Halford & Brough in the Morning - Sean Hogan on Frozen Four + The Demidov Boost

Episode Date: April 9, 2025

In Hour Two, Mike Halford and Jason Brough talk about Ivan Demidov's potential impact on an already intriguing Montreal Canadiens season. How do KHL talents translate to the NHL, and what situations can the Canucks still make the playoffs? Then, Sean Hogan joins to break down the NCAA competition we've seen so far, and what the Frozen Four shall bring. What to make of the CHL ruling, and how much it changes both Junior hockey, and NCAA hockey. 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.

7-0-1 on a Wednesday. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. It's not just any Wednesday though, everybody. As I learned in the break, it's Jason Brough's birthday today. Happy birthday. Yes, thank you. Peter in Cloverdale, you kind of ruined what I wanted to do. Happy birthday to you as well because Peter and Cloverdale, we share the same birthday. Happy birthday to you as well, because Peter and Cloverdale, we share the same birthday. And that's why he knows it. My plan was to go through the whole show and then right when we were signing off, go, oh,

Halford, you missed my birthday again. I have a real blind spot when it comes to birthdays. I don't know yours either. Is it in August or something? Very good. Yeah, but I don't know the date. I don't know them either. in August or something. Very good. Yeah, but I don't know the date I don't know them either. I have I have a few on my phone. I don't take offense to this Mmm, no, here do I yeah, although I like to I like I like to play it up a little bit

See now that's important that we played that because You're the birthday, you're the birthday boy or girl. See, now that's important that we played that because apparently up until how long ago was it, Zach? Eight years ago? Yeah, 2016. That's when the song- Is when Happy Birthday became non-copyright. Oh my God, public domain.

Could you imagine prior to that? So if you're watching a movie about 10 years ago, you'd notice like they wouldn't play Happy Birthday. They'd either come into the scene right at the end of the song or they would play something, they say something different. Or they get't play Happy Birthday. They'd either come into the scene right at the end of the song, or they would play something, they say something different. Or they did Sood by Big Birthday. Yeah.

They come right after you. Mike, the urologist from Brockville texting in, Happy Birthday, Big J. I assume that's your favorite nickname. Well, if it wasn't, it is now. We will be referring to him exclusively and only as Big J for the rest of his big day. We were joking in the break that the Canucks knew it was my birthday and they were like,

let's go ruin it for him by having a great comeback win. Look, he tweeted. He said it's official. What an idiot. It's his birthday. Go, go, go. Let's ruin it. I hate that guy. Okay, real quick, some business to attend to before we move along.

Into the Dunbar Lumber, text message in basket. Read some of your texts. We got an open segment here. Half of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for debt help. 3,000, 3,000 five star reviews. Visit sans-trustee.com for more.

We are now in hour two of the program. Hour two is brought to you by Jason Hominock at j 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. Actually, let him do that. Visit him at Jason.mortgage.

We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. We had a question come in to the Dunbar number text message in basket. I believe it's from Jay and Delta. Jay from Delta, sorry. Let get the the name right here I thought about this too Jay and I'm glad you brought it up he says I'm calling it

now Jay and Delta is calling it right now that comeback last night is going to break the Dallas Stars yeah when you talk about the comeback a historic comeback you always talk about the team that did the coming back you never talk about the comeback, a historic comeback, you always talk about the team that did the coming back. You never talk about the team that did the collapsing. Pete Tabor looked like a traveling salesman at the end of a three month trip in the presser. He always looks a little disheveled. I haven't sold a single vacuum. Door to door, Pete Tabor kind of makes me laugh. He's just like, you open the door,

you're like, hey, and he just blows cigarette smoke in your face. He puts the cigarette out on the underside of his shoe, the sole of his shoe before entering your house. Flicks it into your rose garden. He's like, you want a vacuum? Uh, Pete DeBoer and that Dallas stars team. Can we play the Jamie Ben audio?

I want to play this. And then I, you know what? I'm trying to workshop a joke about a vacuum salesman and sucking. Yeah. Well, you just did it. Close enough. Let the people take over on it. I want to play the Jamie Ben audio

and then I want only laddies take on the Jamie Ben audio. Great. You're gonna make me go public with this, eh? I am gonna make you go public with this. Play the Jamie Ben audio after a historic collapse, 6-5 OT loss to the Vancouver Canucks last night. You know, unacceptable. That game was, should have been wrapped up. Yeah, we just gotta find a way to get it done there.

So, so. So what? So what did you think about that audio? It sounds like, I don't know if we can say that. It sounds like a guy who thought beforehand, how do I sound really, really sad? Yeah, I gotta. What do I have to do here?

I gotta put something on here. Long pauses between statements, heavy sighing, just. Yeah, did the Dallas Stars get eliminated from the playoffs? I kind of overdid it a little bit. He was like looking up, he's Goog to 11. Yeah, did the Dallas Stars get eliminated from the playoffs? I was like, you kinda overdid it a little bit. He was like looking up, he's Googling on his phone, he's like, ways to seem forlorn. And then he's, all right.

He asked, chat, GPT. How do I do it, how do I do it? He had all the customary looks though. I think his hat was. The hair was still wet, it was in front of his face. And then his head was hung low. He's like, I'm supposed to be somber. That's a disappointing loss.

