Halford & Brough in the Morning - It's An Arty Pary In Abbotsford

Episode Date: June 2, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason talk a busy weekend in sports, including a big Abbotsford Canucks win that puts them up 2-0 in the series thanks to Arturs Silovs' fifth shutout of the playoffs, as well as an embarrassing Whitecaps Concacaf Champions Cup finals loss in Mexico (3:00), plus they preview the NBA Finals with The Associated Press' Brian Mahoney. 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- to deep right and it is gone! What a series for Addison Margerts. Swung on, crushed, right field, it's on its way, goodbye! Cal Raleigh does it again, he is unbelievable. Good morning Vancouver, 6 601 on a Monday. Happy Monday everybody, this is Halford in his Brough, it is Sportsnet 650. We are coming live from the Kintec studios in beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver.

Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Nan, Lydie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford in Brough for the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice

for debt help with over 3,000 five-star reviews. Visit them online at sans-trustee.com. 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. Another monochromatic day for the Haliford and Brough show. I am wearing all black. Jason is wearing all gray today. You're in a gray outfit. You're a gray ghost.

All black, the hat. Is it? Yeah. It's a gray hat, bud. That looks pretty gray to me. It's gray now because it's been used on the golf course approximately 100 times. Yes.

And gone through the washing machine a few times. It's been bleached with sweat and sun. Okay, we got a lot to get to on the program today on a Monday. Guest list today begins at 6.30. Brian Mahoney is gonna join the program. He's an NBA writer for the Associated Press. On Saturday, the Indiana Pacers beat the Knicks to win the Easter conference final and

advance to their first NBA finals since 2000, the year 2000. They'll be taking on the OKC Thunder who were in the finals for the first time since 2012. OKC is a massive underscore massive betting favorite in the NBA finals. Should they be such a massive favorite though? We'll talk to Brian about that at six 30, uh, seven o'clock James Myrtle is going to join the program. Our good buddy, senior NHL writer from the athletic. Uh,

he had an article last week. They got some chuckles out of another one of our guests, Greg Wyshinski. The NHL sunbelt problem has no easy solution, but does it need one? Uh, how much of an impact does warm weather and low state tax rate make in the NHL? And does it make enough of an impact to make significant change? We'll talk to James about that at seven o'clock. 730.

Deep pause, deep breath. We're going to go to Mexico City. We're going to talk to Ben Steiner. He, of course, covers the MLS in North American Soccer for Sports Illustrated. He was there for the Mexico City meltdown yesterday by the Vancouver Whitecaps, a five nil loss to Cruz Azul. That's right. Five nil to Cruz Azul in the Conca Cup final. What went wrong for the caps?

What did Jesper Sorensen have to say in the aftermath? And is this going to be a fracture point for the Whitecaps for the remainder of their season? We'll discuss all that. Oh, man, they took the fair play award. You know what? He's right. Fair play award. They did like an hour after the tournament ended and all the pomp and circumstance and the trophy celebrations were done. There was a tweet that came out by the way, the Whitecaps won the fair play award.

Good for them. That was a tough one yesterday. We'll talk to Ben about all of that live for Mexico City. Cruz Azul winning the fair play award No, they didn't they want to give the won the game But it was just cruising the whitecaps award. I tell you that but sorry They're just cruising to victory. Oh, there it is first dad joke of the morning never too early for a dad joke, though We're gonna talk to Ben Steiner at 730 8 o'clock. We're gonna talk to Kevin Woodley from NHL comm and in goal magazine How about Artie sea loves and those Abbotsford Canucks?

They took a two nothing series lead in the Western conference finals with a one nothing win over Texas at an Abbotsford on Saturday. Seeloff's 26 saves, fifth shutout of the playoffs. Now, if you're wondering, that feels like a lot. It is. It's one shy of the American hockey League record for a single postseason set by another Vancouver Canucks legend Mika Nornan set the AHL postseason shutout records all the way back in 2000 and then he took out Cole Linde that was a sick head but I saw the highlights that was a headbutt that was pretty impressive that's like

what soccer players do when they get in the scrum except Cole Lynn didn't fall to the ground pretending like he was shot It wasn't and let's not try to get already see love suspended. He won't get suspended. He's a close talker Let's just that's why I classified it as a soccer headbutt because it's not a real headbutt in the context of headbutts It's the lightest head, but you can apply to some so when did Mika? Norman do that in the year 2000. OK. Is that with Rochester? In the year 2000.

And obviously, he turned into, because he did all that stuff in the AHL, turned into a great NHL goalie, right? With the Vancouver Canucks. Yeah. Don't you remember his time as a Vancouver Canucks? Please say no, because nobody does. Yeah.

How many games did he play? Four. Four. Four. Four games. Four memorable games, though though they were unforgettable he had but it's somewhat in every Finally finally today and every day this week We love you guys so much. We are giving away a $50 gift card to white spot We're giving it every day this week including today caller five at 815 this morning is gonna win the $50 gift card to White Spot. 604-280-650 is the number. That number again, 604-280-650. White Spot, BC's spot to celebrate all of life's big and little moments. If you want to celebrate both those big and little

moments, call at 815 this morning to 604-280-0650. Working in reverse on the guest list, eight o'clock Kevin Woodley, 730 Ben Steiner, seven o'clock James Myrtle, 630 Brian Mahoney. That's what's happening on the program today. Greg, 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 busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? You missed that? What happened? I missed all the action because I'm 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 be CCSA Dot-ca as I mentioned in the intro It was a dark dark evening for the Vancouver Whitecaps in Mexico City on Sunday night The Whitecaps were absolutely throttled in the 2025

ConcaCaf Champions Cup final dropping a five-nil decision to Liga MX powerhouse Cruz Azul in Mexico City it was as one-sided as you'll ever see in a championship final. Ironic, Jason, because the day prior PSG put forth what many consider to be the most one-sided result that you could get in a champion final beating Inter Milan 5-0 in the Champions League final. I was actually, when it got to five nil yesterday, I was like, please just hold it there, because, you know, Inter had that happen to them too.

