Halford & Brough in the Morning - Sports Pettiness Brings Us All Together

Episode Date: May 12, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason chat with The Athletic NHL's Sean McIndoe (2:57) about the Leafs Panthers series, which sees Toronto tied with Florida heading into game five after originally going up 2-0, plus they chat with Abbotsford Canucks commentator Brandon Astle (25:39) about Abby making it to the third round of the AHL playoffs for the first time in club history.  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.

7.02 on a Monday! Happy Monday everybody. Palford Brub, Sportsnet 650. Get tuned. Quickly becoming one of my favorite music days. 80's day. 80's Monday. Unlicensed 80's Monday. What did you search for this one?

Search some Hall & Oates feel to it. I searched cheesy 80's dad rock. Yeah, Hall & Oates. I really like this. You are listening to the Hal Ferdinand Brush Show on Sports Night 650. Hal Ferdinand Brush of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for dad help with over 3,000 five star reviews. Visit them online at sans-trustee.com. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio.

Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. Man, we got some good responses from that question about if the Canucks ever get back to the Stanley Cup final. The year is 2,436. Canada has annexed the United States. Reverse flipped script on him. Yeah, the reverse annexation didn't see it coming and The Canucks have once again made the Stanley Cup final table saw James. I would absolutely Not want non Canucks fans to cheer for the Canucks

When they reach another cup final 10 to 50 years from now. You have to be born into this misery. You don't get to watch all the bad years from afar and think, wow that team's a mess. See the last season and then start cheering for them just because they are Canadian and you don't want to cheer for an American team because of tariffs or whatever other political nonsense will be happening at that time. The we are all Canucks mantra is only for actual Canucks fans and not for some transplanted Leafs fan that throws on a Canucks jersey and goes to a couple of games a year. TableSaw James has thought about this one.

Yeah, TableSaw James. That came from a deep dark place, buddy. It's supposed to be a light breezy conversation, seven o'clock in the morning on a Monday. That one got deep. A reminder, we are now officially in hour two of the program. Hour two is brought to you by Jason Hominuk at 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. Visit them online at Jason.mortgage. We're going to go now to the hotline powered by Power West Industries. You know him as down goes Brown.

You also know him as Sean McIndoe from the athletic. He joins us here in the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Sean. How are you? You know, I was already a little down and, uh, geez, that intro, I'm bummed out now. Is that guy okay? No, we're not okay here. That guy is all of us here in Vancouver.

Here's a question for you. Do you want the rest of the country to cheer for the Leafs? I, you know what? I, I haven't spent a second thinking about that because I mean, you might as well ask me if I want to sprout wings and fly around the room. We know that.

We know that's not happening. And look, I've said the same thing. I've heard you guys say similar. I feel like the Jets are the only team that that's even remotely in play for. And anyone else, let's be honest. I mean, we can talk a good game. We can make little commercials and all that stuff

about uniting as a country. I don't think it's going to happen. I don't, uh, you know, you're, you're worried about Leaf fans jumping on the Vancouver bandwagon. I got great news for you. Don't worry about it. Put your mind at ease.

It probably wouldn't happen and certainly going the other way. I'm, I'm not, uh, I'm not printing any tickets to any Leafs bandwagons because I think I know how that's gonna go. This whole thing about it's okay if Winnipeg wins, I have no time for that. You want Winnipeg being able to shoot its mouth off? We need to keep Winnipeg in its place

and Winnipeg knows it needs to know its place in this country. I tweeted this out yesterday. Like, yeah, they're cute and largely harmless now, but what if they win the cup? I cannot live in a country where Winnipeg is able to run its mouth. Like, do you want that? Do you remember when Boston used to be the lovable loser city, except for the Celtics? Look at what the Red Sox coming back

in 2004 created. They're a monster now. Do you want Winnipeg to be the monster of Canada? I mean you're making some good points. I gotta give it to you. The thing with Winnipeg that's always sort of struck me is it's that 15 year gap where they didn't have a team. It's that 15-year gap where they didn't have a team. That's the thing that I think in the eyes of other fans sort of humbles them a little bit and it's kind of that worst case scenario and you go, all right, you know what? Maybe that's the equation. 15 years without a team equals one Stanley Cup where the rest of the country doesn't immediately turn on you.

By the way, as a Leaf fan, I might take that deal right about now. But maybe that's maybe we can crunch the numbers run through Dom's model or something and figure out exactly what the exchange rate is. But I feel like 15 years without buys you a little bit of empathy from me but you're right only a little bit. It would take about a day and a half before you were completely tired of the memes coming out of Winnipeg. Okay, so when we last did a show, it was Friday, and the Leafs were up two nothing in the series,

and then after we got off the air, game three was played, and the Leafs had not one, but two two goal leads in that game three to take a seemingly insurmountable three nothing lead in the series. And now we do our show today, and the series is is tied two two and it's a best of three and it feels like the momentum is sure swung back in the way of the Florida Panthers. How are you as a Leaf fan feeling right now, Sean?