You look at that, you don't even need the audio. You say, that's a somber man right there. It doesn't matter at all for now. It does not matter. That's what was the thing. Doesn't matter at all. They're not gonna win the division, they're not gonna finish third.

I know they could have clinched home ice last night. I get in the first round if they had won that. But as the captain, you have have to you can't be like me go around it was like 59 minutes very good one minute not as good he should have been like should have been like it's unacceptable but it was pretty funny yeah come back the opposite task happy to be part of history yeah Guess we took our foot off the gas. You know oh well whatever yeah, or he blamed like the goalie Yeah, so I'm gonna use the save in the file. You see really mailed it in there in the final minute I know it's been good this year, but we really could have used the save down the stretch there

Anyway, I do kind of hope that it it torpedoes the Dallas star season if only because it would be funny They've nothing against the Dallas Stars a completely fine not entertaining entity But if this was to somehow derail their season, I would find it funny. That's Shadden. Renton is happy He's the happiest guy in the room Let's do it. I thought tonight was pretty I've overall pretty good game until the last minute of the game. You're not wrong, Miko. You're not wrong. Just take the last minute out of the picture for one second.

That's a pretty good game. I actually thought overall the Canucks played pretty well. I mean, the PK fell apart. That was a very, how was the rest of the play, Mrs. Lincoln kind of quote. Let's talk about some of the other NHL teams. I mean, we did this a bit with David Amber, but how about Ottawa finally making the playoffs? Yeah.

That's great. Everyone in the country is talking about Montreal. It's like overshadowed again. I think that once the matchups are set and I'm assuming it's, I don't know what the percentage likelihood is, but it seems pretty likely that it's going to be Toronto. No.

Ottawa. No. I think in my mind, in my mind. Tonight's game is massive. Toronto wins tonight, it's close. Yeah, but Toronto hasn't won yet. They just played last night in Florida. Yeah.

They lost to the Panthers, so they're going into Tampa where the Lightning are 27, 8, and 2. And I know the Leafs have played Tampa pretty well. Um, but I mean, the Lightning are going to be the favorites in this game. And then they're tied in points and they each have four games left. And Tampa, I'm looking at their schedule, actually has a pretty easy schedule, a bunch of home games. So if Tampa wins tonight, they're going to be

the favorites to win the division. Yeah. And then Toronto is going to get Florida and Florida is going to get some healthy bodies back and Toronto is going to be on the first round. If it was, if I couldn't get Toronto, Ottawa on the first round, I'd settle for Florida, Ottawa with the battle of the Kachaks.

No, but it wouldn't be that. It wouldn't be that. Florida could conceivably, I mean, it's, it's a long shot, but Florida gets to win the division. They're only four points back. It's but it wouldn't be that. It wouldn't be that. Florida could conceivably, I mean, it's a long shot, Florida gets to win the division. They're only four points back. It's a very long shot. Yeah, but that's what I'm saying.

It won't be Florida-Ottawa. I know it won't be. I was just gonna work in a, like, would the Kachak brothers fight? Ottawa is more likely to catch Florida than Florida. Yeah, for sure. They would. We've all seen the commercial with them in the back seat.

They would have. They were throwing hands. They would have a group tech. They're gonna poke each other. Yeah, a group text involving two of them where they would be like, are we fighting tonight? And then they'd be like, yes. If they fought in the playoffs,

I think it would be amazing. Again, I don't think it's gonna happen, but yeah, it is kind of a shame that Ottawa is getting overshadowed by Montreal. Not really. Well, Montreal is such a cool story. But Ottawa hasn't made the playoffs in eight years. Yeah, I know. It should be, it's funny.

I don't know if you saw this this morning, but they held the press conference. It's like Cyril Lider, Steve Steyos, and just, and it was like. Cyril Sneer too, right? Sneer. Some of the raccoons. That's a good deep pull from 80s CBC cartoons.

When we, when you talk about Ottawa and like how excited they are, I think they just had a press conference just to talk about the playoffs this morning. They were like, there was no real like news or information. Well, this is cool.

Yeah. They're like, all right, let's talk about the playoffs. Yeah, but isn't, isn't that, isn't that acceptable? It's great. It's more than acceptable. Cyril Snir was talking about how they've sold

like 500 season tickets in the last few days. And they're shutting down the secondary market somehow. I didn't read too deep into the details, but they're trying. Well, they're really worried about Toronto taking over the building. Understandable. Yeah. It's kind of pathetic, but.

It's inevitable. Yeah. Toronto takes over a lot of buildings. They take over Buffalo, Ottawa, when they go down to Florida. Detroit. Oftentimes, yeah Detroit, there's a lot there. I mean, they got a big fan base and the difference

too is like they got a lot of deep pocket fans, right? You know, so they can afford to pay those prices on the secondary market. You know, I think Ottawa is going to have a great atmosphere in the playoffs, but I really can't understate how excited I am to see playoff hockey in Montreal. Yeah. If the Habs, you know, they got to, they got a clinch, but it looks like all the

playoff teams are set frankly in both conferences. We can talk about Detroit missing again. Um, you know, maybe that's an off season debate about what Detroit's going to do going forward. I think all the teams are set pretty much. I've been watching a bunch of Habs games. The atmosphere there already is incredible. Then they get this young kid in the lineup. Have you seen some of the highlights from him over in Russia? I did some diligent research last night, watched minutes of Ivan Demidov highlights last night.

