Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Whitecaps Are Getting Their Mojo Back

Episode Date: July 17, 2025

In hour one, Mike Halford & guest host Jamie Dodd look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), plus they talk day one of The Open with Sportsnet golf analyst Adam Stanley (28:23). 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.

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa You're listening to Halford and Brough. Sabi does get the cross hit and it's all over the place for Bum! Real on his backstab! Sabi makes absolutely no mistake! You know, I'd much rather be a great father than I would be a great golfer. You know, at the end of the day that... That's what's more important. SGA is here, give it up for SGA. Hell yeah, bro. And now everybody sitting around him is in foul trouble.

Good morning, Vancouver! 6.01 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. It's Halford and his bruff. Oh, wait, it's Jamie Dodd. Hello. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studios in beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver.

Jamie Dodd, good morning. Good morning. A-Dawd, good morning to you. Good morning. And basketball, then. Good morning to you as well. Good morning, Michael. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first entrusted choice

for debt help with over 3,000 five star reviews. Visit them online at sans-trustee.com. And we are broadcasting live from the Kintec studio, Kintec footwear and orthotics, working together with you in step. Jamie Dodd. Yeah. Welcome to the program.

I pulled out the Murphy bed in the studio last night, got off the air at six, and I was like, you know what? Just gonna set up camp here and be ready for the morning. Is this your first time together, you two? I can't remember. You've worked together before? Yes. Are you being facetious right now?

I just can't remember. There's so many- The Dodd-Halford connection is one of the more storied one in Sportsnet 650 history. Is it? Well, it's there anyway. It's a connection. Mike and I did private, like,

or like out of work events together last time we hosted. We have seen some events together, not a big deal. Don't wanna brag. Okay. We got a free hot dog out of the deal. That's right. The scheduling gods did not look upon you favorably. As mentioned, Jamie was on the air a mere 12 hours ago,

but he's back, he loves it so much. We have a lot to get into on the show today. So I'm glad that he's riding shotgun today. Absolutely. Yeah, guest list today begins at 6.30. Adam Stanley's gonna join us. Sportsnet Golf reporter. First round of the Open Championship at Royal Port Rush

in Northern Ireland is underway. Some familiar names near or atop the leaderboard early, Matt Fitzpatrick, Lee Westwood, Phil Mickelson, Scotty Scheffler, basketball, Ben, who are you paying most attention to right now in the early stages of the open? Scotty Scheffler is one under par, three off the lead. He's got a birdie puck coming up on hole 12.

Once again, he finds himself in the mix in horrible conditions. He somehow still finds a way to just hang around and that's a name that all these guys are like get away from me. So it looks gross as you mentioned in Northern Ireland. Jamie asked the question prior to coming on there do they get summer then? Yeah what's the deal? It's the middle of July. Like you would think it wouldn't be disgusting all the time. Oh no, it's horrible though. And wasn't it like this last time they were in Northern Ireland too? What's the deal?

Every year. Just permanent 12 months rain and wind. And they love it too. They're like, welcome to the convent. Yeah. They want it to rain. We live for this. Everyone's wearing a vest.

I haven't even thought about wearing a vest in at least three months. It's amazing. Anyway, we're going to talk to Adam Stanley at 630 All Things Golf as the Open Championship is now underway in Northern Ireland. That's at 630 at seven o'clock. Adnan Virk is gonna join the program. Our insider from MLB Network,

all-star game in the books. Quite a historic couple of days given the accomplishments of Cal Raleigh at the home run derby. And then Cal Schwerber at, I guess, the sorta home run derby at the end of the actual all-star game We'll get into all things baseball including a second half preview with Adnan at 7 o'clock 730

Brandon Batchelor is gonna join the program play-by-play voice of the Vancouver Canucks right here on Sportsnet 650 as you've probably heard throughout the last 24 hours the Canucks full 82 game schedule is out It dropped yesterday lots of feedback, lots of takeaways. Who better to talk about the schedule than the guy who's gonna call all 82 games on it? Batch is gonna join us at 7.30 here on the program. Eight o'clock, we're gonna go down to Seattle. Tim Booth is gonna join the program.

Seattle Times Sports Reporter. What's going on with NBA expansion? I know we talked about it on the show yesterday. Tim has a big article out now in the Times. The question should just be like, when are the Sonics coming? That was essentially the genesis of his article. Yeah, when can we get the team? The answer was, doesn't sound like any time soon.

We're studying it. We're starting a committee. We're going to investigate. I also want to talk to him about the summer of Cal Raleigh, which we talked about earlier, and where he sits on the current Mount Rushmore. It's summertime. Everything is a Mount Rushmore of Seattle athletes currently. So we'll talk to Tim Booth at eight o'clock working in reverse on the guest

list. It's a four guest today, eight o'clock. It's Tim Booth, seven 30 Brendan Bachelors, seven o'clock Adnan Virk, six 30 Adam Stanley. That's what's happening on the program today. Ben, 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.

