Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 1/14/25

Episode Date: January 14, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they talk the latest NHL news with analyst Ray Ferraro, plus the boys set up tonight's Canucks road matchup in Winnipeg with radio commentator Brendan Batchelor.  This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. It was Brock Besser, scoring his second goal of the night with just two seconds left. Last night, Vancouver Canucks blew a two-goal lead, but recovered in OT to win 5.4. Let's hear it again, Greg. Let's hear that Brock Besser winner with two seconds left in overtime. Off a nice pass from Elias Pedersen to close out the Canucks road trip in style. And O'Reilly wins it back to the corner. Besser on the forecheck is tied up by Shag.

Five seconds left It's played free near circle. Patterson sends up front for Besser. He scores. Just before time ran out, Brock Besser calls game. It's his second of the night and sixth of the season.

And the caducs finished the road trip with two wins in three games. Besser plays the hero. And they beat the Predators tonight. The final score. Vancouver 5 and Nashville 4. I thought we were going to cut out the second part of the score there.

Brock Besser loves scoring late goals in Nashville. It's just what he does. And that was a good win for the Vancouver Canucks last night. They are full credit for getting a result. We can talk about the process getting there early in a little bit here. But they got a result. And they are no longer 6 and 7 on the year. They're now 7 and 7.

They had a lot of contributors to the win. Starts with Brock Besser. Vander Kaine had a couple of goals as well. Elias Pedersen, you know, when you get them out there with time and space, whether it's the power play or three-on-three, he can still make things happen out there offensively. You know, I know in the postgame show, they were saying like,

Lena Scarleson had a couple of really tough moments in his own end where he couldn't get the puck out, but made a really nice pass to Evander Cain. I think if you go up and down the Canucks lineup last night, you had guys that were making contributions and not just waiting for others to make contributions. And, of course, it really helps to have Quinn Hughes back. and out there for 28 minutes, he was plus two on the night, right?

I mean, I know that's kind of an old school stat, but I think it says something, you know, in a nutshell, like out there, you get him back there and the Canucks are plus two when he's on ice. Time on ice and plus minus, baby. Two very important stats in my regard. I mean, it kind of makes a difference. You know, Tom Velander out there, he's looking good.

His, you know, I had questions about, just his like his hockey sense and his hockey IQ and I think that we're going to still you know that's still to be determined but man his skating on the back end has definitely brought something to the Vancouver Canucks and you know again go up and down the lineup it was good to see Jake DeBress finally you know make an impact he had a goal on on the power play got to the front of the net. Peterson with a really nice pass across to Besser. Besser puts it into the front of the net and DeBrasse finds a way to tip at home. It was just, you know, I thought everyone for the most part contributed. Yeah, it was great in that regard. And you know, you mentioned the post game show there

and the post game show, but a lot of other people have said this as well that with the amount of injuries that the Canucks have right now, the ammo is scratching claw and get results and get points. And it doesn't necessarily matter what it looks like right now. It's almost like, in a, you know, common refrain for this organization, we'll kick the can down the road on process. Right now, let's just make sure that we don't bury ourselves in the standings and get points however possible. Because it was not a perfect game yesterday.

I think anytime you blow a two-goal lead in the third period and you have the ineffectiveness on the penalty kill that the Canucks had, it's going to raise issues. But, you know, I want to throw some out, I would throw to some Adam Foot audio here because it was interesting where he pivoted in the post game. I found Adam Foot to be a pretty curious case study this year in terms of his remarks made publicly.

The only thing I've really been able to glean from him is doesn't really take a lot of his guys to task, if at all, tries to stay optimistic. And then when things go against the group. I think optimistic is a big one. Big one, right? You notice that right away. When things go against the group,

he oftentimes falls back on the, well, sometimes those things happen reply. And I'm like, you know, he's not wrong. Sometimes things do happen at him. Like, that's very accurate and a very proper assessment of what went on. But this was interesting from last night because Adam Foote went down the road of taking the referees to task in one of his postgame remarks. The last guy didn't do that at all.

Not at all, right? He'd either say, I got to go watch a tape or my personal favorite. Referees got a hard job out there. They got a tough job out there. But we do have the best referees in the world. Do we, though, anymore? There's a question. I'm going to play the Adam Foot audio now.

This is Adam Foote. Postgame remarks following a 5-4-O-T victory over Nashville to end a three games. road trip. Well, we were all over them. It could have been up four or five goals. And I mean, they missed a couple calls and especially caners. It wasn't a penalty at all. And it was actually the other way. It was a diving call and they missed it. Caneered a good game. But I like the way we hung in there. We were resilient. I mean, you saw that goal they got to tie. It was just a breakdown as far as they hit a stick and then a screenshot. So, you know, I was just happy that we stayed within ourself.

Should have won that without O.T. For sure, but that happens some nights. That happens some nights. He also has a, he's speaking of optimistic. That's not the first time he said, oh, we could have been up like four or five goals there. He's had that one a few times. He said when they lost 5'1 to Pittsburgh, I remember distinctly.

