Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Whitecaps Have A Secret Weapon & His Name Is Ryan Gauld

Episode Date: October 24, 2024

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they talk an impressive 5-0 Whitecaps wild card win over the Timbers in Portland (6:00), they discuss a fiesty Canucks practice yesterday (12:00), the boys chat some baseball playoffs w/ MLB Network's Adnan Virk (28:03), plus they talk some more Elias Pettersson (36:00). 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.

Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na- and sixes and sevens. They can't stop it. Ryan Gould. Golazo. Oh, the one that was all sixes and sevens. We want to play aggressively. We want to play for our fans and to represent them the right way. The Toronto Raptors open their season with a 30-point loss to Cleveland. Oh, no.

We suck again. Good morning, Vancouver. Six o'clock on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. It is Halford and his bruv. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios, the beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning.

A-Dawg, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Good intro, Laddie. Thank you. Halford and bruv for the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, laddie. Thank you. Halford and Brough in 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 1 of the program. Hour 1 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 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. Yeah. Big show ahead on a Thursday. It's a four guest or on the Halford and Brough show on sports net. Six 50 guest list begins at six 30. Adnan Burke from MLB network. We are one day away from the start of a much ballyhooed World Series. Dodgers, Yankees, tomorrow, that's Friday, 5 o'clock, from Dodger Stadium.

Adnan's going to join us to break it all down. You're so excited that you didn't even let me do my read. Oh, yeah, right. You got to do Kintec. Yeah. Jason. You're so excited about the Whitecaps. It's adorable.

I just want everyone to know he's in the best mood. He's in the best mood over the white caps. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Soar feet. What are you waiting for, my friend? Adnan Virk at 630.

Got a lot to get into on the program, but that is one of the things. We are going to start with the white caps. But before we get to any of that, before we get to any of that, at 6.30, Nick Shook at 7 o'clock. I'm also really excited because it's a good time for sports. I love it when there's the sports buffet. The sports equinox. We're getting closer and closer to what's happening. It's more like a sports trough

these days. 7 o'clock, Nick Shook, NFL.com, Thursday Night Football tonight. It is the Rams and it is the Vikings. A game of somewhat interest for you Seattle Seahawks fans out there. 7.30, Thomas Drance, the Drancer from the Athletic in Vancouver. The only bad part about this time in the sports calendar is that there's no Canucks games on.

Too long of a break. I don't like it. I don't like going from Tuesday to Saturday. You've got to wait all the way to Saturday, yeah. And last night there was only one game in the NHL. There's nine tonight, by the way, so we can talk to Drancer. And our 8 o'clock guest, Frank Cerevalli from Daily Faceoff. About that, we'll go around the NHL with Frank.

He had some remarks on Thatcher Demko's return and not in a positive light yesterday when he was doing his media rounds. So we'll talk to Frank today about that. We're also giving away our fourth, yeah, fourth $50 gift card to White Spot today. We're not going to tell you when. We're not going to tell you what time in advance. We're just going to announce it at the start of a segment or maybe even the middle of a segment. $50 to White Spot.

The phone number here at Sportsnet 650. We do have one. 604-280-0650. And again, the catch the only caveat you cannot have won anything from Sportsnet 650 over the last 90 days so we'll let you know

when you can call in for that working in reverse on said guest list 8 o'clock Frank Ceravalli 7.30 Thomas Trance 7 o'clock Nick Shook 6.30 Adnan Virk

we have a lot to get into on the program so without further ado Laddie let's tell everybody what happened hey did you guys see, 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 busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training.

Visit them online at bccsa.ca. In one of the more improbable results that I have seen recently in the world of sports, the Vancouver Whitecaps, the beleaguered Vancouver Whitecaps, without a home for their playoff date against Portland, had to go down to Portland to play their wild card MLS match down there. 5-0. Yes, you heard that right. A 5-0. An emphatic victory and an improbable one for the Vancouver Whitecaps

in Portland over the Timbers on Wednesday night. Yeah, it was improbable although the one weakness that we talked about before the show is that Portland defensively can be problematic and they very much were but I'd rather focus on the star of the Whitecaps and that man's name is Ryan Galt

because he was incredible along with his Scottish brother, Stuart Armstrong, who Vanny came on the show yesterday and said, Stuart's actually going to be starting the game, which was newsworthy, something newsworthy on the Halford and Brough show yesterday. And those two played well together. Yeah, they really did. It was 20 minutes in when the goal scoring started for the Whitecaps. And by the 60th minute, they were up 5-0 on the road. It was an assault that you really haven't seen from the Whitecaps, not just this season uh let's play the soccer world was saying that it was like when germany beat brazil in the

brazil world cup right there they were saying that many people were saying same stakes same quality of play it was right there uh i will all joking aside though i want to play the audio from vanny vanny was asked a question post-game about what the secret ingredient was, what the secret sauce was. What was the difference in that match? And we'll give Greg a minute here to get the audio up. But the answer, I'll spoil it for you, was Ryan Gould. Because what Ryan Gould did yesterday might go down,

at least it is currently, as the best performance individually single game in Whitecaps MLS era history. He was in on everything in the first half. As a matter of fact, he set a club record in the first half by being in on three goal contributions. That means you either set up a goal or you score it yourself. He then decided to break his own record by completing his hat trick and scoring in the second half.