Yeah, like he is, I don't know how much he's gonna play, but even if you have him in the lineup for like 10 minutes a night, he can offer you that supercharger moment. I know that he's got the tag is the best player, not in the NHL right now. Right. The few people have thrown that around.

And the best player in the KHL. Yeah. So I understand. I'm always leery up about this dynamic because especially in a year where you've punched above your weight class and you've exceeded expectations, there is an element of, you know, you want to dance with the one you brought. Like you want, you know, you want to give, you want to reward the guys that have put in this effort and roll with your boys. Like the Montreal

Canadians have done a remarkable job this year. They got off to a bad start. There were a lot of questions at the beginning of the year, and they rallied not just to make games relevant in March and April, but actually get over the hump and get back into the playoffs. Do you run the risk of chopping someone's ice time to put Demidoff in? I think the answer is yes,

because he's such a unique talent, and I mean, here's the thing, if he's anywhere close to a Celebrini type talent, you can't not throw him in. No. But you do run the risk for sure of, you know, there's, again, there's a room, there's chemistry, there's guys that are gonna lose minutes.

But, and this isn't just solely a demodove thing. This is anytime you bring in a young player. And we've seen it at times before. Young guys that haven't been there the entire year that either shake free either via the college route or whatever, Swedish league, Russian league, guys have come over and jumped right into the lineup. I still think this is a net positive.

I know what you're saying. I agree, I agree. But this is a net positive. I think overall it's a net positive. For a Habs fan base that really can't believe all the things that are going its way right now. If Montreal gets Washington in the first round, I think there's massive upset potential there. Give them a puncher's chance. You got to just go in and steal that one game in

Washington, and then you come back to Montreal and that place is going to be absolutely mad. Laddie. And I really do wonder if, you know, Spencer Carberry is probably going to win coach of the year. His biggest task will be to get everyone refocused. Sure. I agree with that big time.

Uh, Laddie, in terms of stealing a series, where do you put Sam Montembeau's ability to, I'm not saying do a Yarrow Halak of 15 years ago, but I'm gonna suggest that if the Habs upset the Capitals, it's gonna be with Montembeau standing on his head. Now he's had a good year, he's had 30 wins, he was the third goalie for Team Canada, the Four Nations face off.

You're kind of shaking your head. Oh, I like Montalvo a lot. He's, he's always had a really, really good underlying numbers, despite the eye test, maybe not meeting that expectation. So I think he's always been sort of a questionable goalie to a lot of even goalie analysts out there, despite those strong underlying numbers. But this year I just pulled up his, his money

puck numbers. He's fifth in the league in goals saved above expected. That's certainly a guy in that area that you would expect to be able to pull away an upset. But it's gonna be tough against a team like Washington that has so much firepower. Shout out to Torgy, who astutely points out that Ivan Demidov is the best player, not in the NHL,

not named Josh Levo. We should point that out because Josh Levo, did you see what he did this year? Former Vancouver Canuck Josh Levo. Crazy man. 49 goals in 62 KHL games. 49 goals. Is the game.

So maybe Josh Levo. He topped out at like 38 in junior. And he goes to score 40 plus in the game. 32 for separate. I've got his hockey DB. Does anyone listening to the show ever watch KHL games? Like, cause is it slower there?

Cause Levo's like his, he wasn't a great skater. You know, that was always the knock on him. And I'm just wondering if there's something about that league that allows him to thrive because he had a great shot. From what I understand, most of the rinks have actually switched to NHL size before they were international.

So there's a lot of East West rather than North South, which you get, which would affect a guy who can't skate as well as much or more. That would help him though, right? If he's not a good skater and there's more North South. No, no, no, no, no, no, not more skater and there's more north south, that's not good. No, no, no, no, no, not more north south.

You want more east west. Which is what you get in the KHL. Yeah. With the larger rinks. That's what I'm talking about. But like I said, lately they've been switching to NHL size, so there probably shouldn't be that much of a difference.

But the style might be the same. Yeah, they might be. It would take a long time for the players to adjust. They wouldn't be like, well, you know, smaller rank, let's go north-south now. Like there's something about, you know, when you grow up playing that style of hockey, you're going to keep playing it. Just from talking to goalies that are not over

there. You're going to have to get talk over there to reprogram all their brains. The goalies that go over there, when I talk to them, they say it's noticeable how different it is. Like you're going left to right as a goalie way more often than you would. It's Nigel Dawes style of hockey. Yeah. He loves it over there. He loves it over there. and it is like you're going left to right as a goalie way more often than you would.

