Halford & Brough in the Morning - On JT Miller's Return & What He Means To The Canucks

Episode Date: December 13, 2024

In hour two, Mike & Jason preview tonight's home opener for the Vancouver Warriors with coach and GM Curt Malawksy (4:22), the boys do some Ask Us Anythings and discuss why JT Miller is such a fan favourite (10:00), plus they go around the NHL & NFL with analyst Bob "The Moj" Marjanovich (25:29). 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.

🎵 703 on a Friday! Happy Friday everybody! Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. It's a Fiesta Friday, just in time for the holidays. After all these Fiesta Fridays and we've never played the Classic yet. I know Brough, Sportsnet 650. It's a Fiesta Friday just in time for the holidays. After all these Fiesta Fridays, we've never played the

classic yet. I know. This is the first time. This warms the heart. It does. Very Christmassy. Yeah, warms the

cockles. Halford and Brough of the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers.

They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour two of the program. AJ from AJ's Pizza is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour two.

Hour two of this program is brought to you by Jason Hominuk from Jason.Mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. I am joking, of course. Let him do that. Visit him on the internet at Jason.Mortgage. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. I am joking, of course. Let him do that. Visit him on the internet at jason.mortgage. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio.

Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, Rafi, what are you waiting for? Kintec. To the phone lines we go. The owner and proprietor of the best pizza place in the world, AJ from AJ's Pizza on East Broadway, joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

What up, AJ? What is going on? Best of time of year. Big win last night for the Canucks. That was a good win last night for the Canucks. It's going to be an awesome sports weekend, too. We've got Canucks-Bruins on Saturday. I know.

And then Sunday night is Seahawks-Packers. I imagine it's going to be a pretty full house at AJ's. Yeah, it'll be full. It'll be full. But there's always room. There's always room. I always find seats. I've got to ask you about this Juan Soto story.

So I think we all know now that it's come to its conclusion and he is a member of the New York Mets and he's getting paid $600 billion to do it, which is great for him. The weird part is the aftershock that he apparently had no friends on the New York Yankees, hadn't talked to anyone for six weeks. My best friend is money.

Yeah. As a Yankees fan, were you aware of this dynamic, and how do you feel now that he's no longer a New York Yankee? You know what? I wasn't aware. I mean, he definitely is a strange guy, and I said it last week on the show. I didn't want him to sign him.

He's not a five-tool guy. He's an exceptional ball player, but I don't know. I mean, I just don I don't see it. And plus for the Yankees and whether it's the Yankees or the blue Jays or the Red Sox, like we're, we're all three, four guys away from being a really good team. Okay. So this weekend at AJ's pizza, Jason mentioned it on Saturday $6 pints because it's a Vancouver hockey night. Right. And then Sunday happy hour all day.

And you can get there early. You can eat pizza and drink beer and do all that stuff right until the night game and then Sunday night football Seahawks back. Yeah, just to make sure

you remember the Seattle games. AJ, did you have a bunch of Swifties there last weekend? We had them in and out. We had them in and out. They were lovely. I mean, it was a wild weekend in the city for sure, right?

I mean, everything was heightened. But, yeah, no, it was good. There were so many people from out of town. Yeah, and it'll probably be somewhat similar this weekend because there's a lot of people coming into town to watch the game. AJ, thanks for doing this as always. We enjoy it as always. Enjoy the weekend.

We'll do this again next Friday. Yeah, everybody have a great weekend. Take care. Yeah, you too. Thanks. That's AJ from AJ's Pizza, 325 East Broadway. You can also visit them online at ajs.pizza. The game against the Bruins is going to be the same as three Taylor Swift concerts?

Basically the same. Just thousands of teenage girls coming in to watch. Brad Marchand, David Pasternak, all their favorites. Screaming. Teenage girls love Joe Sacco. They're big fans. I don't know. I was away for Taylor Swift Mania.

I was in Scottsdale. Yeah. I didn't really get to embrace the wild crowds, but I had a buddy of mine that we were down in Scottsdale with. He works at a restaurant group, and he said that every restaurant that they owned was just counting cash all weekend. It was a big boon for the economy. Well, you know

what else is tonight? Season opener for the Vancouver Warriors. Good segue, my friend. The Warriors are going to open their campaign at home tonight. They played on the road two weeks ago in Colorado. But yes, first home game against the hated Rochester Nighthawks tonight. Joining us now, head coach of the Vancouver

Warriors, Kurt Miloski, here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Kurt. How are you? Good, guys. Thanks for having me on. Yeah, thanks for coming on. We appreciate you taking the time. So, as Jason mentioned, it's the home opener tonight, but the NLL opener was two weeks ago.

You guys were in Colorado. You guys had a lead to start, which was great. Then you lost the lead and lost, which wasn't great. Tell the listeners about that opener in Colorado. You guys had a lead to start, which was great. Then you lost the lead and lost, which wasn't great. Tell the listeners about that opener in Colorado. What happened, and more specifically, what didn't happen for your group?