Post-match, Vanni Sartini was asked about his captain. Here's what Vanni had to say. We have a secret ingredient that is not a secret ingredient, and this ingredient is called Ryan Gold. When Ryan Gold leads the team like he does today, you know, everything becomes easier for everyone else, from everybody else. And the performance that he put on today,

it's massive. I don't know, in the history of the Whitecaps, if there's a performance better than this, probably, I don't know, I don't know in the history of the white caps, if there's a performance better than this, probably, I don't know. I don't know the entire history, but what he did today is astonishing. So here's the thing, Mike. Here's the big thing with me, with the white caps. They got the attention getter.

That was the attention getter last night. And everyone kind of went, right wow what a win i remember when they beat san jose five nil in the playoffs and then then they had this this match against seattle that people were very excited for and that was felt totally fell flat yeah they've had opportunities to really get some momentum and capture things. I'm not saying that they have to beat LAFC. I'm saying, please, Whitecaps, make this thing interesting at least. Okay?

I wouldn't say anything about trying to beat LAFC. They got a nice result last night. It was great. It was a lot of fun. It was a fun night. It was very unexpected. Gauld was fantastic. He became the third player in MLS history to score a hat trick

and have an assist in a playoff game. That's the end of the sentence. I don't know what you want me to tell you. I know you like doing the, ooh, here come the dark clouds. I'm not going to argue. It's not here come the dark clouds. I'm not going to argue with you. Can they get some money?

That's totally unfair to me. That's totally unfair to me. That's totally unfair to me. Not that unfair. It is because the Whitecaps have done this before. They've had one-off good results, and that was a very good result. It was fun to watch. Yeah. Can they do something now?

And I know LAFC is going to be a massive favorite in this, but they do have a home game on November 3rd. Can they win that game? They're probably going to have to because they're probably not going to be a massive favorite in this. But they do have a home game on November 3rd. Can they win that game? They're probably going to have to because they're probably not going to win the first one in LA. Right? Because it's the best of three. It's the best of three.

Yeah. Can they win that game? Can they give the home fans something here? Because this will be their first home game. Yeah. It's actually more like last year. It shouldn't be impossible for them to beat LAFC at home. It shouldn't be.

This is exactly the scenario they had last year. They went into the playoffs. They got LAFC in the first round. They went down to LA, and it was bad. And then remember, they came back, and Vanny went ballistic after the game with the poor officiating, and he actually joked yesterday. He's like, my goal for this playoff is to not get suspended.

I was like, very good, Vanny. That's very good but i mean they they're going to be decided underdogs not underdogs decided underdogs because everyone else is thinking along the lines of what you're thinking one we have seen this before in a wild card match two is this team really that different from the one that went oh five and two in their seven final mls matches did they just get lightning in a bottle did they go up against a bad opponent well ryan gald might have been hurt for a little bit maybe he's fully healthy now maybe stewart armstrong is up to speed now the coolest thing that happened last night was that um ryan gald

took over a match and a big moment because remember I asked Vanny when he was on the show yesterday. I said, what do you say to your leader and your captain and your best player? And Ryan Gould's all three. Ahead of a one-game must-win match. How much is put on his shoulders? And Vanny said, he's the one. And he didn't try and dance around it. He's not going to say, well, we have 11 players on the pitch.

And all of them matter equally. You're the guy. He's the guy. And then he had a hat-trick in the span of 35 minutes. It was, you very, very rarely do star players on that team in those moments deliver. And yesterday he did. So kudos to Ryan Gould and the Whitecaps for a very fun night

and a very unexpected one. Because I'm not going to be honest. When that got closer and closer to kickoff, I was like, I do not have a good feeling about this. And then I was completely off in a 5-0 victory for the Vancouver Whitecaps. So they play Sunday? They go Sunday, Sunday, and then a five-day break if – because Game 3 is as necessary right now, right?

So they go – And that would be down in L.A. They go October 22nd. They go November 3rd. And then it would be five days later in L. in LA if they need that final and third game. So it's a tall order. LAFC is a very stacked team. Olivier Giroud and Denny Boanga and Gabriel Peck and Mateus Boguch.

And they score a ton. And they kill you on the counter. And they've had the Whitecaps number a lot. Even in that last game on Thanksgiving weekend. Just give us some drama. Just give us some drama in this. Good drama. You know?

Good drama. Give, at the very least, put a scare into LAFC. Yeah. It's all I ask. That's all we want. We'll win the series. But all we want is a little bit of drama. And try and extend it to three beyond what you had last year.

And give those home fans that are going to show up on November 3rd a good time on Sunday night. Let's go now to the Vancouver Canucks because the Vancouver Canucks returned to practice yesterday. It was an interesting one, to put it mildly. No Quinn Hughes. He gets a well-deserved day off. So that means the D pairs had a slightly different look,

but I'm burying the lead here because a lot of people were talking about the skirmish, the little fracas between JT Miller and Elias Patterson during practice that the head coach, Rick Talkett, addressed following the practice. We can play the audio now, as a matter of fact. It wasn't much in the way of lengthy fighting or anything. I didn't drop the gloves. Jeff Patterson was the guy that reported this.

