Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Canucks Needed That Win

Episode Date: February 27, 2025

In hour one,  Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they talk a big OT Canucks road win over the LA Kings (6:00), plus they look ahead to tonight's matchup at the Ducks (27:00). 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.

Whoa! Wait a minute! Huh? Hold up! What? Oh, okay! Did we just lose a f**king Canucks? Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da- You're listening to Halford and Bruff. ["The Star-Spangled Banner"] Drops left circle for Garland, got a shot away, he scores! Connor Garland with his second of the night! Wins it for the Canucks! We missed the challenge and then we got a penalty in overtime, so to kill those two penalties off, a lot of guts, gotta give the guys a lot of credit. It's Krush.

He's so big for us and obviously a big, big boost for us when we saw his plant. What a freaking boost. Good morning, Vancouver 601 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. It's Alfred and his bruv. It is Sportsnet 615. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studios

and beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. A-Dawg, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you. Hello, hello. And finally, internalesog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you. Hello, hello. And finally, internalesio, good morning to you as well.

Good morning. Half an abrupt of the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. 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 them at 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.

What's going on? What's happening right now? Did I just do that twice? What's happening right now? What's happening right now? Did I just do that twice? What's happening right now? What's happening right now? Why did you stop? Stop what? Did I do that twice?

No, you just looked at me funny. Oh, I thought I read the read twice. No, you did it once. That's why. You did it perfect. You did it once. Sometimes I come in and I'm like, it's really early, I'm not really awake right now.

Did I just do the thing I was supposed to do? Follow-up question. Did I do it a second time? You did not. We're all good. We got a big show ahead on the health and rough show on Sportsnet 650. Canucks are going back to back. So it's the Canucks game night after a Canucks game last night. Big win. 3-2 over the Los Angeles Kings. We have a bunch of guests to get to. But the first hour and 15 minutes of this show, it's all Halbrow. It's all us, our first guest. It's just me doing the Kintec read. Kintec, but we're in our thugs. They do this already.

715, Jason Greger from Edmonton is gonna join the program. We're gonna start going around to some of the Canadian markets throughout this week and the next as we get closer to the March 7th trade deadline and see what these teams have in store going into the deadline. And for Edmonton, they are in a bad way right now. Bleeding goals like crazy.

Connor McDavid's a minus seven in his last three games. Will they trade Connor McDavid? No, they won't. But we'll talk to Jason Greger coming up at 7.15 about the plans out of Edmonton. 7.30, Michael Dagostino is gonna join the program. He's been on our show before when he was the interim manager of the Whitecaps when Vanni

Sartini was suspended. Normally he's the assistant manager to now of course Jesper Sorensen. The caps are in action tonight, 7 o'clock BC place. The second leg of their Conca Calf Cup match against Deportivo Soprisa from Costa Rica. So we'll talk to Dagostino about that at 7 o'clock. Ladi grew up as a big fan of them. He loves Soprisa from Costa Rica. So we'll talk to D'Agostino about that at 7. A laddy grew up as a big fan of them. He loves Soprisa. They're your favorite Costa Rican primary league team,

if I'm not mistaken, is that correct? Second favorite. Eight o'clock, Thomas Trantz from the Athletic is gonna join us. He's on the road with the Canucks. They had a big win last night in Los Angeles. They're back at it tonight in Anaheim. I'll remind you as well,

we have some stuff going on at the show. Specifically, at 8.15 this morning, we're doing a giveaway for a pair of tickets to see Neil Young. Yeah, Neil Young. This September at Deer Lake Park in Burnaby. Beautiful venue, amazing artist. Two Neil Young tickets, a pair of

Neil Young tickets up for grabs. This morning at 815. Caller number 7 at 815 will win a pair of tickets to see Neil Young this September at Deer Lake Park. The phone number here is 604-280-0650. That number again, 604-280-0650. Be caller number seven at 8.15 this morning. And you could win a pair of tickets to see Neil Young this fall at Deer Lake Park. Also, we do not have streaming capabilities this morning. Is that correct, A Judge? It's not in the affirmative, if you like.

It is not working. It is not working. So for those of you that like watching Halford and Brough in the morning, find an alternate way to do it because there's no viewing privileges this morning, at least until we get the stream sorted out. So, working in reverse on the guest list, 8 o'clock it's Drancer, 7.30 Michael D'Agostino from the Caps, 7.15 Jason Greger to talk a little Oilers. That's what's

happening on the program today. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was busy. 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 at bccsa.ca. Connor Garland baby two goals last night including one at 426 of overtime his second of the game of course the Canucks

recovered after blowing a two-goal lead in the third period and won 3-2 in overtime against the Los Angeles Kings at crypto.com Garland's goal was assisted by none other than the captain Quinn Hughes who made his triumphant return To the Vancouver Canucks lineup last night. Okay. We'll talk a lot about Quinn Hughes in this segment, but let's just go over the game in case you missed it. Uh, Vancouver's first goal was by Nils Hoglinder.

Awesome. He got the bump up, uh, into the lineup and a lot of people were wondering what he'd do with it. It's funny. He didn't, he wasn't even playing with the top guys when he did score his goal, but halfway through the first period, it was a textbook example of moving your feet. Cha cha cha. The play started and the Canucks end when Derek Forebort, who I thought had a strong game,

took control of the puck off of a faceoff. As soon as Hoaglander saw that, he took off into the neutral zone, taking a good pass from Forebort, hitting the Kings blue line with speed with speed Halford It's very important. How do you get speed? You got to get those feet moving through the neutral zone He was on a two-on-two with Sherwood and Sherwood did a good job of getting his own feet going Driving the middle of the ice how many times we heard that you got to drive the middle of the ice and then you got To get to the interior and that's exactly what Nils Hoaglinder did. He cut behind Sherwood into the slot. I think a Kings defenseman fell, but whatever.