Yeah, I thought we played real good in the first half. You know, we moved the ball well, got to the middle of the floor, and our goalie was excellent in the first half. You know, he held us in. We were a bit sloppy

in the first quarter and held us in, and we ended up managing with a 6-1 lead. And then in the second half, I think we just changed. You know, they held us in. We were a bit sloppy in the first quarter and held us in. And we ended up managing with a 6-1 lead. And then the second half, I think we just changed. You know, they started coming back and our guys played not to lose. And, you know, I think we just panicked a little bit. And, you know, we try to play the same way no matter what the score is.

And I think we played to the score and played, like I said, played not to lose. And didn't move our feet and didn't move the ball and didn't pay the price to get inside the score. So I think it just kind of snowballed from there and, you know, it's easy to pinpoint what went wrong and, you know, we got the result we deserve. For those that didn't get a chance to watch the opener, but are going to be going to Rogers Arena tonight,

break down the team, what the differences are from last year to this year, what you guys look like, who you're going to be focusing on, and what needs to happen tonight to get a win in your home opener. Well, I think a big thing is we picked up Jeff Cornwall for agencies, you know, one of the elite defensemen in the National Lacrosse League. That was a big free agent signing for us. And then, you know, we got Jonathan Pesco and Peyton Cormier, a couple of first-rounders, and Ramos Chinato.

So we've got three young kids coming in this year that we didn't have last year. And then pretty much, you know, 75% of our roster stayed the same. So I'd like to think that we went 6-8 down the stretch last season. So I'd like to think that we can build off of that. And with great fan support, I think the biggest thing for us is just composure and resiliency out there and just compete. And we always play five-minute segments, five at a time, and just keep winning those five-minute segments.

And then obviously we've got to learn from having a lead at the half is to make sure that we stay composed in the room and refocus and come out the first five minutes of the third quarter are going to be big so i think just play a good team tough game and stay out of the penalty box and take care of the ball i think we'll be in a good spot for people who haven't been out to a warriors game yet how would you describe the atmosphere at rogers arena electric it's just outstanding it's a party really it is like we got the end zones going people having a great time down the end zones you know the kids got the tarps off they're swinging them around and you know it's a huge family event you know the family spend uh hard-earned money to

come there and our guys you know take note of that and it's important to us to play well in front of the home crowd you know they they were instrumental last year at the end of the season for us and you know it's the guys are so excited to come here and i just think if you haven't seen a lacrosse game you're gonna see it probably close to 30 goals going both ways like you know maybe 15 14 or something like that or 16 15 whatever it might be but there'll be a lot of goals a lot of excitement they pound the music as as the game's going on and people are just buzzing around in there so it's it's actually just a huge party. But once you watch a game of lacrosse, you're hooked.

It's fast. Guys are super athletic, very physical. And it's just that we've got a good young team that gets up and down the floor. So I encourage anybody that's free Friday night to get out there and come support us. Well, we got a chance to go to a game last year, and everything you said was pretty spot on. It's a lot of fun and it's a good time. And if anyone wants to have a good time

tonight, tickets are still available. The Warriors host the Rochester Nighthawks tonight in their 2024-2025 home opener. Tickets for tonight's game are still available at VancouverWarriors.com. Kurt, thank you very much for doing this today. We really appreciate you taking the time. Best of luck

tonight against Rochester. I'm sure we'll do this again later on in the season. Yeah, I would look forward to it. Thanks very much for supporting us, guys. Yeah, thanks for coming on. We appreciate it. Kurt Malosky, head coach of the Vancouver Warriors here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

Okay, let's do some Ask Us Anything. It's Ask Us Anything Friday on the Halford & Brough Show. And if you've got an Ask Us Anything, you can be entered into the contest for a $100 gift card to AJ's text in to the Dunbar Lumber text line 650-650 Metro Vancouver's. Trust a choice for contractors and rental warriors

for over 50 years. That's almost as old as I am. Visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at DunbarLumber.com. Safety Mike, ask us anything and he starts it out with genuine question. What makes JT Miller such a fan favorite?

He's not particularly warm and friendly. He works just as hard as Garland. And it was only two years ago he was painted as the poster boy of anger, slamming his stick on the net to get seal offs to the bench. Why does Garland not get his name chanted? Well, first of all, safety Mike, Connor Garland has had his name chanted at Rogers arena, of all, safety in mind, Connor Garland has had his name chanted at Rogers Arena, but let's just

get to the crux of this question without worrying about too much about the chance. What makes JT Miller such a fan favorite? Well, it starts out that he is a really good player, but I think it goes beyond that. I think he's a guy that shows everyone how much he wants to win. And sometimes that's a good thing, and sometimes that's a bad thing.

But for the fans, it's a good thing. The fans want to know that everyone on the team wants the team to win as much as the fans want, and sometimes we don't see that. Now, some players are just naturally composed, and that's part of how they, that's part of their success, frankly. So they're not going to be super emotional on the ice.

They've got a job to do. They're focused on that job. They're going to do that job. I also think JT Miller's style of play, like we call him a gunslinger, right? Like, and Brett Favre was a very popular player, despite the fact that, you know, he would make mistakes.

And he had a huge welfare scam. Yeah. Okay. Well, I mean, that's for JT after retirement. But I also think, here's another thing. I think JT, and he's talked about this, he came from fairly humble beginnings. Sure.

