Halford & Brough in the Morning - How Is The Relationship Between Boeser & The Canucks?

Episode Date: March 11, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they set up tonight's Canucks matchup versus Habs (6:00), plus they chat with Raptors assistant coach and Thunderbirds honorary chair Jama Mahlalela (28:55) about the USports basketball finals at UBC this week.  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.

Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun You're listening to Halfford and Brough You're listening to Halford and Brough Back in front Sanderson gets it one of that scores! Dylan Cousins gets his first goal as an Ottawa senator. Sam Darnold is trading in the purple of the Vikings for the blue and silver of the Seattle Seahawks. He's gonna throw it to Jared! I got a job to do and my job is to come inside

of this stadium. You know, it's coming, I just don't know when. Good morning, my career is 601 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. It is Halford at his breath. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studios and beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver.

Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Lattie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and breath of the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda,

Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service or parts. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling, Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver.

We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. We have so much, so much to get into on today's show. We have a loaded guest list. It's a Canucks game day. We have multiple giveaways for tickets. It's all going to begin at six 30 this morning. Jama Malalela is going to join the program. He of course, the assistant coach of the Toronto Raptors and UBC basketball royalty. Why are we bringing him on the program?

Well, this week the U-sports men's and women's basketball championships are going to be out at UBC. First time ever in U-sports history that both the men's and the women's tournaments are being played in the same location. Jama is serving as the men's tournament honorary chair. So we'll look ahead to the tournament with him. Is that why Shaq gave UBC a shout out? I'm trying to figure out the relation there.

I might ask Jama when we get them on the show, because you're right. Shaquille O'Neal shouted out UBC, who will be one of the final eight playing in this year's tournament on the men's side. Gave him a shout out yesterday on Inside the NBA so Jama Malalela is gonna join us at 630 this morning. 7 o'clock Ray Ferraro, sad days for the Haliford and Brough show. This will be Ray's final hit of the regular season. He will be moving on to chase Alexander Ovechkin across North

America as Ovi continues his attack on Wayne Gretzky's goal record. But he will join us this morning. Ray Ferraro at 7 o'clock. 7.30 Nick Shook from NFL.com is going to join the program. Busy, busy day on Monday as NFL free agency opened with a bang locally. Biggest news of course was that the Seahawks found their new quarterback. Sam Darnold is now a member of your Seattle Seahawks with three year $100 million deal.

We'll talk to Nick about all that at 7.30. Eight o'clock, the back half of the Ferrero double header Landon Ferrero is gonna join the program. More Canucks talk with Landon, of course. Huge 48 hours coming up for the Canucks, right? You've got tonight's game against Montreal, a night in which Calgary, St. Louis, and Utah are all off. So the Vancouver Canucks have a chance to jump back into a playoff spot tonight. And then of course, tomorrow night, massive game

in Calgary and the second of a back-to-back land and we'll join us at eight o'clock to talk about all that. Giveaways for today. At eight o'clock, we're giving away a four pack of tickets to see the Monster Jam at the Pacific Coliseum on Friday, March 21st. Be caller number seven at eight o'clock this morning, 604-280-0650, that number again, 604-280-0650. At 8.15 this morning, another giveaway, a four pack of tickets to the Vancouver International

Auto Show at the Vancouver Convention Center. It's the same weekend as the monster trucks. The auto show goes March 19th to 23rd. Again, be caller number 7 at 815 and the number here 604-280-0650. That is what's happening on the program today. As you can see and hear, it's a lot. So without further ado, Laddie, let's tell everybody 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 messy your life can be. What happened? Missed it? You missed that? What happened? 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 them online at bccsa.ca It was a light day in terms of the Canucks on ice participation yesterday But it was another busy day in the world of Canucks news and for I think maybe first time this season Jake DeBrusk became the main character for the Vancouver Canucks. Yeah, he was definitely one of the main characters. The Canucks leading goal scorer has kind of flown under the radar this season.

He's done his job after signing as a free agent, scoring 22 goals in 63 games, but it's not like we've talked about him a ton. He hasn't been so impactful during games that we've been raving about him, kind of like when we were raving about Kiefer Sherwood earlier in the season. He's just kind of been out there and doing fine.

Hasn't been amazing, hasn't been terrible, hasn't been rifting with any teammates, hasn't been injured. There's been frankly, nothing super interesting about the season he's had. He's probably been looking around going, there's a lot of interesting things going on in this team, but not really me.

He did find himself under the spotlight after Sunday's loss to Dallas in which he played just 12 minutes and 45 seconds and finished minus two on the night. Afterwards, his coach said that he, along with a couple of the other top forwards on the team, didn't earn any more ice time than they got. Now, Debrusk spoke to the media yesterday and he

begrudgingly agreed. Do we have any audio from Debrusk here? Cause I thought, I thought it was pretty good. I thought he was pretty accountable to what his coach had to say, and we'll see how he looks tonight. Here's Debreus talking about the criticisms from his coach. Well, at the beginning of the year, no one thought I could score here. I've gotten a few.