And here's, if you missed it, you probably haven't, but here's what J-Pat wrote about what happened at practice yesterday. He said, brief but testy exchange between JT Miller and Elias Pettersson at Canucks practice. End of a battle drill, two chopped at each other, and then Miller delivered a quick cross check. A few words were exchanged. Wasn't any bigger than that, but it definitely looked like it had some heat. The two then went their separate ways. Didn't escalate to

the point coaches or teammates had to intervene. So is it a big deal? No, not really, but it might show that there's some frustration. I don't know. I i mean it's not not a big deal i think especially when you're considering the players involved and let's just hear what talking had to say about it because he was saying it wasn't a big deal with a but here's rick talkett following practice yesterday for the vancouver canucks well i've been from my experience like listen you don't want players fighting each other but there's times in a place when you want to challenge the pace of the practice or there's a certain drill somebody doesn't like or whatever. That's part of the game.

It's not a big deal. I've gotten it a few times. You move on, be the first guy to go take a guy to dinner. I'm sure that if there was a scrum tomorrow or Saturday night, Mills would be the first guy to jump in for P. So, yeah, not a big deal. Well, the Canucks do have a day off today, so maybe Petey and JT can go out to dinner.

Get that dinner. I didn't understand. I'm like, who buys the dinner? Is it Petey has to buy JT the dinner, or does JT have to buy Petey the dinner? Whoever initiated it. Whoever initiated it. So who initiated it?

They fight for it. It's a wrestling match. I feel if it was initiated, it was Miller. Can you imagine? They go out to dinner, and then they're like, I'm not paying. I'm not paying. You started it. They're a wrestling match. I feel if it was initiated, it was Miller. Can you imagine? They go out to dinner and then they're like, I'm not paying. I'm not paying. You started it.

They're fighting over the fight dinner. I don't even know. Oh, man. I found the most interesting part about Talk It's A Veil yesterday was when he was talking about the Pedersen line, although Talkett would probably call it the Garland line, because I think we can all admit that Petey has looked a tiny bit better lately on a line with Hoaglander and Garland.

But Talkett was real sure to make mention that he thinks that it's Garland is the guy that's driving that line. Yeah, I think he's just chipping away at his game. You know, I think, you know, I think everybody knows that we got to get him to move his feet. And when he has the puck, you know, make some plays in the sense of, you know, I don't care if he makes a mistake, it's being more aggressive. I think a lot of times when he's standing around, he gets in trouble. That's the mental part. We've got to keep working with him. But I think that line has done a nice job for us.

I think Garland's helped him. So we'll see where that line goes. Garland and Huggs are very energetic type players. How does he fit with them? Yeah, Garland drives a lot of the play. I know, and I think when you play with Garland, if you like, like Dakota has been successful, you got to be near him, you got to be willing to move around with Garland. If you're standing around, you know, it's probably not a good, you know, so I think Petey's starting to understand if I move around, and Petey, you know, he moved around a

couple times, made some really good plays because of that, so we got a steady diet of that. You know, Garland likes to have the puck a lot, but you've got to move around him so he can distribute the puck. The interview was done in a boiler room. Yeah, I apologize for the fact that the industrial radiator was going on the entire time there. Rick, could you stand right in front of this

giant machine, please? So you noticed it too, that there were two... There was another thing that I noticed too, because he was asked about... Was it the radiator? No, he was... Tuckett was asked about playing under pressure. And I think it was with regards to Elias Pedersen's contract. And I think he was asked, do you have conversations with him?

And he said, yeah, yeah. It's about blocking out the noise. But then he also made a comment that perked up my ears. He said something along the lines of, you don't feel the pressure when you're prepared. Yeah. You know, and he said it's about preparation. And I don't even think we have to read between the lines anymore of this stuff.

I don't think that Talkett is too pleased with Pedersen's preparation levels when he showed up this season. I just don't. I mean, you know, there was this thing a little while ago where, you know, he said, we got a plan with Petey and it's him, you know, going out onto the ice a little bit earlier and maybe staying a bit late. You know, I don't know how many times he has to kind of suggest things

and we're like, well, wait a minute. Are you not very happy with his preparation level? Do you think he should be working harder at his game? I'm starting to sense that you might think he should. If you were to take a step back from the situation and look at everything that's gone on over the first month of the season, you'd be like, there's a lot of poking and prodding going on. You know that meme where it's like the guy with the stick being like,

come on, do something? There is that vibe with let's change his line mates to get him going. Let's get Conor Garland on there to drive the line. There was a quote in there. Conor Garland's really helped him out. We've got a plan to help him. Staying after practice so Yogi can help him. JT Miller poking him and giving him a cross check during practice.

You don't feel pressure when you're prepared. All of this is poking and prodding to get it going. Right? And it's not subtle. And it's going to get less and less subtle as the season goes along. It seems to be subtle for a lot of people who still won't admit that there's a problem there. Well, it's just you got to get going. Problems have solutions.

Problems have solutions. But there's some people that are like, no, JT makes bad passes too. It's like, yeah, but we're not talking about JT. Also, I'm glad you brought up JT because if you look at this team right now, who are being afforded nights or days off practice because they're either banged up or they're playing multiple minutes or they need the rest? It's JT Miller and it's Quinn Hughes. They're not the ones staying out after practice to work on anything.