All right. And I think the people that have followed his story closely associate that with, um, you know, maybe they see a bit of themselves in it, right? Like weren't given everything, uh, when, when they were younger and, you know, if they wanted to play sports, it was a challenge for their parents. And JT Miller has talked about that when he signed his contract extension. He's like, look, I come from a humble background. You know, hockey players these days, it's such an expensive sport to play that there are a lot of players that are from very privileged backgrounds.

So I think that might play a role in it. I mean, am I missing anything? Am I wrong on anything on this? You've hit every note to the point where anything I would say. He's the blue collar hero, right? I agree. Anything I would say right now would be reiterating what you would say. Yeah.

I think it's a fair ask us anything, but I think the answer is quite easy. Here's a little bit more of a tricky one. Ask us anything. What should the threshold for a video tribute be for players returning to rogers arena i'm asking in general but also because we are in advance of zadoroff and lindholm coming in tomorrow they'll get a message they'll get a message for sure yes do they get individual ones do they get a group video i would group them i think they're going to get grouped together i think i would have a welcome back to Zdorov and

Elias Lindholm. And I think they were, I mean, Zdorov much more of a fan favorite, but Lindholm was solid in the playoffs. If you were to do this... But they were a part of one of the best seasons Canucks have had in a long, long time. And they both

played key roles in the playoffs, and the Canucks had, relative to previous years, first of all, they made the playoffs, but they won a series and they both played key roles in the playoffs and the Canucks had relative to previous years first of all they made the playoffs but they won a series and they pushed the Oilers to seven games there's a lot of excitement around the team in the playoffs last season and I think Zdorov and Lindholm were a big part of it if you were if they had gone to separate teams and they came back individual and they had individual honors or video tributes. Zdorov would be more warmly received. I think that goes without saying. But I think the threshold, it's weird.

It's not a games played or amount of time. It's what you did and what the team was like at the time. You can be a rental, but the rental could be a total fizzle. Who was it you were reminding me of the other day, the Canucks rental? Derek Roy. Derek Roy, yeah. Right. No one was remembering Derek Roy when he came back for a second. Because somebody got called up.

Kevin Connaughton? Connaughton got called up by Utah. There's what we learned. Kevin Connaughton's still in the NHL, for those that were wondering about that. But yeah. Anyway, bottom line, both will get recognized,

and appropriately so. When we look back, but just to put a bow on this one, when we look back on that season and what the Canucks did trade wise for me it wasn't just that the team was playing good hockey for the first time in a while and got back to the playoffs for a first time in a while it was the anticipation and thrill of being a buyer and going out and adding players and throwing caution to the wind maybe overpaying

for Lindholm we didn't even know how to do it anymore. Yeah. But I'm like, who are we selling? No, no, no. We're buyers. We're buyers. And then when you see the price being like, ah, the hell with it. Like, let's get that next drink.

You know, like, I know I should probably cut myself off right now, but I can't. Put it on the line of credit. Right. You've got my credit card already. Just put it on my tab. Let's keep the good times rolling. I missed that. And that was good.

Adam in the Ridge with Anaskis Anything, let's pretend tomorrow is game seven. Who are you starting, Lankanen or Demko? Great way to frame it. Lankanen. Obviously, if it's game seven, and it wouldn't be unfair to Demko. So you trade Demko is what you're saying? No. If tomorrow is game seven, but guess what?

Tomorrow's not game seven. It's a game in December. Yeah, treat it like a game seven. But yeah, it's Lankanen. And Demko would be, honestly, fair enough. Free up a lot of cap space. We're not training him. We're making a decision on who to start if tomorrow was game seven. Demko has played one game.

He admitted he's rusty. Lankanen had a shout out yesterday. The answer to this is easy. So since tomorrow isn't game seven, though. Demko, go to Demko. If everything was on the line tomorrow, you'd go with Lankanen. Because guess what? If we're talking about who you'd rather have in good form for the next two games, I want Lankanen for Colorado and Demko for Boston. Boston has trouble scoring. Colorado does not. Does that not make sense for Colorado and Demko for Boston. Boston has trouble scoring. Colorado does not. Does that not make sense?

You go Demko. If we're alternating goalies, and I think they should. Wait, is tomorrow game seven or not? It is game one of the regular season. Game one of the rest of your life. It's game one of the rest of the regular season. I think it's frankly obvious. You go with Demko tomorrow and you go with Lankanen on Monday against the...

So you want Lankanen against the harder team? Yeah. So you don't want Demko? To go back to... Yeah, exactly. You don't want Demko against the... Because Demko is playing himself into form, laddie. Oh, I thought you said playing himself into something else.

Oh, into a trade. Yeah. See, now you got to understand, you didn't go to the Dave Pratt School of Sports Controversies. You can't float the trade, because the trade solves the problem. You want the problem to exist forever.

You can come in every day of the week and be like, who should start? Put daily poll question. Who starts tonight? Is tonight a must win? It's great for us. I like Brandon in Vancouver. Go to Seelov's. Yeah, throw him a curveball. Yep, they won't see it coming.