I think I got to score more though. Obviously, like I said, we've been in tight games, it seems like, for a while. When I'm not at my best, it seems the results are usually the same. It's one of those things where we all take pride and we all look at the film. We had a good video session today and you don't necessarily like what you see out there, but when you come home after a game like last night, you already know, you don't necessarily like what you see out there, but you know, when you come home after the, after a game like last night, you already know, you feel it and you know, you're excited to get back out there and try to do better.

He also admitted he was pretty pissed off with his ice time and the comments from his coach, but then he said, at the same time, I mean, I wasn't doing enough to help the team win. And he said, Toxin, honest guy and honest coach. He's one of the reasons why I signed here. He also added, I need to take more control with body position and stop guessing where the puck

is going to go. And it's funny, I did notice a couple of plays where he could have gotten body position on a guy and he didn't. And I didn't really think much of it at the time because that happens all the time in a hockey game. But I think talk it is looking for, by the way,

we all know Taukeed is a big body position guy. Loves body position. And sometimes getting your body position properly can get uncomfortable. You have to step in front of guys. You have to put yourself in harm's way. You might even get run over occasionally, but you have to do it.

You can't be poking at the puck from the outside or guessing as Jake DeBrusk puts it, where the puck's going to go. And if you lose wrong, if you lose the bat, the guy's gone the other way with the puck. So, you know, we'll see if DeBrusk is back on the line with Vesser and Suter. Besser is another guy that obviously has to pick his game up.

I'd be pretty surprised if we don't see a better, more engaged effort from Debrusque tonight. I don't know about Besser. I don't know where his head is at right now, but Debrusque sounded properly humbled by his performance against Dallas and DeBrusk knows he's the leading goal scorer. I mean, he's only got 22 goals, but he's the

leading goal scorer by four goals, I think over Brock Besser, who's got 18. So he's one of the guys that's got to step up and it can't just be like, Oh, he's got nice hands around the net. He's actually got a, he said like, we've got to generate more chaos. So it's going to be, it's got to be more got nice hands around the net. He's actually got a, he said like, we've got to generate more chaos. So it's got to be more than just being around the net. Well, if you look at the numbers on the brass, there's a few things that jumped straight to

mind. The first of which is that for a guy that's been tagged as a streaky goal scorer, he's way overdue for a streak where he actually scores the goals. Because right now, since the calendar flipped to 2025, the streaks have almost exclusively been zeros in the goal scoring department. And if you look at, again, one of my favorite stats, plus minus, between January 1 to present day, he's minus 12 and he scored six goals since January. This is a guy that scored nine goals in December

and seven more in November. Like the early half of the season, you saw exactly as Jake DeBrasque was advertised. He would go a handful of games without scoring and then he'd rip off consecutive goals in five or six straight games. And the totals kind of bore, bared themselves out. The fact that he's this team's leading goal scorer, I think speaks to a lot of different things. One, the lack of punch they have offensively. Two, the fact that a guy that can only score six goals over the first three months of 2025 still remains as the goal scoring leader and by a decent margin. The call out was overdue, to be honest. When I look at this now, calling him out

and dropping his ice down was probably long overdue because this is someone that this team relies upon to find the back of the net with regularity. And they are struggling in a huge way to do that right now. And you need to look at the personnel currently on board and say, what are you doing to make us better? And I know there's gonna be people right now that are saying, this is all Rick Taukett system and that everyone is regressing

under the very old school, dinosauric Jurassic, if you will, style of play. I would again, once again, point to the opposite that this is a guy in Nebraska that has spent, I don't know, I'd say the last 15, 20 games at times on the side of a milk carton. And it took up until that loss against Dallas for him to be one, reduced in ice time and two called

out by his head coach. Yeah, I thought that that was an interesting quote. We've got to just generate more chaos. Like there's nothing chaotic about Nebraska's game. He's been, I mean, I don't want to say he's been on the perimeter, but he's been largely forgettable. Yes.

To the point where I had to go back last night and go over all of the breakdowns month by month to just realize like how ineffective he's been for how long that he's been. And again, not the time that a guy like Debrusk can kind of step into the background and, you know, hide under a pile of coats. This is a team that struggles so profoundly to score goals.

I mean, the numbers on this team since January are bottom five in sort of every major offensive category in the national hockey league. Yeah. So is it just me or is talket sounding more and more frustrated these days with just everything? I really don't, I'm not going to make a big deal

out of this, but, um, so before the last game, um, I guess it, the, the lineup sheets came out and, um, a few people in the media noticed that Besser was not going to wear an A and Marcus Pedersen was going to wear an A. And some people in the media on social media kind of made a big thing about that. They suggested that the Canucks had kind of taken it from Brock Besser and we all remember this was when Brock Besser, his name was in trade rumors and he had not been traded and there was people curious about the relationship between Brock Besser and the

Vancouver Canucks for very obvious reasons. And when they saw that Brock Besser didn't have the A and it went to Marcus Pedersen, a guy who had just gotten into Vancouver pretty much compared to Brock Bessar, he's been here forever. There were some insinuations that that was done for a reason. Sure.