They're getting days off because they're logging huge minutes and they're playing at a level, which is the one that carries a team. When the team isn't playing great, like let's admit it. I know someone got on our case yesterday for giving false praise to the Vancouver Canucks. I think we were very cognizant of the fact that they have not played their best hockey. They have not looked at times at all like the team that we saw at its peak last year. But they went on the road and won three of four, which is not an easy thing to do in the NHL, no matter the opponent. The forward group, I think, even with Petey not playing up to his potential, has looked pretty good.

I think the forward group has looked good. I think Kevin Lankanen has been a great story and a great pickup by the Canucks. Hughes has been incredible. I honestly think Hughes might be playing better than he was last season in terms of his overall game. We've talked about some of the issues that they've had pd is one of them defensive depth is another one are you really comfortable with susie and myers as your second pair

and are you comfortable with them playing as much as they are with a questionable third pair that's a that's not a criticism of the team well might be it might be seen as a criticism. I think it's just facts and reality. We talked about, hey, are we going to hear anything about Demko soon? And we've talked about some of the things like defensive zone coverage, which has not looked as sharp as it did last season, and so has Rick Tockett. So I would say it's been a mixed start to the Canucks season, but if I'm talking about overall, has it been positive versus negative? I'm going to say it's been a little bit positive for me

because I really like the potential of this forward group. I think it has the potential and it's shown a lot of actual, like not just potential, realization of it. The best forward group they've had in a decade you gotta love the mix of talent and and grit and when Dakota Joshua gets back that's gonna

add even more but there are issues with the team that need to be solved and Petey is one of those yeah and again I think I've mentioned this like 50 times now. There has been a real lack of patience, not in a negative way, but in a positive way from Rick Tockett. And I think the lack of patience is a nod to,

hey, we're not waiting around for everyone to get up to speed. We want everyone at speed. And you've seen it in like smaller circumstances, like a Daniel Sprung who started the season as a top-line winger and scored the team's first goal of the season,

and now he's on the outside looking in because he didn't do the things the team wanted him to do. There are things... Because the forward group has options, too. That's another factor, though, in that. Who else are you going to take out of the lineup? I would say, if you look in that, Kevin Lankanen now, I would not be surprised if he's going to get a run of games.

That's just my opinion. I know that they probably want to get Seelovs in, and I know that they probably don't like him sitting there not playing games. But you know what the number one priority is at the NHL level? It's not getting Arthur Seelov's game rounded out. It's getting points and getting wins. And Lankanen gives you a better chance to do that. I would assume that he's going to play on Saturday against Pittsburgh,

and that'll be, what, his fourth straight start in a row? And he's earned it. And those decisions early in a season really give you an indication of where the team is at mentally and where Tauket is at mentally. And I, for one, love it. I don't want a team, a coach, soft shooing or coddling the guys being like okay you know you figure it out first we'll get the summer hockey out of our system

and you have some god awful start like Nashville where you start 0-5 and you look like a mess and everyone's questioning everything yes they got a win against Boston the other night. I think that all of these sort of very individual vacuumed off moments of pushing and pressure and pushing the pace and prodding and let's do more and let's get more and let's not have patience.

I think they're good things because I think this team knows where it wants to go and they want to get there in a hurry. Danny and Brookswood trying to stir things up in the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650-650. Like it. The Bridge Street Dunbar Lumber in Ladner has moved progress way into Tilbury's Industrial Park. More room, more product, more awesome. Details at DunbarLumber.com. Danny's first question.

Do you think Petey is a Talkit guy? Talkit seems to occasionally say small things that lead us to believe he might not love the whole Petey show. He compares Hughes to Crosby. He does not do that with Petey. Danny in Brookswood. Follow-up question. Based on track record, what has management done with players

who are not quote-unquote talk-it guys? Danny, have any of those so-called not talk-it guys signed an eight-year contract extension in the last few months? I know where you're going on this. I know where you're going on this, but the organization has made a massive commitment to this guy that they hadn't to, say, Andre Kuzmenko. The least talkative guy of all the talkative guys was Kuzmenko.

Yeah. And he signed a multi-year deal, and then he was gone. But that's not the same. But it was an easier— It's not the same. It's apples and bowling balls, really. I mean, it's—I get where he's going with with it he has a better follow-up question actually uh like who are non-talking guys and who are talking guys hughes for sure we played that clip yesterday and i i

prefaced it by saying it's only under very circumstance certain circumstances that rick talk it breaks out the sydney crosby comp. Well, unless he's like, I want you to be more like Sid. But that's not a comp. That's like you want to live up to the comp. And he did it with Quinn Hughes. And that's like Rick Tockett tipping his cap being like, you've earned that, Quinn.

You've earned that. And it's very few that get it because all the guys in the Pittsburgh organization, that's their thing, right? Is that Crosby is the, he sets the bar. He's the leader. He's the ultimate captain. He's the guy that you want.