He's like, we could have been up three or four or nothing. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Every single shot that we had went in. And it was C-Lawks in that. So it's not. that crazy. It's not that crazy to think that way. However, so in the, and it's a small

snippet. And of course, the follow-up question to that appropriately was about Tom Velander, which is the exact follow-up question you want to ask when the coach makes a rare comment criticizing the referees, but I digress. I think what I think what's happening there is Kane's been a penalty magnet this season, right? I think we can all agree on this. He's got a lifetime reputation. He's got a reputation for sure. And I will agree with the head coach on that one. That particular play on Evangelist, that was not a penalty.

Like that was not a penalty. And I know, now here's a thing. Kane is so demonstrative on the ice, especially jawing about calls, that you never really know when he's properly aggrieved or not. Well, no, it's, I mean, it's never of Andrew Kane's fault. But sometimes it actually isn't his fault. So last night, he was John pretty heavy when he got called for that one. Of course, you know, Nashville goes and scores on the power play, whatever.

You go back and watch and he's like, he's got a right to be aggrieved there. So I think what Adam Foote did in the aftermath in his own Adam Foot way was like, this is, I mean, look, he gets called for a lot of penalty. This was a wrong one. And I don't think it should be bad. I don't think coaches should shy away from it if it's the way that Foot did it. Like, Foote's comments read maybe more inflammatory than they sound. I think it's good to stick up for his players. And I think he's doing the right things when we talk about process,

constant optimism, constant positivity, and just trying to point the guys in the direction of, hey, just keep chopping wood and moving along and trying to stay afloat because we've got a ton of injuries and we're trying to stack up wins. Now, that's the one where, if you look at this, that's the next iteration or like next, evolution of this banged-up Canucks team is, can you follow up one performance and a win with another one? And I know that sounds super rudimentary, but as a 500 team, the reason I said

it yesterday, like they feel like a 500 team is because they've really embodied it through the start of the year. We've seen good results, followed up with bad, followed up with good, followed up with bad. And there hasn't been a lot of rhyme or reason to, like, I can't is the whole season going to be like, they have a bad result? And we come in and rip them and go, talk, you know, like, they need to rebuild. And then the second result is like, it wasn't perfect, but they got a result. And I am worried about that, because I don't think I can... This team is going nowhere.

Is this a playoff team? No, they're still going nowhere. Actually, maybe the playoffs aren't out of the question. Which is a conversation you have about a 500 hockey team, right? Yeah. When they're right on the edge. Yeah. So, and they've got a good goalie in Thacher Dumco, right?

So they don't always have to have a masterpiece and they can get some results. So then you come in, like, this morning, for example, And you're like, well, they won. So you don't want to talk about the negatives. You want to accentuate the positives. But in the back of your mind, you're like, of course, whatever the next game has in the store. Because there are some, there are some like fundamental issues with the team,

which we've already dove into in previous iterations of the show. Like, for example, you know what? One of the things that you talked about a lot, and you've talked about this a lot, but you brought it up with the removal of Pew Souter and we'll get to him because he had a big light night last night. But I was like, who's going to play on the penalty kill for this team? And right now, the penalty kill.

is a problem for this team. Yeah, and they also lost Dakota Joshua off the PK. Now they've got some key injuries out with Teddy Blugher and Forbort. I mean, Forbort was brought back essentially for the penalty kill. And right now, you've got some D-Men out there that are really struggling. And the penalty kill this season, Marcus Pedersen has been out there for nine goals against. Philip Peronik has been out there for nine goals against. Tyler Meyer seven goals against

but here's like I know Drew O'Connor had a nice game the other day but he's been on on the ice for nine goals against on the penalty kill and that's like that's a forward that's not yeah that's and he's it's not like he's out there a lot but I don't know

maybe he's the weak link out there right like I are one of them because you got a bunch of guys out there and Adam Foote has said this like he's basically said well you need reps on the PK to learn it you need you need reps um and and he said like last season the PK got better because it got reps all right but that's a tough way to you know that's a tough way to learn through like learning in an NHL season for a team that's can't really afford to have like a major Achilles heel doing it

I mean? Like, there was a significant risk they took when they traded some of these guys away or chose not to resign in the case of Pew Souter that the PK could be an issue, especially early in the season. And obviously, the injuries to guys like Bluger and Forbort didn't help. Yeah, and, you know, it's going to be an issue until it's not an issue anymore. And again, if we wanted to do the glass half full part with special teams, we can point out, First two Canucks goals yesterday came on the power play. And actually, Nashville, throughout the course of the season, I know it's a small sample size,

but they've been very, very effective on the kill at home. They killed 28 to 29 in their first eight games at home. So kudos to the Canucks for figuring out a little bit on the power play. And you mentioned the Carlson passed. That second power play goal, very nice, very, very nice passing from a unit that at times this year hasn't zipped it around, as Adam Foote likes to say, with that kind. of, you know, efficiency.

I will say this. And you know, it's funny, the Dunbar-Lumber text line for as much as I hate it at times, it does offer some great moments, right? And people right now are trying to contextualize the Kinnock's start to the season, which is 7 and 7 through 14 games, right, the definition of 500. You can't get more 500 than that. It's impossible, right?