The symmetry was chef's kiss, perfect. But I will say, Inter, as bad as they looked on Saturday, were better and put forth more than what the Whitecaps put forth yesterday. Did they get a shot on goal? They did not. Not only, not. Yeah, that's shot on goal? They did not. Not only not. Yeah, but I'm like that's right.

But not only did the white caps not get a shot on goal yesterday, the white caps did not attempt a shot on goal yesterday in the five nil destruction. They didn't get a single shot attempt. Yeah. Courtesy of Opta, Advanced Analytics Company.

The white caps were the first team in any Conca calf champions cup match not a final any match that's ever been played in this tournament since they started tracking the stats back in 2012 yeah, it's not possible. I couldn't even get an attempt well, did you watch the game because it was possible the way they played, you know, they came in there and You know if you were hyping up the whitecaps, you were probably hyping up Brian White. That would probably have been the first player

you've been hyping up and he couldn't even get the ball. I think he had seven touches or something at some point, well into the game. Yep. And they looked. They looked awful. They looked paralyzed. They looked awful.

They looked paralyzed out there to me. Yep. Yeah, that's fair. They look, they looked gassed at about the 20 minute mark and they started horribly conceding in the eighth minute. And then again, in the 28th minute, the only look, I'm not often at a loss for words when it comes to

something that happened in sports. Usually I do a pretty good job of explaining it, but a couple of people text me, they're like, what happened here? I'm like, I honestly're like, what happened here? I'm like, I honestly do not know what happened to start that match. Other than the white caps were completely unprepared,

mentally, physically, any other facet of the match, they were totally unprepared for what they were about to face. Cruz Azul set up tiny little traps throughout the pitch in which they were either going to try and press or try and trap. One of them was right in front of the caps goal. I mean, like early on the first two goals were almost carbon copies. The white caps screwing around with the ball with no idea of where they ultimately wanted

to go. So they were just kind of like passing it loosely back and forth. And then Cruz's all are like, okay, we're going to press a little bit here. And thank you. We'll take the ball and easy goals. The first two goals were, and I mean this in the most literal sense, directly from turnovers. The second one was off Andre's Kubas's foot and two seconds later it was in the back of the net. Kubas had one of the worst matches

I've ever seen a player of his caliber have in that important of a match. Why didn't he get subbed off? I don't know. I thought in at some point that Jesper Sorensen was going to have to sub off Andres Kubas merely to save his mental wellbeing. Like that's how bad it was for him

because every time that he made a mistake yesterday, it was in the back of the white caps net. He must've been shattered post-match. So Bill from Buffalo Tech said, well, thank God no one in Vancouver was able to actually watch that soccer match. I actually plunked down the one soccer monthly fee. Yeah, I got promo code so it was only 9.99 or something like that, but at the same time Remind me today to cancel one song Because I don't want that thing. I don't want that thing refilling every month. I got it to do this on a Monday It's only got one thing on it. That's it. We have subscribed you for 10 years

Let's not okay. Let's not break down the match to thoroughly because there's not Yes Are these leagues like supposed to be that much far apart in terms of like skill or was it supposed to be a closer? Man on their way to the final the whitecaps beat two league MX teams, okay So I'd like so it should not theoretically it should have been closer than what's this This was a much better league MX team than the other two that they played granted like cruises Well is one of the top teams in Mexico. Um, and they really dominated throughout this tournament.

They had a pretty lofty goal differential going in. That being said, they beat. It's one of the best teams in Mexico too. Didn't they along the way Cruz Azul? No, no, no. The white caps. Not at the, they be good and Lee MX team. But if you look at the table, they didn't beat Tigres.

Did they? They beat Pumas. They beat Pumas. Yeah. If you look at the table, they didn't beat Tigris, did they? They beat Pumas. They beat Pumas. Yeah. If you look at the it's called the clasura there. So they split their season in half in League MX. We're really going down the rabbit hole here. Cruises was probably the best the MX team they played, whatever the case. Let's not focus too much on breaking down the actual match, because I'm going to be very curious to see two things now.

One, how the casual fan that might have either plunked down or gone to the watch party reacts now, because I do think that there's going to be that lingering, you know, narrative and sense of same old white caps. Yeah, I hope not. And I hope not. I don't think they deserve that. But you know that it's going to be lingering out there, right?

Because I mean, you heard about the watch party. Yeah, yeah. Well, what's the other thing? What happened at the watch party? They had technical difficulties, and the big screen blacked out at chunks of the match for the 2,500 people that were in attendance. That was a mercy black.

But that's not great. Right? They did that on purpose. But it's not great when you. OK, it's not great when you invite. And you turn it to the golf. Scotty Scheffler's playing well. The crowd?