Hoaglinder kept those feet moving the whole way and eventually picked his spot high over the shoulder of Riddich. There was only one goal in the first period. The Canucks scored it, one-nothing for the Canucks. But there was also a really nice back check by Jake DeBrusk to keep the Kings from getting a scoring chance. Just thought that play warranted a mention. Uh, it showed off DeBrusk, uh, his, his straightaway speed. And also, you know, you gotta keep your feet moving on the back check as well. The Canucks second goal came in the second period on their first power play of the game.

Garland scored it after Joshua worked the puck down low. He worked, he didn't go back to the point. Interesting. Worked it behind the net. You're saying that they went below the goal line. Instead of just automatically looking up to the point, Joshua went, how about I go the other way and Heidelle was behind the net. And he went, oh, I'm in a good spot here. Quickly moved out front and Garland was alone in the slot.

He found Garland and Garland buried it. In case you were wondering the way they split up the forwards on the power plays, because there were two units yesterday that kind of got equal time. The four forwards on that particular power play unit were Garland, Heedle, Joshua, and Besser. While the other unit had Debrusk, Pedersen, Suter, and Hoeglender.

So the powerplay units essentially kept the top two lines together. So on one you had Garland, Heedle, and Joshua, and the other one you had Debrusk, Pedersen, and Hoeglender, the extras were Besser and Suter. Anyway, the Canucks went into the third with a two nothing lead, looking for their second impressive win at Crypto.com this season. You remember earlier in the season, they had a good win down there after they swept the California

trip, I believe. But you knew it wasn't going to be easy because the Kings are a good team and the Canucks just, I don't know, they don't like to make anything easy. And the Kings did cut the lead to a goal halfway through the period when Adrian Kempe got going through the neutral zone. He kept his feet going.

Moved in on Tyler Myers and zipped one past Lankton. The game was tied a few minutes later when Warren Fogel, one of my favorite names, tipped a point shot high out of the air and behind Lankton. High out of the air and behind Lankanen. High out of the air and behind Lankanen. At first upon replay, it looked like it might've been a high, a high stick. Now only the league can review a high stick.

You can't challenge that. But apparently the Canucks thought it was also goalie interference. So they challenged it and they lost and everyone went, yeah, obviously you lost. We just watched the replay. All of a sudden the Canucks had blown a two goal lead plus the Kings had a power play. Who do you think was favored at that point in the game? Probably Los Angeles.

Now to the Canucks credit, they killed the penalty and got the game to overtime. They also killed off a tripping penalty to Drew O'Connor during sudden death. I know you didn't like that call. Soft. That was questionable. Soft. And then, well, yeah, he got the puck, but he also tripped him. It's not soccer.

And then at four on four, because there hadn't been a whistle, Connor Garland won the game with a shot over David Riddich's right shoulder. Not sure if Riddich lost his net there. Don't really care. The Canucks badly needed that game. They nearly blew it, but they got it eventually moving back into a playoff spot in the process. Loved the effort from the PK. Loved the guts that Quinn Hughes showed in not only returning to the lineup, but playing a lot more than he probably expected to play.

I don't want to say that that was the Canucks ceiling or what we can expect as a high point for this team moving forward, because I think there's still a little bit more that you would want, especially offensively, because the totals were again pretty paltry. But I'll say this, the Los Angeles Kings have lost a grand total of six games at home this year, three in regulation and three in overtime. Extremely difficult place to go and get results and the Canucks have done it twice. Did they blow a two-nothing lead? Sure. But you're also talking about,

if you want to go glass half full on that, the Canucks were able to control for 40 minutes a team that was playing unreal hockey over their last five or six games. Stelvin lost in regulation and I wanna say seven. They're playing very well right now. Did the Canucks get handed a bit of a lifeline with Drew Doughty not being in the lineup? For sure.

But they took advantage of it. And they needed two points and they needed to feel good about what they were doing out of that game. Remember, as Quinn Hughes pointed out in his interview on TNT postgame, this is the first time that he's played a game with Heedle and Pedersen and all these new additions. You know, eventually I assume Mancini might come back into the lineup as well. he might come back into the lineup as well. So there's still that sense of getting, and he used the term acclimated with one another, but just figuring it out and realizing that yeah,

they're down to impact forwards in Vancouver. I think it's goes without saying now they're no longer, uh, with the services of JT Miller. And if we're being honest, they're really no longer with the services of whatever Elias Pedersen was in the past. There's a new version of Pedersen that, at least for the rest of this season,

the 30, 25 some odd games that are left that I think everyone's just gonna have to deal with. And this is what they're gonna look like. They're gonna be a low event, close to the vest, grind it out, try and get the, be on the right side of a three, two score. I feel like that's what the connects are gonna be for the rest of the year. Yeah, it was funny Gar and get the, be on the right side of a three, two score. I feel like that's what the connects are going to be for the rest of the.

Yeah. Um, it was funny Garland after the game. I think I read this in IMAX piece. He said, um, he said, we like playing in those type games, we're comfortable playing in those type games. So, uh, well good. That's what you're going to get them.