So someone texted in. they played nine road games compared with five to home with the injuries that context should be told they're five and four on the road then the next person texts in and says yeah but it's three regulation wins in 14 I'm like both those things are true and they tell very different stories about what this team is well people texting in there they're only one point is it one point out of first place or two points out of two points out of first place than the division. They certainly are. But then if you look at points percentage, they're out of the playoffs. That's also very true. I mean, if you want to be housed positivity, the fact that they're even 7 and 7 with the amount of injuries they've sustained is kind

of incredible. Yeah. And obviously a lot of it's Demco, but still, I mean, that's something. No, I think what you're looking at right now is a team that is full value for its 500 record because they have their weaknesses, perceived or glaringly obvious, or

right? And they've done well in the face of some massive injuries. The question is going to be, can this team, one, get healthy, and then two, do the thing that playoff teams do and good teams do, which is string together, a bunch of solid performances in our own right now we haven't seen it. Okay, so. I'd also like to point out that that texter also pointed out that he said, quote, the last two games at home were great, to which I replied, wasn't one of them a two-nothing shutout loss to the Rangers. Yeah, that wasn't. If so, we have very different definitions of what great constitutes.

That wasn't great at all. They got four games at home coming up Wednesday. I would say the much improved Chicago Blackhawks are in town to play the Vancouver Canucks. I'm not saying that Chicago's a playoff team or anything, but from the games that I've watched, they look better. Columbus is on Saturday, and then right away, Colorado is on Sunday.

That's going to be a tough one. And this is when the schedule gets hard. Sunday is Colorado Tuesday is Winnipeg Friday they go to Carolina Sunday they're in Tampa Bay Monday they're in Florida

I know the Panthers are not quite the Panthers team that won the Stanley Cup but they're still going to be pretty good so you know we mentioned that this November there's 14 games in November and let's just say I'll be

curious to see what they look like when we're out of this month because it's such a grinding schedule. Hopefully they get Garland back soon. And apparently he's been skating out at UBC. So hopefully he's back for Wednesday's game against the Chicago Blackhawks. But, you know, it's, it's, look, I know they're on the road, but St. Louis, Minnesota and Nashville, not good teams, right? Or at the very least, have been wildly inconsistent. Nashville, Nashville looked awful, like, Stamco's, I was like, is he hurt? And then I noticed him on the power play.

I'm like, no, there he is, but he doesn't really do much anymore. They're bad, man. They're not, or they were bad last night. They're bad last night. Credit the Canucks. Let's contextualize this. Are Nashville, Minnesota, and St. Louis, the bottom three, teams in the central division. Yes. Is Nashville only six points out of first place? Yes. It's early in

the season. All of these numbers matter and will welcome the wall into the conversation. By the way, speaking of division standings, the Pacific is all kinds of topsy-turvy right now. You mentioned the Chicago Blackhawks who will be in town shortly. They played Seattle last night. Seattle won that game to move atop the Pacific Division. And the team that Seattle leapfrog to move atop the Pacific Division, is the Anaheim Ducks. So right now, one, two, three in the Pacific is Seattle, Anaheim,

and then the Vegas Golden Knights. So it's been a very unique start to the season in the West if you want to look at it. Right now, you could make the argument that the Pacific has probably been the most underwhelming of all the divisions.

Because right now, the Pacific has, is home to the worst team in the NHL right now, and that's the Calgary Flames. I mean, I don't think there's really any way to slice it up. Calgary's the worst team

in hockey right now. They have eight points through 14 games. No one's even really that close to them. At least the sharks have celebrating you, right? Yeah, and they're still not winning hockey games with any great regularity, right? They've just got one regulation win in 13. One. So it's not, I mean, for all the

great play. So does Calgary. Yeah. One in 14, I think. So all for all the great things that, you know, San Jose down from a youth perspective, they're still not a good team. L.A. has gotten off to a very mediocre start. The Edmund Toilers who lost again last night have gotten off to a very slow start with a minus one goal differential, I might add. So the division, again, contextualize it.

The connects are staying afloat in it, and it hasn't been great, and that's probably to their benefit. Because if some or one or two teams got off to a crazy heater and really put a distance between them, there would be an issue. Right now, though, that issue doesn't exist. Okay, quick reset here. There are a couple stories I wanted to get into from last night. We had a couple minutes here left before we move to the 630 segment, and Greg Wischinsky's going to join us then. I will jump to the Eastern Conference of what the Toronto Maple Leafs did last night.

So we're sitting around, you know, firing off text during the Canucks game, and I put a screenshot of what was going on in the Leafs Penguins game on Amazon. The Leafs were down three nothing to the Penguins. And at one point, through two periods, we're getting out shot 25 to 8. It was a one-way massacre for the Penguins. penguins. But then the Leifes went on a run, scored three times in three minutes and 24 seconds to tie it in the third period. And then good old Bobby McMahon. You got the audio here, Greg. Bobby McMahon, late in the third period. What a comeback by the Leafs. What great time for Toronto sports,

huh? Leaves win 4-3 and a big comeback win over the pens. Here's what it sounded like. Robertson powers out. Gets to it. We'll save the rebound. And don't look now, but Toronto is crying on the Toronto. Now, as much as I want to focus on the Toronto Maple Leafs here, I do have to have... You think I made everyone in Toronto just be like, no, I'm happy again. You know what? It doesn't even matter what happened on the weekend. We had to come back win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday night hockey.

