Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 8/5/25

Episode Date: August 5, 2025

Guest hosts Josh Elliott-Wolfe and Randip Janda look back at a busy weekend in sports, plus the boys look to next year's Winter Olympics and how competitive Team USA will be, as well as which players might make it onto Team Canada that weren't at the 4 Nations. 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. You're listening to Halford and Brough. You're listening to Halford and Brough. Joy, a second match with a great for. The Vicki and Boeco show goes on. And now Boba Schett rips one. center field and deep going back to oil at the wall it is out of here and that ball hit high and deep into left field dominas goes back watches with the rest of us as josh young has just walked off the new york Yankees

welcome to alfred and bruff good morning no halford no brough no dan ritchio either it's josh elli wolf and randee janda here with you how are you doing randee good morning not great after her that call thank you very much i know i know brough has a reputation for sometimes being a little maybe abrasive abrasive ornery whatever word you want to use after hearing that call i'm feeling exactly yeah that's what we want uh adog good morning good morning and welcome back laddie good morning hello hello sorry randy i had to do that to you on the first day but it's a it's a great way to come back the yankees are doing you're you're decked out in your blue jays ear anyway tried looking for the good yankees highlights and there just weren't any of them they don't have they don't have

exist. Alfred Dubruff is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for debt help. With over 3,000 5-star reviews, visit sands-dustee.com. We're broadcasting live from the Kintech studio Kintech footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. You can text in on the 650-650 Dunbar Lumber Tax Line, Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and Renault warriors for over 50 years, visit them at one of their

three locations to serve you. or online at Dumbar Lumber.com. A big show today. We've got a few guests going to join us at 6.30. It's going to be Jeff Blair from the Blair and Barker show on the Sportsnet Radio Network. I say the radio network because you hear it here and also in Calgary and also in Toronto across the Sportsnet Radio Network talking about the Toronto Blue Jays who maybe had a bit of a hiccup over the weekend against the Kansas. City Royals, but then they very, very much showed last night that they are still a very good baseball team against the Colorado Rockies, who are very much not a good baseball team.

Was that game more about how good the Blue Jays are or how terrible the Colorado Rockies are? Why not both? Yes, fine. All right, we'll give you that. Fine. Maybe more of the Rockies. I think more on the Rocky side, though. At 7 o'clock, we're going to talk to Lucas Wees from the Athletic as you heard in the intro there.

Vicki Mboko has been on a magical run at the National Bank Open moves on to the semis. We'll get into that with Lucas and shortly in what happened as well. But yeah, we'll talk to Lucas Wees from the athletic about that. And then at 8 o'clock, Ryan Rig Maiden, BC Lions GM will join us and we'll get into everything going on with the BC Lions as they come off a bye week this past weekend and get set for another game. against the Hamilton Tiger Cats, looking for some revenge on Thursday night against the Thai Cats. So working in reverse at 8 o'clock,

Ryan Rig Maiden, BC Lions GM at 7 o'clock, Lucas Weiss from the Athletic and at 6.30, Jeff Blair from the Blair and Barker show. That's what's happening on the show today. Laddie, 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 BCCSA.com. So we will start with the story over the weekend that just keeps going on. It's Vicki and Boko, 18-year-old Canadian, moving on to the semi-finery. of the National Bank Open. It started on Saturday in the round of 16. She beat the top-seeded. Cocoa Goff in straight sets, 6-1-6-4. And it was like, wow, she's moving on to the quarterfinals.

This is awesome. This is a big upset. And she kept it going last night. She beats Jessica Boazas-Mennaro in straight sets as well, 6-4-6-2. And she moves on to the semifinals. It just keeps on going. It's like the DJ call it another one. And she's gone to the semifinals, right?

Listen, 18 years old, taking the Canadian tennis rolled by storm, and she plays a very poised game. Even though that Bozaz-Munero match was maybe not the tidiest, they both kind of looked a little jittery. The Cocoa Gough match is the one that everybody's going to get their eyes on and probably rewatched because she did take out the number one. She's the first wild card to reach the National Bank Open semi since 2015. So maybe not the biggest of conversations around her in terms of,

Is she a prodigy or how good is she? But she's taking the tennis roll by storm. She's going to rise big time in the rankings as well, Josh. Yeah. And so, yeah, it's a big jumper because at the start of the year, she was ranked in the 300s. And just with her current results so far, she's guaranteed to break into the top 50 of the rankings after this run.

If she wins the tournament, that's getting a little bit ahead of ourselves. But if she wins, she would move into the top 25. which would be huge it comes with a lot of earnings as well like there's a lot of financial reward for someone going on a run like this she's already making a decent amount more money just again making it to the semis

but you it's huge for someone who's 18 years old and as you mentioned kind of a wild card not some someone that we necessarily anticipated going on a run like this so for someone like that to be able to go on a run like this especially on home

home soil it is all the more special for her and also it's the more impactful for her as well. And you know what's cool about her game is that she seems pretty poised but also at the same time it feels like she's just going with the flow. You know when you're so young and you just

don't know like what the world has in store for you and you're just saying hey I'm going to go with it. Like you when you started a sports net 650. Now I'm all jaded and I'm working the morning show and it's really tough. Just imagine how we feel who are significantly older than you but yes like Mboko is the opposite of that where

this is kind of her first look at success. She just took out the number one seat at this tournament. And it's, oh, yeah, like, I don't know any different. I'm just playing tennis. Like, the stresses of tennis haven't hit her. She's at that point where she's just kind of, you know, benefiting from her hard work, right? And hopefully this continues to go on. But you can see she's playing freely, and that's what makes her really fun to watch.

