Halford & Brough in the Morning - Kent Johnson on His Off-Season + What We Learned

Episode Date: August 13, 2025

In hour three, guest host Jamie Dodd is joined by Columbus Blue Jackets forward Kent Johnson. Kent shares what he's been up to this off-season, training with Bedard and Celebrini, and how Johnny Gaudreau impacted the team. Then, the boys tell us what they learned. 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.

Van Riemstack, we'll flip it at hand. Hick Johnson stops, spins a shot and scores. Johnson with a goal that ties the game of one, and that'll be on the Blue Jacket's highlight for real as he back hands that one over Rimer early here in the second period. Yeah, this one's a beauty. Welcome back to Halverd and Brough, Sportsnet, 6th. 50 final hour of the show here. Jamie Dodd filling in for the guys and Josh

Elliot will. He'll be back on the show tomorrow. Howford and Brough is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit sands dash trustee.com. This hour of howlford and broth is brought to you by Campbell & Pound. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit Campbell-Pound.com. today. We are coming to you live from the Kintech studio. Kintech footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. And of course, 650, 650 is the Dunbar Lumber text line.

Send your what we learned submissions in now. Hashtag WWL, that's coming up at 830. But first, you heard one of his goals from this most recent NHL season coming in. He's calling in on the hotline powered by Power West Industries. Very pleased to have on the show forward for the Columbus Blue Jackets. from Port Moody. He is. Kent Johnson. Kent, thanks very much for doing this morning, man. How are you? I'm great. Thanks for having me on. Yeah, it's our pleasure. How's your summer going?

Yeah, it's been awesome. So, yeah, like you said, been back in Vancouver here. So it's so nice here. I can't, can't complain. Yeah, it's been a pretty decent summer here. And it's, it's awesome that you're back for the summer. And, you know, we've seen on social media, you out there skating with Connor Bedard, McLeodin, Celebrini. I'm sure others have been. been involved as well. What's it like getting on the ice on a regular basis with those guys through the summer? Yeah, it's really fun. You know, we keep in touch in the season. We're good friends and yeah, we definitely, you know, we really enjoy it, just training together, pushing each other. So, yeah, we're really lucky with the group we got here and it's fun. I was doing a little

reading just on. Of course, you know, you and Bedard, I know, have known each other for a long long time going back to, you know, playing roller hockey together in your minor hockey days. The North Shore Winter Club. And it was pretty funny. One of the things you had to say was you're three years older, but he was so good at that age, you know, you're 15, he's 12 and you're still like, man, I got to, I got to keep up in my game to make sure I stay better than this kid who's coming for me. Is that still the case when you get on the ice with him that he motivates you to keep working on your game? Yeah, no, definitely. Like I said, I think it got to a point there where he was closing the gap, closing the gap, and there was no gap. And if I think maybe I had to

close it. So, yeah, no, it's pretty cool. and yeah like I said and Mac too like just such good players so it's really you know competitive every day and you know push myself to you know try to be better than them and so yeah it's really lucky well I was going to say now you've got an even younger guy to worry about right and in Macklin's celebration I mean pretty incredible also I'm sure you were you know obviously locked in on your season but you know these guys your friends I'm sure you're following what he was doing in his rookie season and I mean it's been a while since an 18 year old has come into the NHL and had had that type of performance It was pretty remarkable to see what Celebrini was able to do in his rookie year.

Yeah, I know, exactly. He's an unreal player. It was fun. I was roommates in that world, too. He had just been getting to know him even more. And yeah, great kid. And, yeah, just unreal a year, too. So I wasn't too surprised after I've seen him on the ice in summer before.

He looked really good. But, yeah, no, just both them. They should be top players in the league for a long time. So it's fun to get to chair with them. Yeah, and we've talked a lot here on this station. and, you know, with Bedard and Celebrini and yourself. And, you know, I could go down the list of just incredible, incredibly impressive young talent coming into the NHL from the Vancouver area.

What does it mean to you to kind of be a part of this group of guys who, you know, really it's kind of a golden age for talent from this part of the world? Yeah, no, it's unreal. Like I said, we really enjoy it. We really enjoy training together. And I think, you know, it kind of goes insane. We don't talk about it too much, but I think, you know, we want to just keep getting better and, you know, be kind of top players in the league. And I think it would be pretty cool if, you know, we can have a group like that from Vancouver and they just, you know, keep doing what we're doing in the summer together.

So, yeah, no, it's awesome. Well, I know you guys aren't talking about this. I'm not putting words in your mouth or anything, but, like, with the return of regular international hockey, I mean, I want to see at some point here. Maybe down the road a little bit, you guys, you know, all grow into your games and whatnot. but if we get like an all Vancouver line at, you know, World Cup, Olympics, something like that down the road. I mean, that's a possibility now with the talent that's coming out of this city. Yeah, no, definitely.

That would be really cool. So I don't think we've all ever been on the same team in the summer, same line. We try to mix it up. So usually two of us are playing against one of us. But, yeah, it would be fun to play altogether. I'm sure it would actually be a pretty good fit, too. We're all a little different. I like it.

