Halford & Brough in the Morning - Not A Banner Weekend For Vancouver Hockey

Episode Date: March 16, 2026

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at a busy weekend in sports, they discuss Saturday's Canucks home loss to the Kraken (3:00), plus they chat what has been a very memorable World Baseball Classic thus far with MLB Network's Jon Morosi (26:47).  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.

You're listening to HALA PEOPLEO Alone in front of the net beats Tola Pilo between the wickets and it's 5-1, Seattle. We had the hard push in the beginning and the first period, second period. They got it caught. Tonight on Rock Bottom. Good morning, Vancouver, 601 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. This Halford, it is Brough.

It is SportsNet 650. We are coming live from the Kintech Studios in beautiful fair. View Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adaw, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford, and Brough, in the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Do you pay a loan debt? If you do, Sands and Associates could cut that debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees. Visit them today at Sands-Trustee.com. We are an hour one of the program. Hour 1 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. This is the Middle 1170 Pile Street in Vancouver. We're coming to you live from the Kintech studio. Step Strong with orthotics and footwear from Kintech. And when we have guests on the Halford & Brough Show, they call in on the ABLE Auctions hotline email sales at A, B,LE Auctions. DotCA to get your business assets sold and your building cleared.

Speaking of the guest list, that is our Duick Morning Drive, brought to by the Duick Auto Group. It begins at 630 this morning. John Marosi from MLMB Network is going to join the program. He joins us live from Miami at the World Baseball Classic where the Americans punched their ticket to the final last night with a 2-1 win over the Dominican Republic. Tonight, it's Italy against Venezuela

to see who will face the U.S. in what should be an electric semifinal and an electric final. I'm cheering for Venezuela. Just their crowd at their last game was so, sorry, was that you being offended as an Italian? We're doing so good here, hey? All right, fine. John Marosi won't like it either.

He's going to join us at 630. 7 o'clock Sean Gentilly is going to join the program. NHL writer from The Athletic. He's got a new article out there, quote, as Gavin McKenna's odd season nears its end, NHL scouts aren't concerned with his off-ish issues. So this article, they went to college station at Penn State, talked to Guy Godowski.

They talked to four different NHL scouts, the co-authored here between Gentilly and Scott Wheeler. I believe Gentile was boots on the ground at College Station. He's going to join us at 7 o'clock to talk about Gavin McKenna because that's what we do here now on the Halfford and Brough shows. We're going to talk about the draft and everything it involves because the Vancouver Canucks are going to be prominently featured, I would say, at the top end of that draft.

Gavin McKenna is a pretty interesting story. I mean, this year for him has probably not gone exactly as he hoped for, although it sounds like he's playing better hockey now. 8 o'clock, Kevin Woodley, NHL.com, and Ingoll Magazine, is going to join the program. Another weekend, another Canucks loss at home. This time, a 5-2 defeat at Rogers Arena to the Seattle Cracken on Saturday night. Knox are back in action on Tuesday as this homestand continues against the defending Stanley Cup

Champion Florida Panthers. We will talk to Kevin Woodley about all that at 8 a.m. Finally, also at 8 a.m., get this everybody. Every day this week, we're giving away a four pack of tickets to see Monster Jam. Monster Jam. Oh, the monsters are back. Monsters are back in truck form at the Pacific Coliseum. See all your favorites.

Classroom Crusher, Gravedigger. Watch out for Sarah Nurse. El Toro Loco. They're all there. Saturday, March 28th at 7 p.m. Watch out Sarah Nurse. Caller number 5 at 8 a.m. We'll get this four pack of tickets.

Four tickets, Jason. We're giving away 20 tickets to see the monster jam. You can barely get your hands on these things. 604-280-6-50. That number again. 604-2-80-0-6-50. Monster Jamm tickets at 8 a.m. Not going to work in reverse on the guest list.

Got a lot to get into. Without further ado, Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I'm moving. We know how busy your life can be. What happened?

Missed it? You missed that? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies to best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at BC, CSA. Well, I got the assignment to watch the Canucks this weekend on Saturday. They fell to 721 and 5 at home with a 5-2 loss to Seattle.

Seven wins at home. Rob the hockey guy put out on social media that they had an opportunity to win consecutive games at Rogers Arena for the first time in 372 days. classic Rob the Hockey guy. But that is unbelievable. It is bad. They haven't won consecutive games at Rogers Arena for over a year now. I almost like I had to, I didn't

double check it, but I probably should have because that's so crazy, but I mean it makes sense. They've been terrible at home for the last two years. On Saturday the Cracken took advantage of some shaky goaltending by Nikita Tolapilo and at least

one ridiculously bad line change on their way to the win. It was a big, that was a big win for the Cracken who were in a playoff race. It was 5-1 for the Cracken before Marco Rossi got gifted one with 20 seconds left in the game. Van der Kaine scored the other goal on a breakaway for his 12th of the season. Really nice move on the breakaway too. I'm still chuckling at the line change on the Crackens' third goal by Jamie Alexiak. Wasn't great. The Cracken had the puck at their own blue line. And so they had, they were in full possession of the puck at their own blue line. And I think it was Ogren and Sasson that decided that would be a good time for a change. And it's at the far