The next matchup as well against Rabakina of Kazakhstan. Like, if you can take up the number one seat in the tournament, you can also take out this player. Like, I don't want to get ahead of it either, but there are some cracks in Rabakina's game. Like, she's not exactly the best when it comes to baseline movement. And the Mboko's power game,

like, she could pick her apart if she plays discipline. And yeah, so, Rabakana won at Wimbledon in 2022, but since then she hasn't really, she's been good. Like, she's good, but you, like you mentioned, Mboko beat Cocoa golf. Like, this is, she should have the comment.

confidence now to be like, hey, I can be anyone in this tournament. And one thing she said after the match yesterday as well is like she keeps surprising herself. Yeah. And I do wonder if the element of like, hey, she doesn't have any expectations for herself. There were no expectations for her going into this tournament. And the further you go, the more you're like, man, I just keep doing this. Maybe, maybe I can, you know, hang with the elite talents in this, in the sport, in this tournament, moving forward, whatever it is. It's been really fun to watch. I hope it continues.

The semifinal goes tomorrow, by the way. So you can take to debt. Well, you can watch today. There's other people playing tennis today. Yeah, it's the National Bank Open. It's sponsored by Rogers, I want to say. So you should watch it every day. You should watch the reruns right now as you're listening to the show.

And then also watch the Blue Jays game right after, too. But what I did want to mention before we move on from this is it does feel similar to, and maybe not the same but similar to Bianca on Drescue's run in 2019 and on Drescue she had a bit more of a lead up before what was the Canadian Open. She won the

Indian Wells then the Canadian Open and then the big thing was the U.S. Open a grand slam and it kind of felt like she did come out of nowhere to an extent like she was ranked pretty far out of the top 100 as well and all of a sudden she's breaking into the

top 100 I think she peaked at at, I think it was four in the world rankings. And so, like, again, I'm getting way too far ahead of myself. There's still a lot of work for Mboko to do, especially even just to win like this tournament. And then, you know, the U.S. Open is later this month. We'll see what happens. But it is a similar kind of out of nowhere ascension for a teenager, Canadian woman in tennis. And hopefully it has a similar result to what I'm.

Yeah, it's been a great story thus far now. The question is you don't want to heat too much pressure on a young player too because I need to repeat. She's 18 years of age. Yeah. Like that is wild. But to to have her, you know, do things that you mentioned Bianca Andrescu, but, you know, there's not many female players to make the semifinals. I'm looking at a graphic right now. There's like three other women in Canadian history that have made the finals. And they're much older than 18 as well. Yeah. So, you know, there's a lot of stress. And you look. look at some of the players in the past. You don't want to heap too much stress on young tennis players. Emma Radikano is a classic example where when that success comes early, you know, it's

tough to deal with it as a young player, but go with the flow. What I like about Vicki and Boko story is though every interview that she's doing after the match, well, you can tell she's enjoying it. She's going into these matches, playing freely. That's all that matters right now. And I would say she's got a pretty good shot in the semifinals as well. So we'll talk to Lucas Weiss at 7 o'clock about this and everything going on at the NBO. Another teenage Canadian woman athlete, Summer McIntosh, making headlines as well. So we've been talking about the World Aquatics Championships because it's August. And we're talking about the World Aquatics Championship.

And special things are going on. Come on now. And special things are going on because she's won four gold medals. The World Aquatics Championships have wrapped up. She won five total medals. There was a hope that she would go for the clean sweep of all five events she was in. but she takes four gold medals and gets a bronze in the one she did not get a gold medal in. So she won the 400 meter freestyle, the 400 meter medley, the 200 meter butterfly, the 200 meter medley,

and then the bronze she got was in the 800 meter freestyle. So yeah, it's been a really, really good week for Canadian women in individual athletic events and Summer Macintosh. she is when we talk about prodigies and you know we talk about Mboko we're not going to get too ahead of ourselves it's a really good story really good moment hope it continues Summer Macintosh is a prodigy

and she showed it again and she has been really really good generally what I think about when you know we in Canada are going to focus on her but I started looking at some of the international coverage of Summer Macintosh and what she's been able to do And one of the things that an American website said was arguably the best ever world champions

for a female swimmer in history. Like, you know, when Canadians feel a certain way about a Canadian, it's one thing. But to have international press recognition to say, hey, this is one of the greatest performances we've ever seen from a female swimmer. At this tournament, that tells you something. And she's a household name already at the age of 18.

This is the thing. Like the next four or five years are probably like prime swimming age. You know, usually probably the 23, 24, 24, 25 age is when you really do most of your damage. She's going to be an Olympian at the LA Olympics at the age of 20. Like, she's got a couple Olympics at the very least. And if she goes like Katie Ladecki and she's well into her 20s and still swimming, like we're just at the beginning of her greatness.