Yay! That guy's like feeding him his Netflix account. He's like, just put on anything at this point. Department Q sounds good. Right, like anything at that point would have been better. So it's still, look, there were a thousand traveling fans. There were 2,500 people that showed up at Terry Fox Plaza to watch the match.

And they put forth, and I'm not joking, for those of you that didn't watch it, one of the worst performances I've ever seen from a team in a championship final, regardless of sport, it was it was awful. Yeah. Do you think the Cruz Azul supporters that were there were just like, these guys beat Messi's team? Yes. I guarantee you there was shock at how one side of the match was because and I want to play the audio from Christian Jack here.

You have to understand that this is a this tournament was a big deal. And it had not just the ability to host hoist a trophy. Victor Montalegni was on the, you know, the former president of the CSA and as the vice president of FIFA. So he's a fairly high ranking international soccer executive. He said that the financial gain from winning this tournament between the prize money,

the tournaments you get to play in and what it means for exposure, he put it at about 16 million. So this is a huge, huge opportunity here. And you could see it with Cruz Azul and the level of intensity and seriousness and importance they brought to the match. So I want to play a bit from Christian Jack here on the One Soccer broadcast. He does

dive a little too deep into the Mexican side of things here, but he does put this into perspective about how one sided, how lopsided and how big of a disaster this was for the whitecaps on the night. Christian Jack following Vancouver's five nil loss to Cruz Azul in Mexico city on Sunday night. What we witnessed tonight was an annihilation. And sometimes that happens at the harsh levels of finals. The pure top level of a football club tonight, a football club that's been the best team in Mexico

for a full season and weren't able to get over the line domestically because of their rivals, Club America, who they tie tonight, by the way, with seven continental finals, and that means a lot to this fan base. Weren't able to get over the line and that's why their coach is leaving. And all the pressure was to try and save the season tonight and they had 13 days to prepare for this game. And they were the overwhelming favorites and they played like it.

They stretched the field magnificently. Rotundi and Sanchez, you know the white caps couldn't get out of their traps and their presses. significantly Rotundi and Sanchez. You know the white caps couldn't get out of their traps and their presses, but inevitably you know the clock struck midnight for the white caps and the way that they played to get here in the end I think cost them because when they went down a goal and another goal they'd never sat back and they never dropped deep and they were a little bit naive tactically at the highest level to survive. I don't like criticizing them. It's not me on the field. It's a very difficult job. But in the end, it was, as I said, a comprehensive footballing

massacre at the highest level. And it's a difficult one to display and a difficult one for the Whitecaps to stick by. And what was the biggest game of their MLS era? Comprehensive footballing massacre is very well spoken. That's what it was. And yes, they had he mentioned the 13 days to prepare for this match. They weren't playing midweek MLS games at home against Minnesota prior to this. They did not fly into Mexico. They live in Mexico, Cruz Azul. They didn't have to fly into Mexico on Friday and try and prep for the match. They weren't messing missing their two best midfielders like the Whitecaps were

with Ryan Gould and Sebastian Baerhalter. All that's fair and all that's valid and all that's worth bringing out. But when you start bringing that up, it does, you go down into the territory of excuse land. And there's no excusing five nil in a final. There's no excusing 33% possession. And there's no excusing, The fact that here's the thing.

I'm not even sure exactly how good Cruz's will is because all of their goals, the first four goals came off direct obvious amateurish errors from the whitecaps. It's not like they got picked apart. It's not like there was slow, methodical build up to break them down. They just kind of casually turned the ball over at will. The kind of mistakes that you can't make in any match, let alone a cup final. Now you-

So you said there's two things that you wondered. The first was how that happened. And how fans are going to react. And the second one is how the team's going to react. Number two is how are the whitecaps going to react? Because there are inflection points in a season. The coaches and managers love to say you know Everyone's got to go through some adversity what they don't say on the end of that is sometimes adversity breaks us

Sometimes you go through a rough spell, and you don't come out of it I don't want to tie everything back to the Vancouver Canucks But the Vancouver Canucks went through adversity a lot of it this year And they never rated folks them and it broke them and it never righted the ship and they missed the playoffs. But at least they got stronger. They did not get stronger. Right. And I, you know, when he said that they were naive.

It's all worth it when they came back against Dallas. Never forget the Dallas Gumblats. Moral victories. When they when Christian Jack said there that they were a bit naive tactically, that was as close as a shot as he was going to take it. Yes, for Sorenson and the fact that when they fell behind to nil, they kind of approached it like, well, we did this against Real Salt Lake

in Utah a couple of weeks ago and we were fine. We're just going to keep playing the same way that we're playing. Yeah, but in that case, it meant badly. No, I know. but here's the thing. With all the turnovers that they had in their defensive third, and the guys on the One Soccer broadcast said this as well, they're like,

how about starting to play some long balls to Brian White, just to alleviate some of the pressure? Just to hooth it up there. But even there, they had a few long balls that were horrible. Sure. They just, I mean, they just went to touch. But see, turning the ball. They just I mean, they just went to touch. But see, turning they were so bad that they just went to touch.