Like every, all 31 other NHL teams want Sidney Crosby-ish type leaders. And Hughes is, I mean, he's on the trajectory. I don't want to say that he's there because it's so difficult to get onto that plane. But I mean, you've pointed it out five or six times already this season how great he's been. He's been unbelievable. He's taken a Norris caliber season

and gone seemingly to another level, which is so hard to do and so impressive. And just the difference between the Canucks when he's on the ice versus not, it is truly remarkable. and that is what this franchise has missed for most of its lifetime. A guy who can control the game when he's on the ice, and boy, is it nice to have a player like Quinn Hughes on the team.

Adnan Virk is going to join us on the other side. We'll talk a little baseball. The World Series is coming up on Friday, and it's going to be a great World Series. Perhaps we'll talk to Adnan about his memories of Fernando Valenzuela, who will be a, you know, remembering Fernando. Game one on Friday at Dodger Stadium.

That's going to be an emotional moment, and it's going to be aiday at dodger stadium that's going to be an emotional moment uh and uh it's going to be a spectacle at dodger stadium on friday when the dodgers meet the yankees in game one of the world series uh nick shook after that uh we'll talk a little nfl but we will have time after we chat with adnan to dip once again into the dunbar Lumber text line at 650-650. You want to talk Canucks, you want to talk Whitecaps, text in, ask us questions, make comments. You're listening to the Alfred and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satyar Shah,

your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the postgame show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. It's time to chat with Adnan. It's Adnan Berkey's on the show. We're going to talk some baseball and take a trip to the silver screen. That's right, it's time for an end. Yes, and then Berkey joins us now.

We'll head out to the ball game and talk about all the films he's seen. 6.33 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday everybody. Halford and Brough, Sports Night at 6.50. Halford and Brough in 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 1 of the program. Adnan Burke's going to join us in just a moment here, the highlight of Hour 1. Hour 1 is brought to you by Northstar Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal.

Northstar Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the phone lines we go. One day ahead of one of the most anticipated World Series ever. Adnan Virk from MLB Network joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Adnan. How are you? I'm doing great, Mike J. And, Mike, nobody can confuse you with hyperbole with that statement.

You're right. This is going to be an unbelievable World Series. I cannot believe it's happening. First time since 81, 12th World Series, all-time Yankees, Dodgers, Yankees at the edge, 8-3.

And every year I say, no, this is not going to happen. We're never going to have the two one-seas. We're not going to have the dream match that Major League Baseball wants, that everyone wants.

And now it's happening. It's surreal and it's wonderful. I can't wait. Is there a massive favorite in this one? I don't think so, Jay. I think the Dodgers are favored. To me, they've

got the better lineup, one through nine. They also have a superior bullpen. I think the Yankees are the edge in terms of starting pitching. And certainly there are no slouches when it comes to their big three, of course. But Judge has been slumping recently. He's only hitting 161 in the postseason. He's at 700 OPS. That's not the Aaron Judge standards

we're used to seeing. So hopefully he can step up. But it sounds funny to say the Yankees are underdogs because you feel like they should never be underdogs. But the Yankees, for God's sake, are trying to win the 28th World Series. But yeah, I think in this case, LA is slightly favored. I think more people would lean towards them, but not a massive underdog in this case. What was your reaction when you heard that Fernando had passed away? You know, last week I was doing the show and our producers had been tipped off. they said it's fairly close and i said oh man that's terrible he could die any moment be ready so i wanted to

read up a little bit and you know i know that the basics of his career but it's heartbreaking and we talked about it at length yesterday once it used to become official two days ago and that start to his career jay is unbelievable eight no out of the gate every game's a complete game i hit a 0.50 era ended up being of course not only the rookie of the gate. Every game's a complete game. He had a.50 ERA. Ended up being, of course, not only the rookie of the year, but won the Cy Young. And yesterday was the anniversary of him pitching in the World Series. And like, Fernando

Mania was a true sensation in Los Angeles. You can't appreciate unless you're Mexican-American and being in L.A. at that time, just how special he was. Mario Lopez, of course, from Save by the Bell, he was tweeting yesterday. How special he was. Mario Lopez, of course, from Save by the Bell, he was tweeting yesterday how emotional he was. George Lopez was tweeting about this. You know, this is a big deal for Valenzuela to pass away

because the images had memories for Dodgers fans. But yesterday specifically was the anniversary of him pitching in the World Series. In Game 3, the Yankees were up 2-0, and Valenzuela was not pitching well. He blew a 3-0 lead. In fact, Vince Scully said the broadcast, this is the worst I've ever seen Valenzuela pitch. But true to form, he told time it was sorted. To sit a 3-0 lead. In fact, Vince Scully said the broadcast, this is the worst I've ever seen Valenzuela pitch. But true to form,

he told time it was sorted to sit back and he pitched a complete game. He was able to battle the Dodgers one and that gave him many ways

kind of signified what Valenzuela was all about. Even when he wasn't at his best, he would carry through. 110 complete games, third most of any

pitcher since 1980 and obviously somebody that baseball will mourn and appreciate. Last year was inducted in the Dodgers Hall of Fame. I just wish he could have seen this World Series as well. Yeah, me too. I mean, they played the Yankees in his World Series in 1981.