Rick Tuckett hit back at that yesterday. Couple of guys aren't here that I wish they were here. Just to let you guys know know we didn't disrespect Brock because he didn't have an A. We've rotated the A's, Garland's worn it, Myers has worn it, Bess has worn it a lot, Forbert could wear it. So we didn't disrespect an eight year or nine year guy here which they're trying to cause problems. So just to let you guys know. So that's the reason why.

And if you can ask Brock Besser if he feels like Rick Taka disrespects him. Why did you want to get that off your chest? Because it's just the narrative that some guys try to cause crap all the time. And, you know, we played a half decent game last night. You know, a couple of moments, you know, I was talking to Ian about that we need some guys to do,

which is, you guys all know that. And first thing is oh disrespecting Brock Bess or about a stupid a so that's what you got to deal with sometimes makes it tough to talk to not a lot of you guys but some guys so that's my I gotta get off my my chest no no but you know send you a bill for the therapy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I'm good. I'm good. I just like, you know, I like getting in scrums once in a while. I remember that.

Yeah. But anyway, sorry. Oh, I'm good. I'm good. I'm good. My voice isn't good by the way. I don't blame Tuckett for getting upset about that. I had been upset too.

And it wasn't like you could hear, you could hear, he wasn't frothing at the mouth or anything. That wasn't like a John Tortorella getting mad at Larry Brooks situation, but he was annoyed and it does feel like things are starting to get to him. He lost it on the ref Sunday and that's something he rarely does. He said he, he apologized to the refs Sunday and that's something he rarely does. He said he apologized to the refs afterwards.

And he was clearly frustrated with some of his top players too. Now I think it's worth noting that Tocket has to speak with the media a lot more than his players do. Before games, after games, after practices. And even he must be tired of repeating the same things over and over. Got to move your feet and getting the same questions.

Why can't the team score? But I really wonder what Tauke is thinking about his future in Vancouver. Does he want to come back? Does he feel like he could win with this group? Does he feel like this group can play the type of game he wants to play in order to win a Stanley Cup? I'm sure the whole Miller-Peterson thing weighed on him and he was frustrated with that and maybe frustrated that he couldn't figure a way to get those guys to get along considering the situation he's been left in now.

And don't take this the wrong way. away to get those guys to get along, considering the situation he's been left in now. And don't take this the wrong way, Elias Pettersson supporters, but I am sure he's dreading the idea of another year with Pettersson if Pettersson doesn't turn his game around. Aren't we all, aren't we all dreading another year of Pettersson if Pettersson doesn't turn his game around? At the end of the day

You know you can talk about the system and I and I think it's Fine to discuss that I don't agree with the debate going that way, but I think it's fine There's only so much you can do as a hockey coach if your most talented forwards are not performing especially especially your number one centre. And, um, I know Paul Maurice was in Winnipeg a lot longer than Tockett's been in Vancouver, but I do remember what he said when he resigned. He started to say like, I didn't enjoy it anymore.

And he said it was the very first time I could say I didn't enjoy coming to the rink. Now I don't think Tokets gotten to that point, but I do keep coming back to what Alvin said in January about Tokets future. And he said, um, I believe he's a good coach and I see him here long-term, but it's a two-way street there. Up to this point, there hasn't been an

urgency for us to do anything with the club option. There's a club option to bring them back next season, but I'm sure we're going to sit down and talk about it. Now I've heard talk it say, I'm sure we're going to sit down and talk about it. He said about it, he said it before the season, actually, when we have time, we'll sit down and talk about it.

So when is that conversation going to happen? Has it happened already and we don't know about it? Has someone been putting that conversation off? So here's what I was thinking about as I saw you put this together last night, and we've talked a lot about Talk Its Future because it seems so uncertain, you don't know when the conversation's going to happen like you alluded to.

When he first took the job and through the first half year and then the full, you know, last year's fantastic season, there seemed to be an energy that was in part because of the newness, right? Being a head coach in a frenzied NHL, Canadian market for a first time. I just remember the enthusiasm was high with Tauke. Remember when he went to his first ever Dyson ice,

how excited he was, he was like, this thing's amazing. Like, you know, I can't believe that he got this big like black tie gala and then we would have him on the show and he would talk at length. Gambling. Yeah, loved all of it, right? Loved it.

He loved like, you could tell that when he was talking to the media in the early days, there was a real engagement level almost to the point where he was talking to the media in the early days, there was a real engagement level almost to the point where he was talking like how he was as an analyst, right? More than willing to break things down, more than willing to go those extra steps to really explain things.