I will say this. Speaking of those Pittsburgh Penguins, good Coquitlam kid, Ben Kindle, five goals in 12 games now, is an 18-year-old rookie. The reviews coming out of Pittsburgh for him are off the charts. They are absolutely enamored with what he's brought to the table. Needs to have more assists. He's got a grand total of zero right now. So he's in the Kiefer-Shirwood territory. Too many goals, not enough helpers.

For Kiefer-Shir-Wing. Yeah. But what an impressive performance from the 11th overall pick in this year's draft. I'm assuming you. That's awesome. Yeah, now that he's through 12 games, he looks like he belongs, and he's been part of the most surprising team in the National Hockey League to start the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Who's a goal for Pittsburgh yesterday? Tristan Jari was in net for the penguins yesterday. That's a tough third period for him. Yeah, I know. What would have happened if R.E.C. Loves was in net. And finally, and I know we're pushing it up against it for time here, but I mentioned Pew Souter earlier in the show, and I'll circle back on him because despite the headlines going to Connor McDavid,

becoming the fourth fastest player in NHL history to reach 1,100 career points, it was Pew Souter scoring the go-ahead goal and a very important goal for a struggling St. Louis Blues team as the Blues beat the Oilers, yesterday, three, two at the Enterprise Center. Here's what it sounded like. Former Kinnock Pugh Souter, continuing his hot start to the season in a win over the Oilers. Souter walks it in, drives the goal. Blues pick it up.

Shen. Raps it, deer wing, straight away. Perico on. Rebound and a score. Souter on the doorstep. Tucks it home. Three, two, blues. One, 23 to go.

So they're saying the same things in St. Louis right now that the Canucks fans were saying. He's got five goals and eight points in 13 games. And everyone's like, why was he just readily available for us? Because that was the Blues. Like that was when the Canucks got him late in free agency. They're like, why was he available for us? And now the Blues fans are like, why, dude,

why was he just sitting there for the price that we got him at? Because he's there, he's platooned as their 1C this year. Does that sound familiar to Canucks fans? Told you. Yeah, I mean. At the time, I was like, this is. stupid the conductor to kept him and I know why were you the only one

everyone was just me no one else everyone was curious what what happened I think we know what happened is they gave the the suitor money to the cane right that was the flip and I know I know it was probably more complex than that but we're just trying to break it down to

its basic parts here but the more that he continues to thrive the worst it feels not just from a production standpoint but he's mentioned on the kill Like he's really He was a versatile guy last year And he really stepped up

And yeah He probably wasn't going to replicate the numbers he had However Do you do Okay however go It was a vital Vital contributor to last year's team Do we need to have like a

Three horse race now Because I know a lot of people We're going to be like Okay let's see how many points JT Miller gets versus Elias Pedersen Do we now add like Pew Souter To that that race

I never thought we'd be there Honestly I didn't I didn't think we would It was the real number one center. It's, wow, it turns out it's a pew-sitter. He was there all along. Now he's making foreign change in St. Louis on the two-year deal.

It did help, I think. Was Robert Thomas back for? Thomas' back, Neighbors is out long term. He's out five weeks there. Thomas back for the Blues is big for them. Yeah. Of course, they've got Jimmy Snuggard, right? Who can forget?

There is a four points. There's a, okay, now I get that. That's the Robert Thomas drop. There's a four-way tie for eight points. Cairo, Thomas, Snuggaroo, Souter. They're all leading the blues in points. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.

To the phone lines, we go. The superior voice of the Vancouver Canucks. Brendan Batchler joins us here now. Badge, we were talking this morning about all the different guys that stepped up for the Vancouver Canucks. Perhaps it was an homage to the Toronto Blue Jays. What did you think of the game last night? Yeah, I thought they played well. Obviously, I'm sure they would have liked to salt it away in the third period

so that they didn't need overtime. But, you know, my biggest takeaway from the game is just how much Quinn Hughes changes the way this team plays. And, you know, obviously it's kind of a juxtaposition against the game on Saturday against Minnesota where that's, that, you know, performance didn't have as much oomph to it, guess you can say, in terms of play driving and immediately coming back into the lineup, the impact he makes in terms of this team's ability to drive play, to create chances, to produce offense is pretty special. So, you know, we talk about it all the time that we need

to appreciate Quinn Hughes. And I appreciated him a little bit extra last night because of the impact he had on that game. But at the same time, for this group that is still injury-riddled, in spite of the fact that he's back to find a way to get the win and battle through some adversity after giving up the lead a couple of different times I thought was impressive and good on them with all the bodies

they're missing to come back home with four of a possible six points from that road trip. It's a good feat for them to accomplish and now they've got four games on home ice to try and build some momentum. I don't know if I can remember a season where we've said the phrase play driving more. Brock Besser, even in his post-game interview with Dan Murphy was saying, like, he was asked about Quinn.