It's sad, but I'm sure it'll be an emotional night on Friday night at Dodger Stadium. So many storylines to discuss with this World Series. Do you think this is why Otani chose the Dodgers? Yeah, without question. It's funny, who has the most pressure on them? And you say, well, for the Yankee side, it's Judge, because he's the MVP of the regular season. He's going to be a two-time MVP, rookie of the year,

five- or six-time All-Star, but this is his moment. Like I said, he had a big signature home run against Klaas in Game 3, and again, they didn't end up winning, but he hasn't brought it yet. 700 OPS is league average. But if there's one guy who has the most parts from him, it's got to be Otani. He don't sign a $700 million

contract on the World Series fade. And in the Division Series, he was okay, slow starting, wasn't doing a whole lot. Then the LCS, it was terrific. Could have won the MVP, although Tommy Edmund did edge him out. He's at a 934 OPS right now in terms of the playoffs. So Otani has brought it so far

in the playoffs. He's been, if not quite in his MVP form, he's been really good. And this is why he picked the Dodgers. You're right. He wanted to stay in LA, stay in Southern California, but be on a team that will perennially be in it. And for the Dodgers, it's their fourth World Series appearance in the last eight years. But the only World Series they won was in that truncated Pugliese 2020.

So, you know, the people around baseball are saying, well, you guys really haven't won a World Series since 1988. Let's see if you can bring it this time. How much is Freddie Freeman's health or lack thereof going to impact this series? It's a real shame. And, of course, we know he's only playing because his parents are Canadian. That means he's tough. That's right.

There's been whispers, guys, that he should be out four to six weeks with his ankle injury. There's no way he should be playing on it. And yet he's gutting it through. He missed games four and game six. He has won for his last 16, which is not the Freddie Freeman we are used to seeing, the former MVP. The biggest thing is he just can't generate any power. Can he make contact with the

ball? Sure, but it's not going anywhere. You can see him clearly constricted. Even at first base, making plays, you can see the pain and the wincing just to be able to make the catch. It hurts his foot. Now, having said that, you just had six days off, so you've got to think that will help in terms of rest and recuperation,

a little bit of rehab, tape it up, do what you've got to do. He's not at 100%. There's no question about it. He should be out in a few more weeks. But will he be better in game one? Yeah. Will he last the entire series? That I'm not so certain. But I hope for his sake he can start strong and then hopefully coast the rest of the way, so to speak, but at least give a

couple of vintage Freddie Freeman performances because when you look at both these teams' big three, Freeman, Betts, Otani versus Judge Stanton and Soto, five of those six are MVPs. And the one who isn't might be the best hitter in baseball, and that's Juan Soto. The amount of star power here is crazy.

I just hope Freddie can be the Freddie we've seen in the past. It's a pretty lengthy layoff between the end of the ALCS and NLCS and the start of the World Series. It's obviously good for pitching staffs. Which pitching staff or pitcher in particular is going to benefit most from this lengthy layoff? Well, I think it helps the Dodgers, certainly. The Yankees, it helps as well because they're able to finish the Series 5.

If he had gone 6, they would have had to use Garrett Cole. And who knows, maybe then he's not ready for game 1 of the World Series. Now, Luke Weaver, I think it helps specifically. He's a reliever that they've leaned on. Clay Holmes as well. The numbers, guys, have been irrefutable that when teams face a reliever a third time in a series, it's really advantage hitter. They hit 276, 345 on base,.480 slug.

So you started to see that with the Guardians, right? The more times you can see Weaver, the more times you see Holmes advantage towards the hitter. So it really helped New York to finish in five before Cleveland ever really had a sense that they could win this series. Similarly for the Dodgers, you know, Dave Roberts was brilliant when he did it in game five. When Flaherty didn't have it, he said, okay, I don't care.

He basically threw the game. Flaherty had given up five runs, didn't have it. No, I'm leaving him out there. Ended up giving up eight runs. Then he brings in another kid there for four and two-thirds innings, and this guy wasn't one of their primary labors, but whatever. He'll eat up some more innings as well. What that allowed him to do was that for a bullpen game in game six,

he had all his guys ready to go, from Michael Kopech to Banda to Blake Trinan, who's been fantastic. You know, Dave Roberts knows how to use his quote-unquote high-leverage guys. So I think ultimately the layoff helps both teams, certainly, but especially L.A., because they're going to need at least one bullpen game in this series. And the best way for the Yankees to win this series is if they can chase Yamamoto or Buehler or Flaherty early, because then you try to get into that bullpen, which has been excellent. But again, the more times you face them, advantage hitters.

So if by game five, it's the third time they're facing, try and band, et cetera, that will naturally help the Yankees because you have a better sense of what their arsenal is. And even as Jake Petey put it to me, most starting pitchers have three or four pitches. Relievers have one or two. So if it's the third time you're seeing the guy and all he does is throw a cutter, well, eventually you should be able

to figure this thing out. So I think it's how both teams play, but specifically the Dodgers and those high leverage guys. We're speaking to Adnan Virk from MLB Network here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. I wanted to go back to what we were talking about right at the beginning of the hit with Fernando Valenzuela's passing and

Jason said, and he's right, it's going to be a spectacle because it's in LA, it's game one, and it's a rematch of the 81 series. I started doing the deep dive last night, and in a very weird way, I'm excited about the game and the series, but I'm also excited about how many historical and archival callbacks they're going to be able to do from a broadcast perspective. If you go back to that 81 series, it's like you've got Tommy Lasorda, Goose Gossage, Reggie Jackson, Dave Winfield.

