Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 5/27/25

Episode Date: May 27, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they talk the Abbotsford Canucks moving on to the next round of the AHL playoffs, they set up tonight's Oilers vs. Stars tilt with Sportsnet's Gene Principe, plus they chat with Surrey mayor Brenda Locke about their recently announced 10,000 capacity arena.  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. Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na And company with a shot! Score! The Hurricanes take their first lead of the series! Got some Yahoo! Your chap, Chirpin Happy from behind. Get out of here! What was he doing? Security! I'm fired up, he threw my cherubi! Too many chairs for one room. Tall ones gawking at me. Short ones being very droll. I don't like them. Go ahead, morning Vancouver! Six o'clock on a Tuesday. All ones gawking at me. The short ones being very droll. I don't like them. Good morning Vancouver, six o'clock on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday everybody, it is Halford at his broth at his Sportsnet 650.

You're coming to you live from the Kim Tech Studios in beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Maddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello.

Halford and Brougham the Morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trustedusted Choice for Dead Help with over 3,000 five-star reviews. Visit them online at Sands-Trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit the middle of 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. Big show ahead on a Tuesday.

It's another four guest here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. It's 6.30 this morning. We're gonna go to Carolina. We're gonna talk to the host of the Canes Corner and the Adam Gold show on 99.9, the fan in Carolina. Adam Gold's gonna join us. Carolina kept its season alive last night with a three nothing shutout win over Florida in game four of the Eastern Conference Final.

This was Carolina's first win in the Eastern Conference Final since June 1st, 2006. So we know what they need to do. They just need to score first in every game against Florida. For the rest of their lives. Yeah. By the way, by the way, that game on June 1st, 2006, the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Buffalo Sabres in game seven

of the Eastern Conference final. It was their last Eastern Conference final win. Do you know who scored the game winning goal for the Carolina Hurricanes? That game? Mm, no. The head coach, Rod Brindamore. That's that is crazy. We're going to talk to Adam Gold about that at six thirty seven o'clock.

Owen Newkirk is going to join the program host of the DLLS Sports Dallas Stars podcast game for the Western final goes tonight. A reminder, you can hear it right here on sports net six 50 after Canucks central who needs to get going for the stars? Are they going to get a rupee hints back tonight? We'll try and answer some of those questions with Owen at seven, seven 30. We're going to go to the other side of that game. Gene Principe, lovable oilers, rinkside reporter.

It's going to join us to break things down from the Edmonton side at 7.30. Connor Brown is definitely out. Calvin Pickard might back up. The biggest story though, Will Mathias Ekholm come back tonight. We'll talk to Jean about all that at 7.30. Eight o'clock, here's one for everybody. Brenda Locke, the mayor of Surrey,

is gonna join the program. We'll be speaking to her about last week's announcement that a new arena is going to be built near the city's downtown core seating capacity of 10000 plans for the arena. I believe it's by Surrey City Hall and what they call Surrey City Center. This is the show has a long and storied history with Surrey Mayor's. Hopefully it goes better than the last time we interviewed a Surrey mayor

in which we lost the phone call and never got it back. What are you talking about? That wasn't great. It was awesome. It's one of the best interviews we've ever had. Yep. It was with Doug McCallum, and we never spoke to Doug again after that.

And you know what? That 60,000 seat stadium in Surrey never happened. Hasn't happened yet. Yet, right. Yet. I'm holding on hope. Can you imagine if Brenda Locke is like, oh no, we're gonna do that.

Yeah, we mean. Also a 10,000 seat arena. First you build the 10,000 seat arena, then you build the 60,000 seat stadium. We're building the 10,000 seat arena inside the 60,000 seat arena. It's an arena in an arena. It's a micro version of the bigger idea.

I know we're gonna have someone text in, ask them about a Canucks practice facility. We only have so much bandwidth with Brenda today. Okay. I actually, I actually, for real, I'm going to ask about the Lions practice facility though, because I don't know how much longer the Lions have in that Surrey practice facility.

So Brenda Locke is going to join us at eight to talk all things arena and practice facility. 730 Gene Principe, 7 o'clock Owen Newkirk, 630 Adam Gold. I do have to talk all things arena and practice facility. 7 30 G Jean Prince pay seven o'clock going new Kirk six 30 Adam Gold. I do have to remind everyone you heard the ad prior to the health and breath show starting this morning. The sports net six 50 Jays care. 50 50 is now live. You could win half the jackpot and the other half supports challenger baseball, a program that helps our kids of all abilities across BC thrive through sports. So just a serious note here, I usually play in the Jays Care

golf tournament every summer and they usually do a presentation for Challenge Your Baseball and it is such a good program. My brother coaches Challenge Your Baseball. Oh does he? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So I mean he must know the stories of And it is such a good program. My brother coaches challenger baseball. Oh, does he? Yep. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, he must know the stories of like,

these kids love that. They do. Um, and they feel like they belong and they make friends. A lot of these kids in these situations, it is, it's tough to make friends. And a lot of the parents come up and they say, the best thing is seeing them, first of all,

have an activity that they love to go do and also make friends. Yeah. And it is a great initiative and a great cause. And if you want to support, tickets started just $10 with bundles for even more chances to win. Don't wait, get your tickets now listen up closely Jays care golf dot raffle nexus.com

You must be 19 years or older and live in BC to play. Let's make a big impact together. Okay, that's the rundown That's what's happening on the show today. That's all I got for that portion of the show laddie without further ado Let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was. We know how busy your life can be.