I mean, this is, this is just business as usual. If you're a Leaf fan, I've, I've probably beaten this statistic into the ground over the last little while, but I'll pull it out one more time. If you started watching hockey in 1964, so you're very, very old, 60 plus years now, you've seen the Maple Leafs win a best of seven series in five games or less one time in 60 plus years you've seen them win the Stanley Cup often than you've seen them win a quick easy no-worry playoff series which is pretty amazing considering their entire thing is that they never

win the Stanley Cup so we thought against Ottawa where they got up three nothing the seemingly insurmountable lead and then played some of their worst hockey of the of the series and now we're seeing it against a much much better Florida team and you know honestly given how the series has gone 2-2 is is about right this isn't a situation where I think you look at this and say you know the Leafs have blown something that they should have had or that they're lucky to be there. 2-2 is about right, but you're right. All the momentum's on the Florida side now. After two straight wins, and we're seeing it last night, was that

classic Leafs playoff game. Everyone's squeezing the sticks a bit tight. Nobody can score. Nobody can create much of anything. Um, and, uh, you know, maybe having the extra day off helps, uh, helps Toronto kind of get, get back on their feet, but it really does feel like certainly from a Leafs perspective, Wednesday is the series. Yeah. Because if they lose, make it three straight,

lose on home ice, I, there is nothing at all in this team's DNA that makes you think they're coming back and winning two straight elimination games to take a series. Austin Matthews is going to be a real focus in game five. Where do you stand on the issue with Austin Matthews right now? Are you ripping him for not showing up or are you giving him a break because well, he's clearly hurt.

Well, I mean, I'm not I don't think you can rip them for not showing up. I mean this isn't he's not skating around the perimeter and staying out of things and what have you but he's also not scoring and he's the highest paid player in the league by not scoring and he's the highest paid player in the league by a cap hit this year. You got to score. They didn't, they're not paying 13 million dollars for a Selke candidate on the third line to shut the other teams line down. You need the offense and hey maybe as far as the injuries we all assume he's battling something.

We saw him block the shot with his hand. We know that earlier in the year he missed time. He hasn't looked right all year. But this is the NHL. They don't tell us what injuries are. So you know what? If you're not going to tell me what a guy is dealing with, I'm not going to... I can't really factor that in the equation now, can I, as a fan? So, yeah, he's ultimately... he's got a score. He's got two goals in the playoffs this year, which is not good for a guy making his money and his spot in the lineup, but it's actually even worse than that because you look at those two goals, one was an empty netter on a brilliant Mitch Marner pass that you or I could have

scored, and the other one was sort of a flkey seeing eye goal against the senators. We haven't seen a classic Austin Matthews goal in this postseason period. They need it soon. And they need, you know, we have to this day, never seen the capital letters, the Austin Matthews game in the playoffs. Just has not happened. That's really interesting.

That's really interesting. That's really interesting. Yeah. You know, if I said the Leon Dreisaitl game or the Nathan McKinnon game or down the list, or even the Willie Nealenter game, you'd be able to pick something. It's not there for us to Matthews. They need it.

If they're going to go anywhere, whether it's this year or any other year, they need a few of those, just haven't seen it yet. Uh, where is the city right now on, on Mitch Marner, do they, do they want him back or do they want to let him go? You know, it's, uh, it's been teetering on the Razor's edge for a little while and, uh, to his

credit, Mitch Marner had been pretty, pretty good in round one and, and, uh, in early in this season. I mean, that, that's always been the thing with Mitch Min from afar you say oh yeah i mean we can think that mitch martin doesn't get done the playoff it's it's more specific than that mitch martin gets it done in games one through four the playoffs and then it's games five through seven where the production falls off to work

right at that point he wasn't great in florida uh... certainly wasn't alone on that but uh... i do but it does feel like if this continues to go the way it seems like it's going and if we see the kind of traditional Mitch Marner in whatever is left of this series, I could see it tipping back to, hey, we're tired of this guy, or maybe more along the lines of, hey, Mitch Marner is a good player, he's played well, but we're tired of this team. We need to change it up somehow. And maybe that's, that's the way you do it.

Ultimately might not be up to the Leafs either. Might be up to Mitch Marner. So, we'll see how it goes, but he's also one play away from getting everybody right back on his side. Is there a player out there that Leafs fans are clamoring for the Leafs to get? Like is it Sam Bennett? Do they want Sam Bennett? I don't, well I think Leaf fans want Sam Bennett right now, but maybe not on the roster.

Maybe somewhere else. Maybe out in a parking lot somewhere. I don't know. You know what? If Mitch marner were to leave uh... it under whatever circumstances his own choice or otherwise the leaps are gonna have a cut a cap and that is both a great situation to be in and also potentially a terrible one if uh... if if they're not they could straight you could see them uh... go out and they can also take no i i don't think there's anyone

that we can to reporting to you it being that the guy that we need uh... maybe they might feel like they did it and that it type but but whether or not that actual sam vetted i'm not sure i if i can bet that i'm not taking i don't know if i'm answer in the phone when the leaves call in july one of the two which come out to the fill it with a command uh... you know me that uh... be that the reason we don't don't ask where out to the facility? Why don't you come and, you know, meet us, uh, uh, meet us at the arena. Don't worry.