And we have already known her for what, two to three years already? Yeah, because I think her first election. Olympics, she was 14, right? Yeah, 14. And she's just been, yeah, she's been unreal. And yeah, it does get you excited for what she might be able to do at the 2028 Olympics in L.A. And you mentioned the, the attention she's getting not only here, but south of the border

as well. And that's just going to continue, if she continues on this trajectory, she is going to be a very, very big story come L.A. 28. You hope that continues into 2032 as well and further Olympics because, again, she is, she is a prodigy in the swimming world. And now there's a, I know there's a 12-year-old from China who's, you know, all the rage. So we'll see. Maybe there's a rivalry budding by 2028. But you know when hockey we talk about like, you know, you're hitting 30 years old and the progressions tell you you're going down.

Imagine being an 18-year-old and like, hey, the 12-year-old just want to be. You're on the way down. The 12-year-old is on the way up. That's not allowed. A 12-year-old? Yeah, that story is crazy. But what Summer McIntosh is doing is very, very not crazy. It's just, it's really, really good.

Moving on, you heard in the intro, the Toronto Blue Jays. They lost a series to the Kansas City Royals over the weekend. That's bad. But then they went into Colorado last night and they won 15-15. to one over the Rockies. Huge win. Not bad. For the Toronto Blue Jays,

it was a seven run third inning. Correct me if I'm wrong. The Rockies are the cure to what ails you. Yes. If you're a struggling baseball team. I tuned out when it was 9-0. I was like, I think I've seen enough here. And then they scored more runs.

They kept scoring runs after that. They did. It was awesome. Eric Lauer, he had a really good start last night. He went six innings, and he has looked like a legitimate number two or three starter for the Blue Jays, but it has the vibe of like every time I watch an Eric Lauer start, I'm like, okay, it's going to come down to Earth.

And then it doesn't. Like he's just been steady and he's been good. I don't know if I would trust him in a playoff game, but also it's like, well, if he keeps doing it. He's been so good, though. And his starts are almost calming to me because he's not a high velocity guy. He's not a guy who's, you know, bowling batters over. He's a precision guy.

And he seems to always be on. And those kind of pitchers are kind of calming to watch, right? Because he's not, like I see, he doesn't have like an overactive delivery. It's kind of compact. I find him very, very fun to watch as a Blue Jays fan. So the fact that he's kind of the name to be bumped out of that rotation when Bieber gets there is kind of confusing and almost worrying to me because I like watching Eric Lauer pitch. Yeah, it's going to be an interesting kind of dilemma once Bieber gets up to the main club. But in the playoffs, that's an ideal situation.

If you've got an extra arm that's ready to go, you don't have to worry about working your aces or your top two guys as much, which is, it's a luxury for a manager, but, okay, the Rockies game, let's be honest. Let's, I'm happy for Eric Lauer and what he did, but it's the ones before that, the Orioles, the Tigers, like his numbers are solid across the board. Seven and two this year, he's giving them some stability and he gives them options. Like, there will be injuries, I hate to say this, but any team there will be, to have that extra arm ready to go. is going to be important. And for your Blue Jays, guys, in one game, they doubled their run differential. Great.

They're still fourth in the AAL East when it comes to run in differential. Doesn't matter. But it's plus 30 now after a plus 14 game. Yeah, they've been all over the place in the run differential. Feels like when they lose, they seem to lose big for some reason. Then when they win, most of the time, it's not by 14 runs. Plus 30 is a lot better than what the Rockies have.

Minus 291, which is by far. the worst major league baseball so many runs to give up. There's still two months left of this. Yeah. I must be so frustrating to be part of that organization or even a fan of it. The next worst is the Washington Nationals at minus 134. Yeah.

That's how bad the Rockies are. It's more than double. And the Rockies, by the way, with yesterday's loss, the miracle run, the hope of a miracle run to 500 is over for them. They're 30 and 82. So they are, it's, they're not going to go 81 and 81. Baseball's got to be the worst sport for having just a god-awful team, right?

Because you're out of it, like 10% of the way into the season. And then you have so many months of just, you know, you're out of it, and you still have to play every single day. Yeah, the death is not much longer in baseball. But here's the issue, guys. It always feels like there's always two or three teams that are the exact same teams from the previous year. So, like, the pirates are usually there. The Rockies are usually there.

Like, for that fan base, they're always there. yeah it is it is unique to baseball where it's like if you're bad you're probably going to be bad for a while unless you just hit on a bunch of prospects and even for the pirates like you can hit on someone like paul skeins but he's only pitching every five days like a day it's not he's going to win you some games but the the team as a whole just isn't going to be good enough to to make up for that okay so I did want to ask you as a as you are a Yankees fan oh I knew it was coming well I'm just watching the highlights right now as Jock Peterson hit that home run. So I guess I have two questions.

One, how are you intimidated by the Blue Jays? Because my concern is as a Blue Jays fan, how sustainable is this? And is it something like, you know when teams are doing good and they're projected to make the playoffs and all that? There is an element of other teams look at them and they're like, well, I would like to go up against them in the playoffs. How do you feel about the Blue Jays in a postseason series? Well, the Yankees need to make the postseason first and it's not looking great right now. Step one.

But if they do, I think what would make the Blue Jays really dangerous is if Shane Bieber is able to be a legit difference maker because if you've got him in the rotation, you know, one of the strengths of the Mariners right now is that their starting rotation is so solid, right? And they've got bats. Now, if you're able to add that for the Blue Jays where they've got the potential with bats with Vladi,

maybe not playing his best baseball, but, you know, all the Blue Jays fans I talked to in the analyst saying, if this guy figured it out, this team is going to be, you know, real dangerous. But if you can get that starting rotation locked in, and if you can have some depth there, as we were talking about Eric Lauer, potentially even coming out of the bullpen, that's going to be a problem in the playoffs, because you don't have easy outs.