What happened? Missed it? You missed that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance, making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online to bccsa.ca.

We will begin with an afternoon affair in Colorado yesterday. Linus Carlson, playoff hero Linus Carlson scored twice. Artie Silas 32 saves for his fourth shutout of the postseason. The Avedsford Canucks took care of the hated Colorado Eagles, five nothing in the decisive game five at blue arena on Monday afternoon. Yester, you heard it right here on Sportsnet 650. I'm telling you man, Linus Carlson might be my new

Tyler Mott and Tyler Mott was my new Yannick Hansen. Right. Like this guy, I really like his game. And I don't expect him next season to play a top six role for the Vancouver Canucks, but I would be surprised if he's not a mainstay in the bottom six because he just keeps getting better. Yep.

And two more goals for him yesterday. And so it's great that the Abbotsford Canucks are going to move on. They're going to play Texas in the next, they play Colorado and now they're going to play Texas. They're playing all the central division teams, AHL affiliates. Yeah.

Taking care of business too. Um, but one of the conversations I want to have, um, on the show today is about Mancini and how, well, he's playing because every time we talk to someone like Brandon Astle, and we will talk about that by the way, little incident he had with the fans. But, um, I think of this as the, the Canucks defense next season.

Okay. I'm just going to throw this out here. Yeah. Okay. Hughes with Hronik. I like that. So we're not going to trade Hronik. Okay.

Uh, Marcus Pedersen with Mancini and DPT with Myers. The old and the young together, the old young pairings, two of them. I like it, Jason. And you've got lefty righty, lefty righty, lefty righty. Will Under could be in the mix too, depending how he looks at training camp, assuming he's not traded. And I wonder if they'll need to sign another veteran who can kill penalties to replace a guy like

Foreboard, but just in general, you would look at that Canucks blue line and say, that has real potential. It's a nice little blue line they've got there. So we know what Hughes and Hronik can be. We know what Marcus Pedersen and Tyler Myers are. The wild cards are really Mancini and DPD because as much as we've given them a lot of praise and DPD kind of had a breakout year this year and we hear that he might be like

the one untouchable among the Canucks prospects. They've still got to go out and perform and if you're asking one of those guys or maybe even both of those guys at times to play top four minutes, it's a big ask. Mm hmm. But I do remember when the Nashville Predators or maybe even both of those guys at times to play top four minutes, it's a big ask. But I do remember when the Nashville Predators used to have a really solid blue line and a

so-so forward group, and it worked to a certain extent for them. Like in 2011, remember the Canucks played the Preds in the playoffs. How can I forget? They had Weber and Suter. And before that, before he came to Vancouver, they also had Dan Hamhuis.

So they had Weber, Suter and Dan Hamhuis. And they had some really good seasons with those three together. Now the problem for the Preds is that they can never score enough to realistically call themselves a contender. There were years when I was looking back at it yesterday, I'm like, Patrick Hornquist was their leading scorer?

They had some pretty hilarious leading scorer. Yeah, with like 51 points. Yep. Remember in 2011 when it was like, well, if we can shut down Joel Ward, we should be fine. And they nearly didn't. He found his way from behind the goal line and score with regularity on Roberto Loongo. Yes, he's very good at it.

I would have a real temper tantrum when that happened. Just because I went down this rabbit hole too and I was like, you remember you do the matchups and you're like, how are we going to shut down Martin Erat and David Legwand? That's what those were the best forwards. Wasn't David Legwand their first pick? Yeah, first draft pick, yes. He played there for forever. He played there for.

And he scored 19 goals a year, it's regularity. They also, we all know, really bought into Barry Trott's hockey. That was the Preds back then. And it wasn't ideal from an entertainment standpoint. But you can't play an exciting offensive brand of hockey if you don't have the horses upfront. You just can't.

No. Because we saw it. We saw it last season. Quinn Hughes was exciting and that's about it from the Vancouver Canucks last season. You can try and play offensive hockey if you don't have the horses upfront, but more often than not, you'll just end up embarrassing yourself because you'll stretch your defenseman too much is what

happens and then you just get put in bad positions and there are turnovers and it goes back the other way and it's not good. We can obviously revisit this conversation later in the summer when the Canucks have made their moves, but I just find it hard to picture a scenario where we're going to look at the roster after July 1st and think, wow, look at all those amazing forwards. This team is going to score a lot of goals. And I, and I wonder sometimes if you should just, if you have an obvious strength,

as opposed to focusing on so much on fixing the weakness, just really lean into your strength. Well, that's how you get a team identity, is you understand what you're good at. But more importantly, you understand what you're not good at. And so you lean into the things that are your strengths and you really try and make that what your team is about.