Nor will Archer Seelov's. I knew you were going to do that. Yeah. I'm like, and there it is. By the way, in that aforementioned scenario, if it was game seven, I think you could make a fairly compelling argument that in a one-game winner-take-all, you go with the guy that has the highest ceiling

and the highest ability to steal the game. And in that case, it's 100% Demko, no matter how he's feeling. Because he's a better goalie. On the other hand, I wonder what Carolina would give up for Thatcher Demko. God, I love you. He could use a goalie. You ignored everything I said and you went right back to it

and I appreciate it. You want this hosting job, don't you? I think you're on your way, buddy. I think you're on your way. I'm learning the ways. Pocompton Burt. Ask us anything. Pocompton Burt.

So that's Poco, Pocompton, and it's a guy named Burt from Poco, Pocompton. it's a guy named Bert from Poco Pocompton. Ask us anything. Why hasn't our best player and MVP Quinn Hughes had his name chanted yet? We need an MVP chant to get going. Yeah, that would be the chant for Hughes. MVP.

Because Quinn Hughes doesn't work. It's like... He lacks the syllables. Yeah, it's a syllables thing, right? It's like, you know, you go, let's go Oilers or let's go Rangers. You could do, he's Quinn Hughes. You could get better.

You don't go, let's go Canucks. Better brother. Let's go Leafs, right? Better brother's not bad. It's all about, it's about not only the amount of syllables,

but the emphasis on the syllables. And fastest on the longest level. And fastest on the syllables. Like, there are some teams that do like, I heard a let's go flames once. Let's go flames. Now it's go flames go.

I mean, it's none of those things. Screw the flames. But I think, I honestly think that's the chant for Hughes. I hope he's the right. I honestly hope we start hearing it. Give this guy an MVP chant.

That's what he deserves. Yeah, that's true. Because he's already won the Norris, right? This is now, he's the MVP. I think you're right. Very rarely do we come with a definitive right answer on Ask Us Anythings. Poe Compton Burt is a smart guy.

He's street smart, too, because he's on the mean streets of Pocompton. That's true. It's tough living there. Yeah, that's an interesting one. Yeah, do the MVP one on Saturday night, actually, against Boston. And then do, oh, you know what? Actually, sorry. Do it on Monday against Kale McCarr and the Colorado Avalanche,

because that's the sort of foil to Quinn Hughes right now, right? I missed when Wyshynski came on the show, and then I guess he received some backlash. But it's not him. It's not him. He reaches out to the voters, and he does a survey of the voters. Friend, you don't need to explain it to me. You need to explain it to everybody else.

He actually finished the interview saying a lot of nice things about Quinn Hughes and how he gets it all. But the vote is the vote. Yeah. I mean, Greg's been on the...

I mean, people push back about that one guy who I guess was a voter. He said, you know, Cale McCarr is lapping the field offensively. Which is just... Which is factually wrong.

Quinn Hughes at the time had a higher points per game average than him. Yeah. I mean, I get that. I feel bad. Greg's been on the mean streets of the internet for a while, though. He knows how it works.

People don't often do the in-depth reading necessary. They're like, oh, Wyshynski said it. But yeah, so Monday night, do the MVP chant, okay? What do we got here? But how would it go again? MVP. Just MVP. That's it? Yeah. I was thinking like MVP. Just MVP. That's it?

I was thinking like MVP. Oh my God. Have you watched sports ever? MVP. Yeah. Like basketball. Hold on. I was trying to think of something more complicated. It's like a USA chant, but with different letters.

Halford, Halford, Halford. Did that just happen? Yeah. Did you just ask how to chant MVP? You did. Because I was thinking MVP. No. What sports have you watched?

Do you only watch the Canucks? MVP. Yeah, okay, that works. I mean, while I appreciate your new cadence and seemingly sing-song way of doing it, you know what really bugs me? I am VP. I am VP.

That'd really throw him off. Why are we reinventing the wheel here? You know what really bugs me? I know when A-Dog is chanting MVP, he's thinking of Most Valuable Primate. That's right. There is no way he's like, I've got to watch this.

Or how about MV, clap clap, P, MV, clap clap, P. Everyone's just looking around the arena. They've never heard this way before. I can't follow. It's very fetching. All right. We've got a lot more to get into on the program today. Every day is a what we learn.

You know what? Never has it been more crystallized that every day is a what we learn for Andy than that moment we just had. Okay. We got lots more to get into on the show. 7.30 and 8 o'clock are usual highlights with Bob the Moj Marjanovic at 7.30 and then 8 o'clock, Rick

Dollywell is going to join the program. I don't know what we're going to talk to Dolly about. You're his official handler. Darnay. Okay, that's good to know. And Besser. And finally, I should mention this again on a more serious note. Food Bank Friday.

No, okay, don't do that. Food Bank Friday is today, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. That's Food Bank Friday. Food Bank Friday. Just do the read, please. In support of the Greater Vancouver Food Bank providing healthy food to those in need, if you would like to donate today,

text the carrot emoji to 30333 and you can donate your choice of $5, $10, or $25. Again, 30333. It's Food Bank Friday. Text the carrot emoji for donations of $5, $10, or $25. Please do it not just during our show, but all day today as you continue to listen to Sportsnet 650. You are listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

Let's go Flames. No, it's go Flames go. I mean, it's none of those things. Screw the Flames. Hey, it's go Flames go. I mean, it's none of those things. Screw the Flames. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on Sportsnet 650. Or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. I did not eat four burgers. Yes, it's the Moch. I don't want to go to Winnipeg. Nobody wants to go to Winnipeg.