Turning the ball over in Cruz's side of the field is not as bad as turning it over at the top of your 18. It was a nightmare. And I felt bad for yes. Do you see him after the match as he went to go shake the Cruz's manager's hand? Unfortunately, it was at the same time that the players gave the Cruises will manager a Gatorade bath Oh and yes for yes for his all brown outfit was drenched In Gatorade and then he had to stand like that for the rest

God they even screwed that part of he had to stand there for like the trophy Celebration and to get his medal and to shake hands just drenched home in Gatorade Yeah, I thought he was written his brown out. Yes for so. And since a good coach, how could they not adjust tactically? That's not what they that's not what he does is that he's we're going to go pedal to the metal full throttle. We're going to play the way that we play. You're halfway through the game. You don't have a single shot on goal like. They do not try and change it up, then they didn't do it. And this is what I'm talking about when I talk about what's going to happen from here on out,

if their confidence is shattered. Now, it's one game, but it was a disaster of a game. If your confidence is shattered or what you do, because there have been tiny little signs leading up to this about where the team is at in terms of its style and form. Like they haven't played. They didn't play great leading into this. And other teams have tape on the on the white caps now. And I know how to neutralize a little bit.

We saw it on Wednesday. I do want to end the what happened with a segment with a little bit of good news. And that is the Abbotsford Canucks. Not even a little bit of good news. Great news for the Abbotsford Canucks. Now two wins away from the Calder Cup final. They took a two nothing series leader in the Western Conference final with a one nil. Yes, I'm going to go soccer on this one.

One, one nothing win over Texas. I had a sold out Abbotsford center was raucous out in Abbey. This is how you know that the Abbotsford Canucks have arrived because the Halbro team chat had Abbotsford Canucks text. Laddie was texting like crazy, giving us, giving us scouting reports on Sammy Blay from the live feed, talking about the scrap at the end of the game.

He threw a hit that I had never really seen before. It was, I saw clips of it. A guy was circling back into his own end and he was late exiting the zone and he just blew the guy up without even realizing it. So it was a weird one, but he's, he's a wrecking ball out there. Yeah. So a little bit.

He wants a, he wants an NHL contract, obviously. I thought you were going to say Calder Cup. Yeah. So also an NHL contract. The real story, let's be honest here and all due respect to Akita Hirose, Andy's guy from a couple of pre-seasons ago, scored the only goal of the contest midway through the third period. But artist Seeloff's has been the story of these playoffs so far. Yeah. It's a great day to have Kevin Woodley on the show.

And I've been seeing a little bit of conversation about this and Connect Circles online. I have no idea if Seal Offs would be claimed on waivers or not, but I'm, I'm not sure what the bigger risk would be. Number one, losing him on waivers or number two, committing to keeping him on your NHL roster and playing him meaningful games in the NHL because we've seen goalies in the NHL perform very well. The NHL is a different league and I know there is some thinking out there that already see loves look, he's still pretty young. He could use another season in the AHL. Um, but the Canucks might just have a decision to make, um, because there's a, there's a long term

decision to make here as well. The Canucks already have Lankton and signed long term, they have one year left on Demko who's come out and said, I want an extension this summer with the Canucks, but if they give him the extension, where does that leave Sealovs in the organization? Yeah. You got Lankenen signed longterm, Demko

signed longterm. Now some people will joke, don't worry, Demko will get hurt and Sealovs will be up there in no time, but that's not how Seal-lobs is going to look at it. So I'm going to throw this out to the listeners. Is there a case to be made that the Canucks either have to trade Demko or have to trade C-lobs this off season? Could you go into next season with Demko appending UFA, so there's no extension, but you still keep them, and try to get Sealofts down to Abbey.

Text in to the Dunbar Lumber Text Line at 650-650. 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 dunbarlumber.com. Love to get some thoughts on the Canucks' goaltending situation into the Dunbar Lumber text line because I don't know if the Canucks themselves have looked at their goaltending situation going forward a little differently since we've seen what Artur Silas has been doing in the AHL, but I know a lot of Canucks fans are.

that Archer's Sealovs has been doing in the AHL, but I know a lot of Canucks fans are. So I'm wondering if your thoughts, or do you have in your mind an idea of what you want the Canucks to do with their goaltending because there's lots of options. I mean, some people, the quote unquote smart ones will be like, what if you trade Lankton in? I mean, I guess you could.

You could. You could. Do you guys see a scenario where possibly they go to the other teams and say, hey, there's a very good chance Seelogs gets put on waivers this upcoming year. If you like him, if you have a goalie coach on your team that really likes let's work something out here, you're you're not the first in the waiver priority. So let's get something going here.

The first time that I could see something like that for sure. Yeah. By the way, I do. But yeah, I know we got a lot more to get into on the program, but his numbers in these playoffs, like they do warrant serious attention. Like they demand you pay attention to them. He's 10 and three. He's got a one point six one goals against my favorite goal. He's got his goals against.

He's got nine forty one. And these aren't against dead teams. These are playoff. Yeah. And five shutouts. Like and let's be honest, the team hasn't given them a ton of offense to work with, especially on Saturday. They gave them one goal. That might've been the worst winning goal I've seen.

Except for the first goal of the series in overtime, which was also a terrible goal. So we've already got some texts in, no way Sealovs clears waivers. Too many teams with weak goaltending will take a chance on a big moment goalie like Sealov. Someone needs to be traded. Here's the thing though, when would that waiver thing actually happen? It would happen right around the start of the season.

Those team with weak goalies, they're probably addressing it. They're not gonna be like, well, what if we wait until the waiver wire? They're gonna address that. And if you pick up Silo's on waivers, you have to commit to keep him on your NHL roster. Yeah. It's like, you can't just be like, well, we got him now, we're going to send him down to the AHL.

