you as a parent as opposed to going through it yourself? Yeah, it was different.

His path was a little different. He had made the world or the, uh, the American, uh, development team, probably the USA, uh, your team, USA development team, um, as a 16 year old there in, in, in Plymouth, Michigan. And, uh, you know, he kind of went into that as one of the better, you know, you know, younger players around in the U S and, um, really sprouted, kind of grew over a little course of a couple of years, grew about five inches to about six, three, six, three and a half by the time he was 16.

And really was skinny, kind of took some time. He was really uncoordinated and took some time to get going. And by the time his, you know, last year, by the time Christmas kind of came around, he was starting to take it all a little bit. But the opportunity, he finished high school early and the opportunity to go to Michigan, the University of Michigan early came up. Their head coach, Brennan Erato, had approached us and said, listen, they had a couple injuries and a player had left their team early in September that he didn't expect. So they had some room and the opportunity to go to Michigan was presented to us. And I was probably very similar to my dad at that time.

I was a little bit hesitant. Um, that's a big step for 17 year old, you know, college hockey is, is outstanding nowadays and it's, it's a much older league, um, but he wanted to do it. You know, and we, uh, my wife and I kind of talked it over and, and let him make that decision, I think it was the best thing that ever happened because he went there. He played very, very well. Um, and his stock kind of took off from there. There's, you know, he's starting to feel better in that big, big frame of his, but

it's going to take some time, you know, to physically mature and, and put on the weight, but, um, he's got a bright future. He's a different player than I ever was. He's big. He's, he's physical. He can score, um, much better than I ever did. Um, so he's a completely different player, but he, you know, he can score much better than I ever did. So he's a completely different player, but he's a player that's hard to find.

He's six five, he can play center and he can score goals and he's physical. So he's got a bright future. And again, he's young, but we're excited for him. Sean, before we let you go, you've also been part of the Red Wings organization for almost a decade now in player development and you've kind of worked your way up to assistant GM with the team. How has that been for you over the last almost decade? Very exciting.

Been very, very fortunate in Detroit to work for some, you know, two fantastic general managers. First was Kenny Holland, he's the one that hired me right when I retired there. Um, you know, I remember kind of sniffing around with some teams. I was turning 38 and now I'm not really sure what I wanted to do. I didn't have great options. I had a few options to still play, but not, you know, it was more so be the, be the old guy and come in and help with these young vets.

And I just travel or move my family a lot. I had three children and I'm going to talk to my agent being like his player development job came up in Detroit and what do you think? And they said, listen, I think if you want to be in management, it's, it's something you should seriously consider because it's first off, it's a hard job to get. There's only one on any team. Um, it's great experience.

If you want to get into upper management, working in the player development side, cause you're on both the pro and amateur side and you can just learn a lot. And Kenny Holland was one of the best, most, you know, generally nice general managers in league and Kelly's Kenny just said, listen, here's your job. But you, and I lived in Detroit at the time, so we have to move my family. And he's like, listen, here's a job. Here's what's going to entail, you know, not really knowing what, what, what a player development person did. It's funny as a player, you don't realize really knowing what, what, what a player development person did.

It's funny as a player, you don't realize what any of the management does until you get there or how much goes into it. But, um, so I took the job and he just said, Hey, you're more than welcome to come just kind of hang around the rink as much as you can. So that's what I did. I hung around, Ryan Martin was the assistant general manager. Uh, Chris Draper was on the amateur staff and was a big part of me getting that job as well. Um, and I just kind of hung around with those guys and listened and, you know, Chris Draper was on the amateur staff and was a big part of me getting that job as well.

I just kind of hung around with those guys and listened and sat in on meetings for at least a few years. Didn't really say much, just kind of took it in and then my role eventually kind of grew. Then when Kenny moved on to Edmonton and Steve Isomann took the job, I kind of graduated from that into more of a management role, a player personnel and then with Pat for Pat for beak was the assistant general manager at the time and he got the job at Anaheim Steve then kind of I took over for Pat in terms of running the minor league team and and and and helping out

the pro side of Steve. Sean we really appreciate you taking the time congratulations once again and all the best moving forward. Great, thanks for having me guys, appreciate it. No problem, there is Sean Horkoff, played 1,008 games in the NHL, going into the BC Hockey Hall of Fame tomorrow. His son was just drafted in the first round, and he is a member of the Detroit Red Wings

front office as well. Yeah, the assistant general manager there and runs the AHL team, the Grand Rapids Griffins. So really great chat with Sean to sort of get his insight on, you know, his experience on his path to the NHL and how that differs from his son. And, you know, I thought that was kind of funny where he talked about, you know, his dad was kind of tentative to let him go away from Castle guard to trail to play, which like, you know, relatively speaking, that's not a, a tremendous distance, but, um, you

know, to, to make the jump and play junior a hockey and then how he finds himself in those shoes when his son gets a chance to go to college and, and trying to help his son make the right decision. But I would say in both cases, it worked out pretty well for the Horkoff family, Sean over a thousand games, and now Will, a first round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins. So exciting times for the Horkoff family

and really great to chat with Sean as well. It is kind of wild how things have changed development wise for really any sport. Like it used to be like, hey, you can play hockey for six months of the year and then maybe you have some summer camps or whatever, but for the most part, you can maybe play any sport. Like it used to be like, hey, you can play hockey for six months of the year and then maybe you have some summer camps or whatever. But for the most part, you can maybe play another sport.

You could play baseball in the summer and the spring and you could do both and you could still eventually go on to have an NHL career and do all that stuff. But now it's become so one sport focused for most of these kids. It's unfortunate because it does feel like they're missing out on a lot of other learning opportunities

with other sports too. Yeah, and you know, much like we've been talking about the development path changing, like things are getting streamlined in these sports too, right? Like he alluded to Will Horkoff, his son going to the US national development team. That's not something that would have been available to players when he was coming through in the early 90s

And you know, obviously he turned out to be a tremendous player at the junior a level here in our province you know, he talks about sort of being tentative to go to trail that first year and You know the the coach is assuring his dad that he was going to play He was a 58 point guy in 49 games in his first year with the trail smoke eaters. So I think he was definitely ready for that jump. And as he mentioned was rookie of the year in the Rocky mountain league that year, and it sort of springboarded his career forward to the point where he was able to go play NCAA hockey. But you know,

I think we're recognizing talent in sports at a younger age than we ever have and really streamlining those elite players into programs that can really channel their development at a younger age than has ever happened before. For example, we've been seeing the highlights of the brick tournament this week, right? These 10 year olds playing in this tournament in Edmonton where it looks like the NHL but for kids where they're you know they've got all the great gear and there's play-by-play happening at the tournament you can stream it online and all of these things so you know there are pros and cons to that as you allude to you know you maybe

don't turn out as many multi-sport athletes as you once did. But at the same time, I think we're seeing the benefits in many ways of the player development pathway for elite players where they're being recognized at a younger age and being given more and more opportunity to grow and become better players. And it's why so many young players nowadays are NHL ready when they're drafted more than we've ever seen before. All right. It isn't Ask Us Anything Friday, so get your text in 650-650 on the Dumbar Lumber Text Line. You can also text in your What We Learned as well, and we will hit those in the final segment of the show. But we've got an open segment next, so we're going to hit a bunch of your questions on the 650 650 Dumbar Lumber. TechSlime, Metro

Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and rental warriors for over 50 years. Visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at DumbarLumber.com. It is Halpern and Brough, Josh Elliott-Wolfe, Brendan Batchelor filling in for the guys on Sportsnet 650.