Don't, don't ask why Ryan Reeves is here. Don't worry about it. It's fine. We just, we just want to talk, Sam. Um, we have been enjoying here in Vancouver, the appreciation for Kristanov, but it's kind of like, you guys didn't know this guy, what he, what he was made of?

Um, what's he meant to the Toronto Maple Leafs and how many people were surprised at the things that he's really good at? Yeah, he almost has been a surprise and you're right. It's not that he's doing anything that wasn't expected and geez, I mean, when the Toronto Maple Leafs sign a free agent, it's not that he's doing anything that wasn't expected and geez, I mean when the Toronto Maple Leaf sign a free agent it's not like those guys usually end up being underrated coming into their first season.

But it's not what he does, it's just how often and the sheer consistency and this guy is just, I mean it feels like like we're watching them in the playoffs feel like he's out there half the time i mean you look at the the status after the gate you expect to be accepted there are thirty or thirty five minutes and not play that much but he's he's out there he's always blocking shot he's always clear all the things all the things to your cranky uncle has always wanted to leave defenseman to do

uh... this guy does and uh... you know he's been fantastic. And I'll be honest that when they signed that deal, why Abra kind of went up and, and, uh, because of his age, because of the wear and tear, because of the fact that six years, how is this possibly going to end, but he's lived up to every penny and, and much, much more in year one, which was always the plan. That's what you had to count on, but, uh, he's, he's been fantastic. every penny and much much more in year one which was always the plan that's what you had to count on but he's he's been fantastic he's been a lot of fun to

watch which is not always something you can say about the noble defensive defenseman. I do want to circle back on the Bennett situation but more in the present rather than looking to the future because he did take out the Toronto Maple Leafs starting netminder and according to the most latest report came out Yesterday or two a day ago from Josh cloak and Chris Johnson a athletic It doesn't sound like Stollers is gonna return in this series So under normal circumstances the guy takes out your starting goal in you're forced to ride your back up for the remainder of the series Like that's a see that's a friend

Series altering moment, but Joe wall. I mean yesterday he was the best leaf I'd say by a considerable margin. So really has an impact on the series as it normally would. What's the sort of vibe been around that entire narrative and conversation with Bennett taking out Stoller, Stoller's out, Wall coming in, but then Wall being one of the best maple leaves? Yeah, it's been a little bit weird because typically if you take the teams and the names

out of it and you just say, we're, we're into the playoffs and one team is going to have their goalie intentionally injured by a player on the other team who is known for, for dirty hits and known for injuring guys, you would think, man, that's going to be the absolute monster story. And it was for about 24 hours and then Paul Maurice made some jokes about the media having their hair on fire and it's almost like everyone went, okay, got it, sir, we won't talk about this anymore and we're just going to pretend that Anthony Stallers just booked some time off or,

you know, went on vacation. And not that he got wiped out by a really dirty play as far as how we fans are looking at Joseph Wall it's it's been weird because for the first few games of the series he was okay he wasn't great the numbers were not great I don't think he was the reason that they lost game three certainly and and he obviously played well enough to win in games one and two but he hadn't been very good in fact the the the more out there contingently fans who is certainly is not a small wing of the of the fan base you had heard the mumblings of hey you know geez we got Matt Murray is two-time Stanley Cup winner is is should we have a short lead Sean Wold?

Do we maybe swap this out? I think last night quiets that because he was very very good last night. That should I think spell the end of that narrative for at least the 72 hours we've got until the next game and then if he gives up a goal on shot number one, then we'll maybe be right back into it. But yeah, it's a concern and it's a big story and, and it's, uh, it's not often you can look at something with the Toronto Maple Leafs and say it should have been a bigger story than it was, but I don't,

I kind of wonder if this maybe should have been, uh, it is, as Sean mentioned a two day break. Now the Leafs and the Panthers, don't get back underway until Wednesday when the series shows back to Toronto game five, Wednesday, four o'clock puck drop part-time. Uh, Sean, enjoy the next couple of days. I'm sure you'll know it out. Just be chilling and relaxing as you wait.

Yeah, I'm not going to enjoy it at all, but thank you for that. Have a good one, buddy. Thanks for doing this. Right on. Uh, Sean McIndoe better known as Down Goes Brown here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650.

If the Canucks ever get back to another Stanley Cup final, will you want the rest of the country to cheer for them? And don't forget, clearly back in 2011, people were upset that the rest of the country didn't cheer for them. The Canucks themselves were upset on the media side of things.

Um, so there was a contingent of people that I guess you have to deduce wanted the rest of the country to support the Canucks. I am now, I can't remember what I was in 2011. I think it didn't bother me as much as some people, but I am a hard no on this. Like I am decisively, I'm not, I'll take it either way. I do not want the rest of the country to cheer for the Canucks.

I hope they cheer so hard against the Canucks. And look, if the Canucks lose, so be it. I have survived that before. I am still here. I am emotionally damaged, but I am still here. Here's the thing. If they win, I won't have to go and thank the rest of the country for the support. I won't have to be like, I really appreciated

you guys all kind of coming together. Thank you, Boston Pizza. Sure. For pre-planning the parade or whatever is going on. Catering it. I think that in Canada, our NHL rivalries are in a healthy way strong. It's just hockey, right? At the end of the. Like it's just hockey, right? At the end of the day, it's just hockey. And, um, I think there's an element of, for sure, what I'm talking about, like I'm petty.