And that's what those Predators teams did back then. I know a lot of you right now in listener land, the tens of you listening right now, are probably cringing and moaning and making other weird noises about the prospect of reinventing one of the least offensive teams of the last couple of decades. And yeah, it's got its ceiling for as good as those teams were in the regular season and they were good regular season teams back in the day.

They really topped out as like maybe you'll win a round in the playoffs, maybe. But they were apparently a second round eliminated team. Do we also have to take into account that the NHL was a little different back then? It was more defensive than it is now. Right. So I think the idea would be you don't you just sort of take them as a blueprint that if you're going to have an identity as a team and you've already got some strengths, that one fits because I think we have a mention was like they were also predicated on really good

goaltending back in the day with Pecker and I. And I mean, Anders Lindbach to a certain degree as well. But a duo where you could trust that after the solid blue line, you've got a really good line of defense in net. I think that's what the Canucks are envisioning right now. Like they seem, if you listen enough to the analysts, like analysis from media puddits,

but also what the brass has said in particular, they seem pretty confident that Demko's to come back in better health than this year I don't want to say healthy but better health than last year combined with What was one of the better stories of last year and Kevin Lankinen? And if they can find a way and find the right balance and math in terms of who gets to play what? You could see a world where between two very good goalies and a very good blue line They defend their way to I don't know 98 100 points. Yeah You could see a world where between two very good goalies and a very good blue line,

they defend their way to, I don't know, 98, 100 points. Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. Winning like one nothing and two nothing games and three one games and two one games. Yeah, you play it, you play it close. You're not quite Carolina, but Carolina doesn't exactly play high event hockey when it's rolling, right?

And they play- Not the most thrilling hockey. You wouldn't play that particular stuff. Well, I play high event hockey because they take a lot right? And they play. Not the most thrilling hockey. You wouldn't play that particular stuff. Well, they play high event hockey because they take a lot of shots. Right. Depending on what, if you want goals. There are events.

Yeah. But it was funny, I mentioned how Taylor Hall broke down the way that they play, and they don't shoot to score. They shoot as a sort of like build up to either collecting rebounds and then playing off that, or trying to drop penalties from having so much possession. And then they go to work on the power play.

So again, it's this is more along the lines of those conversations where when you talk about the Canucks and you say, now, this isn't what I want the team to do and I'm not advocating for this. But this is what I see the team potentially doing based on logic and how they've dictated and acted in the past. And if you look at what they've got right now, the blue line that you laid out is good.

It's a good solid blue line. It's got young guys that would be making the jump into it, which I think is a plus. Because if you look at the really bad teams around the NHL, it's in most cases, like if you're thinking about San Jose or Chicago, everything's bad. The goaltending's bad. The blue line, they might have pieces here and there. In Buffalo, they've got some pieces on the blue line. You've got amazing pieces on the blue line. I have two for my first overall picks. The goaltending, not know like in Buffalo. They've got some pieces on the blue line You've got amazing pieces on the blue

And I've got the goal sending first overall picks the goal tending not so much. No, right? It's been a huge problem We have Paul Hamilton on the show last week and you exactly how the ball and goaltending is constantly let them down so if the Canucks can go into next season and they've got a above average blue line and they've got above average goaltending I blue line and they've got above average goal tending. I think they could, could, could, I'm not, I'm not making a prediction. They could still make the playoffs, even if they're for a group you look at it and you're like, Oh, that's, it's not great.

I think there's room in the national hockey league for this type of team to make the post season. Yeah. But I think that's it. And then once you get into the postseason, you're like, well, if everything goes our way and if everything goes right, maybe we could go on a little bit of a run. And then you still have to answer the question. How do you get past that? Well, like we're right now, we're giving the connects the benefit of the doubt that they could be, you know, like make it to the first round, maybe even went

around with, with a strong goal tending and strong defense and a so-so forward group. The thing with the Preds, if we're gonna go back to that example, is like they eventually reached a point where the fans were like, this is great and all, but we need something more here. Yeah, it was like the first 15 years of the franchise's existence.

The Canucks have a secret weapon up front though. What's that now? Elias Pettersson. Why do you always bring him into the conversation every time? No, I'm not trying not to. I'm trying not to. I'm not kidding. We're just talking about-

I mean theoretically if he was to regain his form, then there you go, there's your, I don't know. But okay, that was 30- There's your Joel Warren. 30 to 40 goals. There's your Martin E. Rat right there. No, like- But no, like he is that guy. Theoretically, it's funny because he is a wild card.