Yes, I love food. It's the Moch. I went online and kind of did a little surfing. It's a millennia. Yes, it's the Moch. Halpert's fine, but, you know, Bruff is just grumpy all the time. Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, It's the Moj. 731 on a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody.

You are listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Halford & Brough of the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 2 of the program program moge is going to join us in just a moment here the highlight of our two our two is brought to you by uh jason hominick from jason.mortgage if you love giving the banks more of your money then don't let jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you you can visit him on the internet at jason.mortgage. Okay, before we get to Moj,

there's one listener right now that he's having a hard time with the Creed and Big Rec tickets that we're going to be giving away. So he wants to know what the trivia question is to answer so you can get the tickets. He's upset that I'm not responding to him via text. He called them Apollo Creed tickets,

and then he said, what about the fight tickets? I can't do all this at once. He wants the Apollo Creed tickets. He's going to show up to the fight involving Apollo Creed, who is not real, and a music concert is going to break out. First off, I'm not sure you're prepared for these tickets. I think you're going to be wildly disappointed when you show up

and it's a very emo rock band from the 90s. Also worth noting there's no trivia question. I mean, I can ask him one if he wants. That was the other part. That's like a text from A-Dog. Yeah, I'm like, what's the name of the box that's not Rocky? No trivia question. Never has been a trivia question question we've been doing this all week no trivia we made it also i hate to break it to you but apollo creed is dead yeah he won't

be draco killed him that's true it's kind of like a main theme of the movie it was a big big plot driver dude kind of spurring the whole uh series. I was going to watch it tonight. Anyway, okay. We are giving away Creed tickets. Listen closely. At 815 815 this morning. You have to be caller number five. And answer me these questions three.

All about Carl Weathers. The phone number is 604-280-0650. That number again, 604-280-0650. Call in at 815, be caller number five. You'll win tickets to see Creed and Big Wreck next August at Rogers Arena. There we go.

To the phone line. Trivia question required. And there's nothing to do with Apollo Creed, right? Just call it. We're going to go. To the phone line. No trivia question required, and there's nothing to do with Apollo Creed. Right. Just call in. We're going to go to the phone lines now.

Bob the Moj Marjanovic joins us on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Moj? I met Carl Weathers once. BC Lion, right? Yeah, former BC Lion.

It was in San Francisco. It was turned into a game, and I was just walking down. Like, it was close to Fisherman's Wharf. And he was walking by just by himself, stopped him, started talking a little bit, said that I worked on the Lions broadcast. I want to say it was a short time after Bobby Ackles had died because we talked about Bobby Ackles, and he said he'd heard the news

and all that, yeah. But, you know, for my brief time with him, like four minutes, he seemed like a nice man. So there you go. Apollo Creed, Carl Weathers. And you're right, former BC Lion and Oakland Raider. Speaking of the BC Lions, what's the latest in the Lions rounding out their staff before we get into the Canucks stuff?

Yeah, a lot of hoops and barrels to go through. Talking to teams, trying to figure out compensation. From what I'm told, it's just not as easy as a coach making a vertical or a lateral move, especially when it comes to lateral moves. Teams are looking for compensation. But even with vertical moves in the CFL, there is a little bit of compensation that has to be paid financially. So they're still undergoing that process. I imagine something will be hopefully announced before Christmas.

I think one thing that you can pretty much put in the books is Mike Benavides returning to the staff. What capacity, I don't know. If Ryan Phillips elects to leave or moves to, say, Calgary, which has been rumored to be doing, maybe Benavides is elevated defensive coordinator, maybe remains at special teams. But I think it's a good hire in the sense of a good retainment, I guess,

in the sense that, you know, he's got experience as a head coach. He knows the lay of the land with the Lions. He knows the logistics of everything here. And I think he'd be a great resource for Buck Pierce moving forward. What did you think of the Canucks last night? Big win, 4-0. Most complete game of the year. Most complete game of the year.

You know, it's funny, I talked to Rick Cockett, we talked to Rick Cockett after the end of the game and talked about protecting the guts of the ice in the first two periods. I thought they were outstanding in not allowing Florida much, if anything at all. Third period, of course, Florida had a little bit of a push to have some power play opportunities and had more grade A chances.

But for the most part, I thought they did a tremendous job. You know, it's interesting with the Canucks guys just working on this piece, and I don't know if you heard Taka talking about this in his postgame last night, but, you know, these injuries, and Rick talked about this earlier this week, they're a bit of a positive in the sense that you allowed players to have elevated roles and to gain experience in those elevated roles. And now guys are shifting back down to more customary roles that they've had with everybody coming back except Roenick.

And that's going to create internal competition. You look at, say, the bottom four, five, six defensemen, there's going to be some internal competition there. And, even talking to manny malhoja last night who was at the game you know watching it from the press box he was talking about the the push that they're getting from abbotsford one of the cool things about guys that are going down there and you mentioned was the fact that they're not going down there with bad attitudes so i should be on the connect he says they're all coming down with great attitudes and working just as hard to get back to Vancouver. So I think, you know, they've weathered the storm, so to speak.