Dave Winfield was like, he was a young Dave Winfield. Yeah, Pedro Guerrero, Willie Randolph. Like there's so many great players and so many great moments from that 81 series that they're going to be. You know who's on the call for that? For ABC, Keith Jackson and Al Michaels. Oh, doctor.

They were splitting in New York and L.A. Howard Cosell and Jim Palmer were just hanging around doing light color. And then for CBS, Vin Scully was calling it. So the amount of stuff they'll be able to play from a broadcast, like historical, it's going to be phenomenal. I'm super geeked about it. It's really exciting. No, I'm with you, Michael.

Dude, actually, I guess I would have said Al Michaels. Remember, I think of 80s baseball. Al, of course, is a great call. Dave Henderson's home runoff. Donnie Moore in 86, Red Sox Angels. Yeah. But I forgot about Keith Jackson. You're right.

That's crazy. He is so epitomized as the voice of college football in Alabama. I'd like to actually picture him calling a Dave Winfield home run. That's fantastic. And you're right. The baseball fans will be totally juiced up for this. You're going to have casual fans watching just because it's New York and L.A. and you're repping your coast.

And, again, you've got all these stars. But you're right. Those of us who really love the game and especially work in media, it's going to be so cool to see this vintage video. We're going to look back. The Koufax game where he struck out 15. That was in 63. That was against the Yankees. Reggie's famous home run. You know, the three

home run game in 77. Game six was against the Dodgers. So they're going to be rolling all this classic video, man. It's going to be great. Dave Winfield has signed a $20 million contract. Well, there will never be a bigger contract than that. He's the richest man in sports forever. 10-year, $20 million.

What is Steinbrenner thinking? Things have changed. Adnan, really looking forward to this World Series and looking forward to chatting with you next week when it's already started. Yeah, I can't wait, boys. It's going to be a ton of fun. We'll talk soon.

Thanks, Adnan. Appreciate this. Adnan Virg from MLB Network here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Yes, a reminder, World Series gets underway tomorrow, 5 o'clock our time. Game one from Dodger Stadium. Not surprisingly, a lot of text into the Dunbar-Lumber text line about one Elias Pettersson. And I think the heat had kind of come off Petey for a few games. There's reasons for that.

First of all, the Canucks won their last three games. Second of all, I think Petey looked a little bit better on a line with Garland and Hoaglander. And then yesterday happened and there was a little skirmish between JT Miller and Elias Pettersson. There were some comments from Rick Talkett afterwards where the head coach was sure to say that Garland is the one driving the play and that Elias Pettersson is still chipping away at his game, which suggests that his game is not particularly close to his potential and what he can be and what the Canucks are paying him to be. Jay texted in and he said, you guys are being too hard on Petey. No, he's not playing at a level he has previously demonstrated, but he has been generating chances. If he or his line mates had better finish, he'd have six or seven points.

He has been drawing penalties. He has been playing excellent defensively. Talkett has to realize that some players need to be publicly challenged and offer tough love, but some players – I lost it there because he texted in again. That's okay. But some players basically don't call them out in again. That's okay. But some players basically like don't call them out in public. Hey, you don't think Talkett has tried every way?

You don't think he's, you don't think he's tried to put his arm around Petey and say, come on, man, like you're, you're a good player. Like I'm sure, I'm sure he has. And he's not exactly ripping him. Tuckett is not ripping Petey. He is being honest and he's saying that he needs to chip away at his game. And he's offering some assessments on where Petey's game is at.

And he is telling the truth that on that line with petterson garland and hoglender garland is driving the play he is praising connor garland okay here's what i'll say um talk it i don't know if talk it's gone the soft hand approach and then the hard line approach. I don't know if he's thrown his arm around Petey. And quite frankly, I don't care. It doesn't matter. He's made his decision on how he wants to approach this season. And what I think is important is that it's pretty clear

and pretty definitive that there's going to be pressure applied. Because as Rick Tuckett once said for an entire season on top of the wall in the dressing room, meet pressure with pressure. So that's his mantra. That's his coaching style. What I'll say is I'm going to defer to whatever approach the head coach takes because that head coach is the reigning NHL coach of the year and turn this team around into a 50 win

100 plus point team that won a playoff series a year ago whatever direction talk it chooses to take I'm willing to put faith in it I understand that people want to do like a real deep deep dive analysis on the inner workings of the relationship and everything to me that's just almost noise because whatever talk it's choosing to do in this moment and what you're seeing in post-game media availabilities, post-practice, analysis, assessment, deployment, all of it, that's the direction that Talkit has decided to go for this year, like in a looking forward type way.

And there is a real sense of let's get going everyone let's get going and i think what the coach has in his arsenal and he can pull it out of his back pocket to be like this is what i'm talking about are two guys hughes and miller he can point to them be like this is what we want if there's any you any ambiguity or lack of clarity on what I'm asking for, it's the guys that we have to give rest to during the week because Miller's so banged up he can't take face-offs, but he's still out there doing the business and leading the team. And Hughes is playing close to 30 minutes a night,

and he's leading the charge. He's making great plays. He actually hasn't been in the last couple of games. That's nice. I know what you mean. Yeah. Mike in Richmond texts in. games. That's nice. I know what you mean. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mike in Richmond texts in.