The connects would just take him right back. So I think this whole no waste Seelow's clears waivers thing is like, I think there's a way. I think there's a way. I'm not guaranteeing that he would, but all these people that are like a hundred percent, someone would take him. You also have to commit to him on your NHL roster. You can't just take him in and then go on your

development yourself. He's there with you. So, and the backup goalie position in the NHL, it's a huge deal. Now maybe you've got a rebuilding team. That's not really caring too much about, um, their regular season. And they're like, yeah, we'll take a chance on him, but I still, I still don't feel like it's guaranteed that CELOs would get picked up on waivers.

Okay. Coming up on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650, we're going to talk a little NBA, the NBA finals get underway on Thursday from Oklahoma City. Brian Mahoney, NBA AP writer, is gonna join us. This is a very Canadian heavy, maple heavy NBA finals. It ties a record for the most Canadians in an NBA final ever with four. You've got reigning MVP Shea Gildes Alexander, of course,

on OKC and his teammate Lou Dort. And then on the Pacers side of things, you got Andrew Nemhart and Benedict Matherin from Aurora, Ontario and from Montreal respectively. So we'll talk a little basketball coming up on the other side of break with all the can-con going on in the NBA finals. You're listening to the Haliford and Bref show

on Sportsnet 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satya Arshah, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the post game show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. 633 on a Monday, 80s Monday, starting off strong. You're listening to the Haliford and Brev show on Sportsnet 650. Haliford and Brev of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates.

Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt. Buy up to 80% with no more interest. Visit them online at sans-trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. Brian Mahoney, NBA writer for the Associated Press is going to join us in just a moment here. Talk a little NBA finals gets underway on Thursday. Hour 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 at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. Over the weekend, the Pacers beat the Knicks in the best of seven Easter conference final six gamer that pushes Indy to its first NBA final since 2000, the year 2000, buddy your 2000 references early in this show. They will be taking on OKC joining us now to break down what happened on a

Saturday and what lies ahead on Thursday in the NBA finals. Brian Mahoney, NBA writer from the Associated Press, joins us now on the Halford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Brian. How are you? Hey, good morning. How are you guys? We're well. Thanks for taking the time to do this. We appreciate it. So one of the narratives that we're following here in this NBA finals, just how massive, absolutely massive a betting favorite Oklahoma City is going in, depending on what sports book you're going to. It's like up to minus 700 at a couple of them. Now you followed this Indiana

Pacers team all the way through that Eastern Conference final in which they dispatched of the Knicks. My question for you is, should Indiana be this big an underdog going into the NBA finals? Yeah, you know, I saw that and it's a good question because of some of the other teams who were listed with those same kind of odds in previous finals, little powerhouses, uh, Oklahoma city is really, really good. I'm not sure there are powerhouse. Uh, so it's interesting. I mean, look, they are, I think the best team in the NBA this season that I saw,

I can understand why they are favorite, they are, I think, the best team in the NBA this season that I saw. I can understand why they are our favorite. But Indiana, you know, really since January has played great basketball. And, you know, certainly they are worthy of being in the finals. And they're a pretty good team. I don't know that I think they should be, you know, the others should be as massive a final,

that favorite, as they're being considered. What impressed you the most with the Pacers throughout their run through the East, including and especially that win over the Knicks? Yeah, what most impressed me was the way Rick Karloff goes to his bench for guys who maybe were out of the rotation and they come in and contribute. We saw Thomas Bryant do it,

Matthew Ruhn had kind of fallen out of the rotation up through the first two or three games then comes back in and played great. So those guys just stay ready and you know know, they, you know, you want to have depth, but their depth is just everyone who comes in contributes. Uh, so I'm really impressed by the fact that he, you know, will go to anyone and they contribute. They have quite the ability to, uh, come back in games as well as the

Knicks found out, uh, in, in game one. And, uh, I think Milwaukee found out, found out in the first series as well. And Cleveland also, they had three massive comebacks within like the last minute. So yeah, this team is never out of it, credit to the way they just kind of stick with it. What allows them to do that? Is that just what happens in the NBA now? Or is there something specific about the Indiana Pacers that you can never call them dead in a game? Yeah, you know, it's a mentality, first of all, I think. Number two, I think it's their depth.

The fact that their guys aren't really worn out as much as some of their teams because they don't play the heaviest minutes. You know, they can bring in nine, 10, 11 guys. So, you know, at the end of the game, maybe they're not totally dead like some of their opponents are. And, you know, look, they have Halliburton,

is he just a clutch guy who believes in, no matter how bad he's shooting, give him one more chance, he's gonna make it. And we saw that, you know, game one against the Knicks, and game five against Milwaukee, game two, I think it was Cleveland. So, you know, yeah, you gotta make I think it was Cleveland. So, you know, yeah, you got to make sure you finish them off, which, you know, their opponents did not in some

of those games. You know, it was interesting earlier, you said like some of the betting favorites that we've seen with this big a gap in terms of the odds before, it's been a powerhouse going up against the noted underdog. And while Oklahoma City, like they were the best team in the NBA, record wise, they've got the NBA MVP. I think obviously it's premature to call them a powerhouse because they haven't gotten it done in the postseason yet. But I think the other part of that narrative is that everyone just assumes that this is going to be the first of many trips for this group because they're so

young and they're so deep and they're so talented. What is it about Oklahoma City in particular? I guess maybe non-Shea Gilder's Alexander criteria here? What aside from SGA maybe makes them such a difficult opponent and the NBA's best team during the regular season? Well, the way they defend is terrific, first of all. You know, it's hard to defend in the NBA nowadays with the three pointer, with some of the rules.