Yeah, the what Nashville ended up doing eventually was trying to add one sort of more highlight real piece. And I keep mentioning Martin E. Rat because that was who they traded to get Philip Forsberg, who's gone on to become probably the best forward in franchise history. That's one of the most lopsided trades of all time. Right. And they were so that added us a spark of offense,

but they were still at their core. They were still a defense and goaltending first team. It was like, you know, when the Maple Leafs tried to add toughness and they would go out and add the Ryan Reeves or whatever, but they're still not a tough team. There's still a bunch of skill guys that I got a couple of pieces at it. You I mean, I just think that there's something really interesting here in terms of building an identity. And a couple of people have pointed out, like, who better to coach a defense

first team than one of the best defensive defensemen of his era and Adam Foot? Right. Like this would go along with what you consider to be his personality as a head coach, given he coached the blue line last year and everything. That part is great. The other part of this is that moving forward, I think this offseason is going to be very instructive for how maybe the next couple off seasons are going to look. By that, I mean, how many teams are going to be buyers?

How many are going to be aggressive buyers, especially in free agency? The really interesting part with this off season is not free agency, folks. It's the teams that are left on the outside looking in from free agency and don't fill the needs that they have. How aggressive are they gonna be on the trade market with the increased cap and the ability to move more contracts? Because some teams are gonna say,

well, we're gonna try and solve our problems the easy way. We just go buy a player. We don't have to send any assets out the door. We just add them on. The teams that can't do that are gonna have to say, well, now how are we gonna fix ourselves? And it's gotta be through trades. That's the other part of the cap going up

is it should theoretically loosen up the market to make transactions of that nature. But I always come back to what are the connects going to try to talk about the connect. Oh, I'm talking about the right, like because this off season, I think what's going to happen now is I'd say the following off season and maybe the one even following will probably be similar in terms of, um, teams that have more calf space at their disposal, the cap rising and teams wanting to get more aggressive.

I mean, look at some of the teams right now that have been languishing in the dumpster. Like, they're gonna wanna make their move forward at some point, right? You can see it on the horizon. How much longer are the Chicago's and the San Jose's of the world gonna be happy being bottom feeders?

Like, they're gonna want to start making the move, right? Sean texts in, I started listening 10 minutes late today. Why are we obsessively discussing the boring 2010s era predators? Yawn. Well, that might be your Vancouver Canucks next season, Sean. You should have started listening 10 minutes prior to that when we introduced this theory. Can we play the audio from yesterday, please? So yesterday during Abbotsford's five nothing thumping of the Colorado Eagles in

Colorado, there was a very well, I'm sure the time it was disturbing incident to our good buddy Brandon Astle play by play voice of the Abbotsford Canucks who appeared on our show, which was like the de facto pregame show because yesterday's game, because it was Memorial Day in the States, the puck dropped at two o'clock in the afternoon. So during the game, and I believe this was with Abbotsford up two nothing, as they would cruise to a comfortable five nothing win,

Brandon got into it a little bit with some of the Colorado Eagles fans in attendance at Blue Arena, and it happened live on the air. And here's what it sounded like. HAAAW! HAAW! HAAW!

What the hell is wrong with you? You're the worst. Got some Yahoo! Your chap chirping happy from behind. Get out of here! What was he doing? security Try that again So it's two nothing Abbotsford

Puck is dumped in by Glover on it behind the net Yeah, you can see Eagles fans are frustrated as Colorado know ice is the puck under a minute to go in the first period I'm fired up he threw my chair at me hit me right in the back of the leg like what was he doing here unreal have another beer 56 seconds to go Carlson out there with Baines and Mueller that has never happened to me I thought he was was trying to talk to you, but he's yelling at me saying the net was off. Should check that net out now, laddie. Unbelievable. As a unbelievable as a as a minor.

Well, it's not minor league, it's junior hockey, but as a junior hockey broadcast yourself, have you ever encountered a similar situation or like an unruly fan, maybe a guy that's had one too many and wants you to like, can you go to, you know, video replay on that last goal? Well, I don't know what the setup is like in the Colorado, in the blue arena in Colorado. Apparently you're very close to the Colorado Eagles fans.

Yeah, there's a couple of rinks that I've broadcasted in that you're right in the stands, essentially. Okay. You're mingling and mixing up with the fans while you're broadcasting the game. It's very awkward, not the greatest situation. So I feel for Brandon in that situation. But I've never had someone come and attack me, no.

I've had the mascot kind of come up to me and try to- Jocelyne? Yeah, Jocelyne. Which mascot? It was the Langley Riverman mascot. What's her- Jack the Giant. No, that's the giant. Yes.