I like it. Talking to Kent Johnson, Columbus Blue Jackets, forward, of course, Port Moody product here on Halford and Brough Sportsnet 650. And it was really, I think it's fair to say, kind of a breakout, breakthrough season for you this most recent year. Really, really productive, Kent, with the Columbus Blue Jackets. What did you feel kind of clicked or went right for you that allowed you to have such a productive, successful season? Yeah, I think just, you know, people around me, coaching staff, teammates, you know, made it really easy to see her and, you know, I was in a good situation to succeed and then obviously, you know, just getting older and getting a little faster,

stronger, whatever. It just, you know, just over time helps a little bit. So, yeah, I think all those things were good. You mentioned the coaching staff there and, of course, Dean Eveson taking over behind the bench and then the assistant coaches as well as part of that staff. How did Dean, how did the assistant coaches help you in that process, as you said, with maturing and just kind of learning the league and getting stronger, but how did the coaching staff help you take those steps as well?

Yeah, I think, you know, just giving me a great opportunity there in preseason and, you know, even some roles I didn't really do before in Columbus, you know, I got to PK again and, you know, I think just like more trust defensively and, you know, I think that was a big thing and, you know,

just putting me in the right situations to succeed and use my skill set. So I think that was the biggest think that's interesting to hear you know because we're talking about so often we focus on the offensive side of things right and we're looking at look at your production and wow that's a that's a really great offensive campaign and then you reference you know the trust on the PK the trust in the defensive situations is it the case sometimes that almost when you get that extra trust and that extra responsibility it can give you the confidence that yeah even though I'm playing in some defensive situations I have the confidence to go out and be the best offensive version of myself as well yeah definitely. I think, you know, I think just as an offensive guy, like the more you're on the ice, the more you get in the rhythm and, you know, feel comfortable. You know, the less shifts you get, it's harder

to kind of, you know, make some of those, you know, tougher plays to kind of create goals and stuff, you know, you don't want to make too many turnovers, especially if you're not getting many shifts and you won't get many more after. So, yeah, I think just being in the rhythm offensively is very helpful. I don't think anyone would say that.

Breakout season for you last year, and you're talking about, of course, you know, getting stronger and as you get older in the league and more mature and the extra responsibilities as well given to you by the coaching staff. And what do you see as kind of the next steps, the things you want to work on going into this coming season? Yeah, I think, you know, pretty similar to last summer in terms of just, you know, faster and stronger off the ice. And then for me, like, still working on a lot of plays off the wall.

I think it's really important, like the puck's on the wall all game. and for me playing the half wall and power play, you've got to be able to handle packs off the wall and make plays and then like stick battles too, something worked a lot on. I never really worked on until last summer, and I thought it paid some dividends this year and helped me be a little bit better in my battles.

And so I think those are two kind of big focus areas right now. In conversation with Columbus Blue Jackets for Kent Johnson here on Sports 650, Halford and Brough. And of course, from a team perspective, Kent, I mean, we all know the incredibly difficult circumstances you guys were in at this time last year with the Godreau family tragedy. And then you do ultimately fall just short of the playoffs. But for so much of that season, it was just an incredibly positive, upbeat story, what you guys were able to do. What made you as a team able to kind of come together and perform as well as you did in those circumstances?

Yeah, I think just, you know, all everyone leading on each other. You know, I love my teammates, and, you know, I think everyone in that group, like, we just kind of lean on each other is the big thing. And so, yeah, just really thankful for those guys. And obviously, you know, a tough situation and, you know, life's unfair sometimes. So, yeah, definitely it was great to just have those guys. And, you know, yeah, it was definitely hard. But definitely, I think, you know, Johnny and their family and them, they're so strong.

And I think, you know, everyone just kind of, you know, living really joyful this year, living like Johnny so yeah no it's definitely definitely a crazy situation but you know I think helped make the best that we could have it and I'm sure you know coming off the season you guys had last year and there's a lot of other really promising young exciting players on the team I'm imagining the mood for the rest of the the blue jackets and yourself it must be pretty optimistic pretty excited to get going again this year yeah no definitely I feel like most excited I've been to get back to camp and just, yeah, I think we definitely feel like we got some some good work to do coming into camp and just, you know, exciting, I guess a lot more exciting

than some of the past years. Just we feel like we can build off that, like you said. Yeah, I know. I got to ask as well. I mean, you know, I'm focusing a little bit on the talent up front with yourself and Fantilli and Marchenko and Voronkov, but, you know, Zach Wrenski, what he was able to do on your blue line last season was just absolutely phenomenal. and, you know, I don't know how many of our listeners

were kind of locked in on a daily basis watching Wrenski and your guys' games in Columbus, but just what was it like to kind of witness him, have that type of season, and lead the team in scoring ultimately from the blue line. Yeah, I know he's unreal. I always thought, like, he was, you know, so good, even my first two years,

and I think just a little underrated there with the way our team was playing. He wasn't getting, you know, the recognition he deserved, but then this year, yeah, you saw it. Like, you know, I think he's, right up there with Macar and Quinn Hughes like best team in the league territory

so it's just really cool to see what he does the impact he has on both ends of the rank every night but yeah definitely a guy to like learn from and for me like love I love when he's on the ice always looking down the bench to to see and hoping that he's coming on the ice with me so it's fun