We know how messy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? You missed that? What happened? What happened? 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. There was a local team in action yesterday and there were some sports going on. MLS chocked full of games yesterday, including your Vancouver Whitecaps. Emmanuel Sabi scored a goal in the fourth minute. Sebastian Baerhalter added the insurance marker and then Brian White kind of scored from the penalty spot shortly Shortly thereafter, Whitecaps beat Houston in Houston three nil on Wednesday night. And I know you were unable to watch working at the time. Exactly. I gave everyone an update on the

savvy goal when he scored it. So I was doing my duty there as the as the sports host, but three nil result for the Whitecaps. And we chatted with the yes for Swanson last week or earlier this week. I guess it was myself and Jason Brough and you know It was a pretty dour Interview for most of it, but we did wrap up by saying like well, you know, you guys are still third in the Western Conference You're still actually in a pretty solid position. Yeah, you made him cry And it always felt like the question was gonna be okay, they're in this rut They're in this downturn does it spiral or is it just a blip and then they're able to kind of right the ship? Did

you see enough last night in the results, which was desperately needed to say, okay, this is, this is the start of the turnaround. They're getting their mojo back. Yeah, it was, it was a very, very solid performance right from the get, by the way, for those that don't watch white caps games with any regularity, they either score or concede in the first five minutes of every match. I don't know what it is, I don't know if this is a game plan or stylistic thing, but they are either up one or down one within five minutes, and lo and behold,

Sabi scores four minutes into the match yesterday. So they got off on the front foot, the right foot, if you will, And they carried that throughout the match. So that was good. Houston's not good. So everything has to be taken with a bit of a caveat here. Still, I think in MLS, anytime you go on the road, no matter what team you're playing and have that, right.

It's like, OK, yeah, you can discount the opponent, but it's still tough to travel. The conditions were crazy in Houston yesterday, right? With the heat and the humidity. So it's 52% humidity yesterday. At the first hydration break, guys came over to the pitch and they looked as though they had all taken showers in their uniforms, just drenched head to toe

with sweat. So it was a very difficult. So I don't want to take anything away from the performance. I just want to contextualize. Sure. Exactly what it was. The other thing I'm interested in with the Whitecaps and you had it in your notes that it was the first match of the post Pedro Vitae era. Of course he's been sold. And one of the things Brough and I were talking about is there's so many unique challenges managing an MLS team, right?

With guys leaving on international breaks and the weird roster rules and the travel around the continent, which is different from other soccer leagues and now losing a player to a transfer period midseason isn't unique to MLS but it is one of those soccer things you have to manage around he was such a key player you're already missing a bunch of guys with injuries now he leaves the lineup I know there's reports they might be bringing in a replacement from Peru but yes we'll see if that you know if he's able to hit the ground running. So what in the short term, what is the loss of Pedro Vite? How do they handle it? How do they manage it? I handled it brilliantly yesterday because they were able to still play with the

three in the midfield. Bear Halter was there. Sabi was there. Kubas didn't even play. So when this team was at its best, it had Bear Halter, Kubas, and Vite in the middle of the park is the three. And a lot of people that cover the league far more closely than I do, considered it the best midfield in MLS, especially when they were rolling. It's funny, I have a whitecaps chat. It's an exciting one, folks. If you want to join me, just send a text. Anyway, I actually screen grabbed their lineup from a game earlier in the year when they beat the LA Galaxy 2-1 when they were at as close to his full health as they have been. There are, I would estimate, at least six starters from that game, either unavailable due to injury, rest, or in the case of Pedro Vite, Vite have been sold. And it's a pretty dramatic drop off in season. Every team goes through lulls and injuries. And yeah, and especially with a cell on league like MLS, you do moving on from guys.

But to think of where this team was at its heights this year, where it was clearly, clearly the best team in MLS, there wasn't any like decision to be made. They've lost a lot. And Vite is part of that. Sorenson does a really nice job of finding the right moments to either change the formation or change the personnel. Now in this most recent stretch, he's gotten it wrong a couple of times,

the three no losses to Colorado and the galaxy were examples of that. But yesterday, he pushed all the right buttons and moved a guy like Ocampo up into a more attacking role and he was going crazy last night running down the line. Big picture stuff. It's something that they can absolutely build up. They've got a massive match coming up next where

they're going to be taking on Western Conference leading San Diego. San Diego had a very bad loss last night to Toronto FC in San Diego. Last night actually broke great for the Caps. There you go. Because Minnesota and San Diego lost. So the C great for the Caps. There you go. Minnesota and San Diego lost. So the Caps ended the night in second place

with a match in hand on San Diego and Minnesota. So it was a good night for them overall. The big three of the Western Conference. San Diego, Minnesota, Vancouver. Did you know that San Diego had a team? You do now. Uh-huh. You learned something there.

You do now. There you go. Okay, so I think that's good on the White Caps talk for the morning. We should turn our attention now to the biggest talking point from yesterday. And I'm aware that because this broke shortly after we got off the air yesterday,

that Sportsnet 650 dedicated a lot of coverage and a lot of programming to the Kinect schedule release. But we're gonna go through it rather quickly. We're gonna come up with a couple of fun, fun as in brackets, and maybe with air quotes, but we're gonna give some fun takeaways on what the schedule is. So obviously There's a bunch of takeaways with regards to individual games and large sections the Olympic break all this kind of stuff

So real quick running through it. We broke this on the air yesterday when it came out It's that the opener is gonna be October 9th against the flames for the second consecutive year. After that, in the immediate aftermath, they're gonna be playing the Edmonton Oilers, and that of course will be Evander Keynes' homecoming after spending a couple years in Edmonton. After that, and this is all hashtag the start stuff, the Canucks are gonna go and take on St. Louis while they'll have another homecoming

because that'll be their first game against former teammate Pugh Souter. Then, hashtag the start, they're going out on a five game road trip through Dallas, Chicago, Washington, Pittsburgh, and Nashville. So that's the start of the season, and that Pittsburgh game is also a bit of a reunion game because they'll get to see old friend, Artie Silovs. We can run through all of this,

but I asked all the guys here that are currently in studio to come up with two things as it pertains to the upcoming season now that we know the schedule. What are you most excited for and what are you most worried about? We're gonna start Adog, I'm throwing you on the spot,