I don't want any other Canadian city to be able to enjoy a Stanley Cup. I want it for Vancouver. I want it so badly for Vancouver. You know, the Canucks have never won the Stanley cup. I want not only for the next Stanley cup winner from Canada to be able to say we broke the drought, but I want that for the Canucks.

Like I want the double. I want, we've won the cup finally, and also we broken the drought. Yeah. It's goes, it's a long, long time now. This isn't a 10, 15 year drought. This is 1993. I was in high school when the last Canadian

team won the Stanley cup and I don't want it for Toronto. I don't want it for Edmonton. I don't want it for Winnipeg either. I don't. I want it for the Canucks and I want to gloat if it happens and I will not any Canadian team like even if it's Winnipeg they're so played on the Prairies if Winnipeg wins the cup this year I'll be like gloat away Winnipeg

everyone is always always you know like crapping on Winnipeg and making fun of Winnipeg. Oh, it's too cold in the winter and it's buggy in the summer. It's ugly. No one wants to live in Winnipeg. Like Halford says, it's on everyone's no trade list. Imagine being a Winnipegger and you're the one that won the Stanley cup. Imagine the gloating. Like I don't even know if they know how to gloat, but I might fly out there and teach them, although I'm not the greatest gloater ever

because I don't get to gloat. And you would be able to fly out there because they'd finally get an airport. They'd finally get the airport, right? Yeah, finally get the airport built. They'll get it. I mean, most of the time you have to land on the highway there, which is actually not all that dangerous

because there's not many cars there. But you know, it's just, if you were Winnipeg, imagine you win the cup and you can say, God, the rest of you guys are losers. We lost our team for like, what, a decade? A decade and a half? And you guys still couldn't break the drought. We didn't even have a team,

we didn't even have a team in the fight. And then we come back, and then we come back, and we're the first ones to win the cup since 1993? God, you guys are losers. In the time it took us to get our team back, your team still hasn't won a cup and we won one before you. And people will come with the predictable, at least I don't have to live in Winnipeg. And they'll just laugh at you. They'll be like, yeah, yeah, yeah. We know this is killing you. It would.

You live in Winnipeg. Yeah, we're having a parade. We know this is killing you Yeah, we're having a parade I was pretty neutral to the Jets winning a cup, but you may have just swayed me there hearing that argument coming back in my face Yeah, can you imagine really annoying? Can you imagine? Getting made fun of by someone from Winnipeg and them having a leg to stand on Yeah, we can't have exactly right We can't have it exactly, right? They finally got internet and now they're dunking on me. Yeah. You're the worst.

Yeah, they dial up on their modems and then they do this. It might take them 20 minutes, but it would get to me eventually. Yeah. It's a fax. It's time now for Wondawatch brought to you by Delaney's OK Tire. I am going to finally pay a little bit of attention to the Washington Capitals, Carolina Hurricane series with this one to watch, because tonight's one to watch is Alexander Ovechkin.

Ovechkin, who you may remember is the NHL's all time leading goal scorer, does not have a goal in this series. More importantly, does not have an assist, which means he has no points in the capital's second round series against Carolina. He has only mustered eight shots on goal through three games. Now trailing Carolina to one in this series, uh, Ovechkin who is also the Washington captain has been really quiet on the power play.

He has just one shot on goal despite the fact he's been out there for nearly 12 minutes of power play time. This is just the second time all season that Ovi has gone three straight games without a single point. It happened back in early January when he was just coming back from his injury. He hasn't gone four consecutive games

without a goal all season. So there is some optimism tonight that he will find one in game four. It could be just what the Capitals need to tie up this series. It's time to put on your Toyo tires, whether you drive a car, light truck or van. Toyo tires are designed to perform in all kinds of conditions. Visit Delaney's OK Tire in Langley and Aldergrove. OK Tire Service

Repair and Tires. Coming up on the other side of the break, we're going to go local. We're going to talk Canucks of the Abbotsford variety. Brandon Astle, play-by-play voice of the Abbotsford Canucks is going to join us on the program. The Abbotsford Canucks for the first time in franchise history are headed to the third round of the Calder Cup playoffs. We'll talk to Brandon about all that coming up next on the Halford and Brough

Show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Strance. 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. Seven seconds to go for the first time in franchise history. The Amersfoort Canucks are off to the third round of the Colter Cup Playoffs! 7.32 on a Monday. Happy Monday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650.

Halford and Brough of the Morning is brought to you by Sands & Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit them online at sands-trustee.com. We are now in hour two of the program. Midway point of the show. Hour two of this program is brought to you by 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 them online at jason. then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at jason.mortgage.

Our next guest come courtesy the hotline powered by Power West Industries. It's Brandon Astle, the play by play voice of the career or Aventure Canucks here on the Haliford and Rough show on Sportsnet 650. Morning Brandon, how are you? You know what boys, it was a successful weekend for me watching hockey, like very rare where everything just came together. Uh, obviously the big one for me is Aventure closing out their series against Coachella who've won the West and back to back here.