You've got a rotation that you can be confident in. So I don't think it's quite there. Like, to me, they don't make you shudder with, you know, fear. Yeah. But if you get a potential X-factor pitching, you know, pitcher coming at the deadline like they might have in Bieber, that to me could be a pretty big difference. So they're not quite there yet, though. The thing about the American League, too, is I don't know if there are any teams that I look at. I'm like, ah, I'm really worried about that.

That's fair. Yeah. And the Yankees are included in that. You mentioned last night we were watching the highlights. It was not good for the Yankees. A walk-off win for the Texas Rangers. The Yankees have lost four in a row. How are you feeling about your New York Yankees right now? Not great. The Boston Red Sox have jumped over the Yankees and it's a two-and-a-half game lead now for that top spot in the wild card, which is not good.

But any time a team is doing fielding practice before a game, it's a really good, right? Not good. Oh, not good. That's like Little League stuff. You're not supposed to be doing that in the middle of the season or well past the middle of the season.

You're supposed to maybe do that in spring training. That would be nice. So Aaron Boone's leg, yeah. He's been on watch for a while, but right now this team looks like they are very undisciplined. And whose responsibility is that? As the managers. You might be following the binders.

Yeah. You might be following the percentages. But in the end, like, if there's a history of the team failing, it's on the players, but it's also on the manager. I just, I, it's so, it feels like such correctable issues for the Yankees too. It's little league stuff, man. Yeah, it's so defense related. And you just don't see like major league teams doing this.

And I will say the one thing that it's almost a concern for me as someone who doesn't want the Yankees to do well because I'm like, well, this should be a fixable issue. Like they should be able to fix this by the time the playoffs come around. But also if they're already in their head about defensive stuff right now, you push up the pressure and the moment and everything that comes with the playoffs. And that's when defensive mistakes happen. And that's when they're highlighted as well is in the postseason when you're making mistakes like that. Yeah, the stress is that much more. Aaron Judge expected to be back today, but the real question is, does he DH or does he feel? Because if he is DH, what do you do is Jean-Carlo Stanton?

Do you throw him in the outfield? Because that, my friends, is a horror show. You'll make things better. Yeah. He's the problem. You'll fix it. No, that is not, that's not good. But it could provide some comedy if he does play in the outfield.

You said one thing, Randy, when you were talking about the Js and how you didn't feel like Guerrero, you know, you didn't feel like either dangerous, like he's like he's ready to go off. But I think it kind of speaks to the whole Jay's offense as a whole Because they're not the juggernauts that you expect But they're relentless and they're never out of games and they just chip away and they chip away And a big part of that I think is the fact that there's one hitter in the American League who has a higher on base percentage than Vladdy Guerrero And that is the guy you were just talking about in Aaron Judge Well, that's the thing though, right?

So he's still getting it done but not in the ways he's not powering it over the wall like you'd expect him to but he's getting it done in other and I think you can say that about basically everyone on that offensive side of the roster for the Blue Jay. Well, Gray, you're a fan of this team a couple of years ago. They had very little played discipline and now, I remember actually our next guest, Jeff Blair was talking

about this with Barker a few years ago. I remember listening to their show and how they were just swinging in everything and sometimes just very undisciplined. They wanted balls in play, right? That was their M.O. Put balls in play. That's changed to a certain degree. They're a lot more patient of a team. They're a lot more discipline and what Vladdy's up to 21

straight games of being on base, which speaks to, yes, he might not be hitting the same way, but he's still getting the job done and that requires discipline. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Text from Jay, did Flattie watch Moneyball in the offseason

because he's playing like Scott Haddepard? Man, Moneyball. Great movie. Every time I think about Moneyball, I'm like, ah, that's maybe my favorite movie of all times. It's one of my ideal, like, plain movies where you're just like, you know you're going to enjoy it. Yeah. And you're going to enjoy it over a couple hours.

Like, like a five-hour flight, boom, two hours knocked off. Yeah, and it was a great time. Everyone enjoyed it. I will say, so speaking of movies led by Brad Pitt over the weekend for the first time ever, I watched Fight Club. Okay. Ever? First time ever. So one of my tasks this.

Tyler Durden was this summer. You're breaking the rule already. I know. I'm sorry. one of my tasks this summer has been watching older movies and just movies in general that are you know are often watched often cited and generally well received fight club was on the list it was really good really good i godfather one and two are are on the list okay you're gonna those are also ideal plane movies but you have to make sure a lot of time but you have to make sure it's

like a like a afternoon plane ride because if it's too much in the evening like they're slower moving If you watch it like 9 p.m., you're going to be sleeping by the time it's over. My favorite movies. Yeah. So, but they're not for everybody. I'll give you that work. They're on the list. I tried to watch The Brutalist on a plane.

And first off, a lot of nude scenes. Just awkward to watch on a plane. Second, it was very slow moving and I fell asleep like an hour. You're that guy on the plane. I know, dude. There was like children next to me over your shoulder. I'm going to like turn this off. This is bad.