It's Nigel Dawes style hockey hat. He loves it over there, loves it over there. So we should point out that while we're talking about all of these playoff matchups in the East, the West is still up for grabs. I know Minnesota, and I'm not talking about the Canucks in all of this, there are two huge games tonight. And if they swing the right way,

we've got a bonafide playoff chase over the weekend, right? So if, and I stress the word if, the Wilds falter against the Sharks tonight, and the Flames beat the Ducks. We're talking about a two point gap between the two of them, right? Going into the weekend. So Minnesota still has big games left

against Vancouver and Calgary. And again, with the reports out of Minnesota right now, courtesy of Mike Russo, are that Kaprizov and Ericsson at who have missed a ton of time this year. They're going to take the morning skate. If the morning skate goes well, they're going to put them in the lineup tonight at home against San Jose, where they're already huge moneyline favorites. them in the lineup tonight at home against San Jose where they're already huge money line favorites. I think the understanding here is if they can get those guys back in front of a home crowd against the San Jose team that if you haven't been paying attention has been awful, wretched over the last 30. I think they have six wins in their last 31 games. This is the night where they put those two points in the bank and they breathe easy.

I think that's what the Minnesota thinking is, as opposed to let's give Kaprizov and Ericssonek another night off against a weak opponent and then bring them back for these big games against Calgary and then depending on Vancouver. I would love it, I would love it if they lost tonight and Calgary won and you have a real bonafide like, oh man, we could get some intrigue

over the final few games of the season because you know what? For as nice as the stories are in the Eastern Conference Playoff chase, that race landed with a thud. Ottawa and Montreal distanced themselves from the pack and a lot of it had to do with the fact that the Rangers really kind of

flatlined down the stretch. The Red Wings have to be bitterly disappointed at how their season ended. The Islanders played really sort of mediocre hockey down the stretch. None of them were able to push Ottawa and Montreal and Ottawa and Montreal kind of ran away with it. Can we talk about Buffalo being the hottest team in the NHL? I don't know what to make of this. And then yesterday they're officially eliminated even though they've won five straight games, they're eight and two in their last 10, and they're going to miss the playoffs by like 10 points.

So they're going to finish ahead of Pittsburgh and Boston. There's another trivia question. Wow. I mean, when's the last time that the Buffalo Sabres finished ahead of Pittsburgh and Boston in the standings? When would it have been? Yeah, the 80s? Maybe, I don't know.

Buffalo wasn't good in the 80s. Didn't they have a couple of Pat LaFontaine years? Mm, I thought it was more than 90s. Could have been, I mean, I don't know, but that's how bad the season's gone for Pittsburgh and that's how bad the season's gone for Boston as well. Yeah, and I mean, I don't know, but that's how bad the season's gone for Pittsburgh, and that's how bad the season's gone for Boston as well. Yeah. And I wonder, so what does Buffalo do with this great stretch?

Do they, because I think they've done this before. They have done it before. And then, so do they go into the off season now and be like, all right, I think we found something. Lindy finally got through to the guys, playing some good hockey. We're not going to make the big changes that we thought we were going to make. Well, it kind of relates to what the Canucks have done recently as well. It's like we're talking about, you know, all and talk it is talking about all the

important things that have happened for players. There are people texting in like the Canucks cannot lose suitor. Right. They cannot lose Suter. Right. They cannot lose Suter. So can you ignore the recency bias with Pugh Suter and look at the big picture? And it's hard to ignore what he's done with the opportunity that he's been granted.

And he's done great. But you've got to remember that this sample size that he scored all these goals and played 21 minutes a night and posted his career high 24 goals has come with a gigantic asterisk beside it. It's that he's been elevated into a position that quite frankly and let's be dead honest, if you're a contending team in the National Hockey League, you don't have Pugh Souter playing 21 minutes a night at center, right? But is there a team out there that is desperate for a 2C or a 3C that might look a pew suitor and go, we're going

to pay that guy. Sure. Like I think there's going to be some wild free agent deals this off season. I agree. There's a lot more money available. Everyone's got cap space. Yep.

And what we've learned about NHLGMs is when there's cap space, they talk themselves into some pretty big deals. Some of them work out, but a lot of them don't. I just think you got to be, you got to be careful with the buy high mentality. And that's the, that's this conversation that you're probably having in Buffalo right now.

It's like, are we going to get fooled by an eight and two mark in a 10 game stretch where we were playing loose and free because we were out of it, no one was really taking us seriously either. Like you go back and you look at the games that Buffalo's played recently, those are about as low stakes as it gets.

But they're piling up the goals. I know. They're just like. That's another thing with the Canucks at the end of the year. The Canucks have piled up the goals without Hedl, without Pedersen. You know, JT Miller's been gone for a long time now, but without a lot of

these guys, look at the Canucks goal scoring over the last three weeks. They're hitting five and six goals with regularity. Yeah. Regularity, which is crazy. So Mike, the urologist from Brockville says on Pew suitor, and you don't want to overpay for mid level players. We've done this before.

Yeah. I mean, that's where you can get, that's where you can get into trouble. When you overpay a guy by like 2 million bucks a year and you do it a bunch of times, like it adds up, you know, all I know is that this off season, the decisions that have to be made are like this massive long list of significant decisions starts with the head coach, Rick Tocket, and

it all kind of surrounds this narrative of not only do we have to improve this team, we have to make Quinn Hughes confident in our process. Yeah. I mean, this is obviously sports radio, so we want to keep the content somewhat exciting and relevant, but this is one of the most pivotal Canucks off seasons in franchise history, just because of the way this season has gone, but also the idea that the Canucks have had their best defenseman ever in Queen Hughes.