And then the good times, well, they turned on him. This is really the first, and this season I'm talking about has been the first real extended bout of adversity that Tokets had as a head coach of the Vancouver Canucks. Now, some would say, you know, if your, you know, response to the first sign of adversity is to tuck tail and leave, what does that say about you and your character

and how much you were invested in the job in the first place? Because every coach goes through up and downs. That being said, when you consider the context beyond Vancouver, one, his stock is still pretty high as a head coach, right? He's the reigning Jack Adams winner. He was selected to help,

but when assistant coach for team Canada, the Four Nations, there will be vacancies across the league. He's got options right now, I would say. Like if he wanted to go somewhere right now and coach somewhere else, he could probably find a job tomorrow, I would guess. Yeah. Right? There would be teams that would probably move out

their current guy to get Rick Tocca behind the bench. So there's always that part of it. As for the situation in Vancouver, the big thing with adversity is, are you able to find your way out of it and be better for it? Or is adversity the first sign that you're on a sinking ship? You know, because sometimes people don't overcome adversity. Sometimes teams don't. Sometimes teams hit adversity.

And that is the first step towards a breakup or a series of bad times or losing and then eventually you have to go into your rebuild. And that's kind of where this season has left a lot of people in the Canucks organization. There's a decision that needs to be made on so many key guys from Pedersen to Besser to Demko. And then that in turn has the head coach looking at it. Like there's a pivot point there.

Well I also think Quinn Hughes. Right. Like there's two more years of Quinn Hughes and frankly you know I guess it's possible don't shoot the messenger it's possible only one year left of Quinn Hughes because what if they go to him for an extension on July 1st of not this summer but the following center summer and goes, I'm not going to sign here. Then you're probably obligated to trade him. So, you know, Rick Tauke probably has a lot on his mind.

Grimace and Ladner texts in, Tauke seems to be in the, it's go time mood right now. They're right in the playoff race and he's getting frustrated because the players aren't going, absolutely. Yep. Absolutely. He is totally, I think he is flummoxed by this team. He doesn't understand why he has to say,

we need to play a little more desperate. It's like, hey guys, I think you used this phrase, we're in a dog fight for this last playoff spot. Do you guys want wanna make the playoffs or what's going on here? Well, and that's where I'm talking about. I think that these last 20 some odd games might end up making the decision a lot more clear

and a lot more obvious for Taukit. I mean, this group does have an opportunity right now. Granted, they're without Quinn Hughes and that's a huge component to this thing. And to a lesser degree without Thetra Demko, but the playoff spot is absolutely there. Like they are not going up against a juggernaut team in the Calgary flames.

Someone just texted into the Dunbar Lumber, TechMessage, and Basket, the offensive numbers on Calgary, and they're just as pitiful as Vancouver's. There is an opportunity here to show something that, um, you can respond to the coach's directions. And I mean, in the case of the breast, we're not even talking about a really advanced difficult strategy.

He's talking about being more engaged and creating more chaos. And I think a lot of it is like showing that you give a crap and you're going to need to show that at this particular time. Like, for the connects. And I know it's cliched, but I bet talk was like the playoffs start now. Like, this game tonight, followed by a game against Calgary

tomorrow night in the second of a back to back, those are huge. This week is massive. And they probably won't have Thatcher Demko. For these next two games, they're not going to have Demko. And they're probably not going to have Demko, and they're probably not going to have Quinn Hughes. More adversity, right? So it can't be Quinn to the rescue all the time.

Exactly. Right? Someone else has got to step up and say, I'm going to be the guy tonight. And frankly, against, what was the game before? Dallas, Minnesota. Minnesota on Friday. Yeah. It was Kiefer Sherwood that came through with the big goal in that. It's like the supporting cast. And Kevin Minnesota on Friday. Yeah. It was Kiefer Sherwood that came through

with the big goal in that. It's like the supporting cast. Yeah, and Lankton had made 37 saves. And who, and who was the guy that scored the goal against Dallas? It was Forebort, right? I mean, it was a nice give and go with Connor Garland and he's one of the guys that'll

be relied upon to create chances. But frankly, he's been their most consistent forward this season. Connor Garland, all the other guys, you know, they need to bring not a little bit more, so much more. And I, you know, I'm looking at Tauchett right now and just try and put yourself in his shoes. I mean, look, if the Canucks give him a five year contract offer for a ton of money, he might be like, well, I don't really like I'll coach whatever I have to do for that.

Right. For that level of commitment. But this is a guy that has won. A lot of big hockey games with a lot of teams. He's won a Stanley Cup as a player. He's won a Canada Cup as a player. He's won a Canada Cup as a player. He's won a Stanley Cup as an assistant coach, and he just won the Four Nations as an assistant coach. He likes to win. He is a winner. What do you think he sees with this group? Do you think he sees a group that is capable of winning?

I really... I, okay, but here's the thing. I do think that like the final 20 games of the season, they can dictate that outcome and that narrative a little bit. I think that there's an opportunity here in the face of adversity where you could show something or show nothing, you know what I mean?