You know, you look at some of their numbers that get put up by teams. The Thunder are one of the few who can actually stop you. They can, you know, their wing guards are, you know, defensively unbelievable when you're talking about, you know, Dort, Caruso, SGA himself. So, you know, they can really shut you down and then, you know, they have two good bigs with Hartenstein and Holmgren who can shoot from the outside when necessary. They're both passing guys. Nice soft touch. So, you know, they can score with you. They can stop you. And then, you know, we can't forget they have the MVP. So when,

you know, in clutch games, give him the ball. So there's just a lot to like about that team. We're speaking to Brian Mahoney, Associated Press, NBA writer here on the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Another one of the narratives that we were following going into this was the two markets that are gonna be meeting up in the NBA final. Two of the smaller ones in the NBA including Oklahoma City, which is a tiny market even though they've got the MVP and the NBA's best player. As someone that covers the league and especially you know the ride through the Eastern Conference as closely as you have, Do you put much stock or credit in all those

conversations about TV numbers and how many eyeballs are gonna be on this and going up against the Stanley Cup final with Oklahoma City and Indiana in the final? How much attention do you pay to that narrative about eyeballs and market size? Yeah you know it's something that obviously we talk about it's you know it's kind of funny that it's such a small market and that both of them and that they're going to, you know, get some bad numbers. You know, I just kind of say, listen, the NBA is aware it's going to happen. The TV networks are aware it's going to happen.

You know, that's not really our problem to deal with. It's just our job. Like, you know, we're doing now to talk about it, to talk about the good stories that we're going to see. And, you know, the fans who are interested in basketball are going to watch. I don't know that they're going to bring in, obviously, the same numbers they would have brought in if it's, you know, maybe even the Knicks maybe weren't the most interesting team, but it's New York City. You have more numbers than you would have had with Indiana. So yeah, they're going to, they know

what's going to happen. But I don't think, you know, I don't think the basketball is going to be bad, just the numbers are going to be bad. Can the Knicks build on this season? Is there more that we're going to see from the Knicks? Well, certainly it was a great step for them. They have a great starting lineup that they really believe in. They have to obviously get a little more depth. Certainly the way they match up against a team like Indiana,

who could push the pace. It's hard when you're relying on, you know, seven guys and they're putting in 11. So I think the Knicks need to kind of tinker around the edges a little bit, but they have now two all NBA players, uh, with Brunson and Towns, uh, you know, they have a couple of the guys, they believe in defensively and Ananoby and Bridges, so there's a lot to build off of, but the work is obviously not finished. I know the, I know we haven't even done the finals yet, started the finals, but you

looked at next season and it's just like, the NBA just seems wide open right now, especially, I mean, this is bad news for Jason Tatum, right? But like, if you're in the East, you're kind of like, yeah, why not us? Well, you're exactly right. And, uh, you know, people talk about whether

they like parody, whether they miss having super teams. Uh, you know, right now we're in a parody era. And certainly last summer, uh, it felt like we were, had a powerhouse coming. Boston, you know, dominated last year, brought back their entire lineup and we thought, okay, Boston's going to win again.

And now with Tatum not being there, Cleveland obviously had a great season this year, but who knows if that will continue. So yeah, the East going into it is wide open. You would say maybe not the West, if the Thunder keep this team together. But in the East, yeah, I can't say. Who I'd pick is the favorite right now.

How would you classify the health of the league right now? We talked about it a lot during the regular season that there were a lot of darts being thrown at the NBA's on court product, the style that was being played. And it felt like a lot of the interest was driven from all the trades that happened, including the Don Chich for AD trade. And then it was coming on the heels of last year's postseason, which admittedly I think everyone agreed wasn't a great postseason.

This postseason has been very entertaining, uh, compared to last and even compared to the regular season but there are some issues still that the NBA is trying to iron out so I'm curious what do you think of the overall health of the league right now? I think good maybe not as great as they would like it. You know look the player movement stuff is what keeps people interested. I think, you know, like, Luke, they're moving, as you said, you know, is Yannis going to move this summer? That stuff keeps people interested. But yeah, the Encore product, I think they've done a lot of tinkering the last couple of years, you know, putting in the NBA Cup, trying to tinker with the All-Star game every year.

So they're constantly trying to get people who are interested in watching the games during the regular season and fixing that up. But I think the off season, they're doing very well with the free agency and the draft and stuff. People are into that. Does the NBA need an American face of the league? And if they do, who is it in two to three years? Well, that is it in two to three years?

Well, that is a good question. Uh, you know, I think they're, I think they think, and they want it to be Anthony Edwards in Minnesota, uh, whether that's a big enough market to sort of have that, I'm not sure, but, uh, he seems to be the guy who's going to pick up. They think anyway, after, you know, LeBron and, and Curry are gone. And then in the next couple of years, years, Tatum is another guy who probably could be it, you know, he's going to be out maybe all next season. So that hurts a little bit, but I think it is important. I don't think it's, you know, the most important thing,

you know, the NBA fans will, you know, they'll follow Jokic and Giannis and SGA to some extent, whether they're American or not. But I do think it would help a little bit if they can find A couple of those guys to pick up one like we say we're about to lose in the next couple years You would think LeBron curry and the rant who have sort of been those guys for you know almost 20 years You mentioned that the NBA tinkers a lot with the product to try and get more people to watch Is it fair to consider the question that maybe the NBA tinkers too much?