Uh, just on that note, I would not be surprised if this team, if they do make the playoffs, it's gonna be on the strength of like loser points. You know, they've gone to overtime so many times and come away with one, but those are good results for a team that plays a lot of one goal games. Like you need to get it.

Don't lose one goal games in regulation. If you're gonna lose a one goal game, lose it in overtime. Or win it. Or win it. Or win it. Stats that stood out to me after the game. Hughes logged 21-38.

Now, Hronik was the high man for defenseman and they played seven defensemen last night, which you don't really see. How good is DP, DA? He played 10 minutes and played well. He's awesome. Yeah, yeah. He's so good.

I know you're excited. I know you're excited about DP, but that was not the top story for me last night. I think we should all be excited about him, but I'm mostly impressed with, God, Quinhu is, Oulog, 21, again, 21, 38. He didn't expect to play that much. I think he told the TNT broadcast or something.

He was like, I think I'll play 15 or 16. But then it gets to overtime and you're like, get out there. Garland with two goals, obviously, um, he got bumped into the top six, essentially playing with Heidel and Joshua and you know, two goals. That's good. By the way. Keep those guys together.

Just to interrupt real quick. I like that line. Yeah. I, I thought that that might've been one of Joshua's better games, although maybe the counting stats weren't on par with some of his other ones. I thought that that might have been one of Joshua's better games, although maybe the counting stats weren't on par with some of his other ones. I thought that they looked dynamic. He made a nice play when he worked it down low.

Right, and the other part of it too is that, previously the third line was those two wingers centered by Blugger, and Blugger's got his limitations. It's actually interesting to watch him play with Heidel, who's obviously got more drive and offensive upside. I said on our chat yesterday, I was like, Heedle is way bigger than his name sounds. Yes, he is. He's so, he is big. Who is that guy? Like, Heedle sounds like a very,

like, undersized European winger, but he's like a big center. And then I suggested you call him Heetall. Heetall, Heetall. Yeah, but he also sounds like Little center. You call him he tall and he tall, he tall. Yeah. But he also sounds like little. Yeah. Heedle. Little.

How good is he too, eh? Yep. Heedle is so good. Okay. You're really, you're optimism. You're brimming with optimism. All I said is one win. In overtime.

Yeah. When they blew a two goal lead in the third period. I also wanted to shout out Sherwood, who I thought had a really strong game. Um, seven hits on the night, um, really active, uh, down low. And, uh, again, on that first goal, uh, by Nils Hoaglinder made the net drive and kind of ran some interference there that allowed Hedel so good or not

Hedel, Hoaglinder who actually, who did play well. So good. Um, to attack the interior and, uh, get away a good shot that was able to beat Riddich for the, the Canucks first goal. Um, questions that I have for you, cause I know you followed up on this. Is Tyler Myers okay?

Tyler Myers is okay. He had a big red welt on his neck because the shot that he blocked, uh, in, it was an overtime, hit a nerve. And then as Rick Tuckett described it, momentarily made him dizzy. So that's why he was, cause he was really laboring on the ice. And he looks like, I don't want to say panicky, but he looked like, you know, like concerned about himself. Tuckett, and I won't play the audio cause it's short, I'll just paraphrase it.

He suggested after the game that the Canucks and Myers really dodged a bullet with this one does he think he didn't dodge the buck and that Myers may even be. I wasn't the best way to put it. I know I was like, yeah. And then we moved along. Myers might even be an option tonight when they play in Anaheim. So good news on the Tyler Myers front because that certainly looks scary at the time. We can also talk about the challenge very quickly because Tauke did address it. Laddie, do you have the audio at the ready here? Rick Tauke on the challenge, took ownership

for it. Just flat out said it wasn't a good challenge, but we'll let Rick Tauke explain a little bit more here. Tauke on the failed challenge, which ultimately did not cost the Canucks in a 3-2 overtime victory over the Los Angeles Kings. Well, he hit his blocker, but he wasn't in the crease from the angle. So, you know, so my mistake, you know, I don't think he had his foot in the crease. If he had his foot in the crease, I think it would have been no goal, but because he was out of the crease, we thought he hit his blocker. So, yeah. Sat and Bick on the post-game show were theorizing that the challenge might have been, Bic called it a YOLO challenge, which I laughed at. Yeah, why not?

Token actually yelled that from the bench. YOLO! He threw a red flag and it just said YOLO on it. Ref's like, oh, he's got the YOLO challenge going. He's like, where'd you get a flag from? But the other part of it was, the King's power play is pretty inept. I think it clicks at about 15%.

And hey, let's give kudos to this Canucks penalty kill, which has been lights out recently, especially last night. Maybe he felt confident enough to throw caution to the wind. Whatever the case wasn't a great challenge. I wanna play some other talk at audio here because we need to circle back on the captain, Quinn Hughes and what Rick Tauke had to say about his captain.

And this is a guy that was very, very uncertain to play last night in Quinn Hughes. I think it's a fair way of putting it, right? As a matter of fact, all the reporters covering the game in their pregame tweets seemed convinced that because Hughes didn't take the warmup and wasn't involved in rushes, he wasn't gonna play. And it sounds as though as the talk

and the coaching staff thought that might've been the case as well. Not only did he use play, he went above and beyond the ice time that he thought he was gonna get. He was out there in overtime and he set up the game winning goal. That's a captain and that's a leader.