I don't know if they're going to hit that heater right now. In talking to Brock Besser, he said it took him, like, you know, several games to get, you know, back to normal, back to feeling normal because you just can't duplicate game speed. And I'm sure the same holds true with JT Miller. Yeah, I got two assists last night, probably running on adrenaline, but it'll probably take him a while. But once these guys start to get back to 100%

and get their feet under them, I think this team's ready to go on a little bit of a run, and it'll be exciting to see. It's exciting to think of, at full strength, what their forward group can do, given the depth. I mean, it was the Max Sasson show in the first period. He's a fourth-line rookie. And that's the thing.

I mean, now you're going to have guys like Rick said after the game. They're going to be competing for ice time, and they're going to be pushing one another. And if a guy doesn't play well, now you're going to have some options right so um i think it's it's really going to be interesting to see how this team plays maybe you know probably say january right because that's the time i think you know all these guys are going to start feeling like their games are 100 and i'm talking about bester and miller and even demko right i mean here's the thing and we talk about this in football all the time and it's so true in hockey, and Besser used the exact same words. You can't duplicate game speed in practice.

There's nothing you can do in practice that duplicates game speed. Even a guy like Demko, you know, talking to him, one of the things that you see with game speed or game situations, you have those chaotic scrambles and such. You can't duplicate that in practice, right? You can't duplicate the game speed in practice. So, like I said, once these guys get back up to game speed, it's going to be interesting to see how this Canuck team fares.

Do you think they'll just alternate goalies? Because I was making the point that if you're looking at the next two games, you've got Boston in town on Saturday and Colorado on Monday. Boston has had trouble scoring all year. Lankanen shut them out in Boston. But I might be tempted to go with Demko for that because you've got to get this guy's starts and then save Lankanen for Colorado on Monday.

Yeah, and I heard Sat talking about this last night on the postgame show, talking about having a one and a one hand. I kind of agree with that. But at the same time, right now, I think you're just probably going to try to, you know, see where Demko is at in terms of how good he feels physically. And here's the thing, too. With the way Lankanen is playing, man, you don't need to go out there

and flag Demko 90% of the time like we've seen in the past. So that hopefully bodes well in terms of him not getting hurt again. Right? So the Canucks have a real luxury and goal with Lankan in here and now having Demko. So I think what you're going to see is these guys, like you said, probably alternate, and then you get to the point where maybe you just kind of ride the hothead.

And I think, you know, eventually I believe that it will be Depco that's going to be the guy heading into the playoffs. I think they might share the workload going in, but I think they might ramp up Denko as they get closer to the postseason. We're speaking to Bob the Mojomar Jonovich here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650, a presentation of the Clayton Public House. Oh, you know what? I forgot what I wanted to ask you about

because we didn't get a chance to talk about it a lot yesterday. We mentioned it briefly, but there was so much other stuff going on. Bill Belichick going to the University of North Carolina. We didn't really... Do you have a definitive take on it? Mine was that I think it's going to be a disaster. Yeah.

My take is just that I'm curious to see how it goes. And I was curious to read, I think it was Seth Wickersham, the ESPN guy who wrote an article basically saying that just Belichick was angry at the NFL, maybe a little angry that he wasn't considered for more coaching jobs considering what he's done in the NFL. And now he wants to go and do something else yeah I read that same article basically a middle finger to the NFL yeah um you know here's the

thing there's a saying in in sports and in coaching don't take a job where you know you can't win right and I think Belichick has looked at University of North Carolina and believes that all the tools the infrastructure is there for him to be successful. Got to realize too, with the mill and the portal and all of these things now, it's turned into more of an NFL type scenario than it is in terms of NCAA, right? So it's about managing budgets, about managing your, you know, the resources that you have. Let's not forget that one of his best friends in the game is Nick Saban, right? I'm sure he's talked to Saban about this and gotten the goods from Saban in

terms of what it takes to coach at that level. I think he, he, you know, he looks at this situation and believes that he can win given the resources. Now my concern is this, I mean,

dude's 72, right? He's going to be recruiting kids that are 16 or 17. I think he's going to have, I mean, yeah, he'll go out there and he'll recruit and he'll be the guy that comes in and, you know, seals the deal. But I think he's going to have to find assistant coaches and some guys that can really know how to recruit.

There's a lot of talent in North Carolina, football talent in the high school levels, but I think he's just going to have to find guys that are going to be out there and probably be a little bit more relatable to the kids. And then, obviously, he'll be, quote, the godfather that comes in and gets everything done. You know, the one thing that was interesting, though, when you look at Belichick, what they win seven Super Bowls in New England, ask yourself this, how many legitimate Hall of Famers do they have

with those Patriot teams? You know, Randy Moss at the tail end of his career, Brady, of course. I mean, there's a couple of others. But I think, you know, he was so successful in New England for the most part. Granted, he had Brady. But a lot of it was revolving around the fact that he found really smart players. He didn't, you know, find these superstars, but he found smart players. I remember one time hearing that the Patriots had, like,

the highest percentage of college graduates on their roster for several years. And, you know, that's what he did. He got players that understood concepts, players that understood schemes, and I expect him probably to do the same at UNC and, you know, try to quote out smart opponents. So we'll see how it goes, but it's going to be really interesting. You know, is he going to be a success? Is he going to be a failure?