And then you go, okay, but to what end? Like they haven't done anything in the playoffs. They've gotten to the second round and lost to the Edmonton Oilers. Are they going to have this, I don't know if you want to throw it, for Canucks at least, generational defenseman. And is it going to end in anything? No, it's like, you know what, actually that's funny that you mentioned that, cause we're

going to do this in what we learned anyway, but that's the conversation right now that, um, in the NBA, the fans in Denver are having about the nuggets. Now they've won a championship. They've won a championship. With Nikola Jokic, but they're saying like, we have a generational NBA player and the

returns have been. To what end? Not enough. I mean, we have a generational NBA player and the returns have been. To what end? Not enough. I mean, we talked about the LA Angels being, they're having the, they had the longest, they have the current longest playoff drought in major league baseball and they had two generational players on a lot of those teams that missed the playoffs. Yep. Like it's great to have these players, but you

have to do something when you get the players. It's very true, Jason. And when. You do need to do something with it. And when the Canucks had the Sunnis and Luongo, they had a number of great regular seasons and they nearly won the Stanley Cup. Right?

The Canucks, it's possible they could have, you know, a young core, this young core that is Thatcher, Demko and Goal, Quinn Hughes on the blue line and Leas Peterson down the middle. And I throw Brock Besser on the wing. All guys that they drafted and developed, and it might just come to nothing. I want to end this segment by answering the question about the Buffalo Sabres, our SAG club brother, and as we talk about the Vancouver Connects, and then pivot to the Sabres.

Remember I asked, because the Sabres right now are ahead of both the Penguins and the Bruins and the Standings, when's the last time that would happen? I found the answer. 2005, 06, so over 20 years ago. More recently than I thought, but still 20 years ago. Someone texted in that they used chat GPT for it. Yeah, and I went and confirmed. Okay, Greg the Posty and Lad Wassum.

Do you know who the head coach of the Buffalo Sabres was? The last? Probably Lindy Ruff. Yeah, do you know who their captains were? Hmm. Was it Pekka, was it? Two current NHL general managers, co-captains. God, just tell me. Daniel Briere. Yeah. And Chris Drury. That's funny. Yeah, it's hilarious. So the coach is the coach from 20 years ago, but the captains

are guys that are now general managers of teams in the East that are also going to miss the playoffs. Okay. We got gotta go to break. Uh, when we come back, got a lot more to get into on the Halford and Breff show on Sportsnet 650. Gonna do a little college hockey talk. The Frozen Four gets underway tomorrow. Sean Hogan, the executive director of College Hockey Inc is going to join us. Uh, we will look ahead to the tournament.

We'll talk a little BU with Willander and Celebrini and we'll talk about the upcoming season of college hockey which of course now CHL players are NCAA eligible. Big sea change for college hockey. We'll talk about it next with Sean Hogan. You're listening to the Halford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650. 7.35 on a Wednesday, there's only one thing to do when a song like this plays. Strut. This is some disco. I should go to the bathroom. Don't mind me.

Called Rhythm Stick. Rhythm Stick. I got a couple jokes about that. I'm going to move along because it's too early in the morning. Half an impromptu in the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for debt help with over 3,000 five-star reviews. Visit Sands-Trustee.com for more. Why are you pausing?

Just taking it all in. We are in hour two of the program. We're actually at the midway point of the show. Sean Hogan from College Hockey Inc. is going to join us in just a moment. We're talking a little Frozen 4. Talk about the changing landscape of both the CHL and NCAA hockey. Before we do that, I need to tell you that we are in hour two of the program. Hour two is Brad Tubey, Jason Hominuk at Jason.mortgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit him online at Jason.mortgage. To the phone lines we go, Sean Hogan joins us now on the Halford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650. Good

morning, Sean. How are you? Hey, good morning. Excited to be here, excited to talk Frozen 4, talk about CHL and NCAA hockey, and appreciate the opportunity. Thanks for having me on. Yeah, thanks for coming on. We appreciate this. It's gonna be a fun time at the Frozen 4. Gets underway tomorrow.

Pretty interesting dynamic with the field. You got Penn State and Western Michigan, the newbies to the Frozen 4, making the tournament for the first time in program history. Then you've got two of the most storied programs in college hockey, BU going to the Frozen Four for the third straight season. And then there's Denver, which has won a record 10 national titles. So a pretty cool dynamic going into the Frozen Four here, Sean. Yeah, that makes it really exciting. I'm really looking forward to that actually. Two teams, like you said, Penn State and Western Michigan,

never been there before, but great hockey programs. I actually spent a little time at Western Michigan myself, so a little personal connection there. And then you got DU, not only going for two in a row, but three in the last four years. Just remarkable hockey program has been built at Denver and then always strong BU. And the number of NHL draft picks in this tournament is really high as well.

38 NHL draft picks played in the frozen four. So going to be some real high level hockey, some exciting hockey and Canadian audiences and check it out in TSM plus. So that's another added bonus. So Terry Pagula can build a hockey program because didn't, wasn't he the major donor for Penn State? Yeah, he was actually. So real interesting history at Penn State. They were a long time national power at the club hockey level in the ACHA and then got a big donation obviously from the Pazula family. Guy Giedowski has been able to build that into a national contender

this year and they're a good story in the sense that they did not start out well this year. I think at one point they might have been 0-6 or 0-8 in the Big Ten. They've had a great second half and they've just been on fire here down the stretch. And they're doing it as an entire team. There's not just one guy or two guys pulling the charge. That's just a deep program with long, heavy players, and then they're getting it done at the right time. Yeah, because I wanted to bring up the field because it's not just the traditional powerhouses that are advancing through this tournament anymore. Like you've got two newbies in there.