So here's the head coach, Rick Tauket, speaking about number 43, Quinn Hughes. Well, I mean, you know, he's a driving force, right? He's has the puck possession a lot. He's not afraid to make plays, you know, he's just, you know, he does, he's our, you know, like I said, he's our star player and not only that, I think in the dressing room, he's a little bit of a longer clip, but I wanna play it in its entirety because I wanna give an idea of where Quinn Hughes was at physically, what the upcoming schedule looks like, including a back-to-back tonight in Anaheim,

and just how close he was to not playing. Here's Talk It in great detail, breaking down how they eventually landed on the decision to play Quinn Hughes last night. Yeah, it was like, I don't know know I was just good. It was like 11 minutes and Huggy called me in the medical room And we had a little bit of a talk and he kind of persuaded me I you know, it was it was one of those things that I don't know what he played tonight, but we're The original thought was 16 to 17 minutes. I think I don't know do you guys know him?

But she played so that was original load management But he said he felt pretty good out there and and you know I think he's pretty good right now So you know that's the one thing that's uh you know he wanted to you know he wanted to play you know We felt that he was safe enough talk to the doctors that he was funny Well it was about the eight minute mark and we had to tell Baynes he was was not playing. So yeah, but that's probably the longest I've ever gone making a live stream. So I don't know what the wire is. I think it's seven minutes

or you got to get your lineup in. So we were, I think we had about 90 seconds left. My guess is that he was basically telling Taki, he's like, I'm playing. Yeah. He's like, I'm playing. I'm getting out there and I'm playing. That's truly a game time decision.

Yeah, you're leaving it to like six minutes, seven minutes before puck drop. You said 90 seconds ultimately. Yeah, yeah. We gotta figure this out. He's like, I'm going. So that's one, that's what leaders and captains do. We went into last night's game talking about,

it was a pretty big significance that game because the Connucks had fallen out of a playoff spot. Calgary doesn't appear to be going away and they needed wins and they needed a spark after scoring a grand total of two goals in losses to Vegas and Utah back to back on Saturday and Sunday. Also, I think it's a testament to you might not always be 100%. You might not always be at full health, but you gotta find a way, not just to play, but to make an impact when you're playing.

I think that's one of the big, you know, unspoken things here with Hughes is that Hughes didn't go out for 15 and 16 minutes of sheltered leisurely skating. He was out there in overtime to set up Connor Garland's game winner. Took a big hit early in the game too. Right, like that's the thing is there's playing hurt

and then there's playing hurt but being effective You're not just playing in the sense that I'm out here I'm out here and like my my presence is gonna give you guys a lift My game is gonna give you guys a lift, you know, and that's what Hughes brought to the table last night Was it a perfect night for me? I'll probably say no look like there's a little bit of rust there I mean he was almost off ice for what, three and a half weeks when you factor in how much time you missed prior to the break.

Well, don't worry. He's got another game tonight. Yeah. Well, now he's back at it, right? That's the other part of this is now you're back. Like you have to figure out a way. And it's at that time of the year where the grind of the season has gotten to guys,

injuries are piling up. You see a lot of people coming out of foreign nations are wiped, right? The Kachucks still haven't played. And he, he. Doubt he missed last night. Go down the list of guys that are hurt. And on a team that has been through a lot

this season, a lot. And I know whether he should or not, he's said in the past, Quinn Hughes, I'm saying, like, I kind of feel responsible for the breakdown on this team and as the captain, um, whether or not he could have done anything about it, it sounded like they tried to mend whatever was going on between JT Miller and Elias Pedersen, and ultimately they couldn't. Players asked them to sit down and I'm sure Quinn Hughes was part of that.

So he probably felt some responsibility, especially when JT Miller was traded out of there, But you know what? You're not going to win them all. And you can either quit or you can just keep grinding. And I think not only Quinn Hughes' play on the ice, but his, um, everything that does off the ice, like what a great captain. Yeah. What, what, what a great captain. Yeah. What a great captain.

A great leader. He really is a great leader. You know, he might be soft spoken, but I think he's well spoken. I have seen a few interviews with him. He did a big long interview with TNT after the game last night. Had some really thoughtful answers, thoughtful answer about Adam Foote and why he was such a good coach.

And he was just saying, you know, like a lot of coaches, they just try and yell at you and bully you and it feels like Adam Foote is legitimately trying to teach you, you know. So he always keeps in mind others as well, right? Like, and as a leader, you have to do that. You know, I'm sure he was the first guy to check on Tyler Myers after the game.

That's what captains do and that's why people look to them. And I was actually, I was thinking about this and we could have a good house of positivity debate on this. Has there ever been in a season, a more important player to the Canucks than Quinn Hughes is this season?

It's like you're talking about a relied upon most valuable by a mile. Most valuable by a mile would be the way to put it. So the guys that I think about are Luongo when he first came to the team. 2006, 07 Luongo is definitely like in that pantheon. And then. Most relied upon single season Canucks.

And then maybe, maybe Pavel Bury in the early nineties, when he had some back to back 60 goal seasons. There are other guys on the Canucks that were scoring, but it was like Bury with 60 goals and then the next was Trevor Lyndon with 32, you know, something like that. So, but I think, I mean, I would put Quinn up there right there, maybe even above what Luongo was to this team when he first came. So I, we.