Like, I don't think the story's been written yet. I think they're well through it. Like the choose your own adventure, Brooke. You've chosen many adventures. you've taken the wizard surprise. Would you be surprised if Tauket and Pedersen are both back? Yes yes absolutely but with the group maybe even minus Pedersen right now but with the group there's a lot of guys that can answer some questions right now there's a lot of guys that can have a prove-it moment right now. Yeah. Again even with Hughes

out of the lineup and with Demko out of the lineup, this is not out of the realm of possibility to scratch and claw and get wins and surpass the Calgary Flames for the second wild card spot in the West. I mean, let's be clear. This is the organization's mandate right now. This is what they want. They want to be in the postseason when it starts. That's what they want. And I think Rick Tauke very much wants to be in the postseason when it starts. They that's what they want. And that and I think and I think Rick talking very much wants to be in the playoffs as well. He does not want to take a even if it's just perception based, a step backwards where,

oh, yeah, you know, his first year on the job, they were great. They really responded to him. And then a second year on the job, like so many other Jack Adams winners, they fell back and missed the playoffs like they want to get in. OK, who's coming up next? Uh, Jama Malalela is going to join us, assistant coach of the Toronto Raptors. He's going to talk to us about the upcoming U-sports men's and women's final basketball championships. It's all out at UBC. Uh, it's an unbelievable event.

And it's the first time ever in U-sports history that the men's and women's tournaments are being played in the same location. So I'll pass along all the ticket information, dates and all that stuff on the other side. Jam is going to join us at 6.30. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about Jan Pro. From the boardroom to the break room and everywhere in between, Jan Pro keeps workplaces tidy, clean and disinfected. For a free quote, visit JanPro.ca. You're listening to the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet at 6.50.

Canucks talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. 634 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers.

They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff, they can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour one of the program. Raptors assistant coach, Jamma Malalela, is gonna join us in just a moment here. The highlight of hour one, we're gonna do some hoop stock here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Hour one of this program is brought to join us in just a moment here. The highlight of our one, we're going to do some hoops talk here on the Halford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650.

Our one of this program is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling, Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. This is a good time for hoops like the BC High School Basketball Championships just wrapped. If you're paying attention, US college basketball is this is actually the best time.

Everyone thinks it's March Madness, but it's actually the week before because of all the conference tournaments. It's like I was watching Gonzaga take on San Francisco last night in an 830 Pacific tip time. I love a WCC after dark game. It's so those will be going all week. And then this week, out at UBC, you got the U Sports Men's and Women's

Final Eight Basketball Championships. It goes from Thursday, March 13th to Sunday, March 16th. This is the first time ever, ever in U Sports history that a single university is gonna to host both the men's and the women's tournament at the same time. So we're very excited to get to our next guest. He is serving as the men's tournament honorary chair this week. As I mentioned, it's Raptors assistant coach Jama Malalela here on the Halford and Brough

show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Jama. How are you? Good morning. How are you doing today? I'm great. Thanks for taking the time to do this. We really appreciate it.

So let's start with the tournament before we get into some NBA stuff with you. This is a very cool thing that both tournaments are being held at UBC. I know that during your days as a star player at UBC, you had an opportunity to advance at some of these tournaments. If I'm not mistaken, they were often routinely held in Halifax.

So this is pretty cool that us in the West Coast that we're getting this tournament, not just the men's tournament, but both at the exact same time. Yeah, no, they sure were. I remember you sort of back to my playing days and definitely not a star player. I was sort of like, hopefully get off the bench

and kind of figure this thing out type of player. But the teams were good, which was nice. And I think I did company on those teams and we'd make it to nationals pretty regularly and you'd go to Halifax. And I think you have to journey across the country and kind of really get that sort of figured out different time zones.

So for these UBC teams to be able to sort of do it at home, to be in sort of comfortable surroundings, I think is a really good advantage and a really cool opportunity for all these athletes over the coming weekend. What is like a home court advantage gonna mean to? You know not having to do the travel, not having to get set up in a hotel and all that stuff, but also having the home crowd advantage because I mean we're talking about this is a lot of media that's

going to be around this term a lot of people emphasizing go out and watch great U Sports Canadian basketball. How big could that home court advantage be for UBC this week? Yeah I think for younger athletes that are just sort of figuring out how to navigate, you know, how to play at different times. And it's different, obviously, for me with professional athletes, we're traveling all the time in time zones. But I remember my UBC days and going out east and like literally the time zone changed everything and we were trying to figure out what to do and put our feet in cold water to wake up

in time and all kinds of craziness to sort of get our mind adjusted to play the game when the ball is going to tip. So I think that's the biggest advantage that you don't have to travel. There's no time change. You're literally, you know, your bio rhythms are on the right place for the game you're going to play. But I think more than that, I think there's a feeling, right? Like when you play sports, like there's a feeling and that warm Memorial gym, which I've been so blessed to play in so many times, you know, and the new home gym too, like that, there's a feeling of specialness that the home team is going to get because the crowd's mainly going to be cheering for them, so it's going to be awesome.