bench because it's in, yeah, it was at the far bench for them at least. One pass up, the ice left Seattle with a four on two rush and Alexiac had all the time in the world to beat Tolopilo from right in the slot. Like I think it was Vlander and Boullum out there. They were like, uh, little help guys, anything? And they're backing up, backing up, backing up. And Alexia is like, this is the greatest moment of my life right here in the slot. Ripped it past Tolo Pilo. You know, if the Canucks were on their way to the playoffs and they were trying to dial in their game,

we'd be losing our minds. That's such a bad change. We're wondering how the heck that could happen. But the Canucks are obviously not on their way to the playoffs. So, you know, whatever. Just shrug. Yeah, bad change. Yeah.

Get them next time, hey? They're young. They're learning. Or don't get them next time. The vibes are up, so that's good. That's a learning lesson. I'm actually glad that happened. Because then now they know, you know, when the other team has the possession,

you know, and it's at their own blue lines, and practically in the neutral zone, not a good time for a change. Not a good time for two guys to go off the ice to make it a five on three for the other team. Should we be writing this down? That's not, that's worth. Important to learn. That's not something you would have learned coming up in,

in the game, right? And through the HL or anything, that's only a lesson that you can learn at the NHL level. There are still five games left on this eight game home stand. Florida is the opponent Tuesday, Tampa Bay on Thursday,

and the red hot St. Louis Blues come to town on Saturday. Pedy, yeah, he still hasn't scored a goal. NHL goal since January. Got a couple of the Olympics. But he did show, he actually did show some signs of life and emotion when his helmet got knocked off by Adam Larson in a post-wistle scrum.

I haven't seen him that angry ever. Big cross-check to Adam Larson. Maybe that's the way to get him going, knock his helmet off. Nils Holgunder was scratched again, two games in a row for him in the press box, and then Trevor Linden was on After Hours, and he got asked about the rebuild. Yeah. We can play some audio from that, Linden, but, Any thoughts from the game, Halford?

No, pretty good there, boss. Let's go to Trevor Lyndon as we move along here. I'm not joking. They lost. They're going to try again on Tuesday, and chances that are probably going to lose that one. And then there's another game right after that. That is my full. Wow.

God, it just keeps going. Yeah, I just checked the schedule. It keeps going. Yeah, I'm not going to start looking for more signs of life from Liam Ogren. Good on Marco Rossi for scoring at the end. It made it 5-2. instead of 5-1, so there's something. But I think, honestly, I was monitoring a bunch of different things this weekend.

You mentioned you got the assignment of the Canucks. I got the assignment of not the Canucks. So I was actually trying to pay more attention to see if the Trevor Lyndon interview on After Hours was going to get more buzz than the actual Canucks game that preceded that interview. And it turned out that neither of them got any buzz. But Lyndon's a little bit. Yep, a little bit. A little bit.

People like seeing Trevor. People don't like seeing this team. I just think on... There's a difference. The Saturday game against the Cracket. I mean, it's hockey name in Canada. It is. And online on social media, nothing.

No. Nothing. Like there's just, you know, what else is there to say about the team this year? That's what I'm saying. I did see some feedback on the Lyndon interview. We procured one particular clip and guess what it was about? The potential of a rebuild. Another sort of bit of history and storytelling with Trevor going all the way back to his time

in the Canucks front office alongside Jim Benning. And while the story has been told numerous times, I think now maybe a retelling is more relevant and important than ever because the Canucks are finally embracing this full-blown rebuild that Trevor said he wanted to do all the way back in 2014. By the way, it is hilarious how now it is just the actual reasons for his departure and now just said. Like, he doesn't pretend that it was anything except a philosophize.

philosophical divide. You don't hear amicable departure at all. No, no, no, no. And before it was kind of just like, well, no, no, no, we just, you know, we just, we just left. And it wasn't, I mean, it was reported, obviously, that there was a philosophical divide. And ownership ultimately went with, with Jim Benning's thoughts on the matter. And Trevor Lyndon wanted a full rebuild, just like Mike Gillis did back in, you know, 2014. And ownership went with the guy that said,

You don't need a rebuild. I can fix this. I can fix this. Me alone, I can fix this. I am the person to do this. And now, and now it's just Trevor openly says, like, yeah, you know, like I thought one way. Jim thought the other, that was Jim Benning. And they went with Jim's idea.