It's probably the, is it his name Jack the Giant? It I know that's the giant it's probably the is it it's a guy no it's a guy like a Lumberjack rocket hat on like a big a real river man a real river man he comes up and pokes you so I've had that happen but I'm sure yes well he had a giant head the Langley poker So yeah, I feel for Brandon. That's I can't believe that happened in loveland like that's that's where the game was Yeah, love in Colorado love love land. It's loveland I don't know but it I know about love you love land. I'm all the hate they don't call it. I'm gonna suggest land I'm gonna suggest a terrible name for a place. Yeah, we had to move to hate. Yeah, we expect this

I hate land, but I'm gonna suggest that Loveland, Colorado was maybe Maybe enjoying Memorial Day celebrations a lot pre gaming, you know, well, you heard Brandon. Yep I'm gonna drinking the beer. He had the the Will Ferrell when he's talking about his mom in the kitchen making me love. What's he doing? He's doing back there. What's she doing back there? He was. And then he you know, I felt bad because he apologized sort of on social media afterwards that he thought he could have handled it better.

And I was like, Brandon, you handled it exactly how you should have. That was perfect. So who was I thought he handled it really well. Kudos to him and the rest of the Abbotsford Canucks. They really did the business down there in Colorado. I think most people would be like, I'm turning my mic off? Yeah.

This is gonna get nasty. Shorty would have killed the guy. So Abbotsford advances to the Western Conference. They'd be like, DT, get him. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Sportsnet's Gene Principe here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650.

Good morning, Gene, how are you? Hey, Mike and Jason, good morning. I'm always amazed when I, in the playoffs, I do a lot of traveling. I'm an early traveler. So I've been taking a lot of 6 a.m. Flights and I'm thinking You guys are up at so I'm up around 3 30 3 45 somewhere in there I'm guessing that is around is that around what time you guys wake up on a daily basis during the week? No

Not for me I live close to the studio For between 4 and 4 30 wake up guy because we start this show starts at 6 Jason is a 557 Yeah, yeah, he loves leaving it to the last minute But anyway, I'm it's how I get my energy up You know if I if I don't feel like I'm gonna be late for the show then I'm just kind of sluggish when I get In there. It's an adrenaline kick going to be late for the show then I'm just kind of sluggish when I get in there. It's an adrenaline kick. Well I always find for me if the wake up time is like well if it starts with a five that's

awesome even you know the morning after a game. A four I can live with when it's a three it's like yeah yeah yeah like you know you barely get any sleep but when you can sleep on planes, it's no problem. And the other thing, this time of the year, I mean, I think all of us would make any kind of sacrifices to be involved in a, well, you know, you hope a Stanley Cup finishing run, but at least the Stanley Cup playoffs. I remember how much fun it was last year,

that seven game series, Edmonton and Vancouver. Well, Gene, I'm extremely jealous of, that seven game series Edmonton in Vancouver. Well, Gene, I'm extremely jealous of what's going on in Edmonton right now. I wish it was in Vancouver, but it's not. Um, I know they send you out to talk to the fans a lot and you go out into the, into the moss pit and that's always fun to see. Um, as much as it pains me to say this, the oilers fans have been great in the playoffs.

I love the enthusiasm. What's the vibe of the city? Because it just looks like, I know the other day that it was an afternoon game, the weather was great. And I was just like, man, it would be fun to be in Edmonton right now. You know what? It really is. And the first, the Oilers started on the road against LA and then when they were back for game three of the opening round, I drove to the rink and I was like, oh yeah, right, this is what it's like.

I couldn't believe just literally the thousands of people that were lined up to get into various fan parks, moss pit, viewing areas. Honestly, I'm not sure how I could forget, but I felt like I did. And they have been, so just to give your listeners an idea, and I'm sure they see it on TV, but basically you're talking about approximately 30,000 people down there on a game night, 18 and a half almost inside the building. And I would say, you know, 10

to 12 outside, it is phenomenal. And I guess, I mean, being in Vancouver last year was great as well. I mean, the people were wonderful and supporting their team. It just, I guess, basically the setup in Edmonton is so that many thousands of people can come downtown and not watch the game in the building. They can be somewhat comfortable, especially if you're 16 to 18 and like to stand shoulder to shoulder with people for three plus hours. You can do it. And it's

amazing when I've been in that moth pit, I literally do have shoes older than some of the kids in there. They are young. I mean, it is a young crowd, which that's not surprising. Uh, then they have fan parks where it's, you know, you can sit and, uh, it's, it's a little bit of an older crowd. And I mean, you know, taking you into the twenties, I know my oldest son has been down there, he's 26. He really likes it. So in the end, you know, um, sports brings us together and in some cases separates us, but it is about community-minded

spirit. And Edmonton, like Vancouver, is a community. And everybody at this time of the year, with the way things are going, rallies around their franchise. I remember being in Vancouver in 2011 and what that was like, you know, getting to game seven. So it's wonderful time of the year and it's an extra wonderful time of the year when your team is still in the NHL playoffs. You know, I knew I was getting old because when I saw that, the, the,

the moss pit outside on the afternoon game, I was thinking, I hope they're wearing sunscreen because it looked hot out there. Um, so let's talk about, uh, let's talk about the Oilers. Uh, when's Matthias Ekholm going to be back? Oh my gosh. This is a long awaited return. Um, I mean, I don't think he can look any better than he does at practice.