Kent this was awesome man I really appreciate you taking the time it's been it's been cool to see the social media updates of some of you guys getting out there and skating together and you're doing the city proud. Go out and have another great season in Columbus. Awesome. Thank you, guys. That's our pleasure. That is Kent Johnson from Port Moody, forward for the Columbus Blue Jackets. And of course, fifth overall pick back in

2021 for the Columbus Blue Jackets. And really, you started to see the potential payoff. I mean, he'd had a 40-point season already as a very young player with Columbus, but then the 57 points in 68 games. And it would not surprise anyone if we're talking about, you know, an plus point campaign, I think, for Kent Johnson at this point. And I was curious if he would completely shut me down when I floated the

All Vancouver line at an international event there, but he was into it. I liked it. He was like, you know what? That'd actually be a pretty good line. Celebrini, Bedard, Kent Johnson. I will be honest. Other times, I've thrown Gavin McKenna in there as well with Celebrini and Bedard. But Kent Johnson, the way he's playing, I think he is staking acclaim to that kind of spot on a potential All Vancouver line. He's such a fun story to pay attention to you, not

just because he's from the area, but just his rise, you know, he was kind of overlooked for most of his younger, he was a bit of a late bloomer, went to the BCHL, because none of the WHL teams thought he skated strong enough, kind of blazed his trail that way, went to University of Michigan, and he's just primed to break out. You feel like he's got that talent, the way he sees the game, it's on another level, and you're just waiting for that breakout. And I think we got the first real glimpse of that last season. Well, and you talk about the incredibly high skill level of the younger group of players. I mean, he's right there. What he can do with the puck on his stick is absolutely incredible.

You said, you know, skating concerns earlier in his career. So it's not the traditional path necessarily for a prospect for a, you know, a guy who ends up going fifth overall from the Vancouver area. But as you said, really started to see it. And pretty interesting with the talent they're going to be able to put out on the ice in Columbus next year. As I said, if we're talking, if we're sitting here this time next year, talking about, you know, an 80, 85 point campaign, something like that for Kent Johnson. I don't think anybody should be surprised by that whatsoever. Okay, we're going to do listener

what we learns at 830. But before we get into those, we can run through some of ours here as well. And this one did come in or at least touched on by a couple listeners. But I will dive into it now with my own what we learned here. which is that pro, which is the professional referee organization, pro. They handle the referees in MLS and the USL as well. They are going to be evaluating their ethical standards for their refs in light of the Tim Ford controversy. And so this is Whitecaps fans on social media.

Inacting change in the real world. Of course, we talked about it earlier in the week. Tim Ford, who has previously drawn the ire of Whitecaps. fans white caps managers and personnel for some of his refereeing decisions certainly going back to a playoff game against lafc a couple of years ago had another really poor performance as a referee on the weekend against the white caps and people started digging into his social media his wife's social media and they found a lot of instances of tim ford attending lafc games as a fan and he wasn't wearing lafc gear but he's there with his whole team or sorry his whole

family decked out in LAFC team gear and as it turns out the organization pro started to look into that and said you know what this this is not a great look now what they said was they released a statement they said we're going to be reevaluating our standards what constitutes you know a referee having a connection with a specific club they did say they're not going to sanction him for attending LAFC matches but I think what you're seeing here is basically they're going to start just short of sanctioning him, punishing him in any way

but they're also probably going to let their members know in private like, hey guys, come on, what are we doing here? You're the referees. You can't be going as fans cheering on teams in the league when you're a referee in that league. And just imagine if there was an NHL ref who was like, man, I'm a season ticket holder for the league. I love going to the Leafs

and my whole family's here and we're all got our Austin Matthews jersey's on and oh yeah by the way I'm reffing the Toronto Montreal game tomorrow as well like that's insane it's completely crazy but it's also kind of weird to expect these referees who are experts at the sport

to grow up without any sort of connection to any team you do like that's that you got you've got a really cool job and it comes with a lot of a lot of grief right and people angry fans combing through your family's social media when you have a bad performance. Okay, so there's downsides as well,

but one of the compromises you make is you're shutting that fandom down. And I get the point you're making is like, we shouldn't have any illusions. It's impossible to just completely eliminate bias from yourself. Every ever, we grew up a fan. Everyone has bias. Everyone does.

Of course. But you have to avoid certainly the appearance that you are deeply invested in one specific team. You can't be doing all this big cheering and taking your family and being a season ticket holder and all that. Like, that's just completely ridiculous. Well, I know from the NHL's way of recruiting referees, too,

they're starting to get a lot of former players to, they're trying to recruit them as lines people and officials. And is there not an inherent bias there if they're officiating a game for a team that they used to play for and loved and, you know, went out and battled every day with that logo on their chest, and now they're expected to be this. Well, maybe they hated the team. That could, well, and that's a problem too, right?

They obviously have a connection individually to each of these teams. You're not going to, you can't just ignore that. And I know it's a bad look with this official. And there's no denying that. But I think it's also silly to just expect every official to just as soon as they, you know, it comes with the job. You've got to become neutral. But it's like they're in the back of their heads.