So let's hear now from Trevor Linden. This is with Scott Oak on after our Saturday night. Let's hear it, Trevor Linden. In 2018, it was clear that you wanted a rebuild for the. Canucks. So is there any part of you now that with the Canucks in a massive rebuild looks at the situation and says, if you guys had listened to me in 2018, you might be playing for the Stanley Cup right now? Well, you know, I think in 2014 when I came in, I knew it was a tough spot to come into. There wasn't a lot to work with there. We had a great group of guys, you know, Henrik Daniel,

Kevin, Alex Burroughs, you know, but it was a, they were on the on the back nine, if you will. And we've all been as athletes. And so it was a tough spot. And so I, yeah, I mean, my vision of how things would go was different than ownership or gym. And so I was the odd man out. I got to say, I mean, I'm, I think the situation they're in today, I think Patrick is, is doing the right things. I think that, you know, it's a bit surprising given the history. But, And there's no guarantee in this. I mean, we've seen Buffalo, you know, they were in the, you know, Connor McDavid sweepstakes and that that was 13 years or 12 years ago. And, and, you know, it's nice to see them finally, you know, doing what they're doing today.

And there's no linear path to success. You know, it happens in different ways. And, you know, you know, the Canucks, I mean, with that nucleus that was that was Dempco and Hughes and Petterson and, and, and, and, and, and, Miller and that crew that was supposed to. And then it kind of went sideways. And here we are today. There's no linear path to success. It just happens in different ways.

Yeah, it's a great point. You can't just recreate someone else's rebuild. You can't look necessarily at another team and say, you know, we're going to do it exactly like them. Lyndon himself was asked, he got the culture question. Of course, culture was going to come up. And he was asked about the 94 team that went to the state. Stanley Cup final and what made it so special.

And he talked about just the collection of guys and characters on that roster. That team was put together in all sorts of different ways. Lyndon was the second overall pick. And Pavl Bury joined the team in a very unique circumstances. A lot of the other guys were picked up in trades. And frankly, they were the kind of trades that we don't see very often in the NHL nowadays, which is a shame because those trades. trades were a lot of fun. Like all those trades and business that the Canucks did with the St. Louis Blues leading up to 1994, everything is so much more calculated now. You know, you don't have a general manager and owner that goes like, like, trade everyone. That was a terrible effort in Buffalo last night, right? Like, you know, the salary cap is extremely restrictive. So are all the no trade and no movement clause. You can't have a temper.

tantrum and make a multiplayer trade nowadays. You know, you look back to that 94 team that went to the Stanley Cup final, and you'd probably think leading up to that, oh, they did really well in the draft. No, they didn't. I mean, they did get Trevor Lyndon, and that was a good pick, but that was an obvious pick because it was going to be, it was him and Medano that year, one or two, and that was the debate. Who goes first, who goes second?

You know, Madonna went to the stars, and the Canucks got Trevor Linden. The Canucks actually blew a lot of their first round picks in the 80s. Names like Jason Hurder, Dan Woodley, Jim Sandlack, although, you know, he stayed on the team, was not as good as they hoped him to be. You go back even further now, JJ Danio, and of course they traded away Cam Neely. For that, 94 team, getting Burray was, the game changer. And that's what the Canucks need to find right now,

that superstar level player that gives the franchise hope. These days, almost all those guys are first round picks. Pretty much. Like, if you think about the best late round players in the NHL right now, you know, Mark Stone, sixth round pick, I think Hegel might have been a six-round pick and Yesper Brat as well. But even a guy like Kutrov, who was obviously a great pick for Tampa Bay, he's a second rounder. It's not like you're not finding these franchise guys in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth-round pick.

You look at the leading scores in the NHL today. Just go there. Go find the list. and there aren't many guys who were not selected in the first round. There are a few exceptions, but even those are like, yeah, he's a second rounder. Yeah, I know. You know? And that's why I, that's kind of why I keep harping on the need to get more first round picks.

Like, it's great that they've got all these picks, but, you know, over the next two years, only three of them are in the first round. And those are the game changers, the first round picks. And most of the time, they're in the first five, five. 10 picks. Those are the game changes and that's why you know the Canucks have to nail their pick this year and probably stay quote unquote bad for the next couple of years

so they can add a few more. This goes across all sports too. This isn't just an NHL thing but every team seems to understand that statistically speaking higher and picks the first round of the draft are going to yield the elite talent. You can again you can mine good talent Tampa Bay's done a great job of it. Hagel was a late pick,

Point was a third rounder, Kutrave was a second runner. So there are exceptions. However, those are more anomalies than anything else. It's the reason that all the franchise quarterbacks go in the top 10 picks of the NFL draft, almost yearly, except when it's a bad quarterback draft and then no one gets taken, right?

It's the same reason why you're seeing tanking in the NBA right now because everyone wants to get to the high end of this year's draft, which is supposed to be a loaded draft. Like everyone understands the value of getting high, end top five first round picks. And you need more than one per year in the National Hockey League. I'm just saying first rounders in general. In a rebuild.

You do. You just do. We've gone over all the teams like Chicago and San Jose and, you know, look at what Calgary is doing, just multiple first round picks in each draft year. The problem for the Kinnock's right now is you're looking at the team and going, okay, how can you yield those first round picks? which brings us to a guy like Philip Paronic. Yeah.