Luongo played so many games. That was very, very, very, very, very impressive. I've had this bar room debate with, actually, I think I had it with Trance one time, talking about the greatest sort of single, very much what you're talking about. The greatest single season, one off, like, you relied upon this guy so heavily. And the one you're talking about, the beret year,

is probably in the Pantheon as well, when he scored 60 goals and had 107 points, and the next closest Canucks skater had 70. Yeah. Like that's what we're talking about here. That was also the 93, 94 year when of course, the Canucks went to the Stanley Cup. So you're talking about Hughes right now and

in this particular season, and I know he's missed 10 games due to injury, but you're talking about a guy that's been relied upon with, you know, 50 plus years of Canucks hockey with the Luongo season and the Beret season. That's pretty special stuff. Like, like he's a defenseman. He's played 48 games.

He has 60 points. Connor Garland with his two goals yesterday vaulted into second place in scoring. He's got 36 points in 58 games. So he's got. It's a wild gap. So the second place has 24 points fewer and he's played 10 more games.

Third place is JT Miller with 35 points and he's tied with Besser and Debrecht with 35 points, but like Miller's not there anymore. Yeah. Besser, I don't know if he's going to be here past March 7th. You know, if the Canucks can make the playoffs with the performance of, you know, if the Canucks can make the playoffs with the performance of, you know, with everything that's gone on with them, you

know, like I hope, I don't know if he would win it, but I would hope that Quinn Hughes gets not only Norris consideration, but hard trophy consideration. We can continue this conversation on the other side. We got to get to break. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about

Denny's True North Taste of Waste with Denny's 100% Canadian Beef Burgers made with new shredded iceberg lettuce or shreddis as the kids call it on a brioche bun and all the classic ingredients you love. More Canucks Talk coming up. You're listening to the Alfred and Bruff Show on Sportsnet 650. Canucks Talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. 40 seconds to go to overtime. He was in on the left wing. Four on four. Garland. Wrist shot scores!

Carter Garland with his second of the game. He is the player of the game as he wins it out over time. And the Canucks beat LA 3-2. No, I actually thought I was going to go to Heedle coming around the net. I just told Murph that I tried that in Detroit. It was a similar play and it went down to our end score. So there was a little bit of a spot there. I felt like I could hit it and got fortunate. And you know, it was a big one. Big one.

We needed it. 634. We're going to go to the end of the game. We're going to go to the end of the game. We're going to go to the end of the game. We're going to go to the end of the game. We're going to go to the end of the game. We're going to go to the end of the game.

We're going to go to the end of the game. We're going to go to the end of the game. We're going to go to the end of the game. We're going to go to the end of the game. We're going to go to the end of the game. We're going to go to the end of the game. We're going to go to the end of the game. We're going to go to the end of the game. We're going to go to the end of the game. and score it. So there's a little bit of a spot there. I felt like I could hit it and got fortunate and you know, so you know, pick one, pick one we needed. Six thirty four on a Thursday. Happy Thursday everybody. Halford Brough Sportsnet 650.

Halford Brough of the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service or parts. 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 them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. That audio you heard coming back from Break, that was Connor Garland's OT winner. And then Connor Garland breaking down one of the plays. Laddie, you sent something along from the king's side

of things on the game winning goal. What exactly happened prior to Garland's shot going in? Because now, not to take anything away from Garland, but he doesn't exactly have the biggest like missile when it comes to shooting. What happened there? Well, it was almost like a double screen. There was a player right by Garland

and then there was, if you look towards the net, his own defenseman, Gavrikov, actually bumps into him. I don't know how. Into Riddick. Into Riddick, in the crease. I don't know why he's so close to his own goaltender, but he bumps him, and then the shot comes and it beats him, and the look that Riddich gives him,

it's like a split second, his head's turning, looking at him like, what are you doing? And he clearly messed him up for that goal. So, credit Gavrikov. Yeah, that's a classic goal, he's never wanted to take accountability for their own mistakes. No save days, they call you doing? And he clearly messed him up for that goal. So. Classic goalies never want to take accountability. No save days. They call it. Well, he was probably frustrated on the first goal too, when the defenceman right in front of Niels Hoaglander just kind of like stumbled.

Yeah. And Hoaglander's like, oh, okay, I'll take that extra moment and then pick a spot right over your shoulder. So the other bit of audio that I found last night from Connor Garland was when he was asked about Quinn Hughes' return to the lineup and he said Hughes is top three player in the world. And I'm like, okay.

Very much speaks to how high regard they hold Quinn Hughes. I mean, I don't disagree. No, I think he's right. I mean, I don't know who the three would be. I don't really want to go there right now because I want to dovetail off into something else, although it does involve Quinn Hughes.

So on that interview, the post game interview that he did with TNT last night, in his first, one of the first questions he was asked was about Marcus Pedersen. And then Hughes was talking about Pedersen at the end of the answer. He says, and you know,

Pedersen getting to play under Adam Foote is a plus too because Adam Foote is one of the best coaches I've ever played for. So we've got the question and answer follow up from intrepid journalist Biz Nasty. Biz wanted to know a little bit more about the Canucks coaching staff and how Adam Foote is one of the best defensive coaches