I don't think he can hear me, his ears are filled with gauze, Adog. He did not look up when you said his name. He did not even register, it was a blank stare. What are you most excited about with regards to the Vancouver Canucks upcoming season and what are you most worried about? I had to write it down so I'd remember but Tuesday October 28th at home versus the Rangers why that one a dog you had to write that one down

It's player a team Miller game player named JT Miller is coming to town and You know, hopefully Leigh's petersons in the lineup and should be a lot of fun Fun is like you said in quotation. Well, okay. Hold on. Yeah, what do you want to see at that game? Well, I want to see the Canucks kick the poop out of them. Okay, and an open ice hit By Petey on Miller that knocks me Out of the season maybe're rooting for the injury. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, Or booze from the Rogers arena faith mixed miss. Thank you. I think probably like Slightly more cheers than booze, but I think the reactions will be mixed because he was a polarizing player What do you think? Well, you can find out what I think on a Twitter video and this force has 650 feed from yesterday

But we're gonna pretend like yesterday there will be a I think it's gonna be very similar to the Bo Horvat return He will be booed when he touches the puck They'll show a tribute video. He'll get a massive standing ovation and I called the yesterday He will get a JT Miller chant the lure of the chant and how much the crowd loves doing the chant will be too much Sure, even if people are on the fence, they're like, you know what? I like chanting and I'm gonna chant so there will be a JT Miller chant at that game I can see that I could see that can. I'm going to ask another question here. And you mentioned Horvats return. Yeah.

Can we just put into context that Bo Horvat, I think, maybe did one thing kind of wrong. And got booed. Not capital W wrong. No. Kind of wrong. And it wasn't even that big of a deal to me. And that elicited booze from the crowd

Which is still to this day. It actually kind of bothers me He was like when he was here. He played on bad teams He grew up in the organization I'd say he wasn't the greatest captain ever but he was pretty exemplary in terms of fulfilling the rules But it was workman like yes Like you know the knock against Horvat was always like is he doing enough to single-handedly turn around the situation? And but he wasn't ever gonna be that player that was unfair to put that on him the projections in that regard were Way beyond what he was gonna give you as a player right? I think a lot of people were

Hoping for something that wasn't necessarily gonna be there But in terms of showing up and put in a shift, all of which I think is admirable work, I felt like his return should have been warmer. There's like I didn't understand. I get boo. I mean, I don't know the I'll tell you that for free. Like, whatever. I agree. Yeah, it kind of I thought the reaction to it was outsized.

I get that anytime someone leaves and they're perceived to be taking a shot at your market, that gets people's backup. I understand that I was glad I Had less of an issue of the booing because he got the reception with the tribute video, right? Right, so that was like okay fair. We should they showed the respect then do whatever you want after that I don't have a problem with it now. I am putting it within context of JT Miller's return Yeah, because if you want to stack them up side by side Now I am putting it within context of JT Miller's return. Because if you want to stack them up side by side, Miller's behavior was far more damaging to the organization

than anything, anything Horvat ever did over the course of his Canucks career. I mean, say what you will about who's to blame or who's at fault. Pedersen and Miller shoulder equal blame for a rift that, don't forget, the president of hockey ops has said multiple times, rip that team apart last year. so each guy needs to shoulder that

That was something that never happened on Horvats Well Matt and Surrey and I think this is a good point you texted Hey guys, I think how Miller will be received when he comes back to Vancouver could also be tied to how well PD is or Isn't playing I bet if PD has a great start the booze are gonna rain down on Miller But if it's not that way it might be a little more jaded towards him I do think though so it's game 11 that he comes to town rights or those first 10 games like if PD is on one goal for assists it's going to be an awkward atmosphere. It's a good point. He's crushing it. Then I think it's like no problem and people might

as he says be even a little more aggressive towards Miller but if it's if we're still waiting to see the PD bounce back that could be a very very interesting awkward uncomfortable atmosphere at Rogers. Adog what are you most concerned about? Sunday December 14th at the Devils because I'm worried that the other Hughes brothers will kidnap Quinn or lure him away and ultimately convince him like this is where you want to be in the beautiful, beautiful state of New Jersey. Yeah, the Garden State they call it. Yeah, they do call it that. So that's Hughes-o-Palooza, the next iteration of it. Yeah, which the first one did not go well. But in New Jersey.

In New Jersey. Specifically, right? Yeah, at the devil's. Because of the kidnapping angle. Correct. So you're hoping slash predicting a career ending injury for JT Miller and Kidnapping. All right. You know, I'm glad we started with Andy. That was good Kidnapping. Yeah. Okay, Jamie. What are you most excited about for the upcoming? Okay. I this is

Seems like kind of a cliche answer But I am most excited for game one and not just because it'll be like a drought finally over. I'm sure you're on, we all hate preseason. So we'll be desperate for the regular season to start. But if you look back, we now have a three year sample size of the first game of the season telling us pretty much everything we need to know about how the season is going to go. So last year they blow a four one lead against Calgary lose sex six five. And of course that set up just a wildly frustrating season that featured way too many brutal disasters, home performances to count. They also

finished behind Calgary in the standings ultimately in the playoff chase the year before that. Of course they blew out Edmonton eight one. It's the start of this dream season. Everything goes right. They win the division over Edmonton ultimately. Besser scored four goals in that one on route to his first 40 goal season. It was like, Oh my gosh, this is an incredible game. And guess what? We're going to have an incredible season. The year before that they blew a three nothing lead on the road in Edmonton. That was the Boudreau year. Remember they like set records for blowing multi-goal leads and it all started in that first game. Their defense

was disastrous. He gets fired eventually and Rick Tuckett comes in. So last three years, game one, and we'll all come in the next day. And I do this on Canucks talk. It's like, Oh, we can't overreact. We need, we need a big sample size. This doesn't tell us anything. They're not all going to be like this. We're wrong. The it actually tells us everything about what is going to happen. So I'm excited for just whatever bizarre turn of events, positive or negative game one takes, cause that is going to be the roadmap for the rest of the season.