And like I understand, and I was listening to Batchen Randipe in the booth as I was driving around on Saturday. Good podcast. Download it. It is good. Yeah. It is got to enjoy it. They were, you know, batch brought up a good point. He's like, this part of the rebuild could end up being methodical. The tearing down.

I know that all of us wanted the knee jerk reaction at the deadline to trade everybody. And I was yelling it from the rooftops. And by rooftops, I mean social media. I was like, just gut this thing like a fish. Get rid of everybody. And part of me understood, even though I was kind of playing it up, that, yes, this will take a little bit more time just to do the tear down. You can't trade everyone in one fell swoop. But my point with Hironik was almost separate from that where it was, if you're going to do this and you want to capitalize on every single asset you have currently employed to get those picks that you don't have, you do have to make a tough decision there.

I'm not saying it should be this layup, oh, it's so easy because the guy on talk show. radio host dude says it in the morning. Like, it's difficult. You read, you card and read good. It becomes a thing where you are weighing the value that he has, especially, and he does have some value as a good player and a guy that could foster along some of the youth. But at the same time, they are coming at this rebuild in a position of weakness. Through their own fault, and some of it was bad luck, but they don't have the draft

capital that they need, I think, to do this thing properly. and to really knock it out of the park and to have high-end talent across the board and the one place I can see them make up for it to a certain degree as trading horanoke. That's the extent of my thought on this, right? That's it. No, it's simple as that.

It's as simple as that. You need first-round picks. Someone was yelling at me on social media over the weekend about how I'm always championing this thought that it's not a full rebuild until you trade horonic. Maybe that's not the right phrasing for it, okay? All I'm saying here,

as simple and as clear as day as I can make it, is they've got a really valuable asset. You know, a guy that's on a good contract, he's a right-hand shot defenseman, he plays high in the lineup, and he does so many things that so many teams would value that you can kind of make up for the deficit you have by trading him. That's it.

End of story. He's 28 years old. What's he going to be when this team comes out of the rebuild? 33. Are you going to... Hopefully, hopefully, right? You might be older. You know, keeping him, is it really...

really, really worth what you could get now for him in terms of futures if you were to keep him for five years. And then what? I mean, and then what? His value is down. No, I know he's got the full no move clause as well. And by the way, his agent would hate this conversation. You know what? I'm going to give Alan Walsh a shred of credit here.

I think that if he understood how we were laying it out. Yeah. And we said, take the individual. Take the name played off the back of him. If his name was Phil H, P-H-I-L, not F-I-L. And I was like, this is just a random, not your client. It's an asset. It's an asset.

He is. Yeah. And it's frustrating because I can, you can see, you can't really see too far into the future, but you can definitely see this year's draft to the next year's draft with all of the options available and guys able to pick. And, you know, the McKenna Stenberg draft this year and DuPont in drafts subsequent. And you want to accumulate all those guys. because you're just not 100% sure

how they're going to turn out at the NHL level. The one I always like to point to in this instance is Los Angeles, who did things the right way and mined a bunch of high-end first-round picks, and it didn't work out. You know, and Drance has been on our show before and has astutely pointed out, even missing and whiffing on a lot of those draft picks,

they still had a run of like seven consecutive playoff appearances, multiple hundred-point teams because they were able to bring in talent and it allowed them to do things like the sort of ill-fated Dubois. They stole it, Coppatar too, right? And that would be to a lesser extent. Apple's the orange is to a certain degree for sure, but the idea would be there's a, all these teams have a similar path that they all understand they have to go down.

You need to get those first round picks in the door. And every time we look at the Canucks draft cupboard, we come to the same realization. Just not enough there right now for what you want to do and not to expedite this thing or get them all in 2026 or 2027. You just need volume across the board, right? Keep adding. Keep adding. You get a halfway decent guy in the door, move him out for some picks and start again. Okay, we're up against it for Tom. We've got a lot more to get into on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Coming up on the other side, we're going to do World Baseball Classic.

This tournament is awesome. I love this thing. This has been great. Watching Canada, pretty valiant effort from the Canadians on Friday, I would say. Oh, man, that's seventh inning. Shot themselves in the foot a few times. Second and third, none out. Didn't get anyone home. And your two, three, four hitters up at the plate. Yeah. Crazy.

However. But they showed very well. Yeah, I thought so. And they showed, I thought, a lot of resilience in that game alone. And, you know, it was the Canania, that was their best performance of the world baseball classic, period. Yeah, they were two runs away from getting, you know, in an extra innings game to go to the semifinals, which would have been a huge accomplishment. But whatever. Canada done on Friday.

USA beats them on Friday. They beat the Dominican Republic again last night, 2-1. So USA punches its ticket to the finals again. some great stories going into tonight's game between Italy and Venezuela. Venezuela upsets Japan over the weekend in what was an electric game. And the Italians, the surprising Italian team, holds off a late charge from Puerto Rico in their game on Saturday to set up tonight's game against Venezuela.