There is always going to be something there from their childhood that they remember. And again, that's fine. You're right. Like realistically, you can never eliminate that. But you have to be conscious of it. You have to take steps not to make it. look like you're flagrantly biased. Be professional.

First of all, I don't know the history of like why the MLS contracts out to this like third party refereeing organization, why they don't just handle it in-house. That's a whole separate story. I'm sure there's a reason. I'm sure there is a reason. The integrity, the perceived integrity of the games is so vital, obviously to any professional sports league, right? If the fans don't think they're going to get a real outcome, it becomes.

very, very difficult to invest their time in that sport. You have to take whatever steps necessary to make sure your refs aren't putting that at risk. Or your officials, whatever they are, aren't putting that at risk. So I like that they're at least making a statement. They're not just like, ah, there's just crazy people on social media. Could they go farther? Yeah, probably. But, hey, it's good to see some accountability, some evaluation, some recognition that this is not acceptable.

We're going to be trying to do something else. also as part of that I should mention and this one came in from Greg and Pitt Meadows that the second yellow to Ocampo of the Whitecaps was overturned on appeal by MLS officials so Tim Ford got that wrong and he also

got the penalty that was wrong as well so big big incorrect calls by Tim Ford and now he's being sanctioned or not sanctioned but at least it's leading to an evaluation by pro okay give us a moo cow there all right

Laddie, Elon, who wants to go here? I can go. All right. What we learned, if there was ever a time to go to Buffalo. There's never a time to do. No, but it's this week because apparently this is how the rotation lines up for the Buffalo Bisons. Alec Manoa today, Trey Yassavage on Thursday, Shane Bieber on Friday. All right. That's a pretty M-O-B-team looking rotation there for a AAA team playing out of Buffalo.

You know what, Buffalo gets a lot of hate. Rightly so. I lived in Hamilton for many years. Buffalo's not bad. Good people, good food, good football team. Probably affordable, I bet. Very affordable. Yeah.

I've never been to Buffalo, so I can't comment. Google Lake Effect Snow, and then you'll know if you want to live in Buffalo or not. But, okay, I get what you're saying, right? It's like, oh, okay, that's pretty interesting. You know, Bieber and you Savage, who's the hot prospect. Are we still including Minowa in there? Like, when was the last time Manoa was an above average major league starter? Well, he had like a Cy Young caliber season.

Three years ago. Yeah, 2020. It's been a while. It's been a while. I'm not ruling him out though. He's still young. I might be ruling him out.

I'm not going to close the door, but I think if any Jay's fan is like, yeah, and that Alecman Noah will get healthy and be good again. It's like, man, it could happen, but that's a lot to count on. At least he had a reason for why he struggled.

Even Roy Halliday had to go down and rebuild himself at one point. Okay. Let's pump the brakes a little bit, all right? It's slightly different circumstances. I'm just saying it's been done before. for just because you get sent down doesn't mean you have to, you know, your

career is over. That's not what it means. That's one of the all-time Homer takes that I've ever heard. I'm just saying it happens. This is just like Hall of Famer Cy Young winner Roy Halliday. I'm saying it's better because he has a reason why he was sent down. Halliday was just bad. There you go. Alec Manoa, about to be better than Roy

Halliday once he gets back to the major leagues for the first time in a while. All right, give us a mookow there on that one. My next question is going to be, is that rotation or three pitchers from that rotation better than the entire twins rotation right now. Probably yeah. Well, Bieber for sure. Yeah. I don't know

about you're savage, but yeah. All right, Elon. In a recent interview Travis Kelsey coming out saying that he was distracted during the 2024 season by his desire to be an actor and an entertainer. A lot of people kind of predicted this last year just because he's dating Taylor Swift.

But he came out saying that I don't say this as I shouldn't have done it. I'm just saying that my work ethic is such that I have so much pride in how I do things that I never want the product to fall off. And I feel like these past two years haven't been to my standard. Last year, Kelsey had his worst year since his rookie season and the year before that was falling off. So is it that he wants to be an actor and entertainer and he's dating Taylor Swift? Or is he just getting old?

Yeah. It's like you're great. You come up with a reason. But what you just described started as declined the previous season, worst season since his rookie year last year. It's like that's also just the normal aging curve, right? You know, didn't have a great season as a rookie, got really good, enjoyed a great peak where he's a

phenomenal player, then gets old and he starts to decline. If he'd never met, if he'd never heard of Taylor Swift, I think we'd probably be having the same conversation about Travis Kelsey. Like, how distracted could you possibly be? I don't think that's why he's not getting separation out on the field why his, you know, yards after carry

his way down. I think it's like, yeah, man, you're old. And it's obviously his priorities, like he's hosting, are you smarter than a celebrity? Like, if that's your priorities, instead of, you know, getting another Super Bowl, then go for it. Yeah. Also, like, is he really that, that motivated to be an entertainer? Like, I never get, okay, he's 35.

He's significantly younger than me. He's made tons of money in his career. Just go retire, live on a beach, man. Like, why do you need to do something else? They like the spotlight. You've done one thing. Just relax. And people need to have careers, even if they've made a lot of money.