He looks fantastic, but he, you know, even yesterday he did not practice with a defender that would put him in the top six. He was in the fourth pairing. So I don't know. I'm not sure if because he, he was injured, came back, was hurt and left again, whether that has made everybody a little more cautious. I don't know if a 2-1 series lead has given everybody just a little more time to breathe, but when your best all-around defenseman is available, I don't think you're saying, hey, take another game off. I mean,

they're not up three, nothing. It's two, one. And uh, it was one, one. Uh, I didn't think he would play the day game. I just because they traveled this Saturday, there was really no skate Sunday, but he skated hard like he has throughout the last couple of weeks. We all knew round one, round two were out, but round three was the round, if Edmonton made it, that he would return or is expected to. So I don't know, I'm headed to the rink right now.

I'm kind of, I'm like on a 50-50. I feel like if he was going to be in the top six, he would have paired up with his partner yesterday at practice. I don't think, I don't know, I know it's plans. I'm not sure you would hide the return of Matthias Icombe to the Dallas Stars. I don't think so. I know that some coaches, you know, any information is too much information. But we wait to see what happens this morning and whether he's back in or it's another trip to Dallas to see if he plays in game five. I know we all seem to be talking about the rematch between the Panthers and the Oilers,

even though the Panthers have yet to eliminate Carolina and Dallas has yet to be eliminated by Edmonton. In the back of your mind, or maybe the front of your mind, where are the Oilers vulnerable to Dallas? Because, you know, I'm just watching them and I know, you know, there are games where the Oilers look off and Skinner looks off, but more often than not, especially lately, it's just seemed like a real collision course between

the Oilers and the Panthers. Yeah. I mean, it's hard not to look that way. I know Carolina, you know, held off being eliminated in the sweep. And Ed Vinson was an example of a team that was able to claw back from three down in the cup final at least to push it to seven. I think vulnerable is something that the orders would become if Dallas' top players start to score.

I think that's, that's it. I mean, you take away the three power play goals and they're just, they're not scoring. And I mean, they've had chances. Um, a couple of things that, that I've noticed is that the Oilers have really, uh, you know, packed it in, in front of Stuart Skinner. So a lot of those bouncing pucks, um, saves that, that Skinner makes, rebounds, seem to be either going to the Oilers or the Oilers are getting to the puck, whether it's winning a battle, getting a quicker first step.

But honestly, you know, the other day, power play early in the third and ranting in rings went off the post and suddenly it's 3-2 instead of 3-1. Dallas played, I thought, quite well and had much of the play in the second period, but McDavid's late goal in the second period really, I'm not sure it solidified the win, but it really gave a sense of confidence to the Oilers. And I think it took away what Edmonton gained. They gained it by taking it away from Dallas. So Dallas, you know, it's weird because Pete DeVore said, I like game two better than game one. And I like that game three better than game two for his team. And yet they lost game three, six, one. So you're going, wait a minute, does this, does this add up?

But they did play better. And, you know, in the third things just started to go sideways. The other thing is it was the same storyline last year, you know, Jay Cotton, you're better than Stuart Skinner or appears to be better than Stuart Skinner to this point. Jay Cotton, you're hasn't been better than Stuart Skinner. To this point, Jake Gontgenger hasn't been better than Stuart Skinner. So that's kind of a big deal here. And I think that it's goal scoring and it's goal tending,

which I know it is a rocket science, but that really has been kind of area one and two that either your goal scorer's gotta get seven when Edmonton get six or five when they get four or if your team's only scoring two your goalie's got a lot one or or less so we'll see tonight tonight sir I think the night that we see what Dallas has we wait to see if Ropey Hintz will be available they're a good team I mean they're a really good team, in fact.

And so Edmonton certainly isn't sliding or taking them lightly, even though they did win 6-1. I think the score was a little bit deceiving, but you know, McDavid scored a couple, Zach Hyman scored a couple, Nugent Hopkins had three points and scored like, the big guys are scoring. And I think in the Vegas series where they weren't doing it as much, it was a depth scoring that kind of pushed the orders through getting by Vegas and five. Does Ryan Nugent Hopkins get enough attention, enough praise for his versatility? You know, he plays everywhere. Um, you know, center wing, he plays on the PK and he's also

been producing, you know, I get why the focus would be on McDavid and Dry-Cytle and, you know, Skinner, but Newch has just kind of always been there. Yeah. And, you know what I mean? Yeah, people there know him well. He'll never get the attention he deserves except inside the room.

There he gets it. Uh, the coach jokes that, you know, are an agent's favorite player because of everything you just said, um, he does everything and he does everything, you know, pretty well, sometimes extremely well, but he doesn't have many games where every part of his game is not right. Yeah, he's not scoring all the time.