It's a great question, one that I think a lot of people don't know. I mean, there's people that are out there that are giving takes, but no one knows. And I'm really curious to find out to see how it works out. How much do you think it's about his son and setting his son up for future success? I don't think that plays a huge role in it. It might play a small role in it.

But this is about a guy who has won Super Bowls. This is about ego. This is about getting back into the mix, getting back into the game. So that might be a factor, but I don't think it's the driving force in terms of Belichick getting back into coaching. Okay, well, let's talk about this Seahawks-Packers game

coming up on Sunday night. Man, it's going to be an awesome sports weekend. This Seahawks-Packers game in primetime at home, which might be good or bad, depending on how the season's gone. How do you think the two teams match up? Well, anything that we've seen with the Packers and the Seahawks in Seattle, it's always been a great great game i mean i think of the game where john ryan threw a touchdown pass on a fake punt so i mean you know and then you know the pass interference call that wasn't

right so um it's just there's there's so many things that that occur that are crazy i mean you know matt hasselbeck and obviously that was in green bay so uh you know, Matt Hasselbeck, and obviously that was in Green Bay. So, you know, we'll take the ball and we'll score. Here's the thing. When I look at this game, to me, I don't think Green Bay has a really good defensive front, and that bodes well for the Seahawks in terms of the offense.

But, man, oh, man, Green Bay's offensive line is so strong. Josh Jacobs is a great running back. And the fact that if they run the ball on the Seahawks, it's going to be a great test for the Seattle defensive line. To me, that's, again, you always hear me talk about winning the game in the trenches. This game probably

exemplifies that. Josh Jacobs, by the way, I don't know if you guys know his background, but he's an amazing story. We talked to him a few years ago at Radio Row. And he was like a two- or three-star recruit in high school before he went to Alabama. He was living with his dad and his siblings in a car,

like, you know, in grade 8, 9, and 10 or something like that. I mean, it's an amazing story what he has had to overcome to get to the level where he's at. And, you know, the cool thing about talking to him that time, he was so level-headed, so down to earth. It's an amazing story what he has had to overcome to get to the level where he's at. The cool thing about talking to him that time, he was so level-headed, so down to earth. I told him, I said, dude, I hope you don't change once you get it. He was just coming out of Alabama at the time. I said, I hope you don't change when you get into the NFL.

He was just a great dude to talk to. To see what he's done, it's been pretty cool. Yeah, I remember reading a story about Josh Jacobs buying his dad a house after he got his first big paycheck. And, you know, there's more Americans than you think that live that type of life where they don't have a home, they live in their cars, and that's with kids too, and Canadians as well. And it's Food Bank Friday today just a reminder you know there are a lot of people that overcome a lot of significant challenges don't and don't think we

have that don't have that problem in Canada I mean I drive up and down the the highway the freeway quite a bit and just outside Abbotsford I remember driving by and you know looking over the side of the road there might have been a few tents up, and now it's like tent city, right? Yeah. Housing is crazy. How are some people supposed to afford it? Even if you drive by Hope, I mean, there's areas of Hope. Once you start getting into Hope, right by the Fraser River,

you look over on the right-hand side if you're driving northbound, and there's probably like about 15, 20 campsites. So it's a sad situation, and hopefully we're able to make that problem get better moving forward. Well, this is always a difficult transition when we try and talk about something serious and then try and do something lighthearted. What kind of food do you like? Yeah, let's talk on Food Bank Friday.

How much food is too much food? Like, it's like, you know, there is a question here, though, and it is an overconsumption over the holidays question. But question for Moj, how many holiday parties are too many in one holiday season? I would probably keep it at about three to four. That's a lot. And it depends what you define as parties. If you're defining parties like work parties, like, you know, 30, 40, 50 people, maybe like three.

Right. Otherwise, it just becomes monotonous. I think you can do. Sorry, go ahead. I was just going to say the other thing, too. You want to be with people that you like. You just don't want to be people that are, quote, acquaintances. Right.

Oh, let's come to this holiday. Oh, I don't. I don't hang out with you during the entire year. Why do I want to hang out with you before Christmas? I just, you know, mess up my schedule. with you during the entire year. Why do I want to hang out with you before Christmas? I didn't just mess up my schedule. Just make it short, sweet, three, four people, or probably three or four parties, and that's about it. I think I've narrowed it down.

I have three now. And you have the annual Christmas boys dinner, like the guys, you have that one. You've obviously got your New Year's Eve plans, whatever that is. And then you get one work function. One work function over the holidays, be it a staff party or you do like what we do with

the dog dinner, and then that's it. The big three is all. Who has staff parties anymore, though? Remember we used to have staff parties back in the day. They'd be like December 5th, December 15th. Then all of a sudden they were in January. I think one year we had it in February, and then we didn't have it at all, right?