Yeah. So the Sopranos is one of my favorite shows, if not my favorite. Yeah. And I'll watch a random episode. on the plane, but there's a certain gentleman's club called Abada Bing in the show. Right. Where they have frequent scenes. And I am that guy that's just sitting there watching the Sopranos.

And meanwhile, there's like a family of four sitting next two rows. You just got to not look around and make sure nobody's looking at. And you've got to make it seem like you're like not enjoying it. You're just got to. Oh, like, oh, I can't believe this is going on. Oh, my goodness. This is not the seventh time watch of watch this episode. This is heinous.

Anyway, 650, 650. The reason I bring this up is if, uh, If you have any well-known movies, your favorite movies, that I should add to my list, text them in, 650, 650, because I need submissions. I've watched like 20 movies in the last month. I'm trying to crank out a bunch over the, over the opposite. I got one for you. Okay.

In Bruges. Have you seen in Bruges? Nope. Put that on your list. In Bruges. In Bruges, it's a Colin Farrell early in his career. One of my low-key favorite movies is just funny, but also got some drama and kind of, not a thriller, but like, you know, definitely I think,

more on the comedy side, but it's a good movie. Okay, I'll put it on the list. It's an extensive list, but I always have room for more, especially if they're on streaming currently, because that, you know what, that helps a lot. Yeah, I don't know about that. We'll have to look that up on your own. Yeah. We got a lot of submissions on the 650, 650, 650, text line, because I'm asking for movie submissions. And some of them I have seen, some of them I have not. So I will add to the list, keep them coming in, 650, 650, because I find the offseason, though I try to do a lot of summer activities during the off season, like going outside and experiencing nature and trying not to stay in my house all the time. It is overrated. There's a limit to that too. There's a limit.

So at night, in the evenings, after a Blue Jays game, you want to turn on a movie. And I have a backlog of movies, classic ones that I have not watched. So I'm adding as many as I can to the list. Also weeks that you work the morning show. I know I'm going to sound like somebody that is a total noob to the morning show, which I am. But I feel like post noon is when you get sleepy and you'll probably like vegetate on the couch a little bit. Happens often. Yeah, a movie or a series is always a nice way to kill time. The issue, like, so I've tried to watch a movie or two after the morning show and the issue is I just immediately fall asleep. Hey, Josh, I'm a big movie buff. Yeah. And I'm going to give you my 10 favorite movies here. Tell me if you,

seen or haven't seen these. Okay, I'm ready. Starting from 10, going to go 10 to one. Okay. Training day. I have not seen that. What? It's on the list. It's on the list. All right. All right. The Matrix. I have not seen the law, man. It's on the list too. I'm a bad movie guy and I've seen all of you. I know. Back to the future. I have seen that. Lord of the Rings. I have seen that. Yes. Raiders of the Lost Ark. Of course. That's a good one. Empire Strikes Back. Yep. Ghostbusters. Yep. Silence of the Lambs. I have not seen that. Wow. It's on the list. That's my number and my number one, Saving Private Ryan. I have seen that.

I like that one. That's pretty good. You've seen most of these. It started bad, got good by the end. You've seen most of these. Okay, I'm impressed. Because there are some people like, I'll say that list and they haven't seen. Oh, I'll throw in a, as an honorary mention, Jurassic Park.

I'd seen all of them. Yeah, so you're doing better than most. I'm proud of myself. Not a lot of the first half of that list. It was dangerous. You had me worried. I was like, man, is he going to keep naming movies that are good, but I have not seen, but no. Training Day is a great watch.

Yeah. That's a lot of fun. That's on the list. Okay, so $650, $6.50, keep those texts coming in. But we did want to get in some Olympic talk because, you know, the preliminary rosters are coming out for potential roster, rosters for the Olympics and their kind of training camps for the U.S. teams, Team Canada, all of that.

And we've talked about that. But the GM of the American team, Bill Gair, with some comments, some maybe desperate comments, Randeep, about what they want to do in the Winter Olympics next year. I'm going to read you a quote of what Bill Guerrins said to NHL.com. We have to win. We have to win another one of these. It's been since 1996, we have to find a way.

Yeah. That is in one basically string of comments that he makes to the reporter. And he was rubbing his temples as he said it. I don't know the tone of this. It was a, it was not an audio, but just based on the quotes, I think they're kind of desperate in the United States for a win. It does feel a little desperate. And to be fair, like it's been since 1996.

But they're going to have a very good team. I mean, they'll have a great shot at winning at all. Well, even in the four nations, right? Like, Canada wins the tournament. But is there a point to be made that the United States probably controlled the run of play and they were, you know, the aggressor in that matchup? Lacking Quinn Hughes as well, how would have gone a few? Sure. Like, the expectation is there now for the United States to say, okay, you get the silver, you win second place in that tournament. But you could make a case that you might have taken the game to Team Canada.

Yeah, I mean, like this Four Nations tournament, this era of the American national team does feel like the one that has the best chance to beat Team Canada. And I think you can make a very realistic argument that the Americans on paper might be better than Team Canada, especially when you factor in the goaltending. If you factor in everything but the goaltending, you might take Team Canada. but when you when you factor in Jordan Bennington who did play well for Canada at the poor nations but when you factor in that he's probably going to be the starter once again

at the Olympics for Canada meanwhile Connor Hallibuck or Jake Onger maybe Thatcher Demko maybe Jeremy Swayman like those are your four goalies to choose from for the Americans that's going to be their edge and if they can have one of those guys

performing at an extremely high level come the Olympics that would be kind of the case to make for the Americans to beat Canada. Yeah, it's the goaltending aspect, you're 100% right, but when I look at the larger ice surface in Milan at the 2026 Olympics, like team USA does skew a little younger, might be a little faster maybe from a team perspective, but Connor McDavid, Nathan McKinnon, in a larger ice surface with more room to operate, and in a game, there's less clutching and grabbing, and it's less physical, potentially, watch out.