Given your time at UBC and where your career has taken you, how and what does it mean to you to be connected to this particular event? Yeah, I think you let it out on the intro there, like doing the men's and women's together, that truly is special. And the fact that the university can make history by being the first institution to do this

and sort of pull it off is gonna be really amazing. And I think for me, it gives me like just fond memories, right, that you sort of, all of us remember our university days and this is a nice, you know, reflection for me on what my time was like, but also this now excitement for what these athletes are going to go through and everyone that's qualified. I think all these teams that find a way to get to national this is a super special time in their lives and so for all these athletes that will be coming to this tournament

their chance to play at the highest level the chance to sort of put into practice all the things that the coaches have been working with them all season long and do it when the when the pressure is really there like that's just these formative moments for these youngsters. And I think it's gonna be great basketball. I look forward to all the I'll be there for a day myself and check that out. So I can't wait. So I mentioned this is a great like couple of weeks for basketball at all levels. We just had the high school parentials wrap. You've got March Madness coming up, of course, as well. But I wanted to make sure that we pointed out the quality of play and this tournament for U-sports

is incredibly high. What have you noticed from maybe your playing days to now, how the caliber of play and the ability of the players has grown in U-sports? It's definitely taken a huge jump, I think. And it's taken a jump sort of not just by the top one or two players in each team, but if you look at the seventh and eighth player on each team, they're better, way better than they used to be.

Uh, you'd have the sort of star players in the past. And for me, it was the guys at UBC, the really, you know, Casey Archibald and Kyle Russell and even Pascha Baines who was at the few and UBC, but, but like playing with those guys, they were really good and that might be a similar level. But like the fourth player, the fifth and ninth, like they're just talented basketball players now. And I think you're seeing that the teams can put on a better performance and play a better brand of basketball because the depth is so much better.

And I think we're starting to see that like, you know, and for me who sort of coaches at a pro level, like you're seeing that these, these are athletes that can play professional basketball, not maybe they can, it's just a matter of where they're going to go. That's the exciting part. I got to ask you, did you have anything to do with Shaq and the inside the NBA crew shouting out the UBC Thunderbirds earlier this week? No, I got so my phone blew up when it happened. It wasn't me I can take no credit but super awesome that that sort of got on his radar I think he's a he's a basketball junkie. So he's following the game wherever he can but really cool that that happened

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. We're speaking to Raptors assistant coach, Jama Malalela here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. So I mentioned, as for those that are unaware, currently with the Toronto Raptors as an assistant coach, prior to this, you were with the Golden State Warriors in a similar capacity. And I just kind of wanted to talk about the differences and trajectories of those two organizations because with the Warriors, obviously competing for titles, winning titles, working under Steve Kerr, I imagine it's a much different job than where you're at with the Raptors

and Darko Rakovic, which seems as though it's more of teaching and growing with a much younger group. Could you discuss and maybe talk a little bit about those two differences in terms of your coaching path? Yeah, I think one, firstly, we're super blessed to have worked for both organizations. maybe talk a little bit about those two differences in terms of your coaching path? Yeah, I think one, firstly, super blessed to have worked for both organizations. And I think people that know the NBA, you know, would acknowledge that these are two of the best ones

in terms of how they're run. And that's your starting point. And I think, you know, my sort of growing up through the Toronto organization and then my years with the Warriors, each are different within that capacity, but they're both incredibly well run and have great ownership and sort of like are doing it the right way. So that's been great. And I've been lucky that those are my two NBA teams. The Warriors are really special because there's just such a uniqueness to Steph Curry and what he brings to the table

and that sort of consecutive championship run and, you know, they've pulled off four of these things in the last little while and their ability to really sort of move the needle when the games really matter. Like that's where that team is special and I think there's a you talk about championship culture and the Warriors definitely have it and I learned a lot being that Steve is an incredible coach and he really values people and puts them first and he creates an environment where you want to come to work there's joy in every moment where you come to practice or play And I think the players exude that when they're on the court. And then the Raptor experience, obviously won a championship here too.

That was a different journey. It was a much slower process of, you know, tacking on a few wins every year till we got to the championship point and really special to get there. And then this year, to your point, is a different journey. And the NBA goes through lots of cycles.

And this one's really exciting as well, but in different ways. We have so many young players who are really, I think, gonna be special. And being able to be the person who helps guide and mold them and help them in their careers is something that you just take a huge value in and I enjoy doing tremendously.

What was it like watching Steph Curry practice shooting? Yeah, I mean, it's amazing. He came in the very first day, I walk in the gym and he's doing a shooting workout. Of course he's always in the gym. And he sort of stops and comes over and says hi, which in and of itself was incredible. That he would just sort of acknowledge me and come say hi, knew I was and the whole scenario. But then I watched the rest of the shooting workout and it's just so effortless. It's just so pure. It's just like it's, you know, it's sport in its truest form. And I think with Steph, the thing that people don't realize is this guy is such a gifted athlete. So over my time there, we do all these other sports randomly. We played baseball one morning or football or golf or you know, any of these things. We know he's a good golfer, but these other sports he would just take to and just like in a snap of the finger and be

like one of the best in the world right away. So he is a supreme athlete. When he's shooting, is he making any adjustments to his shot or is he so confident in what he's been doing for years that he just keeps doing what he's doing? I'd say the base of it is always the same. Like he's not making any major changes, right? He's not sort of, you know, shifting his elbow out a bunch of different degrees or making

these major changes, but the subtle ones, for sure shifting his elbow out a bunch of different degrees or making these major changes. But the subtle ones, for sure he's doing. I think shooting is an art form. It's not a pure science where it's sort of, the exact same mechanic does it. For him, it's the shot contest, it's the angle of where people are coming, it's the speed that he gets the ball at.