Game one, Thursday, October 9th against the flames. As Jamie mentioned for the second consecutive year, I can buy that. I can absolutely buy that. We talked about that a little bit yesterday when we got word that that was going to be the first game is that last year's was a harbinger of what was to come. And let me tell you, it was not a hard, it was not good.

It was not good at all. So you want like the PD three point performance in game one. That's right. OK, good. We're good. We're fine. This is how the rest of the year is going to go. Everything's going to be great. What are you most concerned about? So there's been a lot of talk about the back heavy home schedule and we'll get into that.

But of course, the flip side of that is they're on the road a lot in the first half of the schedule and not just on the road, but specifically cross continent travel. So I'm worried about the sheer number of miles. They're going to log in the first three months or so of the season. The last game they play in the Eastern Conference is January 15th. They played January 15th in Columbus. They do not travel to the Eastern Conference after that, which is great for the final stretch of the season, right? Like they don't, I think the farthest field they go is Winnipeg or Chicago after that. I think you're right. But before that, it means like almost every couple of weeks they're going out East, right? Like they get back, play a couple of weeks at home, and then they're back going out east.

So they're basically crisscrossing the continent for the first three months of the season. And look, that's not necessarily a new experience for the Canucks. They've got, they've always got a difficult travel schedule, but I think it is a little bit more condensed with the Olympic year, just with the way their schedule sets up. So they're going to be logging a ton of miles. We know that puts stress on the bodies. That's less practice time, all of that, how they manage that, how the depth holds up under that strain,

I think is going to determine a lot about how the season goes. And it's going to be a huge challenge. It's going to be a huge challenge for Adam foot coaching the team for the players, how they manage all of that travel early in the season. A lot of back to backs to with a condensed schedule. Okay. So my turn now, Ben, did you participate in this by the way? He didn't post anything on the chat. No. Okay. Perfect with a condensed schedule. Okay, so my turn now, Ben, did you participate in this, by the way? You didn't post anything on the chat.

No. Okay, perfect, that's great. It's, no, it's good, we're right up against it for time, so I'll go ahead. So I am excited about the two big home stands on the docket this year. There's two eight game home stands coming up this season. First reason is, hey, it's when all the good opponents

come to town. That first one in particular in January, you're going to get McDavid of Etchkin, the Hughes of Palooza Vancouver version. We all know how great that goes. Sidney Crosby comes to town. I'll see if the Leafs game to cap it off. That's a lot of fun. That's an awesome home. Also the Ducks and the Ducks. You get to see Radco Gudis.

Yeah. Radco Chris Crider. Yeah. Who else playsis. Chris Crider? Yeah, right. Who else plays there now? Oh, Grandland. There's also no way that the Canucks could be as bad at home as they were last year, right? There's no way.

17, 16 and eight was a pretty putrid home record for a team that, you know, should have the advantage of having a lot of teams going on that Western road swing. So I'm hopeful, I'm hopeful that a team who, you know, should have the advantage of having a lot of teams going on that rest or Western road swing. So I'm hopeful. I'm hopeful that a team who, yes, went three, five and three after 11 home games to start last year. And I did not realize this one to straight at home twice. Last incredible. That was the those home winning streaks last year to

to home winning streaks to game home winning streaks to all of last year. That's unbelievable bad. Two home winning streaks, two game home winning streaks, two all of last year. That's unbelievable. They've got to be better, right? To your point, Mike, I just want to say too, usually we always kind of say at the station, by American Thanksgiving, you usually have a pretty good outlook of if you're possibly going to be a playoff team. And with what Jamie was saying with the back heavy home schedule, I don't think with those teams that they're playing it in late January, you can make

too many decisions until you get through that homestand. Like you look at a lot of those games, you're like, this should get B6 wins for the Canucks. Yep. Like the Jersey game, that's a bit tough. Leafs, they always play the Leafs very well, especially here in Vancouver. There's a lot of winnable games in that

eight game stretch. And then after that homestand, you're going to have a good idea and that's a month before the trade deadline. So the thing I'm most excited about are the two big homestands. The thing I'm most worried about are the two big homestands because if you look at where they're at in the schedule, especially that second one in March,

if this team is out of it early with all of the reasons Jamie mentioned earlier, aforementioned about very compact first half of the schedule, very road heavy, there is a possibility that this team could be sunk. And I'm not trying to be glass half empty here, and I'm not trying to be super negative, but there is the possibility that come American Thanksgiving or come the turn of the calendar from 2025 to 2026 This team could be in a tough spot

That's just a reality of it. And if those home stands Come in front of a ticket-buying crowd who for the second consecutive year is disenchanted with its team Those are gonna be ugly home stands Those are gonna be playing out the string homeestands and those are going to be irate homes. They had, I believed, didn't they have a nine game homestand or something similar last season or I mean, I don't miss remembering, but they had a long one. They had a link was, or maybe this was a few years ago when it was like, Oh, and they were just completely out of it, but it's happened before what you're describing, right?