I think we focus a lot on Team USA with, you know, the Matt Boldies, the Cole Coffields, Kyle Connor, Dylan Larkin, like these guys can move Matthew Kuchuk, like go up and down that list. Jack Hughes obviously is going to be featuring really prominently, has that speed, Eichl as well. But the two best players, arguably, in the forward group, are still Connor and Nathan McKinnon.

Yeah. And Sidney Crosby is probably your third on that group. Which is a great problem to have. And to have two of the fastest and most powerful skaters in the game, like I think in the international game is still going to, in my opinion, sways the forward group towards Team Canada. But the question of who has more depth, probably a valid question when you look at Team USA and what they've got.

They've got a lot of pieces. And you do bring up an interesting point. So the Four Nations, that was reft by NHL referees, right? it was a it was reffed as if it were an NHL event because it was an NHL event. There were three fights in that one game to start off, right? And on, in international tournaments,

it's different officiating. And it could be a different game than we're used to seeing. And I do, I do think that in a more physical style of game, the Americans probably have the edge, especially because you factor in both Kachucks on the American team and a, they are very imposing

players. J.T. Miller as well. J.T. Miller. And look, the Canadian side does have an element of being tough to play against. You look at guys like Brad Marchand who maybe aren't physically imposing, but they're pesty, San Bennett. Hegel brings that element. Hegel has that element.

There are guys who are physical or at least annoying to play against, but the Americans do have more of those players on their side. So I do wonder if in an international officiated tournament if that edge might help the guys like you mentioned, Connor McDavid, Nathan McKinnon where the speed is going to be

even more of a factor for them because guys aren't going to be able to get away with as much on the international stage. I think it's going to play a factor and you know after that four nations tournament there was a lot of talk about Tom Wilson being on Team Canada he's a physical presence, he's a deterrent

I don't think it makes sense at the Olympic level right? Like you want guys that And I love Tom Wilson. I think he's a great, you know, a heck of a player. You want him in your NHL lineup or a tournament that is suited to NHL style of game. But in an international tournament where fighting, you fight, you're kicked out of the game. Like that's not going to be a thing at the Olympics. It was in the four nations face off.

And it was awesome. It was awesome. But when that game, when that tournament comes back, Tom Wilson throw them or Tom Wilson-esque type of players throw them in there. But I don't think they're going to have that same effect. Now, the one player, even on Team USA that I think should have a much stronger push for this time around is Tage Thompson. Like the international game is suited to a player like him. So you're going to see potentially some shifts in rostered decisions. A guy like Tage Thompson who didn't make the U.S. team, I think, you know, based on what he's able to do at the NHL level, he should have made that team anyways.

But at the international level, I think he's got to be a shoe in because. you're looking for skill, you're looking for speed, and you're looking for goal scores, which he is. It's going to be an even matchup, but I think there is one element here that the pressure for this generation, we hear this often in international soccer circles, like the golden generation of a team or a nation. This is the golden generation of Team USA when it comes to hockey. Definitely. And at some point you start to feel that pressure, right? You feel that, all right, we got to get it done. But what's really, tricky here is that you're playing the best hockey nation on the planet in team

Canada. So it's like you have this internal pressure to say we got to get it done, which we heard in Bill Guerin's comments. But on top of that, it's not like you're playing just a mediocre team. You're playing the best in the world. So how do these star players weigh that internal and external pressure? Yeah. And there is the the element of like I think if I'm trying to figure out if it's if it's better or worse for from a Canadian perspective that the US lost to team Canada at the four nations. Like are they going to come into the Olympics and maybe we'll see. We'll see what it is next season because we have to wait and see what kind of mindset they go into it with. But is it, would it have been, I don't want to say

better. Like is the mindset they come in with going to be one of, hey, we got to prove that we are the best and last year didn't go the way we won't. We got a chip on our shoulder. Or are they going to be in their heads of like, oh man, we lost to Team Canada last season. And now, now there's this pressure from Bill Guerin and there's pressure because you mentioned like, hey, this generation of American players, they do have to perform. They do have to win a notable trophy or medal. Like, if they, they have to show that they are legitimately better than the Canadians. And they haven't done that yet. Does that get to their head or is that fuel for this coming Olympics? I feel like that pressure was already there in the Four Nations, because remember, Mike Sullivan announcing to the world that Quinn Hughes was going to join the team, which we know did not happen.