I disagree. Half your life to live. essentially after you retire. Yeah, but he has an opportunity to just get a crazy amount of money in the past couple years because he's dating Taylor Swift. That's true. And it comes so easy. Like what other job could he do that he could make that kind of money and do it that easily?

I can see doing it for like a few years, but I'm a big proponent of like once you get the bag, just disappear off the face of the earth. You don't need to talk to anyone. You don't need to like, oh, it's my next project you're going to be. You're the guy that would sign the max contract and just suck. That's you. No, I'd play out. I'd play hard.

but then once I retired, I wouldn't be like, oh, I'm going to be an entertainer now. It's like, I'm going to be the guy living on the beach who drinks wine every night and just hangs out. Sounds like my kind of life. It's been more time in a hammock than anywhere else. That's exactly right. Exactly right. But for whatever, funnily enough, I am wired differently than professional athletes, believe it or not. All right, give us a moo cow there.

650, 650, Dumbar Lumber, text line, last chance to get your what we learn submission. and final segment of the show is next. Oh, hold on. I got to do a Thomas Mueller flight update. He is over, what would we call this? The North Sea, the space between Denmark and Great Britain. I don't know, part of the Atlantic Ocean. But anyway, he's over water.

He is over water. He has left continental Europe, Thomas Mueller on his journey to Vancouver. So that's your Thomas Mueller flight tracker update. Final segment of the show, what we learn time next here on how, and Brough, but I faked you all out before I do that. Of course, I got to tell you about the BC Lions. Saturday, August 16th, your Lions face the alouettes for the show and shine game, featuring over 200 classic and exotic cars. Get tickets at BCLions.com. What we learn next on Halford and Brough, Sportsnet 650, Vancouver.

What did I say? Talk to the audience. Oh, God. This is always dead. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time. On the show.

Welcome back to Halverdhubrubrub, Sportsnet. 650 Jamie Dodd here holding it down all by my lonesome here on the show today Josh Elliott Wolf should be back

on the show tomorrow what I was having a good performance too ruined it choked it away you're going to hit the final minutes here

no I wasn't going to hit the post but I was going to do the right read and that's out now now I was setting my standards way lower than hitting the post That's important. Halvin and Brough brought you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal can get you on the road to being debt free in just two weeks. Visit sands dash trustee.com. This hour of Halfen and Brough is brought to you by Campbell and Pound real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit Campbell dash pound.com today. And of course, 650, 650 is the Dunbar Lumber text line. And you guys have answered my. call. I asked for some What We Learns. We got a lot of a lot of them in. You still have time to send them in. Hashtag WWL. But it is time for what we learned. So let's print out some listener

submissions here. What We Learned brought to you by AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. Our favorite AJ's sauce pie, an upside down version of the bar pie with fresh mozzarella and basil only at AJ's Pizza online at AJ's dot pizza. And I'll start with this one from Chef Swagger. I've mentioned this a couple of times throughout the course of the show, but I want to take a minute here to really focus in on this. Chef Swagger from Hell's Kitchen says what we learned, it's Pirate Pack Day.

Get out to White Spot and get an adult pirate pack. It's for the kids. And that's right. It is the annual Pirate Pack Day at White Spots around British Columbia. And of course, what that means is normally they hoard those pirate packs. Only kids under 10 are allowed to receive them and get the golden coin and the cardboard ship. It's reserved for the children under 10. It's for the kids.

Today, no such age restriction. Anyone, any age can go into a white spot and demand a pirate pack and receive a pirate pack. And the best part is you're not just doing it for a little kick of nostalgia to relive your youth. for the thrill of getting food delivered in a pirate ship as an adult. A Pirate Pack Day at White Spot supports the incredible work of the Zajack Ranch for Children. If you don't know about the Zajack Ranch is the BC-based charity. It's an organization dedicated to providing children and young adults with serious medical conditions or physical and mental disabilities, unforgettable summer camp experiences.

So that's the organization. It's a really, really important one here in BC. that's who you're supporting if you go and get yourself a pirate pack today. $2 from every pirate pack sold today goes directly to the Zajak Ranch. And again, summer camp experiences provided by the Zajak Ranch for children, young adults with medical conditions, serious medical conditions, or physical and mental disability. So it's a fantastic cause.

You get a pirate pack. You get a delicious triple O's burger. Plus you get to support the Zajack Ranch. Pirate Pack Day. An annual highlight really now for the calendar for the summer here in BC. They've sold over 530,000 pirate packs since its inception. That also equals more than 3,500 pounds of gold chocolate coins. And you do the math there. That's over a million dollars raised for the Zajak Ranch. So it's making a huge difference. It's just a great. It's a win-win situation all around. And as I mentioned earlier in the show, White Spot Drop

off some pirate packs for myself and Josh after the show yesterday. So I got to crush a delicious Triple O's burger, the fries, the ice cream, the chocolate coin, the whole deal. It tastes amazing. I don't need to tell you guys about Triple O's, the Triple O sauce, the Triple O burger. We're all from BC. We know how delicious it is, delicious it is. You can't go wrong. So get out there. Support Zajak Ranch. Support a good cause. Enjoy a pirate pack. It is pirate pack day at White Spot. And again, all fun, or not all funds, excuse me, $2 from every pirate pack sold goes to the Zajack Ranch for children. Today, one day only for adults to go and get a pirate pack at Whitespot. All right, $6.50, $6.50 is the Dumbar Lumber text line.