Where it's like, it looks like this incredible promising thing on the schedule. We're like, Oh my gosh, they're great. They're at home for so long. This is amazing. Late in the season, it's going to be perfect for a playoff push. The city's going to be fired up and then it rolls around. It's like, Oh no, these are just, these games are nothing. And it's a horrible. I had to go back into some of the notes from last year's shows and the amount of games at home where the team laid an absolute egg is still shocking even though I've had all this time to process it and go back over top of it. We put together, speaking of Mount Rushmore's, a Mount Rushmore of the worst Canucks home losses of the season last year. I

think we made three Mount Rushmore's. There were so many contenders, there were so many options. We need to do a Mount Rushmore, Mount Rushmore. Yeah. Just build another one, guys. What's our favorite Mount Rushmore? There was so many of them to choose from. Number one, the real Mount Rushmore. Yeah.

It stands the test of time. But it kind of was reflective of a few narratives from last year. One, obviously the team wasn't good at home. I think the second thing is like, if you look at the two wild card teams from last year. One, obviously the team wasn't good at home. I think the second thing is like, if you look at the two wildcard teams from last year, Minnesota and St. Louis had pretty good, not great home record.

To give you an idea of what you need to do just to get into one of those two wildcards, they had 23 and 24 wins at home. The Cox had 17. They weren't slightly off the pace. They were way off the pace. I think the Cox had four more home wins than the Chicago Blackhawks last year. Like it was pitiful. But the other part of it is that they weren't losing

nail biters at home. Like some of these games that they lost at home were awful, dreadful performances, as Tony Gallagher used to say. They were terrible. To the point where you kind of wondered like, do they need to actually adjust pregame rituals, tactical adjustments at home to start games,

to start periods, to figure out how to not get blown out in front of your ticket buying public. And that is something that is gonna be hyper-focused. It's a big, big challenge for a first year head coach who was also on the bench to witness all of this last year. So the schedule, it does do the Canucks some favors. There's no question, right? If they are able to keep their heads above water,

the second half could be very advantageous for them. But again, as we saw, I think so much of next season really hinges on what they're going to do at home. OK, we are way up against it for time. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about the BC Lions. It's the biggest rivalry party of the year. Lions, Rough Riders, Saturday, July 19th. That's a Saturday at 4 p.m.

with the watermelon smash on Terry Fox Plaza. Get your tickets now at BC Lions dot com. On the other side of the break, we're going to do a little golf talk. The Open Championship from Northern Ireland is underway. Adam Stanley, Sportsnet Golf Analyst, is going to join us here on the Haliford and Bref Show featuring Jamie Dodd, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Bruff Dodd in the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for debt help. over 3,000 five-star reviews visit them online

at Sands-Trustee.com. The first round of the Open Championship Championship can't talk from Northern Island is underway early stages of the first round I'm looking at the leaderboard right now Matt Fitzpatrick still in the mix. Lee Westwood, Westy in there as well. A handful of other names. Things again in the very early stages in the rain at Roeb Portrush in Northern Ireland. Let's go now to the phone lines. The Power West Industries hotline. Adam Stanley, Sportsnet Golf reporter joins us here on the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning Adam, how are you?

Good morning. I'm doing all right. I think I'm on cup three of coffee, I guess, already. I haven't been up the whole time, but I feel like I've been up for a while now. It's crazy. You guys, like, the Open would have started yesterday, I guess, given the time. It started at 1 30 in the morning Eastern time. So we would have been firmly into, I guess, Wednesday still out your way. So yeah, it's a unique championship and something special about the elephant is having that opportunity to watch kind of whenever you want throughout the day and the night, I guess. Yeah, so I'm a night owl. I'm so dedicated to my craft that I work. That's not true. But I work late at night. Research. to my craft that I work. That's not true. But I work late at night and research. Yeah. And I did yesterday. My research included realizing that while I was working on tomorrow's show, the golf was on as I was working.

It just started like the first tee-offs in the first round. I was like, it's time to go to bed when a sporting event is starting. When you're still awake, it's time to go to bed. Whatever the case. But even before tee-off, this tournament Obviously had a lot of intrigue and a lot of drama only added to by the remarks made by Rory McElroy and Scotty Scheffler very candid very emotional. Yeah, very Scotty might be a nihilist now. I'm not sure what's going on there. So let's begin with Scheffler What did you make of the remarks that he made prior to the start of the open championship? of the remarks that he made prior to the start of the Open Championship. The first thing is like how insightful was that? When do you hear a professional athlete say

kind of anything like that about their craft? You're not going to get a guy, even if he scores a hat trick, comes into the locker room, he's not going to opine and go on and on about like the methodology about scoring goals and you know talk at five, ten, twelve, fifteen minutes about you know why it is that he's doing what he's doing sort of thing right. So here's a guy who's number one in the world and it's like what like what are you doing? Why are you doing this? What makes you what gives you the juice you know and Scott he Scotty's like, it's not golf. And it's crazy to hear, you know, somebody who is on the top of their game fully admit, like, why are you motivated to do this? And he's like, what would it mean to win the open? He's like,

I don't know. Nothing, probably. And it's like, wait, what? Like, what do you, what do you mean by winning the open would mean nothing? And then he kind of, you know, goes off about just the, the fleeting sense of accomplishment when he does then he kind of, you know, goes off about just the fleeting sense of accomplishment when he does win, bringing up, you know, his hometown tournament, literally grew up my whole life, working awards, this moment, having an opportunity to win this tournament at home with my family. And I did it and I did it big. And then it was like, well, what are we going to have for dinner? And then we were on to the next thing. So it was definitely, it was interesting. it was interesting.