Like that was one of the best defensemen or the best defenseman team USA has, and if not the best defenseman in the world, is going to join our team. Like that, that was a, yeah, we want them and we probably need them. Yeah. So I feel like that's already there. But here's the thing about that final. I think the United States probably rather than that empowering them, it's like, it's like, like you play a better game from start to finish, the United States probably had a better tournament than Team Canada. Canada kind of ramped it up when they needed. They got the win. I don't know if

that gives you confidence losing in the final team Canada. Like all of these US players think they are to the same level as the Canadian players. So to think you've played the better tournament and end up losing that because, man, you lost the team Canada again. I don't know if that gives you confidence. I think actually the opposite. It's like you weren't able to get the job done. And that's just another, like, weight on your shoulder as Team USA. Do we factor in any other country as a threat, or is it just like, well, it's going to come down to one of these two? Sweden's deep, but I just, like, the star, the high end, like, the really high end players.

Connor McDavid, Nathan McKinnon, Austin Matthews, that level of player. Yeah. Does any of those teams have that player? No. I mean, like, you're right about Sweden having depth. They almost have the same problem that Canucks are going to have this season where it's like, well, what's, what's a leas Patterson? What's your one C?

Yeah. And if he is a one C come Olympic time, like that, that would be a big boost for them. I still don't know, to your point, you look at the roster and you'd have to make, they'd be, they'd still be a clear underdog against the U.S. or against Canada. But if they do have Elias Patterson firing at the level Canucks fans, hopefully is Patterson will be firing at, that would go a long way. Their issue is going to be, like, I don't know if I, I love their defense, because you got, an aging

Victor Hadman got Eric Carlson An aging Matias at Holm Matias at Holm Gustav Forslane I think is really good Rasmus Dahlene

I think has been underrated for a while but then it's like Hampas Lindholm and Jonas Brodeen Rasmus Anderson like good defenseman

but not at the level of what Canada or the U.S. are going to have Yeah Canada U.S. have like game changing absolute world class

players right now in Kiel McCarr and Quinn Hughes Yeah like who is that play driving defenseman free. Like, you need Dalin to be huge.

You need like 2015, 2016, Eric Carlson. Yeah. He's not available. Unfortunately, he might turn it back. I doubt it.

All right. But Rasmus Dalin's going to have to show something else because there are, on international ice, I wouldn't put it past Sweden, putting in, you know, like these guys have been playing together since they were juniors. Like there is a built in chemistry for a lot of these European nations,

which I don't think at this level, especially on international ice, we can discount. There is going to be a shock in the tournament, whether it's Finland, whether it's Team Sweden. So, you know, the Finns are a little bit more scrappy. They might lack the high-end skill, but a player like Sasha Barkov, all that takes is one game for him to take over, and boom, they can knock anybody out, right? So I think both Finland and Sweden are capable of knocking Team Canada USA out on their day, but the real, the depth, of high in skill that both team USA and Canada have. Sweden, even as good as Sweden is,

they can't compete with that. Okay, so that's Sweden. I did, you mentioned Tom Wilson, and I did want to talk about him because, so going into the Four Nations last season, I'm trying to do, when were the rosters set? Was it December? Yeah, I feel like it was pre-Christmas.

Yeah, so the issue with Tom Wilson prior to this season is, A, he had been dealing with injuries, and B, last season, 23, 24, he had 35 points in 74 games. Like, he just wasn't as effective as Tom Wilson was this season, where he scored 30 goals, he had 65 points. I do wonder if he now has made a more legitimate case of, like, hey, I can still contribute, I can still score,

I can still put up points, as well as being the guy that can be your answer to an annoying Matthew Kachuk or an annoying Brady Kachuk. or if J.T. Miller is getting a little feisty. Like, if you do want to have that physical element in your game. And as you mentioned, like, look, it's not going to be as big a part of this tournament because of how things are officiated. And international tournaments are just less physical than a tournament or any NHL sanctioned event.

So I feel like you can make the case either way for someone like Tom Wilson, but I would not be against him being the, 13th, 14th forward, the extra forward for team Canada at this, at this Olympics. Yeah, there's going to, when you have a question about adding, like, who are you subtracting, I guess, from the main team from the four nations faceoff? Because if you're adding a winger, which Tom Wilson is, you know, which one of those players are you basically bypassing to say, is it a Anthony Sorrelli type of player who's a center, but there's a lot of discussion on do you really need,

you know, a shutdown center when you have so many centers already on the team. Yeah. Do you need that player? Now, he's still going to have the John Cooper connection. Exactly. So are you bumping him? Are you bumping somebody else off that roster? So I think Tom Wilson, you could make a case for him because he does add that physical element.

But even the way that hits are penalized or officiated in international hockey, you're very different. And you have to kind of like tow that line of physicality versus discipline. and it's even that much worse at the international level where, hey, I hit that would be legal in the NHL. Guess what? International hockey, you might be penalized for it. So I like Wilson as a player. I just don't know if this is the fit

where would you be better off bringing an extra center to say, hey, is it Ryan Nugent Hopkins? Is it maybe a slightly faster winger, like a Quint Bifield who can also play center as well? Or even like a celebrini, if you're trying to get him, you know, shaped up for the next. Olympics get him the experience of playing with Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid and all of that. I do wonder if there's, you know, if you're taking a winger off the roster from the Four Nations,

I mean, Travis Keneckney was there. Seth Jarvis, I know he could play center, but he's more of a winger. Those would be two of the guy, the two guys I kind of look at as potential Wilson substitutes, I guess. The one player I'm looking at, so Wilson, you're right, but I think with like Nick Suzuki, 89 points last year, he plays a two-way game. if you're taking Sirelli off, is it basically Suzuki and Sirelli off? And then one of those changes you made where you say to Wilson ends up making the team, you want a little bit more physicality, and then you take one of those other forwards off.