I think it's certain things, yes. You know, I think the All-Star game, they tinker way too much with. I think it's just supposed to be a fun event. I don't think you need to worry about how, you know, how competitive the game is every year to the extent they keep changing things. You know, some people liked the NBA Cup,

some people didn't. I don't know that it actually has made things all that much better. The playing tournament, I think, has helped a little bit. I do think that's kept some teams from tanking, kept teams in the playoff race a little longer than they would have been in the past. So, you know, some things work, but yes,

I'm not sure they need to constantly be adjusting to the level they are. The NBA finals get underway on Thursday from Oklahoma city. Brian, thank you very much for taking the time to do this today. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the NBA finals. It should be a lot of fun. Thanks very much. Thank you. That's Brian Mahoney, NBA writer for the Associated Press here in the Halford and Brush show on sports

net six 50 reminder, uh, game one of the NBA finals gets underway on Thursday, as I just mentioned, and they are going to be playing from the, my favorite, the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City. Paycom, Jason, one of my favorite companies. Yeah, it's the biggest company in Oklahoma City. I don't even know what it does. Neither do I.

I was just lying. I don't know. Probably some fracking company. I'll give this series a chance, just for SGA alone. I hope it's competitive. It doesn't sound like it's going to be super competitive, but I'll be watching at least at the start. See.

You're a proud Canadian basketball fan. Back when you and Dr. James Naismith were cutting the bottoms out of peach baskets together. Yeah, I needed those beach baskets too. So we had a bunch of conversation earlier in the show about Artie Silos and what he's doing in the AHL, the Calder Cup playoffs for Abbotsford.

And this isn't just us manufacturing a topic in a slow time for sports. I actually said this at the break, maybe the most impressive thing that Artie Silovs did is make this a bonafide, legitimate conversation. Cause it is. Yeah. I, out of nowhere, If you had told me three

months ago that on June 2nd we'd be having a conversation about R.D. Seeloff's stellar playoff run in which he was on the verge of breaking an American Hockey League record for shutouts in the postseason and what that means for his NHL future I'd be like come on maybe he's just a playoff guy. Maybe that's you know what I know you're like half joking but like that might be it. Maybe he only does well when the stakes are high. So that's what the Canucks should do. They should hold on to them, keep them rested, and then get them into the playoffs.

RDC loves can only do well under two situations. Of course, they have to make the playoffs. But if they do that. One is playoff hockey, and two is whenever they play the Chicago Blackhawks. Then he plays well. Bill from Buffalo, it's quite early in the morning on a Monday, but his passive aggressive game is already top notch. Bill from Buffalo, it's quite early in the morning

on a Monday, but his passive aggressive game is already top notch. He texts in, we all know what your show thinks of sea loves. Just stick with Demko, he will never get hurt again. Just stick sea loves on waivers. Like you say, no one will claim him. I do feel like that's a passive aggressive text. Didn't say no one will claim him. I just said, that's a passive aggressive text. Didn't say no one will claim him.

I just said I don't think it's like a 100% certainty that he would get claimed. Chicago might claim him. Then he can't beat them anymore. This guy's unbelievable. Also, last I checked, Sealabs could also get hurt too. Last I checked, he's a human. And could possibly also be injured, just like Demko.

OK, well, Laddy's bringing the passive aggressive now too. But we all know that Demko's health is like Demko. Okay. Well, Laddy's bringing the passive aggressive now too, but you know, like we all know that Demko. That's how you beat passive aggressive. We all know that Demko's health is a wild card. Sure. Okay. Um, and, and I, and I, I, I'll just be curious if the Canucks as an organization

have, have, have changed their thinking at all because Patrick Alveen said, um, you know, it was near the end of the season or maybe after the season. He said like, I like our goal tending and I like our defense. We have to fix the forward group. And most of us went, yeah, but the waivers thing does complicate a little bit. You, you absolutely don't want to lose sea loves on waivers. That would be, you know, you put in all this work to develop this guy. He's only 24 years old, so he's young. If you believe in him, then you have to take steps to protect him. But, but here's the thing. protect them.

But but here's the thing. Do you trust them to be your backup next season? If you're an organization. Now, I know a lot of you are in this. We get we go around and around in circles. People say, well, it doesn't even matter if the Canucks make the playoffs.

It does to Patrick Alveen and Jim Rutherford. Yeah, believe me. Let's just work on the pretense that they got to make the playoffs next year. That's their organizational mandate. And then we move forward from there not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that.

I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that.

I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that.

I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. But the goaltending situation, because there is another big element to this. And that, of course, is that that your Demko is said publicly. He would like to get an extension done this summer. Dave writes into the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket at six fifty six fifty. Dave writes, I believe with the injury knowledge about Demko, he and everyone, it should put him in at least a short term contract situation, creating a great tandem. Dave, that's fantastic for the club.

I don't think that Jadamco's at all interested about a short-term contract. I think he probably, like every other guy that goes to unrestricted free agency, wants to get paid. And he's worried about his health. And his future. He wants, what if he takes the short-term contracts, like, oh, he's hurt again.