It was curious. And then you can only think like, how do you beat a guy who is so darn good? 10 straight top 10 finishes coming into this week. The three wins, including obviously the PGA championship world, number one, by a long, long shot. And it's like, how do you beat a guy who like, isn't defined by this, who doesn't really care and is yet so, so much better than anybody else. So point number one for me, it was super fascinating. Uh, and it was also like very

revealing as well. And if you're the other guys in the field, maybe it's like, man, maybe this is why this guy is so good. You know, the other thing that I thought was really interesting was the juxtaposition in the way that Scheffler talks and approaches these things. And then what's happened to Rory over the last calendar year because winning the masters was this sort of defining, identifying, exhale moment where everyone thought that the way that the story and the narrative arc works is you finally accomplish this one thing that you couldn't,

you must be fulfilled. But in the aftermath, the questions are, what's wrong with Rory? Which is hilarious because those are the questions that everyone asked before winning the Masters. So in a way, what Scheffler said really set up in an interesting fashion what Rory's going through. And then Rory, of course, had his own little soliloquy prior to the open as well. Yeah, big time. And I think like that was kind of the crux of a story that I'd written a couple of days ago about, you know, kind of teeing it up,

teeing up this championship because here are the two best players in the world. Strokes game, they're number one and two, the actual formalized world ranking, they're number two, both have three wins on the season. They're both arguably the biggest names in the sport. And yet their approaches to this week in particular, you know, couldn't be more different, which is kind of along the point that you just made. And, you know, from a from a Rory perspective, the the win, the win is fleeting, right? The

feeling of the the actual specific time of the victory is fleeting. But again, here's a guy who worked his whole life and empty single year for 11 years, he got to answer the question, when are you going to win the Masters? When are you going to do it? What's wrong with Rory? Why can't he do it? And etc. and etc. and etc. And then he finally does do it.

And then everyone's kind of like, yeah, there's another PGA Tour event the very next week. But then you're kind of off to the next thing. Like, okay, we're at the Zurich now. Hey, are you going to, how are you feeling? What's going on? Blah, blah, blah. And then of course, the PGA was kind of weird because, uh, you know, he never talked and then the U S open, it was a very pedestrian kind of week. Um, but you know, he, uh, he had obviously improved and then he finally kind of came across the pond, went to the new house and just kind of admitted, yeah, I like went into hiding for two or three weeks. And finally, now, four months later,

after the Masters victory, he seems to kind of have had his time, gotten himself kind of re-centered, refocused. And he admitted, which I thought was really fascinating about this week in particular, that in 2019, when the Open Championship was back at Royal Port Rush for the first time since the 50s, and Rory was obviously, you know, the country's favorite son and, and all these other things that already happened. And, you know, he was the man. He, that moment was too big for him. He fully came out and said it.

The moment was too big. He didn't know how to handle the emotion and the expectation. And then this week he has come out and said, I'm just going to embrace it all. I'm signing the autographs. She wore the green jacket out to an event at, in the town the other night. You know, everyone's there to see Rory do the darn thing. And this year he's like, I'm okay with that. And I think it's finally kind of clicked with him. But again, you're kind of back to Scottie's like winning, winning really doesn't matter to Rory winning

matters more than anything. But the way that they're kind of coming at this week in particular is just incredibly fascinating. They're two really, really good thinkers. I think that's kind of where I'll put a pin on it, right? Like Rory is so intelligent, he's got opinions on everything, for better or for worse, maybe. And Scotty's got some really good opinions and thoughts and insightful commentary as well. And I think golf, individual game, they're very human, they're human characters. And that's why we, you know, kind of care and are engaged with these two guys so much.

I promise we will get to conversations about the actual tournament in the Open Championship. But just one more. And I know it's kind of a sophomore to relate everything back to Tiger Woods. But his impact on the game was so profound. And I'm sure the legacy will last for an awfully long time. But Tiger was very much like defined by like everything you can possibly do and every ounce that you can squeeze out of yourself with regards to putting it into the game and, you know, your identity tied up and how good you are and how successful you are. It was that embodiment of the sport is everything. And it's the game and your identity tied up and how good you are and how successful you are.

It was that embodiment of the sport is everything and it's the ultimate. It's the thing that I do and it's the only thing that I do. And I'm wondering if this current crop maybe has some lessons both in terms of the intensity that you need to put into the commitment, but also the dangers that come with that. And I think too, like the time that that like the golfers are brands, right?