So we're going to go over all this with John Marosi, who was on the field yesterday for MLB Network, doing post-game walk-off interviews with all the guys from Team USA. We're going to talk about what has been an absolutely electric tournament thus far, and we will preview tonight's game as well, the second semifinal. That's coming up next on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. It's Canucks Central on Sportsnet 650. From exclusive interviews to insider scoops and post-game breakdowns, we've got it all.

Tune in weekdays 4 to 6 p.m. on radio and on demand through your favorite podcast app. USA. That thing was low, man. That pitch was low. Tough way to end what was an otherwise a month. Amazing game, by the way. Very low. A little low. A little low.

However, as I tell the kids at Little League, can't leave it up to the umps. Not in that situation. Can't go down looking. Do they often face Mason Miller in your games? You're on 1001 miles an hour? They're throwing some gas. I like it.

They're like, oh, can't get the bat around on this. I'm also very scared. Miller with an off-speed pitch. He came in at 97. So now you've got to protect against pitches that are a foot below the strike zone? Is that what you're saying? You do? Hey.

All the kids are crying. I'm like, this isn't feel fair. You go up there with the bat on your shoulder. You're going to leave with the bat on your shoulder. You've got to be ready to hit, Greg. You got to be ready to hit. You are listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates.

Are you getting collection calls? If you are, Sands and Associates could cut your debt by up to 80% and stop those calls. Visit them today at Sands-dustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. John Morosi from MLB Network is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off Hour 1. Hour 1 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. To the phone lines we go. Our next guest joins us live from Miami. MLB Network's very own John Morosie here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, John. How are you? Good morning, gentlemen. This has been quite a tournament in just about every way.

How much fun are you having right now? because we are, I'm actually shocked at how, I knew this tournament was good, don't get me wrong, but I am shocked at how entertaining and electric the atmosphere is. I saw you post your open from the game yesterday where you could barely hear yourself trying to talk about USA versus Dominican Republic. How much fun is this right now? It's been a career highlight for me.

And I keep experiencing these classics as the fourth that I've covered. It gets better every time. I think we've got to go right to the source. source and what Aaron Judge said to reporters after the game last night, which is that he'd played in the World Series, but that he'd never heard a crowd like the one he heard for the U.S. Mexico game and then the U.S. Dominican game last night. That's coming from Aaron Judge. So you don't even take my word for it.

Go right to number 99 to captain of the team USA and those words. It's, it's, I felt the same way. You know, I've been very fortunate to cover a lot of World Series in my life, and it's more, it's more passion. passionate here, it's louder here, it's more emotionally exhilarating here, you put any descriptor on it, and they all apply. And it's just, it's the magic that you get with best on best. I was, I was at the Olympic gold medal games, both of them as a, as a fan. And honestly, it's, it's louder here than it was in Milan. It's just, it's a way, especially for the Latin American fans, certainly for the fans of Team Japan,

the way that they experience the game is just different. And probably the one thing I would compare it to would be a high-level World Cup soccer match. That's about it, then in terms of things that you could experience in the world. It is just, it is unique. It's a celebration of culture. And that's, to me, the biggest thing that stands out

is the way in which a Dominican fan, a Mexican fan, a Venezuelan fan, which we'll see tonight. The way they experience the game is they want to, with their whole heart, show you what matters to them every single pitch. And they pour their heart and soul into every pitch. And they want to make sure that they can, the best they can, impact what's happening on the field

by the way that they're experiencing in the crowds. And it's just, it's really unlike anything else that we have in American or Canadian sports. Can Venezuela get it done tonight? Because I want to see that as the final U.S. Venezuela just for the crowd. The Venezuelan crowd in their win over Japan was one of the best crowds I've ever seen. It certainly lines up in a very interesting way. And let's say this. From Venezuela's standpoint, the starting pitcher tells you a lot about where we're at in this tournament and where the confidence still lies about the ability to pitch a big game. Cater Montero is starting for Venezuela.

He is not likely to begin the season in the Tigers rotation. And yet, he has pitched in five postseason games for the Tigers, including twice in extra innings on the road in playoff games, which is about as high leverage as it gets. And he has never given up a run. And you begin to understand why pitchers who have come through Winterball excel so much on the big stage. and that is that a postseason game on the road for the Tigers

against the Mariners is somehow less pressurized than what he's experienced in Winterball and his game tonight. I'm not saying that the postseason is easy, but it's probably easier in terms of the atmosphere than what he's going to experience tonight, and that's why the preparation, if you're a player who advances through Latin American baseball and experiences Winterball, that's why we see so many young players and people,

pitchers be able to perform on the big stage, and that's because this is normal for them. So while Cater Montero might not be a household name for fans across North America, he is proven in situations like this. For that matter, so is the guy pitching for Italy in Michael Lorenzen, who only walked one U.S. batter in really trying a high-leverage start against the Americans in Houston. on both sides. I think both teams are really confident in their starting pitchers this evening. Italy has all the momentum, of course, what they've been able to do.