So that was nice to start off a Friday and then the hate watching in the NHL playoffs was unreal. The Leaf lose twice, Edmonton and Winnipeg both lose. So I enjoyed all that and Bruff, I heard you, I totally, I 100% agree with you about not wanting another Canadian team to win the cup other than the Canucks, like respectfully to the people out there that cheer for the Canucks but want

another Canadian team to bring the cup back to Canada, make zero sense to me. Again, respectfully, I just couldn't deal with it. Like you said, Bruff, like what, what do we get as a nation if another Canadian team wins? Did the tariffs go away?

Did the Canadian dollar go up? No, all we get is that fan base rubbing in our faces and they broke the curse and I don't want that. Exactly, but cheering against each other is what brings our country together in these tough times where we have to come together as a nation through petty sports jealousy, right? We won the four nations.

That's all that matters. Like we won the four nations. We got to go win the Olympics next year. That's what matters. When you're, when you're cheering for your country, you cheer for your country, not a club team in the country, you cheer against them. Uh, tell us about the Abbotsford Canucks.

Um, who has been leading the charge for them? Who has allowed them to get to the, what are we, three steps away or two steps away from the finals against the Colorado Eagles? I have trouble with the Calder Cup playoffs because there's like five rounds. It's very confusing. Yeah, I know. Totally agree. Abbotsford needs to win three more rounds in order to capture the Caler Cup, but the first run obviously was the best of three. The last one is best of five, the next one is best of five, so they're not all best of sevens.

But I'll go with a couple of guys, bro. First and foremost, the man in there, Arthur Shelops, he's been spectacular, especially at home lately. Over his last three starts at Avetur's center, he's allowed just one goal total and has a shutout in two of those which were closeout games So he's coming up clutching big scenarios Just like so calm and confident back there and I look back over these last two wins over Coachella The team took a while to get the first shot on both of those nights while he faced quite a bit of rubber and made some big stops to keep it scoreless and

I thought like who knows how those games maybe end up with a five bird squeak one or two by him early. And just looking at what he's accomplishing and what the guys are saying about him after the game, he just loses so much confidence in the group. And right now leaves the playoffs and wins and shutouts and just providing that elite goaltending that you need if you want to make a deep playoff run. So back there, he's been great upfront. Arguably their MVP all season Sammy Blay. This is a guy that was searching to get back in the NHL. Like I don't know what his offers were in the offseason. Maybe there were some overseas but he ended up taking an AHL deal in Abbotsford and he's maintained his position since day one that he wants to get back to the NHL.

And I think he's doing a great job of getting himself back on the radar. Like, is he young anymore? No. Is he old? I would say not. He's 28, maybe stepping up to the 10th tee on the back nine right now and still has a lot to give. And this is someone who missed two months of action early in the year. Like he got hurt pretty in early October, didn't come back until late December and still almost led the team in scoring.

And right now he leads the Calder Cup playoff in scoring, but it's just so much more than the points. Like he's someone that just brings this common influence to the team. He got put on a line with Jujar Khera and Nate Smith while things weren't going well in game two in Coachella. And that line was the difference I would say in the series. Like Coachella just had no answer for that trio. They finished with 13 points combined in the series and didn't start with each other

in game number one. And I feel like Manny could just kind of put them up, up, up and down the lineup with, with guys to try to get them going. And I just can't say enough about the job he's done since, uh, since signing that AHL deal. And hopefully he can get back in the NHL. Obviously we prefer with, with Vancouver and I know there's managers out there pretty much every night in these playoffs and seeing what he's doing. And so are probably some other NHL scouts as well.

Let's go back to C- Silas for a bit because he has had a wild season. It started out pretty badly on the Vancouver Canucks. And I imagine it was humbling and maybe a bit concerning how far his game fell off. Um, take us through what he's gone through this season. Well, in Auxford things have actually gone pretty well. Like he's come down, come down when being reassigned to Abbey and has been his normal self.

Going back to the regular season, he had one of his best records in the NHL, his second best actually, 14-5-1, had a 908 save percentage. Things were good down here. I know he would have liked to have a little more success up in the NHL, but sometimes that's not the way it goes. And he's so on that when he came down, he didn't tell it. He really wanted to work on his game and got the guidance from his goal tenny coach down here, Justin Pogge, who has exuded a lot of confidence in his game. And Artie is obviously someone that's not going to get caught up in what people are saying about him, whether it's in the media or whatnot. He's someone that keeps to himself and just works his tail off.