And this one comes in. First of all, Ernie the operator says, I learned Pirate Pack Day falls on my birthday every year. Well, happy birthday to Ernie the operator. And congratulations. What a fantastic way to celebrate your. birthday by hitting up White Spot and getting a pirate pack. What we learned, this one comes in from Sheldon and Surrey, I believe, who texts in. Yes, it is, Sheldon from Surrey.

What we learned, the Little League World Series officially starts today and Little Mountain Little League is representing Canada this year. I was going to wait until they play their first game on Friday to pound my chest. I've become, I've anointed myself the official Little Mountain booster here. on the station. I'm wearing my Little Mountain hat today for anyone watching on the stream. I have nothing to do whatsoever with the All-Star, the really good baseball players at Little Mountain, but I volunteer coaching way, way down the ladder at Little Mountain and the lower levels. It's an awesome organization, an incredible Little League, super fun to be a part, a small part of that community. And yeah, I was thrilled last week when they won the Canadian Championships.

They beat the other BC team, the host Lairits over in Victoria, in the final. I think the score was 8-0 in that final. So they booked their spot to Williamsport. I think they were there in 2022 as well. So a pretty recent repeat trip for the guys at Little or the kids at Little Mountain back to Williamsport. They play Friday. I don't think we know their opponent yet.

We'll see it might depend on how some of the early games today and tomorrow shake out. But yeah, make sure you're tuning in. Make sure you're supporting the boys from Little Mountain as they make another trip to Williamsport. And we'll see. Maybe we can get a coach on or something here as the tournament goes on. But an awesome accomplishment. And I always think every time I see the tournament, I watch and I see the stadium.

And now especially like ESPN really blows out the production there. They've got the game that happens at the Little League World Series, the major league game. Like what an incredible thrill for those players, the parents, the families, everyone to be a part of that spectacle. And I saw there was some coverage of the Little League Softball World Series as well. happened last week and there was a Canadian team in that as well and I've never really seen that televised before. I don't know if it's a new thing or I'm just oblivious to it, but it was really cool to watch. I think softball feels like it's really gaining a lot of steam. Like I know at the college level, the college softball world series does incredible ratings in the states now every

year. It is a big deal. Well, MLB also just invested in the league Athletes Unlimited, which has a softball league and it's taken off. These girls are getting paid now. side of college, which is awesome to see. And it's interesting because at the same, like, softball is having this globe, but at the same time, I know, and I know from my own experience, there's also this like grassroots girls in baseball movement as well. And I think there's a women's professional baseball league that's starting up next year as well. Yeah.

Overhand. Yeah, exactly. Like not softball, baseball. So it's kind of interesting to see the parallel paths, I guess, that the sports are taking. I wonder if eventually there'll be some sort of merger. And it's like, no, no, we're just doing this version. You know what I mean? I don't know.

It's kind of like a given table. now, right? You can take some of your best athletes out of softball to put them on the fast pitch team or the hardball team. And it's not something that's been done before. You don't see a lot of girls hardball. It's been tried in the past. But it feels like now it's really starting to catch on, which you didn't see before, which is awesome. And Claire Eccles was pitching out on the island as well. So a lot of great role models to look up to. I can say, you know, as I was saying, my involvement in Little Mountain, they have launched tons of programs, a big emphasis.

on girls in baseball, keeping girls in baseball in the hardball. As you say over the last few years, and there's all girls' teams and all girls' summer leagues and all of this. So they're putting the commitment in. They're putting the money. And I don't know where the path is because it's, as you said, not a traditional thing going back to previous decades when we were growing up. But it's been cool to be a part of cool to see it develop. And we'll see where it goes. And again, congratulations and best luck to Little Mountain at the Little League World Series getting going later this week. The tournament starts today.

They play their first game on Friday. 650, 650 is the Dunbar-Lumber text line. Tachiana and Langley says, What we learned, Gerard Gallant is the new head coach of the Shanghai Dragons of the KHL. And the most notable part of this is not, you know,

former NHL coach going to the KHL. We've seen that happen before. And Gerard Gallant will go play his trade for the Shanghai Dragons now. The most notable part, and it doesn't really translate to an audio-medial but the announcement video that they released with like a dragon popping out of the computer screen. They're doing it different out there in Shanghai. I'll say that.

That's right. This is very different than how the Canucks announced Adam Foote as their head coach. Maybe they should have done this. If I get it's like an AI generated video, right? It's a weird mesh of like actual footage of Gerard Glant and the AI around it. It's like dragons. Yeah. Lance eyes lighting up.

It's super weird. He's dressed like a sense. It's super weird. He's dressed like a sense. And then it cuts to him behind the bench. And what is it? The master is here? Yeah.