Like, yes, Tiger Woods was a, was a brand for, for so long, but you know, not in the same way that these guys have kind of the ownership of, you know, Rory McIlroy, Inc. Right. The, the content. And all these other things, right? So there's, there's so many other layers to, you know, what being a professional athlete is all about. And I think your, your point about, you know, Tiger being so committed to the craft is a fascinating one because, you know, of course,

here's a guy who won, you know, whatever major was, or had the best season in arguably modern professional golf history in 2000. And then what was the first thing that he did? Well, in 2001, he started to change the swing. So it's like, okay, we have a guy who just wants to get as close to 100% with this game and wrapped in this game as anybody. And then now we've kind of got it's, this is a whole hog, like trickle down, Tiger Woods generation. And we see certainly bits and pieces of it. And you have to be selfish

to have success in professional golf. You have to just say, no, I'm going to the range and I'm going to beat balls or I'm going to spend two hours on the pot of green and sorry everyone else, like you're not important. Like I'm going to be selfish. I don't think that that is something that Rory or Scotty or anyone else is certainly not doing, but you know, there's just so many other Scottie or anyone else is certainly not doing, but you know, there's just so many other things involved now that yeah, you can take parts of the Tiger Woods approach, but everyone's kind of got to do their own thing as well. Adam, you had a great piece up at sportsnet.ca yesterday,

looking at the four Canadian golfers in the field this week. Of course, that's Nick Taylor, Mackenzie Hughes, Corey Connors, Taylor Pendreth as well. What should we be focused on with that group of four Canadians? And is there some reason for optimism about how they could perform this week? Yeah, I mean, it's certainly not right to second, unfortunately. McKenzie Hughes had a tough start. Taylor Pendreth, I got to say kudos to him. He was four over after his first four holes, made a double on one and a bogey on, on two and then another bogey on on two and

then another bogey in there but he ended up four over for the day so kind of a tough start for those two guys Corey's over par as well but I'm impressed by Corey because I've kind of heard mixed things he told me that the wrist injury that he had at the US Open which forced him to withdraw he said he's feeling basically back to normal but somebody else who's kind of in the Cory Connors world was like, oh man, I don't know if he's actually feeling good or if he's just saying that. So yeah, I think Cory's kind of hanging in there

as best he can. So Nick, he hasn't teed off yet, but out of all four of those guys, I think I was most excited about what Nick Taylor was gonna do this week. The crux of that story was just that a Canadian has been part of the conversation in every one of the major championships so far this season, which is awesome, right? Whether you're a golf fan or just a casual sports fan who is Canadian, when

you tune into one of these big tournaments and you happen to see a Canadian flag on the board, like it's a good news story. So of course, Corey finished in the top 10 at the Masters, second to last group on both Saturday and on Sunday. Taylor Pendrith finished tied for fifth at the PGA, 20 years since a Canadian male has finished in the top five at a major. And then Nick had his best ever finish at a major championship at the US Open a couple weeks ago and Nick has not finished outside of the top 25 at any tournament except for one all the way since April. So we're going April, May, June and now into the end of July. Four months of Nick Taylor only finishing outside the top 25

once and he uh the the memorial, the RBC Canadian open, the travelers in the U S open, incredible, incredible stuff. And then last week at the Scottish as well, he played really well. So I am, I, I'm keen to see how Nick Taylor manages his way around port rush, especially with the weather, especially with, you know, all the variables that are going to be thrown at him, but from a results body of work perspective and from, you know, how much momentum he has on the mental and physical side of things. You know, and I talked to Nick a little bit as well earlier on, uh, last week before he traveled over to Port Rush and you know,

he's just feeling good and he's playing good. And um, I think there's a lot of reasons to be excited about Nick Taylor this week. We're speaking to Sportsnet Golf Analyst Adam Stanley here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Adam, you segued nicely into my next question here. Royal Port Rush, what do we need to know about the course historically and currently and what do we need to know about the weather conditions there?

Jamie was joking before the show that they may never get summer in Northern Ireland. It just doesn't exist as a season. The problem was they had summer in Northern Ireland all of last week. Last week. Just one week long there. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. The exact middle of July, that was summer. Now that we're sneaking into the third week of July, there is no more summer. But I think there's two specific things to know about Royal Port Russia and then I'll talk about the weather conditions real quick at the end. But number one, the golf course is like,

amazing, like it is so so good. If you ask anybody, like if you ask like a real kind of golf course architecture head, and you ask 100 of them, and you're like, what's your favorite course? Or what's the best course in the world? Like globally, outside of the United States? What's the best course in the world? I would, a lot of people, 30%, maybe 40% of the people who answer that question, probably gonna say Royal Fort Rush and like, it's just awesome.

Start to finish, everything about it is a golf course, capital G, capital C. So that part is awesome. The second thing is that there's a lot of intricacies about it, there's a lot of blind tee shots, a lot more blind tee shots than the guys on the PGA Tour are really used to. And then the green complexes are, for lack of a better word, very, very complex. There's just ways that you can play kind of into them, around them.

You're going to get totally boned with some of the rough and the positions. If you're out of position, kind of around those greens. So look for somebody with some soft hands kind of strokes game around the green is going to be something to really watch for the balance of the week and then strokes gained off the tee because of all the the blind tee shots and the weather you know an extreme extreme factor for the rest of this week. They're getting wind, they're getting rain. All the guys are teeing off of number one. So the first tee time is 6.45 local. Then the last tee time, I think, is all the way at like 4pm local. So Taylor Penderth told me that he tees off at 7am one day local and then noon the other day. And like today he's going to be, he's back in his house having a nap before

like half the field is teed off basically. So, you know, the way that somebody is going to be able to manage their way around the weather conditions, the extremities of the weather from morning through till afternoon through till nighttime, basically, it's definitely going to be something to, to watch for the rest of the week,

but that's what makes the open the open. Adam, this was great, man. Thanks for taking the time to do it. We appreciate it. Enjoy the tournament in the next couple of that's what makes the open the open. Adam, this was great, man. Thanks for taking the time to do it. We appreciate it. Enjoy the tournament in the next couple of days. We'll do this again soon. Thank you so much. We'll talk to you soon.