He's leading the series in points. He's been phenomenal against Dallas, but he's there all the time and he's needed all the time in so many situations, especially during the playoffs. And you know, Ryan's a pretty greedy guy. Like he's had a wonderful career. He's been here from the beginning. He was the second guy after Taylor Hall that was part of the, you know, those first overall picks

that were going to turn things around. And it, you know, it took some time and it took a first overall pick in 2015 and you know, a third pick and a fourth pick to get dry sidle and nurse and seven for nurse. I mean, it's taken a while, but here they are as one of the best teams in the league, wondering if they can take that final step. I know it's hard not to look ahead. I saw, you know, as you know, the teams have their own ways of whether it's 16 pucks or different ways to show that they're another puck, another win closer to getting to 16. The Euler's now at 10, so they've hit double digits, which I think is a big point. It shows you that you're getting there. So, but you know, Ryan

is, he might be the most popular player in the sense of his longevity, never asked for a trade, in the sense of his longevity, never asked for a trade, never heard a bad word out of his mouth about Edmonton through all those dark times. And here he is. And we always think that when McDavid gets that cup, if McDavid gets that cup, who's the first guy he's gonna go to? I don't know what the odds would be,

but I would think that it would have to be Ryan that would get it first after the captain. Do you think that if it is a rematch between the Oilers and the Panthers, all the Oilers dads and Oilers fans dads and grandparents will sit their kids down and tell them about the 83, 84, how in 83 they went to the final and they lost to the Islanders and then they learned some lessons about what it took and then they won it in 1984. Yeah, that is the old story which is now, that story is 40 plus years old, right, from Gretzky and Coffee and Führer and all those players that said, you know, they walked by the Islanders dressing room and saw the ice bags and the commitment

that it takes. Well, I can tell you this, uh, the way Florida's arena is set up, the Oilers wouldn't have walked by the Panthers dressing room, uh, after game seven, uh, or, or after game one or two. Oh, they're not going to know. No, they're, yeah, that's right. How will they know? I better tell them. I'll tell them when I get to the ring. But for sure there is the understanding of that commitment.

Listen, Florida, if they get there, which, you know, the odds are they, they will. Unbelievable in, in this era to have that, that determination. And I think when you get players like Brad Marshand, who, you know, I know he won the cup, sorry, but hasn't won it in 14 years. And Seth Jones, who's never won it, and really not even been close, you get those players, plus the new players that are there. And it just gives, if needed, that extra motivation or that return motivation that it takes to win a Stanley Cup and make all those sacrifices. You know, I've been watching the Panthers series with less series going on and the, you know, the off nights and, uh, I tell you,

they are one like, you know, Matthew Kachuk the other night, not this game, but the game before they're up like five one and he's trying to rag doll Sebastian Ajo in the final few minutes. Like why is he doing that? Because that's what he does. And that's what they do. You know, I'm not going to say good versus evil if Edmonton makes it, but because you know, the others have some, some, you know, potential evil tendencies of their own if necessary, including a Vander Kane who who he can put up with with anyone

and can be unpredictable and is a wonderful guy to have on your team for many reasons. But yeah, the story of the losing and then winning started in a dynasty. So I think if the orders can, that's the other thing. People ask what's different between this team and last team last year. Certainly they figured it that's the other thing people ask, what's different between this team and last team last year? Certainly they figured it out along the way to get there, but I think they know now really

what it takes because of what they've been through and the ultimate disappointment of losing in game seven by a goal. I mean, I guess overtime would still have been a goal, but would have been more dramatic, but that's as close as you can get without winning. I mean, I guess overtime would still have been a goal, but would have been more dramatic. Uh, but that's as close as you can get without, without winning. So they, they get it. They get it. And, uh, they seem, you know, on a mission to get this done this year.

Uh, LA had them on the ropes a little bit, you know, down to nothing, uh, game four down to one in the series and overtime dry settle scores on the ropes a little bit, down two nothing. Game four, down two one in the series in overtime, dry settled scores in the power play, LA scores. You never know, but Florida was on the ropes to Toronto and they fought their way off the ropes and now they're one away from a cup final. I just want you to know, Gene, that this entire segment has been an attempted jinx by Vancouver

to talk about the Oilers getting over the hump and winning the game. And, you know, we were talking about who's going to, who's McDavid going to pass the puck, pass the cup to. The whole thing has been a jinx because they are still only up 2-1 on the Dallas Stars. Yeah, no, it feels like, you know, it's funny because for some reason it feels more, maybe

because of just that third period, the Eulers actually played quite well in periods one and two of game one. It feels like they're up three one and they're not, and they're not for sure they're not. And Dallas is a fantastic sports town, a great hockey city, especially inside the American Airlines Center. I mean, it is, it is rocking in there. So Edmonton, we know this series has to go at least five, maybe six, somebody's going to have a shot at winning the cup if it's not, or winning the series if it's not done in five, in game six back here. So yeah, there's a lot of work to be done and Dallas is best will be on display. I'm certain tonight to see if they can get this at even. That's the one thing I've never understood and I'll never as close as I am to teams, just the momentum

of the highs and lows are just unbelievable. And I give athletes credit for managing those because the despair seems like it's never going to end and the enjoyment appears everlasting when you win. So, but you have to manage that because you're not going 16 and 0, but Edmonton would like to get up 3-1 if they can tonight. Gene, this was great, man. Thanks for taking the time to do it. We appreciate it. Enjoy the game tonight. It should be a good one. Yeah, if it doesn't go well, I'm coming back to see you.