All those things change every single shot. So he's making these minute differences on every single shot, be it practice or game, sort of, you know, make the adjustment for the difference of the ball going in, you know, millimeter forward or millimeter backwards. Um, and I think that's where he's so good because he probably doesn't know he's doing it. And as a coach, you watch him and he doesn't realize he's making these subtle changes. But when you really break down the film, he is,

uh, I know you're busy and I know we gotta let you go, but, and I know we're focusing on the Warriors here, but they're just such a fascinating team and they've had this, you know, sort of latest iteration with the addition of Jimmy Butler. So I know we're focusing on the Warriors here, but they're just such a fascinating team. And they've had this, you know, sort of latest iteration with the addition of Jimmy Butler. So I know you're focused on the Raptors, but how close an eye are you keeping on the Warriors and what they've done since they've acquired Jimmy Butler? Yeah, I think it's been great for them.

I think, I think Steph, you know, and Draymond who are sort of people that really love winning all the time. I think it's just given them a sort of an infusion of energy and for Steve and the staff as well. I think it's just given them sort of, you know, it's just a little more motivation, I guess, as it were. I think Jimmy's been great for them.

We actually played them in a few weeks, so hopefully they're bad on that day. But I think it's great, you know, to wonderful people at that organization, wish them all the best. And I think it's fun. I think for, you know, back to the Raptor side of it, like it's amazing the journeys that teams go on, right?

And I think it's just basketball, such an amazing sport, and even looping it back to these championships like for these athletes They practice all season. They work really hard So through the Warriors the Raptors or the UBC Thunderbirds like basketball this amazing thing where you get to grow and learn And it's me fun to check it all out The U sports men's and women's final eight basketball championship will be played out at UBC It begins on Thursday March 13th. The finals are on Sunday, March 16th. Go to final8.ca for tickets. Jamma, hey, thanks a lot for doing this day, man.

We really appreciate it. Best of luck with everything moving forward with the Raptors and enjoy the U-sports men's and women's final eight this weekend. Thank you, I appreciate you. Thank you. Appreciate it. That's Jamma Malalela here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. So Halford, you played high school ball. What year?

What was the last year you played high school ball? 97. We played in, I think it was only, I want to say it was only two or three years where the BC high school provincial championships were played at then GM plays, Roger's Arena. Yeah. And in 97 we played there. So I went out.

Kitsilano Blue Demons won it that year. Okay. I went out recently and watched a bit of the high school championships because some of my buddies from high school said, you know, McGee's like actually in the 3A championships or they were about to qualify. So we went out to, I think it was Killarney, and we watched them play and they won and they qualified

and they did fine out in Langley. And what I was noticing was like how much better they were than us. Basketball has exploded over the last two decades. So much better than us. Although as old guys, we were like, you gotta box out better. Fundamentals are not there right now, but

your fat kid just dunked. We didn't do that. Well, there's a lot of reasons for it. The biggest one is, and the biggest fundamental shift is when we were growing up, basketball was a school sport. End of sentence. Everyone plays in an academy now.

Yeah. Pretty much. Yeah, and there's year round, but that was the only place I really knew where to play basketball. We, they used to, J. Triana used to have a pretty good camp and a lot of the elite players would go there and then I tagged along, but up at SFU. And that was kind of considered like the place where, and this was in like 93, 94, 95 when I was in grade eight,

but where all the good players would go, but it was like a week in the summer, maybe two weeks. I mean, now you're talking about kids that are playing ball all year round, hyper competitive tournaments, traveling down to the US because all those tournaments in Seattle and then outside as an extension in the satellite of Seattle. That's where you would go for a lot of the camps, actually. It would be back in the day, it was the States. Yeah.

You go down there. It's a, now there's, there's way better coaching up here. Right. I had a co, so I had. There were some good coaches back in the day, but it just wasn't what it is now. Yeah.

I have a couple of buddies who their kids are in the eighth grade, like mine, and they were playing out at the recent grade. So grade eights have provincials now. There's a provincial going and they were playing out at the recent grade. So grade eights have provincials now. There's a provincial championship. And they were saying that the talent on display and the level of basketball was equivalent to what their senior basketball would have looked like when they were in high school. And now it's being played at the eighth grade level. And it's, it's remarkable. I'm not lying. I am not making this up.