And he goes, yeah, you know, like he's so good. He drives play for us. And, you know, I think at the end of the day, if you're looking at the Canucks lineup, you're just looking for more guys to drive play. And hopefully, hopefully Connor Garland is back soon because I would say he's the other very good play driver on the Vancouver Canucks. Is there anyone else that you think can do it for this team because they're going to need it? Yeah, I think Elias Patterson is capable of doing it just because we've seen him do it in the past,

but it hasn't happened in a while. So whether it's reasonable to expect that to happen in the immediate future or not, I guess we'll have to wait and see. But, you know, yeah, it is something that's tough for them. I think keeper Sherwood can do it in moments too, but probably not with the consistency and regularity that guys like Hughes and Garland can.

And, you know, when we talk about play driving, like the thing I noticed the most with Hughes back in the lineup is just how much easier it is for them to get out of their own zone and enter the attacking zone. And, you know, those are things that, to be honest, they struggled with at times, I thought, on Saturday against Minnesota. So, you know, those are their two primary playdrivers

in Garland when he's healthy and Hughes. when he's healthy. But, yeah, if they could have some help in that regard, I'm sure they would appreciate it. Unfortunately, it seems like those are the two guys that really do it most regularly and most consistently. And so you're right, you know, as much as it was good news to see that Hughes was going to be back in the lineup yesterday,

I was equally pleased when Adam Foote mentioned that Garland's pretty close in his media availability too, because I think, you know, as much as they need Hughes, they probably need Garland. you know, pretty close to as much as well in their lineup. And the sooner he can get back, the better for this team. Batch, I'm going to throw in a very open-ended going whatever direction you want with your reply. What do you think of the officiating last night? I didn't think it was perfect, but it rarely is.

The high-sticking call on Evander Cain was not a great one. And obviously, you know, you're going to have bad calls or calls that go against you over the course of a season. It's those, you know, to use a drance is a high leverage calls that change the result of games that I think are the ones that you want to avoid. And unfortunately, last night that that Phantom High Sticking call ends up allowing the, you know, the game to be tied and go to overtime, whereas, you know, maybe the Canucks could have closed it out in regulation if they hadn't called that.

And it's also equally frustrating for fans when. in the moments prior to that, Brock Bessor took a high stick behind the play that went undetected. So, you know, I can understand the frustration. Ultimately, I still come back to the over the course of a long season. The calls tend to even out, and I'm sure we'll have a moment, even within the next few weeks, where the Canucks are helped by a call that doesn't make the most sense for the other team. But at the same time, I think NHL officiating should be held to a higher standard. and I think even last season I felt coming out of the year

just over the body of work of the season that NHL officiating is struggling and there were a lot of times where we were talking about bad calls that changed games or reviews where calls were overturned when we didn't necessarily understand why. So, you know, last night's an example of that but it's not anything new

and it's probably not going to change anytime soon so it's something that teams have to find a way to battle through. Because I'm assuming that you heard the remarks from Adam Foote in the post game where he, you know, he did sort of the rare NHL coaching moment of openly saying that they got the call wrong and, you know, in what could be considered a criticism. And, you know, so we talked about it a bit in the intro and I wondered if that was more about taking umbrage with the officiating or a defense of Evander Kane, who, I mean, let's be honest, he's been a penalty magnet this year. And I wonder if that's his way of sticking up for his guy saying, yeah, there's a reputation. Yeah, he takes some penalties. that just wasn't one. Yeah, well, I think probably both because of Andrew Kane

has been under fire here a little bit prior to last night when he scored a couple of goals. You know, we were talking about it on the pregame show yesterday going into the game of all the forwards in the NHL that didn't have a goal. He had the most shots without having scored yet on the season. And obviously he got unlucky that, you know, the goal the other night didn't end up standing.

But, yeah, I think there's an element to that because, you know, and we've seen Adam Foote certainly as a different approach with some of these things than Rick Tocke did, right? Rick Tockeet without fail would say after the game, well, it's a tough job for the officials, tough job, you know, right? He was like physically averse to criticizing referees. Yeah.

Adam Foote's going to be a little bit different than that, it seems like. But I think the point about defending Cain is well made because that's a guy they're going to need to get going here in their top six to help them with some of the offensive struggles that they've been having. And it was a good night for him overall that was unfortunately kind of barred by that penalty call. And so I understand his head coach wanting to stick up for him for sure. The other thing that we've noticed in Halford put it well this morning, he said that Adam Foote has an optimistic view publicly, at least on game.

even games that don't go all that well. You're in a lot of these scrums. Have you noticed that? And do you think it's intentional or just who Adam Foote is? Yeah, I'm having a hard time figuring that out. And part of that is because we're just, what, 14 games into Adam Foote's tenure as the head coach. And I think over the course of a season,

you can kind of figure these things out where, you know, Rick Talkin, I thought at times, was pretty honest, but also you could tell when he was trying to hide his emotions. And he would say one thing, but his body language would tell you another thing. Whereas, you know, Adam Foote comes across as genuine to me, but at the same time, I agree, some of the things he's saying are quite positive. Now, is he just a positive guy, and that's what he wants to, you know, impart to his team and in part to the fan base and to the media? that is entirely possible. But I haven't really been able to get an accurate read on that yet because we're so early in the season.