Venezuela, the emotional comeback win against Team Japan. I've given up trying to predict what's going to happen in these games because last night watching it, I felt as though for really nine innings that the Dominicans were one big hit away from just blowing the roof off of that building and just taking firm control of the game. and it never quite happened. So this tournament, it just, it delights you, it surprises you. To your point earlier, it tests the capacity of a humble side of that are reporter to try to hear himself think and get the words out on the field during the open.

It is a sensory experience unlike any other. It's a privilege to be here. I do think that Venezuela probably has a deeper lineup, but the Italians have done nothing but surprise their last three games. They beat Team USA. They beat Team Mexico in a must-win game. They beat Team Puerto Rico in a must-win game. Can anyone be surprised if they show up tonight and beat Team Venezuela as well?

So I just think that for every reason, it's impossible for me to really even hazard a guess as to what's going to happen. Other than to say, both the teams here tonight, the Venezuela and the Italians, have made a habit of surpassing expectations so far. We're speaking to John Marosi from MLB Network here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. John's down in Miami for the World Baseball Classic. So the world part of this is important in the context of Italy because baseball among the Latin American countries, I think we all knew going into this that they were passionate and they loved their baseball and everything.

The rise of this Italian team of what it's done for baseball in Italy and how they've really sort of captivated the imaginations of a lot of different people. Can you tell the listeners how much of the people, of an impact this has had beyond North America and what this is meant to Italy and Italian people across the globe who are watching this team perform so well? Well, it's a seminal moment for the sport in the country. There will be in the telling of baseball in Italy, there will be the time before the 2026 WBC and the time after the 2026 WBC. It's that big of a moment to where it was mentioned by Prime Minister

Georgia Miloni in Parliament last week and there were cheers on both sides of the aisle, which doesn't happen very often in Italy or anywhere else for that matter. So that gives you an idea of the way that it's transcended a lot of different cultural moments. It was actually quite fortunate

for the Italians that they played their most recent game against Puerto Rico in the afternoon here in North America because that was then primetime in Italy and there were small baseball clubs watching the game together. To pull back a little bit for those that might not know already, baseball came to Italy principally introduced by U.S. service members after World War II,

where the game was played where there were Americans stationed after the war as a way of connecting with the local people after the war, obviously at a very difficult time in the history of the world, of course. but that's how you get small clubs that have become decent civic organizations in places like Rimini, Natuno, Bologna, San Marino, not the biggest Italian cities, but the ones that had Americans after the war. And Parma is another example of that. So there is an Italian league. It is somewhat small. They play usually two games a week, Saturday, Sunday.

it's sort of a semi-pro organization. But the belief is now that the more games they win, they get more funding, they're going to try to participate in Olympic qualifying later on this year. So that's how you measure success. In a lot of ways, it's hard to imagine baseball becoming bigger in the U.S. because it's already pretty big. But for Italy, for some of the smaller countries that have emerged, honestly, for the way the Canadians played getting to the quarterfinal,

that's what can stimulate more interest, more funding. It only takes this game reaching a certain number of people to create more Italian-born-raised players on the team in 10 years, let's say. There are still a half a dozen or so players who grew up in Italy, who speak the language. That's important. Obviously, there's a lot of Italian-Americans, but it's important to have those on the team who really can speak to the Italian experience, including Samuel Al Degari from Verona, who started the last game.

So it certainly has captured a lot of attention. It's going to be broadcast in the middle of the night on three different platforms in Italy. The first pitch time is 1 a.m. Maybe not ideal, but all of us love world sport, if you love soccer, as I do, and a lot of people in Vancouver do, it ends up being an experience where, yeah, you get up in the middle of the night to watch the World Cup or to watch the World Baseball Classic, and it's certainly becoming a phenomenon right now in Italy. John, what does the future hold for international play best-on-best in baseball?

I know there's uncertainty now about whether Major League Baseball players will participate in the 2008 Olympics in Los Angeles. I also know there's a potential labor battle coming up. And obviously the League and the Union are partners in the World Baseball Classic. just any thoughts on what the future holds for international play? Well, the short answer is we don't know in terms of the CBA. To your point, there's a lot of things that have to be discussed. The next World Baseball Classic is subject to bargaining. Player participation in LA 28 is subject to bargaining.

But I think all you have to do is look at what the players themselves have said for a long time, which is they want to play. Bryce Harper has been on record as saying this for years that he wants to be in the the Olympics. And so that's important, I think, to keep in mind that the players want this. They want to play in the Olympics. And clearly, when you consider how there's a larger, larger percentage of the best players in the game continually want to play in this event. And it's honestly the same thing that we saw in hockey. I remember back to when we had the showy O'Tonni versus Mike Trout finale to the last classic.

think it was the next day at the morning skate. Connor McDavid said, that's what we want. Well, we've obviously seen the magic of the Four Nations and Olympic hockey to amazing overtime thrillers on that side of things for men's hockey. And so I think that what we're seeing is from the player's standpoint and a fan standpoint, we all, we all cannot get enough of best on best. We love it. We love it.