Yeah, we'll see. 650, 650, we got a few texts on this, this one unsigned from Gary. Team USA is going to add Quinn Hughes next year, so Canada is going to struggle. I don't care what anyone says. I do think the addition of, I'm really interested in seeing, what Quinn Hughes can do, hopefully at full health. Is he really a difference maker? Probably not.

Only if you play center, guys. Yeah. They get them down the middle and they are unstoppable. Hold on. Great idea for the Pan Cup connects. Let's get Bruce Brueh run. But I am excited to see what he can do with those caliber of players. And on international ice, too, we talk about how that will help guys like McDavid and McKinnon.

That'll be really helpful for some. someone like Quinn Hughes who can dance around the ice on an NHL sized ice sheet, let alone an international sized ice sheet. Yeah, an absolute, just the way he can walk the blue line as well. An absolute terror for forwards that are trying to track them and trying to chase him. If you over commit, he can beat you wide. If you sit back, then he can kind of beat you side to side as well, right? So like, either way you're kind of hooped.

Now, Kail Makar brings that similar element too. That's one of the names we haven't mentioned when it comes to speed, but we know he's one of the faster skaters, fastest skaters from the defensive position. We got this text. I think it's a great hypothetical, though. Yeah. Would Canucks fans be okay with Sweden winning the gold

if it meant PD play it at a high level? Right. So in this made-up scenario, let's say it's Sweden, Canada in the gold medal game. Are you okay with that? No, of course not. You want Canada to win. But what's more important?

Well, that would be like, okay, well at least this happened scenario but obviously you want Canada to win but what you mean what are you debating that so I weren't saying you'd be okay with I personally would want the Canucks sorry not the Canucks

the Team Canada win yes I want Canada to win but I know the level of fandom in the city yeah and I can guarantee you you know listeners text in 650 650 on the Dunbar Tense line I feel like it'd be a 50-50 split I feel a lot of Canucks fans would say hey if it means sacrificing the gold medal

PD waking up and finding himself Yes I don't know about Dude I'm fully on that chip If it means that The Canucks get

100 point Selky caliber Elias Pedersen back I will trade a Canada gold medal for that How PD gets his groove back Yeah It could be like a 30 for 30 type of

Could you imagine that? Yeah I'd be so open here It would be a nice silver lining If Canada lost But I would still want Canada to win I mean I'm with you Yeah I would prefer If like

Patterson carried Sweden To the gold medal final and then they lost, but he scored a hat trick and Canada wins like 5.3. That's probably the best case scenario. That's the ideal scenario. Canada wins, but PD gets his groove better. Remember when Ryan Kessler had, he was in that similar shoes and

he was not very happy? Yeah. It felt like the Ryan Kessler experiment after that went kind of sideways. Yeah. That was like in Vancouver and he was getting booed by Vancouver fans though. So I feel like that's it. But of course the reverse could happen. Canada could win and PD is completely invisible doesn't get a single point and

plays even worse because of that. for the remainder of the season. We saw that already. Right. So let's not run that there. We got the ideal scenario here from unsigned texture. PD leads the turning in points, scores a hat trick in the gold medal game against Canada,

but Canada wins an OT. That would be the ideal scenario. But again, I would trade, if it means you get the ideal form of Elias Pedersen back, I would gladly, selfishly trade a Canada gold medal for that. I would be upset. I would be upset. But I would, I just care more

about the Canucks than I do about Team Canada at the Olympics, personally. Maybe I have more like job investment in it, but that's just, that's my take. I'm always a club over country guy, I guess.

Okay, that's fair, but I would say the priority for me would be Team Canada winning, obviously. Number two, Pedersen and Sweden wins, but Pedersen leads them to victory. And number three, like, not even number three, but of the three scenarios, Team USA winning. I don't think that can happen.

As a proud Canadian, team USA winning. See, I don't want to see that at all. That's the other benefit of if Sweden wins, that means the U.S. also did not win. Like, it'd be, I wouldn't trade, obviously, there would be no Canucks benefit to a, well, I guess the only Canucks benefit to the U.S. winning would be if Quinn Hughes and Thatcher, Emco carry the U.S. to a gold medal. But I wouldn't trade a Canada loss for that. Yeah, I wouldn't do that one.

But Sweden, I'm fine with Sweden. And also, Hughes plays great with his brothers. He's like, you know what? I want more of this. Oh, no. That's fair. Or he gets his fix, and he's like, you know what? I don't need to do this anymore.

It was good. I'll do it every four years. Turns out I actually hate these guys. This guy sucks. Winning with my brother was not as great as I thought it would be. I'm out. We got this from Rob and Surrey saying, you guys seem to be forgetting that the Olympic rosters are 25.

Four nations face off was 23. Valid point. That helps. You can carry an extra defenseman or a forward. which is great which would be excellent for a Macklin Celebrini or a Connor Bedard

I think with Badard he's got to show like if he's scoring to begin the year I feel like there's an easier path for him although Mackle and Celebrini had the better season last year

kind of feel like Celebrating may have surpassed him in terms of likelihood to be on the Olympic roster but we'll see they're like 50 50 If Badard like shoots out the lights at the beginning of the year

I think he's I think he'll probably get the inside track you're listening to the best of Halford and Brough Thank you.