Yeah, thank you, Adam Stanley, SportsNet Golf Analyst here on the Haliford and Brough Show on SportsNet 650. We now turn our attention to another accomplished golfer. Yes. Basketball Ben. Now, just to set your resume out a little bit, you do know of what you speak.

You golfed at U of T, right? Yes, I did. You were your high school captain. I was. So you know what you're talking about. Still play now? Yeah, I know you're not. Very competitively.

Yes, yes. Yeah, I mean, I think I agree with a lot of what Adam was saying about Scheffler and his comments of how to beat him and how that's tough. However. 30 to 40% of golf architects or people that are in that business or mindset

saying that Port Rush is the best golf course in the world is a pretty wild stat to just throw out there and hypothesize. Like that's probably not true. So what would your pick be outside of the US? And Canton. Royal County down. Okay.

What? Okay, I guess- Probably a better course actually in Northern Ireland. What? Wow. Not even the best course in Northern Ireland. It's not. It's not. Royal County down is better. Let's go. And I think that, like, there's tons of courses. Like, obviously, you'd say the old courses, Iconica, the old course, but like not for architecture wise, like, Mirrorfield's very, very good. So what in your mind?

Because because Adam said, like, you you know for real course design heads, which I am NOT among those members What? To you makes a course like a great design course like a course that has great architecture What are you looking for in that criteria? So I think like you want a Bunch of different kind of holes which port rush has I'm not trying to diminish how good Port Rush is. It's an unbelievable golf course. It sounds like you're trying to diminish it a little bit. But it's like, it's just, it's, it's not like a top five or 10 course in the world,

probably. Like there's just better options. And I think outside of the States, you can point to a lot of different ones. There's a course called Tara E.D. in New Zealand. Okay. It's a fantastic golf course. People love it.

It's very private, but people rave about it. Like how amazing it is. And I think that Port Rush has gotten a lot of coverage in the last five, six years because McElroy grew up around this area. Shane Lowry won the opening, Irishman himself. Like it's gotten a lot of coverage. It's a very good golf course.

It's not necessarily the best. And to answer Jamie's question, like you want a bunch of different holes. You want something unique about it. You want at least one signature hole. Like when you think of Augusta national, you think of that 12th hole, the par three, the ball going into Rays Creek.

You think about the bridge at St. Andrews. What hole Port Rush do you think of? I don't know. Right. I mean, I don't think of any of them, but point taken. Yeah. But even, but don't think of any of them. Right. But point taken, yeah.

But even people who watch golf casually, like just for the majors, you probably can't think of a port rush hole. And then for the golf architects, you're probably just like, oh, it's cool that there's an internal out-of-bounds on hole one during the play here. You can't hit it left or right.

It's like, what? That's what we're doing here? Follow-up question. Yes. What is the best course? Like that's what we're doing here. Follow-up question. Yes. What is the best course? And now best is obviously a bit like subjective or objective because there's one that you like, but then there's one that maybe you didn't necessarily like,

but you understand the significance and impact of it. So what's the best course you've ever played? I'd say Pebble or the old course. Okay. I think there's like two pretty strong answers. Yeah. I think like you like tee off of the old course and you're like, ooh, this is, I have like, I or the Old Course. Okay. I think there's like two pretty strong answers. Yeah. I think like you like tee off of the Old Course and you're like, ooh, this is, I was like so nervous.

I thought you were, I thought you were gonna say Right, okay, sorry, not to cut you off, but that's part of it is if you were to step up as someone who can play the game very well, but you're still almost overwhelmed by where you're at because of the significance of the track. My hands were shaking. Yeah.

I've never been more nervous than the first tee shot in any tournament than I was at the first tee in a casual round with my dad at hands were shaking. Yeah. I've never been more nervous in the first tee shot in any tournament than I was at the first tee in a casual round with my dad. Right. At the old course. Yeah. I was like, the club's going to fly out of my hands right now. Like, I just put it in the fairway.

It's the biggest fairway in the world. And you're so nervous. So the answer is not Stanley Park pitching. Yeah. I thought you were going to say Glenn Eagles. Best course I ever played. Murdo Fraser, baby. Pretty tough.

I have to disagree with Ben here. I mean, Stanley Park is, I have to disagree with Ben here I mean Stanley Park is I think just the course architecture Yeah, real course architecture nerd the Stanley Park pitch and putt is where it's at every holes It deserves a little love and he walks it every time doesn't take a cart because he just wants to take it all in I need to take it all in Imagine using a cart around the Stanley Park pitch and putt sir. We've told you many times Get rid of the cart. Where did you find that?

It's mine. All right, that's our one in the books. We got a lot more to get into on the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 6-Page today. 7 o'clock hour, we're going to talk some baseball with Adnan Virk on the other side of the break, our MLB insider from MLB Network. And then at 7.30, Brennan Batchelor

is going to join the program. We will talk to Batch about the Canucks schedule dropped yesterday, 82 gamer, I guess we were talking about this earlier, the last 82 game schedule, given that in 2026, 2027, the Canucks and the rest of the NHL are going to an 84 game regular season schedule. So we'll talk to Batch about all that at 7.30.

Eight o'clock, Tim Booth is gonna join the program out of Seattle, Seattle Times Sportswriter. We'll talk to Tim about NBA expansion. When will the Sonics come back? Will it be anytime soon? We can also talk to him about Cal Rally's impact on the local sporting scene. That's all coming up in the final two hours of the program. You're listening to the Halford and Breff show on Sportsnet 650.