I watched an eighth grader dunk. When we were in high school, again, not to go like old man Halford here, I was a boy, but when I was in high school, I think there were maybe about 10 guys in grade 12 in the province that could dunk. Yeah. And if they dunked in the warmup, you're like, we are going to lose this game. We should just stop right now. We should quit. We should just forfeit and give them the banner and just go home. So yeah, it's pretty good. Anyway, go check out the tournament. Uh, and you know what else too, like not to belabor this point,

but watching basketball at UBC, especially at war Memorial, uh, it's awesome. Right. It's a, it's a great barn to watch hoops. So go and check it out. They're also probably going to have it at the, they're both, they're both gyms. So the hockey rank basically. Yeah, they're also probably going to have it at the- They're both gyms. So it depends. So the hockey rink, basically. Yeah. That was built for the Olympics. I'm trying to get the numbers on it. I want to say 22 total games over the span of four days.

So it's like a frenzy of basketball. So if you're into the sport, and honestly, if you're not even into the sport, like going to UBC, the facilities are immaculate. It's just a great place to be. Really get that like true essence. And this is going to be the perfect one. Cause there's going to be all these kids on campus. Yeah.

It's going to be a real true like collegiate athletic event. Will there be a beer garden? I didn't get confirmation on the beer garden. Stu, if you're listening right now, text me and let me know. Stu Walters, the sports information director and one of the guys there set all this up.

So let me know if there's a beer garden, cause that will dramatically alter the course of the weekend. So, uh, we've's a beer garden, because that will dramatically alter the course of the weekend. So we've got a final segment, a whole segment talking basketball. So I'm going to finish with a bit of basketball. Did you see Danny Hurley on 60 Minutes? Danny Hurley was on 60 Minutes?

Yeah. Did not know that. It was actually hilarious because they showed like kind of what a psycho he is. He's psycho. And then they had an interview with his wife and his wife knows nothing about basketball. That is amazing. And so they were they were like he the whole segment is about how intense he is and how he kind of lives and dies with every loss. And then she's like, I don't know what a screen is. Like that came up and you could see he was just like, she doesn't know what a screen is. But it totally worked. And it was so funny because you

saw Danny Hurley, like the whole segment was about how like intense he is and like, this is, this is my, this, this is my life. Like, by the way, he's the coach of Yukon who's won, won the last two March madness. And he's the, he's the coach in college right now, the definitive college, but, but this year they're struggling and he's going through it like he's, and he's like freaking out and basically he comes home

and she's like, yeah, I don't care about your dumb job. Like I, it's, she, and she, she kind of like, she, it wasn't dismissive, but it was like in a way that like she said, sometimes Danny needs to get over himself. Yeah. Which was hilarious. It was like, I was imagining like Bobby Knight coming home and his wife just being like, why are you throwing chairs? This is just silly. It's just basketball. But I think that must work for them. Because he also said, if I came home and she wanted to talk about

basketball, I'd go ballistic. It is funny because I- It just stops him dead in his tracks. He probably probably going on and on and on. And she's like, I don't care. So take the garbage out. So some of the like college guys, like quite famously, like Tom Izzo's wife, Lupe, lovely woman, but she's very much the opposite. Like she's always on camera, centered. She's very involved in like the basketball

part of it, right? And I always wondered about that. I'm like, you, you must go home. And it's like like I love you but Let's please not talk about the last eight hours of work. It was very stressful. I got teed up, you know, by the way Did I I I don't think I meant to say that I was in grade eight for some several people are texting Probably clarify this the I was just saying like the years that I went to the camp were 93 94 95 And I guess I started when I was I wasn't in grade eight for three years.

I know it might sound like that at times. Yeah, it might sound like that at times. That SFU camp, so they, I'm now I'm gonna go old man storytelling. You know what they did? They set up a pyramid of tokens and you had your name on a token. Okay.

And then you would have to challenge someone on the pyramid. You can only go two spots above to a one on one game. And if you beat them, you got to move your token up. Right. To where theirs was.

And then they knocked you down. And I remember it ended up being like the most cutthroat competition. Cause there's some really good players there. Right. And it was always awful because at the beginning of the week of the camp, the pyramid would be just filled out at random. So there'd always be a guy at the top

that didn't deserve to be there. But, and he was like the hunted, like everyone was just like gunning for him the whole week. Anyway. I feel like your one-on-one game was a lot of step backs. Yup, there was, there was, I was ahead of my time. There was a lot of threes and one-on-one, right? And now everyone's shooting them.

Yeah, anyway, so it was a fun camp. I miss SFU camps and no, I did not spend three years in the eighth grade. Okay, we gotta go to break. When we come back, seven o'clock hour, it's gonna be a sad one for us at the Haliford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650, Ray Ferraro's final hit of the regular season.

He very graciously joined us for one more. So we'll talk to Ray about tonight's game. We'll dive deeper and get back into the Canucks talk because I know you all are patiently waiting for it. So that's coming up. 7.30 we're going to talk to Nick Shook. We're going to go back on the opening day of NFL free agency including the big Sam Darnold move.

New quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks. And then at eight o'clock, the second half of Ferraro Tuesday's Landon Ferraro is going to join us. Ahead of tonight's game, seven o'clock, Rogers Arena. It Ferraro Tuesdays. Landon Ferraro is gonna join us ahead of tonight's game, seven o'clock, Rogers Arena. It's the Canucks and it's the Habs. You're listening to the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.