So maybe that's just who he is, right? Maybe he's a guy that looks at things glass half full that wants to take the positive out of every game. And I can understand that too, especially for a team that's had some negative things happen to them over the last few years. You know, that could be part of the reason why foot was hired is if he's a guy that has an optimistic viewpoint

and always looks on the bright side of things that that might be the best way to move forward rather than, you know, ultimately in a game last night, yeah, that penalty call goes against you, but, you know, is there, is there any use dwelling on it, or you have a tough game or things don't go your way? You know, you want to take the positives from things. Yeah, you want to learn from things that go against you, but ultimately you want to look forward after those sorts of things happen. So, you know, whether that's the way foot is as a person or whether that is intentional from him in terms of the message. he wants to send to the public and whether it's different behind closed doors.

Unfortunately, I don't have the answer to that because I'm not behind those closed doors. But I think it's something that as the season goes along, we'll get a better feel for, you know, how genuine he is in those moments or whether that is sort of an intentional plan to deliver a more positive message coming out of the organization. We're speaking of Brendan Batchelor, Play-by-Play voice of the Vancouver Canucks here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. batch your thoughts on the penalty kill both last night and then over the last little bit yeah it's in tough right now and you know I think part of it is because some of the guys they have out of the lineup for players that play some of those minutes you know Derek forbert I think Connor Garland's become a pretty important penalty killer for them early in the season but at the same time it's been a little too leaky for my liking

and you know Adam foot again took a positive perspective on things when he was asked about it in the last couple of days where he talked about how they didn't really click on the penalty kill until the second half of last season and, you know, especially this year incorporating new guys in there's going to be some growing pains. And, you know, I think that's all fair comment. At the same time, you know, a successful penalty kill right now would make a big difference for them when, you know, they're scratching and clawing for points to stay in the fight here and not fall out of things with the number of guys they have out with injuries right now. So unfortunately, the injuries

are a part of why the penalty kill is struggling, but it, you know, I think both special teams need to improve. They're both in the bottom half of the league, or they were going into the game yesterday anyway. And to be a successful team in this league, you obviously need to be able to kill penalties

effectively, but you need to have a more consistent power play as well. So I thought it was a good confidence booster for them yesterday that the power play was able to score a couple of times and, you know, getting Hughes back should help. In that regard, but, you know, even if you had a great power play, if your penalty kill struggles, it kind of offsets it. So there are some things they need to figure out in that area of the game for sure.

I'm glad you brought up the power play because it did look good last night. It should be pointed out, like that's one thing that Nashville does really well, was kill penalties, especially at home. I think they were borderline perfect in their first day. I think it only given up one goal killing penalties. But it wasn't just, you know, the fact that they scored, it was the way that they scored, especially that second goal. I thought it was very nice. You know, Adam Foote, we joked that his plan was like, well, zip it around. If you're not zipping around, zip it around harder.

But it looked sharp yesterday, especially the second one. Very nice passing play. And that's got to be another, like, you know, reason for optimism is that they got it done against the team that does kill penalties pretty well. Yeah. And you hope that that can be sort of a springboard for them, right? Much like we talk about, Abander Cain scores a couple of goals. Maybe that can get him going offensively.

while getting Quinn Hughes back and having a successful night against, you're right. They were the top home ice penalty kill in the league. I think there were like 96% or something going into the game yesterday. So there's some confidence you can build off of scoring against the team that's really good on the penalty kill. And now you're going to be home for the next handful of games. So, you know, use that confidence and the opportunity, too, to get some more practice time here. Because this is a group that hasn't been able to practice a whole lot.

yet this season because of how congested the schedule is, but that's going to change, right? They have two days between games later this week. Wow. Wow. These guys are so soft. It's just two days between games. Come on.

I know, but like in this season with this compressed schedule, that feels like a luxury to have a couple of days off. So, you know, all kidding aside, the practice time will be important for them. I know Adam Foote has wanted to have more practice time, but with the way the schedule has been built, they haven't been able to do it just yet.

So for things like the power play and the penalty kill, I think practice time makes a big difference for them, and ultimately we'll see if they could parlay the positive momentum and the time they're going to have to work on things into some more success into this homestown. Is the month of November going to be just survival for the Canucks? Because at some point, at some point if they want to make the playoffs,

they're going to have to go on a run of wins, not necessarily in a row, but you're going to have to rack up, you know, I don't know, eight wins and ten games or whatever you've got to do in order to cross that bar. They're 500 right now, so they haven't buried themselves yet, but considering all the injuries, I think that might be all you can ask of them. Is it still going to be that way for the rest of this month? If they get out of November and they're still 500, are you happy with that? yeah I think so because of the injuries now you know the goalposts could move on this based on how quickly they get some of these guys back right like seven guys out of the lineup right now if you get four or five of them back in the next week then you know maybe the expectations need to be a little bit higher in terms of winning some more games and being above 500 we always talk about american thanksgiving as being that sort of you know important marker in the season where you've got to be at least relevant

and in the fight, if not actually mathematically in a playoff spot at that point to hope to have success. So, you know, yeah, 500, I think at the end of the month, assuming they missed some of these guys for most of the month, I think is a fair and reasonable expectation based on the personnel that they're working with. And, you know, ultimately it's about treading water and keeping yourselves in the conversation and not allowing the bottom to fall out. because if that happens here in the month of November, and it's a busy month, right? Like I joked about them having two days off between games, but they've got a ton of games this month. And, you know, the schedule is unrelenting here,

although I think they've got a little bit more time on home ice than they've had to this point in the season. But, yeah, this is survival mode for them right now with the injuries, and then if they get a little bit more healthy, then I think the expectations need to improve. Because you're right, you can stay 500 for so long, But eventually that has to, you know, become a three-game winning streak, a five-game winning streak, you know, seven or eight wins in ten games to allow yourself to legitimately put yourself into the playoff conversation.