Is that, is that Jargonlan's nickname? Did we know about that? The master? Or did they just make that? No, I think based on the video, it's just kind of the theme was, you know, every great team has a master. Yeah, a sensee. He's the guy.

Yeah, of course, Splinter. I feel bad for Jargolan a little bit, though. Why? I can find anything in North America? You have to. Yeah, it happens. I'm sure he's getting paid. I'm sure he's getting paid.

He's still coaching pro hockey. I bet he's got a nice setup there in Shanghai. But he's been rumored for so many. NHL jobs and it's kind of shocking. I feel like there's a reason he's not getting them at a certain point. Good, you know what? I'm going to look at the positive. Good for him. I'm like you, negative

laddie. Dumping all over Gerard Gallant. I'm excited I'm excited for him to start the next chapter. I like him as a coach. I want to see him in North America. I'm sad that he's leaving my realm of sports knowledge. Fair enough. I felt the same way about Jim or Fredette about 10 years

ago. He went to the Shanghai Sharks. Had a great career there. Absolutely. It might work out for him. I bet that's a good life, man. Like, don't knock it. Everyone loves you there. Exactly, right? You're a massive celebrity, especially Jimmer Ferdat.

Like, I bet, as you said, I don't know of his stats, but I bet he scored a lot. He scored 73 points in one game. Let's go. Is that even fun at that point? Yeah. Are you kidding? Absolutely dominating? Doesn't get more fun than that.

It doesn't get more fun than that. The Saudi League. Yeah, it's like, is that even fun for him at that point? I mean, I bet the checks are fun. That's the only fun part. Yeah, the Saudi League would be a little tougher. because it's just like, there's no history here. It's just, yeah, unlike Thomas Mueller, who coming to Vancouver to win a trophy.

That's what it's all about. Kevin, the traffic guide, or text in what we learned with 74 games to go, fan graphs had the Dodgers at a 98.4% chance of winning their division, the NL West. They are now tied with the Padres for first place. They're 12 and 20 since July 4. So I was saying that's not great. Eight games under 500 over more than a month. month of baseball. But even going back to May 4th, so really just over a month into the season, the Dodgers only 45 and 42. So still some fantastic individual performances from the

Dodgers. Obviously, Shohei Otani at the plate, having another phenomenal season. It's a big home run against the Angels last night. Also hits into a triple play in that game. Moogie bats obviously having a really down year. And I think we all still just look at it. it as well the Dodgers are the favorite. The Dodgers are the world series favorite. They're the most talented team. They're dominant. They have Shohei Otani. They're going to round into form and they're probably going to win the World Series or at least they're the team that everyone else should be worried about everyone else has to try to knock off to win the World Series.

The longer the kind of, not even disastrous, but just kind of meh performance goes on though from the start of the year. It feels a little bit similar to like what we've seen from the Yankees in recent seasons. We're so often And again this year, the Yankees have this incredible start to the season. They're running away with the division. They look like this dominant team. And I know last year they do get to the World Series. So it's not as if they completely crash out.

But this year and in other recent seasons in the summer months, they've really started to dip. They've never really got it back on the rails. It feels a little bit like we're seeing something similar with the Dodgers. I don't know what they are going to just naturally reclaim their spot as the favorite for the World Series. I think it's hard to bet against the Dodgers at this. Even with any kind of struggles. It's the Dodgers.

That game last night was hilarious. Oh, Otani into a triple play, then hits a homer, and they still lose. I also love the guy who was the third out in the triple play. Dalton Rushing.

What was he doing? Like, what are you doing? Well, he was trying to get back. Falling on his butt. He tried to avoid the tag. It was just, it was a great play. Really looked at graceful.

I also don't know why the first baseman didn't just step on the base. Like, he was so close to the base. Let's make this guy dance. Yeah. I'm going to. I'm going to hate you with my glove. Make you fall down.

650, 650 is the Dumbar Lumber text line. Beworn from Coquitlam says, are you clowns going to mention the Coquitlam Adanax? Big win last night over those dirty salmon bellies. Says they're up one nothing in a best of seven if that helps you. He also says he's just joking with the clowns comment. It does help me because I'll admit that was not on my radar. But there you go.

And he's from Coquitlam. so very on-brand, big lacrosse. I talked more lacrosse if it was open. Well, here's your time. What do you want to say? Get it off your chest. Go to Queens Park. Watch some Salmon Bellies lacrosse because that's what I grew up doing.

And it's a great sport. I love lacrosse. It's one of my favorites. All right, there you go. So you could have been all over the Adanax Salmon Bellies series this whole time. Every time I bring up of what we learned, I get ripped on for how obscure it is. And I'm going to go out here and talk lacrosse. You think that's a good move?

move for my reputation. When I'm guest hosting and filling three hours solo, you do whatever you want for your What We Learns. I'm just happy. I'm happy that anyone is like, yeah, I've got something to say. That's great. Lacrosse, sure.