OK, OK, it's a date. See you, Gene. Thanks, buddy. All right, boys. Take care. Gene Prince of Edmonton here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. She is the mayor of Surrey. She joins us now on the Halford and Brough show. Itnet 650. She is the mayor of Surrey. She joins us now on the Halford and Brough show. It's Brenda Locke here on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Brenda, how are you? Good morning, how are you?

I'm great. We are well as well. And thank you for taking the time to do this today. So let's start with the news announced last week, criticism of yourself. Why does Surrey need a 10,000 seat arena, Brenda? Well, I mean, Surrey is going to be where the action is. It's a surprise to me that we don't have one by now. And so having a large center in our city is just something that's about community building. And you know, Surrey is a young

city, lots of sports are played right here in our city. So this will be a great addition. It's an important addition and I know that, uh, people are excited about it. Would you need to lock down an anchor tenant maybe in the AHL or WHL before the shovels go on the ground? You know, we, uh, not, not necessarily, but, uh,

we're certainly getting a lot of interest. We will be having partners doing this project with us, but we don't need the anchor yet. But we are certainly getting a lot of interest because people, they want to come to Surrey and we are a city of over 700,000 people. So an arena of this size makes a lot of sense. Tell us about the kind of partners you need for this project, because it's not just an arena. No, it's not. And you know, you have to figure out how to, you

know, as they say, 365 an arena. So it's going to be other people that are music venues, there'll be lots of other people participating in it. And we are talking to a number of people that are interested in partnering. We certainly know and anticipate this is going to be a blended financial model, which is something that is

important because these are extraordinarily expensive projects. But we know that there are private investors that are looking at it and people that are looking at things like naming rights and other things like that. extraordinarily expensive projects but we know that there are private investors that are looking at it and people that are looking at things like naming rights and all those other things so we're working on all that right now as we speak actually. So how do you ensure taxpayers

are protected because in the history of arenas and stadiums in North America, there have been some very bad deals and they have not, well, they have not been good for anyone. Well, you know, I understand that, absolutely. And that's why we're being really careful about that because ultimately our taxpayer is the one that we care about the most. And so we will be making sure that this isn't going to be a major burden on our taxpayer.

But I can tell you that the interest from teams, from other groups is really alive in Surrey and I know that people know Surrey is going to be the largest city in British Columbia very quickly and for us to not have this kind of facility is actually surprising.

So we've had a lot of interest, interest from not only British Columbia, outside of British Columbia as well. So we're well into the plan. What are the next steps and if you could provide us a bit of a timeline for when you think you could get started on construction? You know, the very next steps, within the next few weeks, perhaps a month, we'll be issuing an RFP for the development advisor. And that's the person that's going to help us really refine the business case so that we can move forward

and advise the exact location. We have a pretty good idea where we want it to go, but they'll be really helpful in keeping us on track with that. And then we'll continually work alongside with other people like external legal counsel because all of these operations are complicated and we need competitive processes all the way through to make sure just as you were saying earlier we're going to make budget numbers that make sense for our city. Where do you want to put it right now? Well right now now we're looking at City Centre,

that's the downtown of Surrey and that's really our location. But you know, this is a real large project. This is not just, as I said, there's going to be multiple partners. We're looking at a hotel space there, we're looking at other facilities, conference facilities there. So you can understand there will be lots of people with interest in how they are going to work alongside of the arena, which is the core

of it. But there will be lots of other interests. This is going to be sports and entertainment district and something that this city is more than ready for. I want to ask you about the BC lines and their practice facility. They have moved some of their business district and something that this city is more than ready for. I wanted to ask you about the BC Lions and their practice facility. They've moved some of their business operations downtown. I think there's a few years

left on the lease at their practice facility. Have there been any conversations with the BC Lions on a new practice facility? You know, we're talking, I'm not going to get into specifics that would be offside, but certainly we're talking to all kinds of different teams, but also other people involved in sports and entertainment. Is it important to keep the Lions in Surrey? Of course we love the Lions.

They have their training facility here and so they are part of the city. So, absolutely the Lions are important to the city of Surrey. Brenda, we want to thank you for taking the time to do this today. We really appreciate it. Best of luck with everything moving forward. And this is very informative. Thanks again. Oh, thank you for your interest. Have a great day. You too. Thank you. That's City of Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke on the new 10,000 seat arena coming to Surrey here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

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