Quinn Hughes has ever had. Here's the question and answer from the TNT broadcast last night. Quinn Hughes talking about how much he loves his coaches, both of them, Quinn Hughes and Rick T Tocket, or sorry, Adam Foote and Rick Tocket in Vancouver. You mentioned Adam Foote, the best defensive coach you've ever had. What exactly makes him the best coach that you've ever had? Man, I couldn't, it's hard to break that one down, but I just find like, there's a lot of coaches out there that,

you know, scream and yell and they wanna, you know, bully their players, intimidate their players. And this is a guy that I would say coaches, his defenseman coaches his players like he'd want his kids coached. And then on top of that, with all the experience he has, and you know, Rick said it before, he doesn't, you know, think of himself as a coach, know think of himself as a coach he thinks of himself as a teacher and he's

teaching us and footy and Rick's job is to win games but also it's to make everyone a better player and you know you want to be a better player in March than you were September and then hopefully a better team as well and I think it's not just process you know results-based wins and losses it's trying to make you know people better people better players and you know over the course of my three years with these guys have my games kind of taken off here and That's a big part of big part to them. So yeah

Awesome. Well said so how for the biz was doing what's called a follow-up question Yeah, which would you have to listen to the interview and then be like, that was interesting what he said, I'm going to follow up on that. He's one of the best big J journos to ever do it. Paul Bissonnette. No, I think we had a producer in his ear ask about foot.

Yeah. Yeah. Remember what he said about foot? He's like, what? No, it was a great, look, that's a great answer and with some prompting, of course, but I Wanted to use it as sort of a jumping-off point to once again reiterate that despite calls Hockett's head and his preferred style of play by some of our listeners and some of those in media

I put very little of the failings of this team this season on the coaching staff. And I do not believe that Quinn Hughes was just merely paying lip service last night that felt fairly genuine, but also talking about not just this season, but the, the three years that he's had under these guys in which his game has ascended. And part of it is because he got the captaincy and understands the importance and value of that, but that's a coaching staff that has to bestow that on a player. There was a choice at one time.

Remember, you all remember it in Lister land. There was a choice at one time, a decision that had to be made about who's going to be the next captain of the Vancouver Canucks in hindsight. It sure looks like they got it right. Conversely, it looks like they could have got it really wrong if they had gone the other way. But, um, you know, Hugh's talking about this coaching staff, I think kind of underscores

that whatever failings they've had this year and coaches are not infallible. No, no, no, they can be criticized. Talk, it made one last night on the, the challenge, right? Like that was a bad challenge. Yeah. He owned up to it. He admitted it. I think it was a lousy challenge. It was a bad coaching

moment. But you know, when you, I think that there has been a knee jerk reaction from a lot of people to look at the low event style that the Canucks are playing and put it on the guy behind the bench instead of the guys sitting on the bench, if that makes sense. Yeah, I mean, he, there were guys that went out

there and made plays last night and that's what he's been wanting to do. He's been wanting them to do. Um, you know, Holglinder again, I went over fairly extensively, maybe too extensively, the first goal that he scored, there was a lot of good there. And it started all the way back in the Canucks end. And it ended with a goal by a guy that got a

chance to show something last night and he did show something, so that was good. And we got people texting in going, you know, like I think Derek Forebort played a really strong game, so do I. Yeah, he was good. He made that breakout pass to Nils Hoeglinder on the first goal.

He stapled a guy in overtime, right? It was Copetar. He smoked Copetar. Yeah. Like hard. It's a smoke guitar. And, you know, Marcus Pedersen, I thought, played really well.

The PK came together, you know, we do get excited about the new toys, right? Especially Adog because he's a child and he likes toys, right? And Philip Heidel has showed something. I think he's been a good addition. And I too am excited about Elias Pettersson, the young defenseman, but at the end of the day, he only played 10 minutes last night, right? And it was the guys like four board and guys like Tyler Myers who were out there and Marcus Pedersen, when the game was on the line, those guys

were making the plays and, uh, yeah, it was, it was, it was a good win. They nearly blew it. And you know, if they had a loss in overtime, we, it might've been a very different show this morning. We'd be sitting there going, you know, that was, yeah, they got a point, but it was kind of a point loss, but they got the job

done and a lot of it was doing things that doesn't get talked about too much. It's like killing that penalty, then killing another penalty, right? I mean, I thought, you know, I know the Kings aren't the most dangerous team, but if you get a four on three in overtime, a lot of the time that you're going to score, right?

And not only did- There's so much space to move around if you didn't want to do. Yeah. And, and, and just the way the momentum of the time you're going to score. Yeah, there's so much space to move around if you want to do. Yeah, and just the way the momentum of the game was going, the Canucks showed a lot to hang in there and ultimately get the two points and a very important two points because they leapfrog Calgary back into a playoff spot.

And don't forget, I know Calgary started their road trip very well with a win over Washington and they deserve lots of praise for that win, but their road trip does not get any easier. They've got some tough games. So leading up to the trade deadline, the jockeying for the playoff spot, that final playoff spot in the West is going to be interesting to watch. Did you read Ian McIntyre's piece yesterday on the Brock Besser contract situation? I did read it. What was your main takeaway from it?

That Besser's frustrated. Yeah. The quote from the piece that's up at sportsnet.ca right now from Brock Besser on his uncertain future. This is from Brock. I understand it's a business. I feel like I'm a pretty loyal guy and I feel like that should speak for itself,

but it's a business and that feel like I'm a pretty loyal guy and I feel like that should speak for itself, but it's a business and that's just how things operate. It's actually frustrating that nothing has got done. It's a big contract and I know there are people out there that said, well, as soon as Drew O'Connor gets into town, he gets a new deal. I was like, okay, yeah, but that's not a potentially. Apples and bowling balls, but yeah.