And the longer the season goes where that run doesn't happen, the harder and harder it is to make up that ground. So obviously the injuries are different this year. And I think our expectations for this team would be more by the end of this month if they didn't. have as many guys out of the lineup as they do right now but that's the situation that they're in so they've got to just find a way to keep battling here and then worry about getting on that run once they get some bodies back well the other thing with all the injuries what it's done is um kind of like people have almost forgotten like wait a man there might be one injury that they're not going to overcome this season and that's philippeatles um how do you think

how do you think it's looked down the middle without Heidel? And is there any way that this team can get some momentum without addressing that position? Yeah, it's going to be hard for them. I don't think Lucas Reichael has been the answer. The owner of your BC Lions, Amar Doman, joins us now on the Halford & Breff Show

on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Amar. How are you? Good morning, gentlemen. I'm fine, thanks. How are you guys? We're good. We're excited about the Lions, you know, a couple months ago. I didn't expect that the Lions would be hosting a playoff game, but they did and they won it and they're off to the West Final. Hopefully a trip to the Grey Cup is coming up. Tell us about your last two months and the roller coaster of this team. You know, it just continues to get better. We had some lows early. Nathan was

heard for a couple of games. We lost both those games. And, you know, there's a guy that, you know, basically he was six yards short of the rushing title and he played two last games so that would have been his I mean he's had a stellar year the defense jelled a bunch of new players this year new coaching staff I'm going to tell you where we're at in the western final with all the moving pieces you know Nathan finally back in control we're very proud of this team and where we're at today and you know hey two more to go gentlemen I wanted to check in with you and just see how how how it's going for you You know, you've been the owner of the BC Lions for a few years now.

I think you've done a terrific job. I can't think of anyone who has ever texted into our show and said anything else. Where are you at right now? When you took over the team, how much progress have you made? How much more progress do you need to make? Yeah, you know what? First of all, I want to thank the fans. They are supporting, and they've come back in droves.

And really, you know, if you look back and look at some of the earlier comments I was making when we took the club over was we wanted to get the youth in there. When you go to a game today, you're going to see tons of families, tons of kids, little kids, and pushing those games up to the afternoon has really helped drive that strategy of bringing young kids into the building. And, you know, a lot come from all over the lower mainland further out. And, you know, when it's seven at night and going home at 10, 10, 10, 30, or 11, that's hard for a family. So we've tried to accommodate that with the league the best we could out here. and it's driving, you know, not only season's ticket sales, but game day sales, merch is through the roof. We did more merch almost on this game on Saturday than we did for our home opener.

And, you know, I asked Dwayne to double-check the numbers. I said, are you seriously? I just want to thank the fans. Everyone's wearing swag and into the gear. It's great. So I've got to tell you that all the arrows are going in the right direction as far as the BC lines go. And I just want to say thank you to everybody in BC.

So how has the project to get more kids playing flag football gone? It's gone fantastic. In fact, on the North Shore, we're short of coaches now. We have so many kids playing. And as you know, I coach myself. And it's been fantastic. And we've also supported GSL in the North Shore and other leagues that are in tackle. And they're all development leagues.

And we're all over the place supporting. And, you know, we're being selfish of putting our logos everywhere. But really, we're writing checks in helping kids get into sports that sometimes don't have an opportunity or need a shot. And we're doing a lot for the community. And that was a dream of mine. And it comes back and people wanting to be, you know, fans of the BC Lions or the CFL, but also just being good people in general by playing sports and getting the disciplines and learning those things you learn when you play a team sport. How important is it to have a guy like Nathan Rourke that you can market to the fans and people will know that name and know that he's the core.

quarterback of the BC Lions. Well, it's wonderful. And being Canadian is just another, you know, wonderful piece about him. So, you know, having him back and at the controls, he's a very loyal guy here. You know, he's just all in with Buck Pierce. They're working together, hand and glove. Very, very excited about, you know, the next number of years with Nathan Rourke. And he just continues to improve all the time. And I've got to tell you, we just, we're very fortunate to have him with us.

He's not shy about putting his opinion out there either, is he? No, we love the passion. Look, there's all kinds of opinions on rule changes and stuff. And, you know, you're starting to do a little bit of heart surgery when you touch rules in the CFL. But another reason, they haven't been touched for so long. It feels like if you change something, you know, you're turning the world on its edge. And these are just adjustments.

And we love his passion. We want people to be passionate. That means they love the league. Have you had a conversation about the rule changes? Are you guys on the same page? You know, really, we're going to let the season end. Nothing changes and stuff goes over for a couple of years. And let's focus on the playoffs.