We love it in baseball. We love it in hockey. I think for those two sports, it just is especially resonant. among fans. And now that the U.S. has really caught on to the magic of best-on-best baseball, there's no limit to the success that we could see, provided that the powers that be in this industry get in the room together and find a solution. I will say this.

In my years covering baseball, this event, the World Baseball Classic, which is directly a collaboration between MLB and the union, is probably the best thing they've ever done together and cooperatively. This is the common ground. This is a collaboration that came about because the union and MLB 20 years ago got together on this and said we need the best on best baseball. So it's now incumbent on the people in charge of both organizations to find a way to make this work, to keep growing it.

you need to look no further than than what the media rights have brought in just in Japan alone. It would obviously be a pretty big miss if the next edition were to be delayed by some kind of a work stoppage. Obviously, it's well above my pay grade, but just look at the success of this event,

and it's apparent to me that there's so much growth potential. Just look at the attendant. It's already set a record even before the next two games for what this tournament has. has become. So man, it's been magic to see. And to me, I only see more growth in the future. Do you think it'll ever get to the point where it is, like, in hockey, where it's just, it's a given that every player wants to participate. There, you know, there's no one in hockey that's like, I don't know if I want to do this. Right. You know, I, I don't know.

Or, you know, there's insurance issues or anything like that. I mean, I think it would be so fun to have for example, you know, the hype we have around picking the Canadian American hockey teams and then apply that to the American team. It would be really interesting. No, I agree. And obviously, you know, how much I love hockey. And so I understand both cultures in that way that you're right. You would have never heard, you know, Matthew Kuchuk say, hey, you know, I don't know, injury risk, insurance. I'm probably not going to play. I mean, that's just not a thought in hockey. But it's not. Admittedly, it is different, okay, because you've got, in baseball, obviously, the salaries are bigger, the insurance policies are bigger as a result of that.

And so from that perspective, it creates some structural issues. I mean, Francisco Lindor got hurt this spring. He wouldn't have been able to play anyway because of insurance. That's not his fault. It's not, it's just, that's a reality of the rules here of the insurance. and there's the size of the policies and the underwriting. It's just, it is a massive, it's actually, when you look at it, the players union has been very successful in negotiating a lot of these deals, and that's why the insurance policies are so big, because the contracts are so big. Now, that being said, Juan Soto was able to play, so was Aaron Judge.

It's a player-to-player circumstance and situation, and pitching is unique. It's a part of the game that is different from what anything is in the NHL in terms of injury risk and how players proceed. You're seeing Terrick Scouble, he threw three or four great innings. And based on where he is at, based on his contract coming up this offseason, that was where his comfort level was. It is different. You would never imagine Connor McDavid saying, no, I've played my three shifts and I'm good and we got everybody else has to handle it from here. It's a different dynamic.

I do think that this is the closest that we have seen it to the U.S. putting their best team on the field. And on some level, pitching will always be, there will always be limitations. There were limitations this year for Team Canada. Nick Povetta didn't pitch. Jonah Tong didn't pitch. Jordan Romano didn't pitch.

Matt Brash didn't pitch. Cade Smith didn't pitch. I mean, if those guys all pitch, we might be talking about Canada playing in a semi-finite. final or a final game. It was that close. There were one swing away even with all those guys out taking the lead on the U.S. late. So I think we're getting closer. We might not ever totally get there. But man, we are about as close as we've ever gotten to true best on best. And I think that while it's maybe not perfect, I love this tournament for what it's become.

Yeah, because competitively, the parody's been there. I know there were some blowouts in the early stages, which you get in any tournament like that. But, I mean, you look at the quarterfinal and semifinal games, and they all had great theater and drama going right down to the end, including last night's game. Exactly. And again, I'm not just saying this because I realize who I'm speaking to right now. Canada's one swing away from

beating the Americans, basically. I mean, that's, David Bednar had men on second and third, nobody out. And he had to face the middle of Canada's lineup. And it was, you know, I had a nailer, just missed the pitch. I mean, if that's, it could, I realize there's a pop out, but he's almost on it to be able to knock that into the gap for a double that ties the game. So I think Canadian baseball has gotten so much better in the last, you think about the last classics and the ones that I've

been broadcasting. The pitching is deeper. The lineup is young, really good. I think Owen Casey's only going to get better. Otto Lopez is a great player, emerging talent. So Canadian baseball is in a great spot. It's a huge credit to Greg Hamilton, what he's been able to do in building up to the junior national team. And you're right. The parody, it's interesting. Again, I reference going over to watch the

Olympic hockey myself in person. And as inevitable as the U.S. Canada final felt once it got there, both of them had to win quarterfinals and overtime. And then Canada had to come back, as you know, as you well know, to win the semifinal game

and get there. So the the closeness of the global competition is apparent. We just saw what happened, obviously, with Japan getting knocked out there in the game against Venezuela in the quarterfinal. So there's a real closeness of competition where the U.S. almost didn't even make it out of the group in this tournament. And that says more, in my opinion, about how good Mexico has gotten, the way that Italy has recruited a lot of great Italian Americans to play and represent the way that Venezuela's played, the Dominicans, Puerto Rico, even when they were under man, they still nearly knocked out the Italian. So I think it says more about the growth of baseball around the world and the competitiveness

of this event. And again, how much the best players in the world want to play in this event than anything else. So it's just, it's been a ton of fun to watch what this tournament has become. And I think that the best days of it are still yet to come. this week and in the future as well. We're at a family dinner last night watching the game, and then afterwards there's the Bobby Witt Jr. walkoff interview, and there's Marosi.