More hockey focused people should play lacrosse. It's also the summer. So I feel like the bar for what we learns goes way down, way, way down. Well, that's when I get into the Korean baseball and delve into those kind of topics, which the audience loves, of course. By the way, following up on one of our What We Learns from yesterday, I think he was Elon who mentioned it, the story about John Mateer,

who's the quarterback at Oklahoma. I think getting in some hot water screenshots of his Venmo, which inexplicably public, of course, sending money to someone with the subject line, sports gambling. And then a specific game, I think it was USC versus UCLA. And people were like,

hey, that's not something that you should be doing. So an update on that, this is a very weird story. So he put out a statement saying, I've never gambled on sports. That was just an inside joke. It's like kind of a weird inside joke. But whatever.

Like, okay, it's a plausible. It's not like whatever you write in the subject field for Venmo is 100% accurate. I can buy that at least as some plausible deniability. So he's saying, no, there's nothing to see here. The weirder part of the story and there's an NHL connection here is the quote unquote journalist who broke this in the screenshots. Totally made up. Totally fake person. Put in a bunch of fake information in his Twitter bio.

Oh, I work at this paper. Oh, I work at this website. People called those outlets. Like, no, we never heard of this guy. This guy does not exist. And to prove that he didn't exist, his profile picture on social media was a college headshot from his college hockey days of Zach Aston Reese of all people for some. I guess he thought that was obscure enough.

It's like, nobody will recognize this guy. But Jamie Dodd was like, oh, no. I cannot take credit for that. But all of people were like, hey, wait a second. Is that? Is that Zach Haston Reese? And it turns out it is. so it's a totally fake reporter

gets a hold of these screenshots of this high profile quarterback in college football in the States shares them the screenshots are real the reporter's totally made up the quarterback is like no no it's just an inside joke I don't know what to make of this

I'm not really buying the inside joke thing but also the fact that it was an invented out of holecloth reporter I don't know they're trying to just muddy the waters I think at this point just throw so many things down the rabbit hole eventually people will forget

but why they're even angry in the first place. I can't think of any other reason. 650, 650. We'll do and ask us anything here. Justin the East Van parking attendant, or he frames it as a would you rather Wednesday. Would you drather, I should say, hike

solo for three hours or eat a three-course meal alone at a restaurant? Eating a three-course meal alone at a restaurant sounds amazing. If these were supposed to be like too difficult to choose from options, it's like that sounds incredible. Go for a hike or eat a massive meal.

Relax. Stretch out. Take my time. Maybe bring a magazine or something. Just really settle in for an extended stay at a nice restaurant. That sounds phenomenal. Hiking. How big was this meal again? Three courses. That's easy. Yeah. I could handle that by myself. No problem. Happy Maine dessert. Maybe an espresso after some wine. That sounds phenomenal. What's the appeal of the hike, though? You have no one to talk to. Well, I think he was trying to set this. I think Justin was trying to set this up as two. like bad things to do. Yeah. Oh, it'll be so boring to hike by yourself. It's good too.

I know. Some alone time in nature. Doesn't sound bad. Also, you're like panting and out of breath. Are you having like long conversations with someone while you're hiking? It's a good question. Not a big hiker, so I don't know. Yeah.

It's kind of like going to a movie with someone on a date, right? But you're not talking. I guess that's the point. You're together. You don't have to talk. It saves you from having to make conversation. 650, 650. Mike, the urologist from Brockville says,

what we learned, Jackson Dart having one good preseason game is apparently leading to the end of Russell Wilson's career. He also says, but really, is there a better Gen Z QB name than Jackson Dart? The answer is no. That's a pretty strong one. I do remember always thinking back in the day, Texas QB Colt McCoy. That was a really strong quarterback name. That's a real American name. And I play quarterback for Texas. That was like, I was like, that's pretty much the pinnacle of quarterback naming, but Jackson DART. There was a good guy in the NBA drafted this year in the first round. His name is

Jeremiah Fears, and he wears number zero. So on the jersey it says zero fears. It's not bad. Fears, zero. No fear whatsoever. That's pretty good. That's pretty strong. I got to say. Are you

buying Jackson Dart taking Russell Wilson's job? Not this year. I think, you know, Russ honestly wasn't the worst last year. still made the playoffs. I think they're going to start him, and it's going to be one of those things where Jackson Dart probably steps in by week 10

because the Giants are going to be so bad. Sure, yeah. So they're going to give him a chance, but I don't understand why the Giants are keeping four quarterbacks on their loss right now. It's just a mess. The Giants are a weird organization. By the way, we'll end on this one from Jay and O.K. Falls,

who says that Oklahoma athlete joking about sending money titled Sports Gambling and saying a joke, it's a joke, is like me, I work at a bank, sending money, and naming it money laundering. It's like, that doesn't really land as a joke. It's like, maybe don't joke about it. When that's your occupation, maybe stay away from jokes like that.

Maybe just leave that one alone. Don't make a joke along those lines. Okay, we will leave it there for today. Again, don't forget, it's Pirate Pack Day at White Spot. $2 of every pirate pack sold. Go to the Zajak Ranch. Fantastic organization charity here in BC. So go out, make yourself happy, do something good as well.

Go get a pirate pack at White Spot. We'll be back on the show tomorrow. Josh Elliott Wolf will be with me. I hope we'll see. I hope he'll be back on the show tomorrow here on Alfred & Brough, Sportsnet, 650.