Yeah. The sentiment's there. And it's the same with, people said, well, they gave a big contract to Marcus Pedersen. I was like, yeah, it's really hard to find top four defenceman. And they wanted to get that guy locked up. And I don't think anyone's complaining about that,

that contract right now. The contract to Brock Besser is more complicated, but I could also feel, I also feel for Besser because the Canucks, I would say almost certainly, are leaning on him to take a bit of a hometown discount. And he might almost feel taken advantage of. He's like, okay, so I want to stay in Vancouver. I've been pretty loyal to this organization.

Are you taking advantage of that in some way, but trying to get me to a below market contract? I bet he does not love a lot of things that are going on right now. If you look at his ice time in the last three games, it's I mean, he played he played his lowest of the last three games last night, and that was with four extra minutes of overtime up for grabs. He's pointless in three. He's minus three in his last three.

I think he's got two goals in his last 10 and four goals in his last three. I think he's got two goals in his last 10 and four goals in his last 22. He's on a line with all due respect to Pugh Souter and Drew O'Connor. He's on a line with Pugh Souter and Drew O'Connor. I would think that all of this maybe adds up to what you're saying, like a guy that might feel maybe not disrespected, but he's not feeling the love. He's not feeling appreciated. Feeling like an afterthought. And that could be by design. Again, I he's not feeling the love. He's not feeling appreciated. Feeling like an afterthought. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that could be by design. Again, I said this yesterday on the show,

but I always go back to the Patrick Alveen remark about Brock Besser scoring 40 last year, and his reply was, we thought he could have scored 50. Which is just a strange thing to say, unless there's purpose behind it. And the purpose behind it might be that we expect more of this player, or we've got kind of unrealistic expectations

of this player to the point where he's not in our future plans. Well no, if you want eight by eight, you gotta do it every year. That's how I read it. I read it as we need your intensity the whole season. Sure. Right?

Like you can't be satisfied once you've reached something, right? Keep working and have that, have that killer instinct, the, the, um, the desire to kind of, you know, accomplish something and then just keep accomplishing things. Now someone just texted. Don't get comfortable.

Someone just texted in three simple words, but they're very profound. Traded his center. Yeah. I don't, that's a, that's a whole part of this is Besser could make a very valid argument that the decrease in production comes from no longer having his running mate in JT Miller. They obviously had great chemistry and connection together. Could they put that back on him though?

Could they be like, oh, interesting that your production falls off as soon as the center goes. It's not a slam dunk argument on the ambassadors behalf. For sure they could be like, well, you need to be able to play with other players. And then he'll say, do you mean Pugh, Suter, and Drew O'Connor? And they'll be like, yes.

Yes, we do. That's exactly what we mean. Because Heedle's with Garland and Joshua now. You're getting 16 minutes of ice. Yeah. It's tough. Here's the thing though. If the bar was, you need to show us more

and the intensity needs to be there, then you're gonna get thrown into a few different scenarios and a few different looks, especially with the forward lines and you have to produce, guys have to produce. Especially on this team where offense is so bereft and they're a three-2 team right now. Remember Darrell Sutter used to say with the NHL,

it's a 3-2 league? Yeah. The Canucks are embodying that in a lot of ways. Well, I thought Ferraro made a great point on the broadcast yesterday. He was like, it sounded kind of funny because he was like, you know, they got that first goal. Now can they get two and then can they get three?

Once they get three, we're like, we're good. We're good. Just score more than one goal. What's it gonna three? Once they get three, we're like, we're good. We're good. Just score more than one goal. That's what they're going to take. Score two. Yeah, that's it. You know, you got it. Three's a good number for them to hit.

That's where they're at offensively. Yeah. And look at the other guys that made something of the adjustments yesterday. Now, you can argue that they were bump ups, but, Hoeglander got a bump up to the line with Pedersen and Nebraska and although he wasn't out there with those guys scored a goal.

Important for him for a guy that's just been a nightmare offensively this year. Um, I look at that new line that they've got with Heidel, uh, flanked by Garland and Joshua and they were difference makers last night, right? They're not winning that game. If those three don't put forth the games that they put forth. So guys are making contributions. You just need it across the lineup at this point because, you know, IMAAC was on the post game show yesterday and he astutely pointed out that going into this season they had two or they thought that they had two legitimate bonafide

catalyst play drivers at forward. Mm-hmm. And that was Pedersen and Miller. And Pedersen's not Pedersen right now, and Miller is a New York Ranger. So you do need to kind of collectively. They're both making equal impacts at this point. Seriously.

You know? And now we've resigned ourselves to this, I have anyway. I have too, yeah. And Jay's just, okay, let's just keep playing, right? You've got a guy making the money that he's making, playing at the level that he's playing at, but he's still playing and he's still going out there.

So let's see what they can manufacture from this. So then you start looking elsewhere. Let's start looking at some other forwards that are gonna need to pick up their games. And that's where you say, okay, Hoaglander can you get back to anywhere near the form where you scored 24 last year? Okay, Joshua, you're a big part of this team in the second half of the season last year. Can we get you back there? And then you look at the new guys,

especially Heedle to inject some life into the group. And then that's where the optimism kind of starts to come in. They got a tough task. Like I know Anaheim is not a good hockey team, but they spent a lot of energy last night in LA. That game went to overtime. They need the points tonight. Yeah. And it's probably going to be a sea loves game as well. I just want to mention that we've lost a film legend. Yeah.