I feel like we're footing the bill for it, too. Like, that came out of your paycheck, you know? Exactly. Hey, I couldn't ask me anything for you. Yeah. Because, you know, Brough being the movie connoisseur that he is, hating Scarface. I've got two movie questions.

I'll save one for maybe later on. Okay. Most overrated sports movie. Rudy. Rudy sucked, man. I knew you were going to say I hated Rudy. say i hated rudy i knew you were i actually cheered against him he was he was so self-righteous so self-righteous just like come on rudy like just just no i didn't like him i'll i'll say probably even more controversial than that slap shot oh my god are you kidding me yeah it just i i get that in that time and for an older hockey loving era it was like the seminal movie i've watched a bunch of times there's other

it doesn't relate to it to the younger crowd i i mean i love slap shot but i didn't like it when i first watched it like as a when I was younger. I appreciated it more. I think the first Goon movie is a better hockey movie than Slapshot. Okay. Can I hang up now? Sure. I know. What are you?

What's your answer? Well, I was going to say, to me, I'm totally bang on with you, with Rudy. And the whole thing is fragile. I mean, all this stuff about the crowd chanting Rudy, this and that. Talk to people who played in that game. Talk to Steve Rabel. He played in that game. I asked him.

He said, no, I don't remember anything. Montana was on that team. He doesn't remember anything. Montana's actually gone on Patrick and called that whole thing a fraud, right? Was Rabel on Georgia Tech? What was the team? Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech, right? Is that who he played for? Rabel on Georgia Tech? What was the team? Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech, right?

Is that who he played for? Rabel did, yeah. He was a wide receiver for Georgia Tech before he played in the NFL with the Seahawks. Right. Of course, now the play-by-play guy for the Seahawks. The other thing, too, about Rudy, he came up here one year to do the Lions orange helmet dinner,

and we interviewed him. I don't think I've heard the word I in whatever, eight minutes more times than I heard in that interview. Everything was I, I, I, I think I've heard the word I in whatever, eight minutes more times than I heard in that interview. Everything was I, I, I, I, I. What's your overrated movie? What's your overrated sports movie? Okay, I've got my overrated movie. You know what it is?

No, I like this. Field of Dreams. Oh, come on, man. Oh, dude, come on. I mean, guys coming out of cornfields, ghosts, this, that, messages on scoreboards, voices in your head. I think we can all agree he would have been committed.

Yeah. There'd be a lot of people pretty worried about this guy. So you're telling me you're building this baseball field in the corn. Why? I hear voices.

All right, why don't you come with me? It's just, no. I mean, to me, like I know, and there are people that just, oh, it's all about playing catch with your dad. Give me a break. Never played catch with my dad anyway.

Okay. Well, we managed to. I think we cracked something there. Did we just have a breakthrough? I think we managed to ruin a lot of mornings already. You should go play some catch with Rudy. Moj, what are your thoughts on The Mighty Ducks? My personal favorite hockey movie.

You know what? Meh. The Flying V? Come on, dude. Come on. The Flying V? Emilio Estevez? Bombay?

No. No. Wow. Sorry, our son asked you a question there, Moj. Quiet, boy I guess Moj wasn't nine when it came out Get ready for school Brush your teeth, okay?

Hey, Mighty Ducks is a classic Okay, Moj, we're going to let you go Thanks for doing this as always We really appreciate it Hey, are you guys back on next week? We are Yeah, we are for a couple of weeks Don't wish you a Merry Christmas next week

All right, talk to you next Friday See you, buddy See ya That's Bob the Moj Marjanovic Here on the Halford & Brough Show On Sportsnet 650 a couple of... Don't wish him Merry Christmas next week. All right, talk to you next Friday. See you, buddy. See you. That's Bob the Mojomarjanovich here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. I wanted to play the John Mulaney

Field of Dreams bit, which is... That's so great. What does he say? It would be perfectly timed, but I don't... Do you have it at the ready? I don't...

I'm worried about... Dolly gets upset if we don't have him on right at 8 o'clock, so I'm hesitant to do this, but I also kind of want to do it and also to pick up Who's a bigger star? John Mulaney or Rick Dollywall? Take it away. Here's John Mulaney on Field of Dreams

Or what about that moment in Field of Dreams when we hear If you build it, he will come And then Costner does it. He builds a baseball field. I guess he doesn't build it. He mows down corn and then there is a field and then he's like I'm going to watch Ghost play baseball and the bank is like you want to pay your mortgage and then he's like, I'm going to watch ghosts play baseball.

And the bank is like, you want to pay your mortgage? And he's like, nah, I'm going to watch ghosts play baseball. And then he finds James Earl Jones, who wrote The Boat Rocker, which I thought was a real book deep into my 20s, and he's like, people will come, Ray, he's the only one with a financial plan. But what's weird is Timothy Busfield pushes little Gabby Hoffman off the bleachers, and she falls down, and she's unconscious. Then Burt Lancaster is Moonlight Graham and he comes up and he pats her on the back a couple of times and he's like hot dog stuck in the throat.

And then he can't go back in the game because I guess there's a rule in ghost baseball that if you leave the field at any point to become an elderly ghost and do the Heimlich maneuver, you can't return to the field. You're listening to the Alfred and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.