Like in practice, he's out there. Morning skate, he's one of the first ones out there, even when the Zamboni is still going around making his laps and someone that just loves just loves the game to be quite honest with Ian. Walking down the bowels near the locker room after they clinched a series he was on the bike riding that bike for like 40 minutes. I was standing there and he was getting a workout in and kind of already forgotten about what happened in the game. He focused on the next one so he's playing like he did right now when he was with Vancouver in the playoff run against Nashville and in Edmonton when he stepped up big time when Vancouver needed him the most and really put himself on the map. And if he keeps playing the way they are, they're going to be very tough to knock

off because he's a very confident looking goaltender right now. Great to hear about Artie Siloff and that's, I mean, you're going to go through ups and downs when you're a goaltender, especially a pro goalie. So it's good to see that he's bounced back. You know, you mentioned guys like Sammy Blay, I know Phil DiGiuseppe, Jujar Cara, have been big parts, Nate Smith. These aren't really prospects for the Vancouver

Canucks. So who are the prospects for the Canucks? The young guys that are fighting for a spot and a future on the Vancouver Canucks that have, have stepped up. Uh, well, Max Jackson has been outstanding. Um, the last series, like the points just weren't really falling for him, but just his impact, he,

he continued to make each and every game. Like you don't really notice a difference compared to what he's doing in a playoff time, what he did in the regular season. He just kind of picked up right where he left off and obviously like one of the best skaters in the entire organization. I just looked back at a couple of points in this last series, even going back to the Tucson series in round one, like sometimes the power play would have issues like getting an entry into the attacking zone. And that's just that screw this, give me the puck. He just skates it and he's a one man breakout.

And next thing you know, they're set up. And that goes a long way in order to get the power play going. So he's someone that I've noticed as well that has really gotten better defensively and is getting more opportunity In his own end to like take big face-off like he's getting tapped on the shoulder with with games on the line Goalters pulled if it's at the face-off on a strong side, like sometimes he'll be out there taking it And I talked to him after they they got past Coachella Valley the other night

And I asked him like how much is your defensive game proven? he said that's one thing he's really focused on this entire year because he knows if he's gonna become a full-time NHL or he's got to be a reliable 200-foot player so it's great to see him be dedicated to that part of the game so that that's one guy up front another guy again that's that's not racking up the points but it's just so poised at a young age is Ty Mueller and you guys saw him a couple of games at the, at the end of the regular season, he got a promotion to the big club. And I think this kid just got such a high feeling because you know what the kids

say? He's a dog. I'm just going to go ahead and say it. I don't say it all the time. Like someone, like he's not the biggest guy in the world, like five foot 11, 185 pounds, but he blocks the most shots on the team when it comes to forwards like you know Breeze block each puck from the back and a lot of guys do obviously it's playoff time but Ty Mueller from game one of the regular season until now he is putting his body on the line he's out there like I've said in every situation he's taking big face off late he blocks so many big big shots when it looks like Coachella had a shooting lane. He just gets in the way and it's just someone that continues to develop.

And obviously these types of games, when the stakes are so high and the Calder Cup playoffs, it means a lot to these players' development. And I think when he goes back home and trains this season, he'll realize what he can do, what he needs to work on and could potentially be a viable option for the big club, hopefully in the near future. So should there be any concern or disappointment that you haven't mentioned guys like Atu, Ratu and Jonathan Lekermacky? I know Lekermacky has been injured a little bit, but he has played four games. Just one assist in those four games.

Yeah, both of those guys have been hurt. Ratu's missed the last two games. He got banged up in game two. So I probably would have mentioned him if he suited up in game three and game four, because whenever he's on the ice, we know the type of impact he can make as a 200 foot center. But yeah, Lekar Maki, obviously a young guy that

went through a bit of a tough time late in the regular season and early in the playoffs. I had to deal with that oral surgery, something went on there'm not sure exactly maybe we'll find out at the end of the year you're not gonna get much from the coach about injury statuses and what's happened right now and he's wearing that full face shield missed the first couple of games in this series after playing the first two against Tucson. And obviously someone that has a kind of talent and let's be honest, he's a game breaker. With one flick of the wrist, he can turn the game on its head. And when he got inserted back in the lineup, he was on the top line with Sassen and Baines in game three, I thought he looked really

good. He had an assist, he was making great plays in his own end, getting the puck out under pressure. And as we all know, time and space gets taken away pretty quickly in the playoffs. This is a young guy that's had to kind of adapt on the fly. And the good thing is that he's playing a lot. I mentioned back on the top line with Sasson and Baines, he's on the point on the power play.

And this is someone who feasted against the Colorado Eagles who the Connucks are playing the next round. He had eight points in four games against them. And it seems like he's starting to get his confidence back. So I'm hopeful we can see him look like his old self here when game one comes around on Friday. We're speaking to Brandon Astle, play-by-play voice of the Abbotsford Canucks here on the Haliford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. So we mentioned that the Abbotsford Canucks are off to the third round of the Calder Cup playoffs for the first time in franchise history. Earlier this season they had,

I believe it was a 13 game winning streak, which was also a franchise record. So, you know, feathers in the cap of Manny Malhotra, the head coach, I think, and that's someone that I'd like to discuss here for a moment because we've talked about the players and the ones that might make the jump to the next level. Well, Manny might soon be in that type of conversation as well. A two-part

question for you here Brandon, what have you liked about what Manny's done behind the bench specifically in these playoffs and what have your interactions been like him, been with him throughout this season having covered him both during the regular season and now during this playoff run? Yeah so the first part of your question there Mike, I'm glad you asked that because some of the moves he made during that last season was a huge difference on why the team won and I'm not just saying that. I go back to game two, they were trailing 3-0 after the first period. He made some adjustments in the intermission to his lineup and I mentioned the biggest