And then when I was going back and researching, I was looking at all these different programs that were kind of new to the scene and the growth. And I do want to go back. Can you tell me what and where and who Bentley is and how they were able to qualify for a regional tournament? I had never heard of the school before. I didn't even realize they were D1. Can you tell me a little bit about them before we look forward ahead to the Frozen Four? Yeah, absolutely. So college hockey is interesting in the sense that there's 64 NCAA Division One programs and they go from the largest universities in the world that you can think of and you know Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, all the way down to smaller schools that

have Division I hockey and Bentley College is one of those schools. They're in Massachusetts and they've really invested in that hockey program recently and an outstanding coaching staff, a new facility. Uh, and they've really been able to, to elevate that program, uh, the last few years and they took it, you know, they went down to the wire, uh, that, uh, in Atlantic hockey, the Holy cross champion, uh, versus Holy cross in the Atlantic hockey championship game. Uh, and then, you know, took, uh, took a real run, uh, in the tournament as well. So then that's the exciting thing about our sport. And subway division

one hockey in the sense that it's not always the big brands winning championships, smaller schools win a national championship in division one hockey. And that's not necessarily true in football and basketball. That's one of the things I really love about our game. So who are the players to watch the frozen for and hopefully one of them is Tom Willander? Yeah, I was gonna say for the Vancouver audience for sure, Tom Willander at BU, an outstanding defenseman who shuts everything down all over the ice, skates extremely well.

And the other Vancouver draft pick, Aidan Celebrini also plays for, uh, for BU, a defensive defenseman. So those are two guys of Vancouver audience. Just take a look at, and then, you know, for Denver to win, I think Matt Davis or goaltender has to be outstanding. I don't not, I don't know the exact step, but I want to say he hasn't led in more than a goal, uh, the, the entire tournament, uh, if they're going to have success, they're going to need outstanding goaltending, uh, that Alex bump for Western Michigan university.

Uh, he's a player that in the tournament hasn't put up a ton of points, but man he creates offense every time he's on the ice. He's a really exciting player to watch. I think I want to say one of the tournament games he put up 10 shots on net, 12 shots on net in one game. So creates offense all over the ice. So a lot of high-end players, like I said 38 NHL draft picks are playing on the frozen floor. It's just, they're going to be real fun to watch. So you mentioned that Tom Willander, you know, shutting down the other team's best players.

Is there a comparable you have to him? I mean, I'm thinking about right shot defensive defensemen, I'm like, I'll just Chris Tanev, I guess Brandon Carlo, like, is there, is there a guy that is in the NHL or you've seen before that Tom Willander reminds you of? Um, you know, that's probably a little outside my wheelhouse, but when I think of like really good skating defensemen that played college

hockey, that can create offense and shut players down, a recent comparable would be like Owen Power in my mind. He just the way they play the game, the way they see the game, just real dominant at the college level. Um, what does he, what does he have to work on? Uh, well, I think with any young player, um, everything about everybody's game needs to improve. He'll probably create some more offense if he wants to be that type of player in the

NHL. But what I really like about it is just his ability to, he shuts down entries extremely well, a good stick, stick on puck, closes off, peels them off at the wall and just can really dominate the game that way. Has St. Louis hosted the Frozen Four before? Oh good question I want to say they have before it was back maybe in the early 80s I don't want to say Michigan Tech won it that year. That's a real good question making me really rack my brain. Sorry I'm putting you on the spot here.

Yeah, it might have been the last time Michigan Tech won a national championship, and that would have been the early 80s. We're speaking to Sean Hogan from College Hockey, Inc. here on the Halford and Bruff Show on Sportsnet 650. So without glossing over the frozen floor here, Sean, there is another massive moment coming up on the horizon for college hockey.

So effective August 1, 2025 CHL players. So from the QMJHL, the OHL and the Western Hockey League are gonna be permitted to play NCAA hockey. Looking ahead as I'm sure there's already been some rumblings and some commits and stuff like that, how dramatic is the landscape gonna change come August 1st, 2025? Well, that is a very exciting news, as you said.

The landscape will likely change dramatically. I think college hockey will very likely become more Canadian. I mean, there's roughly, what is it, 1,300 players or so in the CHL. Those players now become eligible for NCAA Division I hockey. So that's a whole new player pool

of pretty high-end players that now have the opportunity to choose NCAA Division I hockey as part of their development path on the road to the NHL. So what we do, one of the things we do at College Hockey, Inc. is we do a lot of research and we take a look at rosters and where players played on their road to Division I. And when we do those rosters next year, it's going to be really interesting how many CHL players are now playing NCAA hockey on the road to the NHL. And it's going to be a good change for the players. I'm excited to see that, you know, the players don't have to make these decisions, especially

in Western Canada at 14, 15 years old. They can play really anywhere they want. They can play in the WHL now and they can choose NCAA hockey when they're ready to play NCAA hockey. So it's a good thing for the players. What's the sell job for players to leave the CHL and go to the NCAA? Is it just it's better hockey and the guys are older or is it the college experience? Oh, I think it's all of that.