Very different text than Jay. At what marker in the season, Mike asks, would most hockey people outside of Canuck fans determine that we have a problem with Pedersen? He was not himself after the All-Star last year, was invisible in the playoffs, and started the season poorly. How many games into this season do, for example, show guests say, yes, this isn't working, you need to make a change? I'd love to remove the fan opinion and react after, say, the 20-game mark.

I know that's not a popular perspective, but for some people, once you lose trust, it can never come back. And Mike says, the too-long-did, didn't read version of my text is, when do we flip the bit on EP40? It's an impossible ask, Mike. If you say 20 games in, then someone will say, give them five more, make it 20. Then someone will say, why not give them half the season, game 41? And someone will say, just wait until the four nations face off.

And then when they get through that, you can make your decision. Yeah, he's going to be energized playing for his country. If he's not playing really, really, really well by the trade deadline, will they explore moving him? Maybe, but I'm just sad. They're all artificial dates. I'll go on the record to say I hope that's not the case. I really, really hope he finds his game.

I like him as a player a lot. I don't want the Canucks to trade him. I'd really like to see him get back to form. I'm just saying, like, is that a scenario where if for some reason he just isn't, he hasn't found it by the deadline, is that something they have to consider? You know when Rick Talkett said the deadline would have been? Six games ago, right? That's when he would have said.

He's like, come to the season ready to go coming to like there's you know we were joking about the alpha dogs and then i called pd the fine the financial alpha i think was the phrase that i used on that one because he makes the most money um you you're defined in this league by your star players they're going to pull you in the right direction it's funny yesterday as i tie this back to the whitecaps um phil neville who might be out of a job he was the portland manager it's early it's 651 in the morning so i don't know if he has a job still around he was on the broad the apple broadcast yesterday and the only thing that i really took away from it was he was like at the end of the day in this league, in MLS,

your designated players. And he called them DPs. I don't like saying that out loud. So I go designated players. Your designated players are the ones that are going to make the difference in the playoffs because it's one game, except in the next round where it's a best of three. But in those moments where it's like you get 90 minutes to decide it. Yeah.

The high paid elite level talents are going to win you games. It's not going to be the grinders. A goalie's not going to steal you one, unless your goalie's a DP, I guess. And then, true to form, the Vancouver Whitecaps, two Scottish-designated players, took over that game yesterday. So how does it relate to the Canucks? Well, the Canucks have three designated players, I would say, right now. Four if Demko was in the lineup, but it's Pedersen,

Hughes, Miller. And two of the three are playing at that level. One isn't. And Taka wants all three to do it. And I think it has to be noted that Petey's no-move clause kicks in next season. When does next season

start? July 1st, essentially. That point, he cannot be traded, sent to the minors, or waived without player approval. You have to talk about that if this continues up to that point. Because once you lose control of this situation and you hand it over to the player,

things change. We're six games into the season and we're talking about this. It's not good. Yeah, my hope is that it's a slow burn and there's incremental little steps. A little bit better, a little bit better, a little bit better. We all hope that. Yeah, a little bit better, a little bit better. Well, because I think some people are waiting for that Carolina moment

that you always allude to where it got to the rock bottom for Petey and he fell down in Carolina and it looked bad. And then the next game he had two goals. And it just took off from there. Right. It went valley and then it went peak, right? This is a lot different. This is we're inching closer and closer. It seems like it's going on longer and longer.

Yeah. Yeah. And incremental steps, right? And maybe we as observers need to take that into account but it's hard we're impatient we're kind of stupid we just want things to happen now we're like rick talk it we want things to happen now well we wanted to take a while i think we're just worried about a this massive contract that the canucks have signed this guy to and we all know in the hard cap nhl a big contract can sink you if it doesn't go the right way.

It's like loading up on debt essentially and the market turning on you, right? It's not, it's not a good thing. There's almost no worse league than the NHL to have a large contract that isn't panning out. And I think we also watch Pedersen from a personal perspective and, you know, this, I've said this multiple times, but maybe it means something that Bruce Boudreau, a coach that

Petey loved and this coach loved Petey. I saw him interviewed a couple of days ago and he said, every time I see Pedersen, he just looks so unhappy. And I think that's another thing. We like it when we think that the guys are having a good time. You know, we've talked a lot about Tyler Myers and how much he's respected in the room. You know, we've talked about how this group has become a tight-knit group. Does that include Petey though? I don't know. It just, it doesn't seem to.

Okay, we've got a lot more to get to on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650 coming up in the seven o'clock hour. Nick Shook from NFL.com is going to join us. Vikings Rams tonight. That's your Thursday nighter. A bunch of very interesting games this weekend, including a big one for the Seattle Seahawks at home against Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills.

Seahawks made a trade yesterday as well. A lot of movement around the National Football League, but we'll focus on tonight's game. We'll look ahead to the weekend. We'll do a whip around with Nick Shook from NFL.com. That's coming up at 7, 7.30. Thomas Drance from the Athletic Vancouver. We'll look back at practice.

Previous game, we'll look ahead to the big game against Pittsburgh on Saturday, 8 o'clock, Frank Cervalli. And at some point today, we're giving away a $50 gift card to White Spot to a lucky caller. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.