Gene Hackman has passed away at the age of 95. And so I know a lot of Sports Talk Radio will be talking about Gene Hackman and his role in Hoosiers, right? It was Coach Dale and that was a great role. For you guys though, I know Adog's not here. Uh, what, what, what's the role that you remember Gene Hackman for the most?

It's probably Hoosiers isn't it? Yeah, Norman Dale. I mean. Can you name any other? Uh, okay, let me think. Um. This is sad, man. Oh, uh, enemy of the, behind the lines,

enemy of the state. He was in one of those, both of those, I think. Wow. That's the next one that comes to mind. Kind of, what one, oh, nevermind, Mississippi Burning. He was the FBI agent in Mississippi Burning. Okay. How about Unforgiven? Yeah, I, like I've seen Unforgiven obviously.

It doesn't resonate with me as like a. Wow, really? Yeah. That's shocking. His performance as little Bill was. See, I didn't even know that was the name of the character. Incredibly, he won an Oscar for it. I thought he was Big Bill.

No, he was Little Bill, yeah, yeah. And he beat the hell out of English Bob. There was an English Bob and a Little Bill? There was an English Bob. Who wrote this script? He came into town and he heard there was some money to be made and he didn't want that. He didn't want that in his town and little Bill took care of them.

So the anecdote now with Hoosiers is, um, basketball teams actually shy away from showing it to, there's, there, like the high school guys often shy away from showing it because it's actually been like, yeah, but it's all like everybody watches it and only one team wins. So a lot of teams have seen it as like a jinx going into like the March Madness style tournament, the high school teams or anything. Right. Because I mean, again, it's it's an underdog story. So you can only can really relate to a handful of teams.

Like you can't be like we were 31 and one and we're the biggest school in the province going in to the provincials. You can't watch Hoosiers and draw any influence from it because that's the ultimate underdog story. But it's, I've watched Hoosiers, God, I don't know, 900 times probably. How many times have you watched Unforgiven?

Once. You've seen the whole thing? Once, I think I've seen the whole thing. According to my letterbox, I've seen exactly one Gene Hackman film. What? That was the 2001 classic Heist. Okay. Starring Gene Hackman and Danny DeVito. And I have no recollection of ever watching it.

Alfred, he was in Enemy of the State. Yeah. I'm not, apparently not a big Gene Hackman. But it's also behind Enemy, I don't even know which one it is. It's one of those two. He was awesome in Mississippi Burning, I will give you that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, thank you. And Crimson Tide with Denzel, that was another one of those two. He was awesome in Mississippi Burning. I will give you that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you.

And Crimson Tide with Denzel. That was another one on the submarine. Remember he had that good speech? That was the best submarine speech you'll ever hear. This is right in your wheelhouse because most of these movies were in the eighties and early nineties. It's right in my wheelhouse as a film aficionado.

What do we call them when they get to your level? An auteur, is that it? I don't know, I just watch movies, man. No aficionado. What do we call them when they get to your level? An auteur, is that it? I don't know, I just watch movies, man. No, you don't. Oh, yeah, anyway, that's, I will say, it's a very sad story, actually, because his wife and he and his dog, apparently, all passed away.

The coroner's office said that foul play was not suspected and Gene Hackman was 95 years old his wife was 64 so sad news obviously to end the hour the Halford and Rough Show on Sportsnet 650 but as you mentioned like one of the great actors of our generation and the when the credits go all the way from like the early 70s. One of the great actors of our generation and the, when the credits go all the way from like the early seventies. One of the great actors of our generation. I've seen one of his movies. I've seen more than one. Obviously.

Laddie's seen one. The heist. Hey man, you're Lex Luthor, Superman, come on. Yeah, see we needed you in this conversation. Yeah, you shouldn't have left the room. Yeah. Sorry bud. The French connection too, like that's probably too early for a lot of our listeners.

Well, actually it's radio. It's probably right in their wheelhouse. Peter and White Rock just texted in French connection too, like that's probably too early for a lot of our listeners. Well, actually it's radio. It's probably right in their wheelhouse. Peter and White Rock just texted in French connection. Yeah. There you go. Yeah. Okay. All right.

Well, that was a very disappointing conversation. So I apologize. Uh, lots more to get to on the Alfred and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. Coming up, uh, first half of the segment, we're going to go through the national hockey league. Some of the scores from last night, some of the major trade rumblings that are going on across the league as we get closer and closer to

the March 7th deadline. Then at 715, Jason Greger is going to join the program from Sport Stock Radio in Edmonton. We'll talk to him about what the Oilers have planned going into March 7th. Try and get some more clarity on this Evander Cain situation that Frank Cervalli brought up on the show yesterday. Then at 730, Michael Dagostino is is gonna join the program What you got? Will Smith Jean Hackman Rotten Tomatoes give it 71% solid second movie that comes to mind Did you guys mention the conversation another classic no I couldn't tell if it was enemy of the state or behind enemy lines. It was one of the two

Good flick good flick Michael Degas Dino's gonna join us Jack Black was brilliant in it was Sintillating as a film Oh unforgiven as well. Yeah, we won't forgive him. He was upset He was upset that I didn't name Unforgiven first. Oh really? Yeah, and I was like, Unforgiven, it doesn't, it's a great movie.

One of the best supporting actor for Little Bill and that, the greatest beating scene in movie history when he beat up English Bob. Right. Yeah, we got a president in this country. Not a king, English Bob. We got a lot more to get to. Don't go anywhere, hour two is coming up.

You're listening to the Alfred and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650.