I think what we're going to see going forward, I think it's all of that. I think what we're gonna see going forward, and I think in the beginning it might be a little sticky, but when we look at this in three and five years from now, I think the WHL and the CHL will have the best, you know, and the USHL will have the best 16, 17, 18 year old players in the world playing in their leagues. And then when a Division I school calls in, 18, 19, 20 years old,

that'll be the next step on their road to the NHL. And then what I see from the NHL's perspective is the number of NHL players that play college right now is about a third of the league, 33%. I think that number probably goes up above 50. And it kind of becomes almost what the NBA is to college. Not every player in the NBA played college basketball, but most of the guys do. And I think they'll matriculate at 16, 17, 18 in the CHL

and then they'll play NCAA Division I hockey after that and then get to the NHL at 21, 22 years old. So sandwich between the semifinals on Thursday and the final on Saturday is the Hobie Baker award ceremony on Friday night? Who's gonna win the Hobie this year? Oh Man good question As a hockey administrator, I don't want to yeah, I got you I got you Hobie this year. Yeah that way You know, he's got a real good shot at winning He's such an outstanding player.

And he's gonna be a big factor if Denver has any success in the frozen four as well. Okay, so as I mentioned, you've got Denver, Western Michigan tomorrow, followed by Penn State BU. The final goes on Saturday. The semifinals are tomorrow. Hey, Sean, thanks a lot for taking the time

to do this today, man. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the frozen four. It should be a lot of fun. I appreciate it. Everybody check it out. If you can, excited to be on today. Thanks, guys.

Thank you. That's Sean Hogan from College Hockey, Inc. here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. So, whoops, sorry. So, the reason I brought up Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts is because. Where do you go to school? Waltham. Waltham, Massachusetts is because. Where do you go to school? Waltham, Waltham.

It is a very, very tiny school and a very, very tiny program, right? 5,000 student enrollment. They don't have a lot, I mean they basically began as a club team and then slowly worked their way up. Do you know who currently plays for Bentley University? I don't.

I don't. A handful of BC boys. I won't name them by name, but there's a young freshman forward from Finland by the name of Oliver Salo. Is that Sammy's boy? Yeah. Oh, awesome. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They've got an interesting,

they also have Bernard Dockers younger brother, Seth Bernard Dockers. But anyway, I only brought it up because I was doing some college hockey research going into the, not the frozen four, but the regionals. And I'm like, what the hell is Bentley University? I'd never heard of it. I think they're like a business and finance school.

They are. Yeah, yeah. In Waltham, Massachusetts. Right think they're like a business and finance school. They are. Yeah. In Waltham, Massachusetts. Right. Anyway. They all wear suits to school. And briefcases. Yeah, that's right.

What's in the briefcase? Crackers. It's interesting because it's kind of reflective of how much college hockey is growing. And then what Sean was talking about, how much it's gonna grow. I really wonder where NCAA hockey is going to go in terms of more schools in sort of non-traditional,

like not the three Ms, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Michigan, and what these schools are going to do in terms of like, maybe new conferences will start popping up, maybe more schools, like the big schools that don't necessarily have hockey programs. College hockey is kind of hard to follow, um, or hard to get into in some ways, if you're

used to traditional college sports that we follow. Yeah. Basketball. It's way different. And, and football. It's like, what is hockey East? Yeah. Like I see the big 10 there.

They're around. Yeah. It's about to get really real though, for the CHL you guys, I think once players start realizing that at 18, 19 these colleges really want them to come now, WHL teams are going to be missing key players that are going to leave and play against the older talent that exists in the NCAA. So it's going to be not, I wouldn't say reckoning that's like a probably blowing it out of proportion, but there's going to be a lot of owners in the CHL

that are very angry that key players are gonna be off their roster because they wanna go play as a- But they're gonna get, I guess the alternative is like, they're gonna get those key players to commit to them as 16, 17- They'll get them at the younger age. They'll get them at the younger age, right? But they won't get them for their 18, 19, 20-year-olds.

Yeah, I wonder if there will be like a path that everyone starts following, like a consensus path that develops that you go to the, if you're in Canada, that you go to the CHL and then you go to college hockey. Or will there be still that decision to make where some people will be like, ah, you know, like college isn't really for me. I'm going to stay in Brandon. Yeah. You know? Well.

Some people it's just not a reality to get into college, so they will stick with their team. They'll find a way. There's always ways around it. Yeah. But does that make- Are you suggesting? But does that make the caliber of CHL hockey better or worse? The fact that they're going to get them at 15, 16, 17, but not 18, 19, 20. I would think they're better hockey players at 18, 19, 20.

Don't you think the only surefire winner in all of this is going to be the NCAA? I think so. Like, cause we don't know what it's going to mean for the CHL. And we certainly don't know what it's going to mean for the BCHL or the USHL But the NCAA looks like they're gonna get whatever they want You know, like what is what is the NCAA not gonna get the floor just just got risen Yeah, huge in NCAA hockey like I want to exist in a world where we've got like Auburn and Alabama and Georgia fully thriving NCAA. Hey, Cam Talbot played for Alabama.