He ain't, like, this is his chance. This is his chance to get a big contract. I mean, I suppose he could be like, if he felt, if he felt I'm healthy now, I'm for sure going to be okay. I can feel it in my bones. Right. Damn it. That one just broke.

Except my knee. But, and then he said, fine, I'll just go into this season as a pending unrestricted free agent and then I'll sign a contract. Or maybe he goes, I'll take a one year deal and then for sure I'm going to get one after that because I have that much confidence. I don't think that would be that smart.

I think that would be a big risk. Yeah. So there's risk in all situations for these, it could be the club. If the Connect stick with Demko and he gets hurt again, that's not good. If they lose C-Loves on waivers, that's not good. If they say, okay, C-Loves, you're the backup. And then they're like, oh, it looks bad again. Lankin and I hope you're ready to play 75 games this season.

That's not good either. If the connects went into next season with Lankinen and Seelove as their tandem, people would rank that tandem. Don't yell at me. I know what they would do. They would rank that tandem, bottom 10 in the NHL. Yeah. It sounds like a non-playoff team tandem.

Yeah. We saw it at the start of the season. It wasn't good enough. It's not a shot at Lincoln and or see laws It's just doesn't it's not there and we have to have the sample size conversation with C. Loves, too He has a 906 safe percentage in 110 career AHL games You know where that would have ranked this year in the safe percentage rankings No tied for 30 second with Colin Delia. Yeah, another for that's what he is like what he is inconsistency

Inconsistency we looked at his season unbelievably well, when we're talking about Lankin in here, right? Because he came in and kind of helped the Canucks survive. It was like, oh boy, thank God they signed this guy. Who's the only bright spot. And he was good early on, but his game wasn't spectacular in the second half of the NHL season.

Sunny texts in, I say that Seal Ops is the biggest trade chip the Canucks have right now. Sunny, no it's not. Sorry, Sunny. It's not. Like what do you think you're gonna get for Artie Seal Ops? Thank you for writing. Goalies historically do not have high value in trades.

And that's the other thing, right? What about an unproven one? I mean, Sunny says like, I say that Seal Ops is the biggest trade chip the Canucks have right now. Well, what about their first round draft pick? That's way, or Tom Willander, or Jonathan Leckermackie, or any of the other young players. A little more allure to those guys.

Quinn Hughes. Yeah, you know what? I mean he is their biggest trade chip. A-Dog, I will allow it this time, because you are right. If you were to list the biggest trade chips that they have, Quinn Hughes would be it. There's a couple people texting in saying, if Demko doesn't want to play ball,

and by that either sign a short term extension or agree to play out this season in a sort of prove it year, either move on or trade them. Again, we'll circle back to what we said earlier. The Canucks aren't interested in that either. Right now, the foundation, as shaky as it might be for next season, the foundation of next year is a blue line that they like and a goaltending tandem

that they think, if healthy, can be one of the, not one of the better ones in the league, they think it can be the best in the league. They think that. They've said that, and Hughes has said that. If thatcher Demko is healthy and Kevin Lankenen can be as effective as he is with less, you know, tread on the tires.

You've got a Vezna caliber guy as your one A and a what? Top 25, top 30 goalie in the NHL is your one B. Well, you have a guy with a really high ceiling in Demko and a guy with a really high floor in Lankinen, which is exactly what you want in your two goaltenders. Right. And that's going to be almost the bedrock of this team. Like it's going to get us out of certain situations. It's going to steal us points when we don't necessarily deserve to get them with our on ice product.

It might get those points that had us fall short of the playoffs this season. Right. Think about all the points that were kind of I know it's early to say pissed away, but they pissed away points a lot this year. Yeah. And Bill from Buffalo, I'm sorry. I don't mean to offend you, but the AHL is very, very different from the NHL. Look at, look at the shooters that you have to

face on a regular basis. Colon. In the NHL compared to the AHL. It's, it's, it's very, very different. The level of success that you have in the NHL compared to the AHL. It's very, very different. The level of scouting is different. You don't think they went to, they had the book on Artie Silov's, point shots. He has trouble seeing around screens or seeing

through screens, whatever it was, laddie. He was having trouble doing it. And it got to the point, less than a year ago, where he was unplayable in the NHL, and it wasn't good for him either. I'm not saying he's never gonna be an NHL goalie, but I'm saying, if you go into next season and say, all right, you're our backup,

you're gonna have to play 30 games, 25 games. At a minimum, probably, yeah. you're gonna have to play 30 games, 25 games. At a minimum probably, yeah. I've said this a billion times, for a bubble team your backup goalie can be the difference between making and missing the playoffs. You wanna put that on our sea loves? Some of you do and that's fine, it might be the right call.

Goaltending man, it's a gamble. Okay, what a rush. What a rush. What a rush. You just love goalies. Coming up on the other side of the break, we're going to stay on the topic of hockey, but we're going to turn our attention to the sunbelt for the sixth consecutive season.

There will be a Florida based team in the Stanley Cup final for the third consecutive season. It's going to be the Florida Panthers. Our next guest on the other side of the break, James Myrtle senior NHL writer from the Athletic, has an article out now titled, the NHL Sunbelt Problem Has No Easy Solution, But Does It Need One? We're gonna talk about the impact that warm weather,

low state tax rate, and winning has made these teams the desirable places to be. How much of an impact has it made on the league? Does the NHL even need to address it? We'll talk about that with James Myrtle coming up on the other side of the break. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show