one, the biggest move of the series was putting Cara, Blay, and Smith together because they changed the tone of that series. He has such a great pulse on his team and just gives his guys confidence. And another scenario I looked at which happened in game three was with one of his young defensemen, Joe Arntson, who was just 21. Not gonna be a household name for Canucks fans, they're probably wondering who he is. He's an undrafted free agent, Ryan Johnson signed to an AHL deal in the offseason and spent most of the year in Kalamazoo,

which is Abbotsford's ECHL affiliate, then got back up late in the regular season, scored his first AHL goal, didn't start the playoffs, but with all the injuries we've had on the back end and Willan and Wu haven't been able to play, he got thrown in there in game three in Abbotsford, which obviously is a huge spot for a young rookie like that. And unfortunately in that game, he made a play that ended up in the back of the net He got thrown in there in game three in Abbotsford, which obviously is a huge spot for a young rookie like that.

And unfortunately in that game, he made a play that ended up in the back of the net in the third period. And in my head, I was like, Ooh, I wonder if that's the last we made a scene of Joe Arnston, but no man, he trotted him out there the next game, played him with Victor Mancini and looked very good. So I just thought that there were probably a lot of coaches out there that were in many scenarios that probably wouldn't have played him anymore and thought, oh, maybe the moment's too big for him. But Manny didn't do that. And that's why he's got the respect of all these players in the locker room. Like,

he really builds these players up and doesn't tear them down. At the end of the day, he's just a culture setter. And going to the second part of your question, Halford, my dealings with him have been very professional. He's got a lighthearted side to him, but at the same time, he's intense and he's there to do a job. Like he eats, sleeps and breathes the Abbotsford Canucks. He practices with a purpose like this team doesn't get a lot of practice time throughout the year. They're one of the most traveled teams in all of pro hockey. And so whenever they practice, like he's got a plan and wants these guys to do certain things and He's someone like when practice ends. He doesn't go off to his locker room

He'll stay on there and have some one-on-ones with players and drop pucks between a sediment and see what's going on with their face Off and give them advice that they ask so I just I just can't say enough about the job He's done this year in Abbotsford and like I just his message has been the same since day one It's very process driven. He has a plan for these players. Of course he wants to win, but the end of the day you got to develop players for the big club. And we've seen how much he's done that with all the guys that went out, that got called up and had a pretty good impact with the big club.

Okay, Brandon, real quick before we let you go, uh, let the listeners know about this upcoming series against Colorado. When it starts tickets, where the series is going to played how many games all that stuff yeah so they're gonna be playing in Colorado they're one of the best team in AHL they won the Pacific Division they had two more points than Abbotsford so they were neck-and-neck the Canucks did great against them in the regular season they they went six and two against them which not many teams did I don't think any other team hadn't much that much success other than Abbotsford so it'll be a best of five. And since Colorado finished ahead of Abbotsford

in the standings, they get to choose if they want the first two games or the last three, and they did the right thing and picked the last three. So this series is going to start in Abbotsford, game one Friday night, game two Sunday night, and you can get your tickets online right now on the team's website we had a great crowd on Friday nearly a set out to sell out we can get those tickets at Abbotsford.Conucks.com and if you can't make it out I'll have the broadcast on these airways sports at 650 the Dunbar lumber Texan box will always be open get your comments in boys 650 650 I cannot wait

for this series it's gonna be a battle. Brandon, thanks. Now do the Kintec read. I'll work on that one, Bruv. All right, thanks buddy. See you buddy. Take it easy. Yeah, you too, that's Brandon Astle,

the play-by-play voice of the Abbotsford Connects here on the Haliford and Bruv Show on Sportsnet 650. It really just becomes about winning in the Calder Cup playoffs. Just win, baby. Yeah, like development, I guess, is still important, but you get the feeling that you just want to win, right? Yeah.

Play the old guys. Sammy Blay, get out there. Jujar, get out there. Phil DiGiuseppe, do it. You know who almost squeaked out a victory yesterday? Vancouver Whitecaps. Which is impressive, because they were down a man. No.

They weren't? No. Oh, someone texted in and said they had a red card. No. Oh that person was wrong Yeah, they were trailing to nil after 19 minutes. Oh, okay a big comeback for the maker were white caps yesterday I wasn't able to watch it cuz it's you know, it's on Apple So how for did you hear the yes per Sorenson stat the record-breaking stat? Yes with the draw yesterday, spoiled that one. They drew two to an L.A. FC. Yes, for sorts and became the first coach in MLS history to record 27 points in his first 12 games.

It's good, right? That is very good. It was a it was interesting because I was watching the game yesterday. Mother's Day, as you do, you ignore the family and turn on the Whitecaps match on MLS, Apple TV. And they fell behind early, as I mentioned. I think it was the ninth minute and the 18th minute. There was a penalty and then a goal conceded. And in the dark recesses of my mind,

I went, good, I wanna see this. I would like to see how this team does after a shaky start and trailing because they've made a habit this year of scoring early and kind of dictating the game. I'm like, this is great from a purely like experimental process. Let's see what they're like when they're trailing and they have to come back. They did very well to get the draw.