I'm like, hey, he's going to be on our show tomorrow. So there it is. It's a full circle moment for us. This is great. Hey, John, thanks for doing this. I appreciate it, and it means the world that you're tuned in. And I've said this to our production staff here. What an honor it is for us that our broadcast is the one that's going to Canada.

And so I just know how important the game is to Canadian culture. So I appreciate the invitation to be on the show, and it means a lot that we know that our broadcast is being sent to a country that loves the game as much as Canada does. So thank you so much for the invite to be on the show today. Well, thank you, man. We appreciate it.

Enjoy the rest of the tournament. It should be a lot of fun. Can't wait. Two great days to come. Thanks so much for the invite, and appreciate how much you guys love the game. Yeah, thanks, man. That's John Marosi from MLB Network here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650. I really want Venezuela to win today. I know you do. I mean, that crowd was incredible against Japan.

The Italians would be out if it wasn't at 1 o'clock in the morning. They'd all have made their flights over here, and they were watching. It's been a big year for Venezuela. It has been a big year for Venezuela. A lot is going on. I thought a lot about Venezuela, way more than I used to. And for them to end up in the final against the Americans would be interesting. I wonder, would that stadium be mostly pro-Venezuelan?

Tonight? No, no, no. If it was against the Americans in Miami? I think it would be. I think you heard the DR yesterday. Yeah, I think it would be, probably. Yeah. I mean, there would be a lot of American fans there, no question, right?

And there was yesterday, too. But the Latin American fans are louder and more boisterous, and there's a real, real energy that comes along with the way that Latin America embraces baseball that the Americans just don't have. Yeah. Americans have a very business-like approach to baseball. I know. There's a cockiness to it though.

It's almost like a weird of the best sort of like attitude. It's the, it's our sport approach, right? And I heard Blair and Barker saying, like if you ever want to go for a very under the radar, cool, like vacation, you know, some people say we go to spring training to watch baseball for our vacation. They said, go to the Dominican and like go watch winter ball in the Dominican.

Like it is a totally different vibe. Like there's no laid back chill. Like people are fired up. and they're energized about it. It's very hot-blooded hair. Yeah, yeah. It's like a fiery fun kind of intense, right? But the Americans, it feels like it's different with them.

It feels like you said, it's business-like. It's almost like the fun has been zapped out of it. Well, the backdrop to this that's played out of the world baseball classic is, of course, like, handshake gate, right? Where you've got all the Latin American players doing their, like, full-bodied embraces of one another and dapping each other up. And then you've got these standoffish Americans, right? And here's the thing.

I don't necessarily hate that from a hero. and villains perspective. Totally. It's great theater and it's great drama. Naylor trying to get a fist bump from Cal Raleigh was hilarious, by the way.

That was very, very exciting. Yeah, that was great. You know, Cal Raleigh's like, dude, come on, man. He said before the game, he was like, please don't do this. Weren't the Americans told

not to do any greetings? Yes. Yeah. And, okay. But that makes them totally vulnerable to something that Nailer did. So here's a thing.

Nailer did it jokingly. Yeah, yeah. And it was a gag, right? You got a text from Cal before the game. Just please don't. He said, he said, Cal was like, please don't do this. I'm definitely doing it. Yeah, he's like, no, now I'm 100% doing it.

So DeRosa said, and Cal Raleigh wouldn't speak on it, but DeRosa said that everybody, and I think it was DeRosa and Rale and a couple other guys, told a Rosarena before don't do anything. Don't signal for a handshake. Don't signal for a Dap because we're not going to do it. And the allegation there, the underlying subtext. is that a Rosarana did it anyway, but not as a joke. Not like how Naylor did it. Like it wasn't going to be ha ha funny. It was, hey, you told me not to do something.

I'm going to go do it. Okay. Sean Gentilly's going to join us next. Normally we talk to Sean about the Pittsburgh Penguins, but we're going to talk to Sean about Gavin McKenna because Sean recently wrote an article alongside, I believe Scott Wheeler at the Athletic, who is the prospects guy for the athletic. and basically reached out to a bunch of scouts and also spoke with Penn State coach Guy Godowski,

who we've had on the show before, and basically just said, like, ask for opinions on McKenna's game right now. It has been a tumultuous season for Gavin McKenna, and, you know, he could end up being drafted by the Vancouver Canucks. What are scouts saying about the kids? kid at Penn State. We'll find out next on the Halford-Uruff Show on Sportsnet 650.