Yeah, but not the University of Alabama. No. It was Alabama Huntsville or something. Yeah. They had a hockey program at the time. Could you imagine the SEC having a full-fledged? No, I can't imagine. It would be a... I mean, it's light years away from happening, but it would be amazing

if it happened. There'd be a lot of talent floating around in that league though. What would you choose? Like let's go back and let's say you're 15 years old and you're a pretty good player and like a really good player. Yeah. Like people are already talking about, you know,

you could be in the NHL one day, maybe a first round draft pick. What would you do? Go to the intervall. Well, if you're that good, you're probably not even NHL one day, maybe a first round draft pick. What would you do? Go to the. Well, if you're that good, you're probably not even making it to college to be quite honest with you, if you're like a Macklin Sellebrini kind of guy, you're getting picked at 17, 18, and then

you're right off to the NHL. Okay, well let's say you're not that guy. If you're a tweener. You're a tweener. Yeah. Then yeah, you probably play until you're 18 at your, whatever your CHL club is. And then the first opportunity after you

graduate grade 12, you're heading to college. No, I'm asking you like personally. Yeah, I would go right to college. Yeah. And, and, and so why? That's, that's the big question. The quality of the hockey or is it the experience? It's similar to what Auston Matthews did in his

kind of tweener year, right? He went to Europe, played against the men in the Swizzle. In his gap year. In his gap year. Yeah. Backfacking. So I would, I would take it as the same league. In his gap year. In his gap year. Yeah. So I would, I would take it as the same way. If I'm maybe I need an extra year of development,

I'm going to do it in the league that has 23, 24 year old players, not in the league that maxes out at 20, 21. Some guys don't want to go through the whole college thing. Like they don't want to go to school. How could you not? Cause you imagine going to play hockey at

Arizona State for four years. Every player I've talked to. And in fairness, full disclosure, I worked in the BCHL, so these were players that were geared to go to NCAA. But the way they talked about going to those programs, it was bigger than the NHL. Like this was, that was their dream is to play for some of these programs, like University of

Michigan, North Dakota, hockey mad schools. Right. But it seems to me it's more, I guess it's becoming more of a Canadian dream, but it was always an American dream. Like, none of us up here in Canada really, I mean, I won't say none of us, but we didn't watch college hockey growing up. I don't know anything about it. No, it wasn't good.

We knew about the CHL and the Memorial Cup, and that was a big deal. And now we're starting to see more games televised, and we're starting to see more star players go the college route. But I'm still not into the, I mean, I love college football, college basketball, I could take or leave these days, but I don't see me ever getting into college hockey.

But I don't think that's the point of it. I don't think the point of it is to make it a more spectator-friendlier to draw. I think the main point of this is to improve the caliber of play and also have it replace the Canadian Hockey League is the premier development league. Cause right now, I would still say that the CHL is more geared towards producing NHL players

because of the schedule and the travel and they're treated like professional franchise. If you are a celebrity going to the NHL immediately, like there's no better league for you to play in than the CHL. I wonder if that's gonna change because all of a sudden, the spike in talent is gonna go through.

And if it starts to mimic the other feeder leagues like the NFL, where do all their players come from? NCAA football, the NBA, where previously did all their players come from? Collegiate basketball. Is the NCAA gonna have a one and done thing now? Maybe. You know?

I don't know. It's just a really interesting change. The? Maybe. You know? I don't know. It's just a really interesting- The one rule- Super fascinating to keep an eye on. The one rule they gotta change is this rule where if you're drafted out of the CHL and you're 19, that you can't go to the AHL. Yeah, it's ridiculous.

I mean, that is, that's not like, so all this- Antiquated. All this thing, the whole thing should be Yeah, it's ridiculous. I mean, that is, that's not like, so all this- Antiquate. All this thing, the whole thing should be, but it's not. It should be what's best for the players. And I've never, I've understood the rule from a business perspective, right? The CHL, if they're not going to the NHL, they're coming back to the CHL because I want to sell tickets in London. You know?

Right. Got to keep the hundreds happy. But like I always felt that was just like so unfair to the players because the difference between the CHL and the NHL is so massive. And you draft out of the CHL and there's a kid that clearly the best option, clearly the best option would be the AHL. And then you have to make this silly decision between you want to go back and dominate in the CHL or do you want to stay in the NHL and struggle?

Yeah. I'm with you. Look no further than the guy that just knocked the Vancouver Giants out of the playoffs, Spokane Chiefs, Andrew Crystal. Yep. 72 points in 29 games with Spokane. What is he getting out of that?

He should be in the NHL. What is he getting out of that? Well, it's probably pretty fun for him. Probably, but is he getting better? If he was in. How do the Capitals feel about all of this? Also, his name should be Cristal. It's a missed marketing opportunity.

He has two L's on the end of his name. It's all there for him, Cristal. Cristal, anyway, got to go to break. When we come back, we're going to check in with Randip Janda. He was on the call last night for the greatest comeback in NHL history. I'm elevating it every hour. I'm making it more and more. But you could legitimately say that that was the greatest comeback in NHL history last night, because it's never happened before. Three goals in the final minute. A 5-2 deficit turns into a 5-5 tie and the Canucks win it 6-5 in overtime against the Stars. Randy was on the call last night. We'll talk to him next on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650.