Well, I do want to talk about some more big picture issues with the league with you, if that's okay. Are you going to be involved at all in the new broadcast deal, or do you just leave that to the commissioner? Because this seems like a big one for the CFL. Yeah, for sure. And that does go to the commissioner. That's his responsibility. And I think one of the reasons, you know, there's nine of us governors selected Stuart Johnson is because of his experience in media. He knows everybody in the media world, 30 years there.

Very well-known entity, very trusted guy. You know, we think we've got the right person to assist us in that next media deal when that comes up in about a year. Let's go back to the rule changes then. What did you think about the response, some positive, but there were some negative as well? Yeah, what I've told fans is, look, you know, we're making adjustments. there's some very, very die-hard CFL guys on this board, okay?

So the vote was 9-0, so that tells you something. And that came from all kinds of, I would say, you know, passionate people. Some guys are new to the league like me for a few years. But knowing the league forever, but guys that have really been involved, you know, at that governor level for a long time, they were all for it. These are adjustments. We're not tearing it up. We're not going to U.S. football.

Third down, that's not discussed changing. We're not changing the fair catch. We're not changing the kickoff. Like, we're not going to U.S., so people just need to see it, evidence it. And let's move on, and let's just improve as a league. Those uprights are a disaster. They're in the wrong spot.

I don't think anyone can argue against that. And also having cadence on the clock guys. I mean, seriously, right now the referee walks around for sometimes 30, 40 seconds, then starts 30 seconds. Like, people want to get the game moving. Look what they did with baseball. Look what they did with tennis. We're getting cadence on the clock.

As soon as the whistle blows, boom, 35 starts. That's good. forward the game. So, you know, let's give these things a try. I've said to fans face to face and, you know, if things aren't good and, you know, it's a disaster, we can make adjustments again. But, you know, I just think it's time to make some adjustments. Shorten

that end zone a little bit as well and you know, get rid of that 55 and just make it 100 yards. So these were things that were presented over the years. Nothing's been done for years. And you know, finally were to do something and it's implemented over two years, gentlemen. Are the games too long still?

Well, I think the cadence on on the clock's going to really help. But look, U.S. football, Canadian football college, you're going to run just about three hours depending on injury, right? So that's kind of where it's going to sit. I think we can clean up a little bit of time, though, with this cadence. And we're pretty excited about shortening that game a little bit. And eventually, if we get a 10th team, I know you've been talking about this for a thousand years, but if something comes, I think, you know, that would really help shorten the season by two weeks. And also, we're going to start a week early now right around Labor, sorry, not Labor Day, we're

Start around Victoria Day, my apologies, and then now finish right before the long weekend. So in November, which is great instead of pushing this out. And, you know, it's going to be minus six in Regina this weekend, too. So we kind of want to avoid that in the overlap with the NFL. We're speaking to BC Lions owner, Amar Domain here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Amar, I know we're up against it for time, but I do want to circle back to the opportunity this weekend. We talked about it. It's like for all the marketing initiatives and changes and things to do to get people in the

door and eyeballs on the product, winning is often the best marketing that you can have. And we saw, you know, with the Jays going to the World Series and the great run that they went on, what happens when you get in those spotlight games, those high profile games, how excited are you guys as an organization for this opportunity, given the fact that this team is on a heater, they've won a lot of games in a row. And to go into Saskatchewan to win that game would be a huge statement, not just to win in a tough place, but to get that spot in the Grey Cup. well I think guys we were two and five if I recall at the start of this season and yeah there was some head scratching and new coaching kind of going oh boy is this all jelling and now look you know the train's right on the track wins a win some are pretty some aren't just like any sport and I'll tell you what though the guys on special teams find a way or defense finds away offense like that pass to McKinness over the middle like things are just kind of clicking here sask they're an excellent football team Corey Mace You know, he's a stud out there coaching.

This is going to be a hard-battled game. I think it's going to be a close game. And, you know, hey, we're just happy we're there. To go from where we were to now the Western Final, a game away from the Great Cup. I'm pretty proud of this team, the organization, management, everybody. Here we are, guys. And it does help everything, to your point. Winning Phil's stadiums, it sells seats.

We had the curse of the Js a bit on Saturday. We still had a great loud crowd. I'll tell you, anybody that missed that game in person, one of the best football games I've ever seen. Did you, what were your thoughts when they ran the ball on the first play? Because I was like, are we going for overtime here? What's going on? Yeah, I scratched my head too.

I said, hey, what's going on with that? And, you know, hearing coach talk a little bit about that post game was, you know, if he ran that a bit, you know, or had a good run, he could have ran it again. There was still at that point in time 30 seconds left. So, you know, he was chewing the clock a little bit there. And then, boom, I think he might have tricked him into that one over the middle. so I've got to tell you, whatever Buck did, it worked. It was brilliant.

Amar, this was great. Thank you very much for taking the time to do this today. We appreciate it. Best of luck to the Lions on Saturday in Saskatchewan. Hopefully they come out with a win and are on their way to the Grey Cup. You guys are awesome. Thank you. Go Lions.

Yeah, thank you, Amar. We appreciate that. That's Amar Domen, BC Lions owner here on the Halford and Bruff show on SportsNet 650. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.