Brian White scored twice, just continues to score at a MVP caliber level. And now it's funny. So there's a few takeaways here. One is that the three American players, because the American team, the American national team has been in such disarray lately. Yeah. If an American player does really well, the American journalists that cover both MLS and the U.S. national team are like, get him in the national team lineup. So first it was Bear Halter. Yeah, because he's had an amazing year.

And I do think he'll get a look. Then it was Brian White because he scores so much. Has Bear Halter got a look? Not yet. OK, Brian White did. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Now, got a look? Not yet. OK. Brian White did. Right, yeah, yeah. Now the interesting thing is that the upcoming Gold Cup this summer, that's kind of where a lot of teams traditionally send their B squads.

They don't like a lot of the European guys, like I'm taking the summer off or because the Club World Cup is on. I don't know if the US will do that because all the CONCACAF teams are using this as prep for the World Cup because they don't have to qualify. Right. OK. Bear Halter maybe, White is in. The Donkey Calf teams are using this as prep for the World Cup. Because they don't have to qualify. Yeah. Right.

OK. Bear Halter maybe. White is in. Tristan Blackman is now the sort of like hot figure to maybe feature in. Because he's been named to a bunch of like best team of the season so far in MLS. He's been the defender of the year. A lot of people are saying. Do the Vancouver teams only have Americans?

They got a lot of Americans. Well, you know what? It's OK okay so I will say this the Canucks have a very large American contingent yeah the Whitecaps don't it's just all three American players are having amazing years yeah right but it's really still and it's yeah it's three of the eleven not regular starters or Americans yeah I want to explain my mistake in it and it's a good text from Eastwood and New West it's just I read it wrong. I cannot understate how much resolve the whitecaps showed last night. Here's why I went wrong.

He said, any previous iteration of the caps loses 4-1 with a red card after that first 15 minutes. This team is absolutely for real and the city needs to get behind them. What was the crowd like yesterday? A, uh, 22,437, I think was the set of tenants. And they said that was going to be the largest figure for an MLS match. Cause obviously the cup match. I'm sure they've sold a bunch more tickets based on what they did in the game

against Inter Miami. I keep wanting to say it's the messy game, but that was a whitecaps. That was a whitecaps game. Yeah. And they're winning and they're racking up points. And it does kind of speak to the old sports adage that in this era of marketing and digital streaming and having to get the eyeballs of youths and how do we get that younger audience in? At the end of the day, winning still is the best antidote to all of that. If you're successful.

And good TikToks. And good TikToks. But if you're winning and you're putting up results and granted they are playing a style that is very appealing. They score a lot of goals and they attack and they're relentless and they're very straightforward in their approach. Like we're going to go and we're going to be direct and we're going to score and they press high and they make it frenetic. Um, it's,

it's one of the best sports stories in Vancouver recently because it came completely out of nowhere. Nobody expected it. Um, it's taken the league by storm. I watch a fair bit of MLS coverage and you can see and hear a lot of the national pundits playing catch up to try and figure out how this is happening, why this is happening. They're digging into Jesper Sorensen's backstory to figure out where did this come from? Because it's not that different a team from the previous iterations of the Sartini era. They've added some players, but Bear Halter's been here for a while, White's been here for a while, Takayoka, Veselinovich, Blackman, go down the list. There's a lot of guys that have played here for a while.

It's just, Sorensen's flipped the script and made them really compelling to watch. You know what's interesting though? They still don't have a place to play for next year. They need to get that least sorted out. Yeah, they gotta get the least sorted out. And part of me wonders if this whole thing about the stadium on the P and E grounds is,

I'm sure they do want to build a new stadium. Don't get me wrong, but could, if let's say they don't get it done, could part of it just be a better deal with BC place? It would be a disappointing consolation prize, but a consolation prize nonetheless, because the deal. It would be disappointing. It would be, but a consolation prize nonetheless. Because the deal. It would be disappointing.

It would be, but the deal historically has been so bad, so bad for the primary summer tenant, all due respect to the Lions, but the Whitecaps play more matches. Yeah, yeah. It's been so bad, and I'll go back to what I've said numerous times, I do wonder if the motocross fiasco of last season with the playoff match against Portland.

Just not controlling your stadium is just embarrassing. But I think it just became a bridge too far for everyone, not just the Whitecaps with the league I think intervened. We're like, this is a bad look for us now because we've got to explain on a broadcast why the higher seed is playing a match in the playoffs on the road. Mm-hmm.

Totally. That was reminiscent of, I don't know, is it, I don't want to use the word bush league, but it was, yeah. Okay. You garage. Like, it was just, you know, you can never imagine that happening to one of the four major leagues, right?

And MLS was like, well, we see ourselves as being in that stratosphere. Like our franchise values are getting to that point. You know, Inter-Miami's worth a billion dollars. Lino Messi plays in the league. Yeah, yeah, right. Lino Messi should not be getting bumped for motocross. Exactly, exactly.

Now I know I'm kind of taking it to the nth degree there and it didn't actually happen but the point remains. Anyway we're way up against it for time we need to get to the final hour of the program. We'll do that on the other side of the brink. Drancer's gonna join us. We're giving away tickets to see the who. Yeah that's right the who. That'll be at 815. I'll reset that and all the contest information on the other side and we're gonna do what we learns as well. You're listening to the Halford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650.