Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Whitecaps Look To Make History At The Champions Cup Final

Episode Date: May 30, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason chat with Vancouver Whitecaps assistant coach Michael D'Agostino (1:35), as the Caps look to make history at the Concacaf Champions Cup final in Mexico verses Cruz Azul this Sunday, plus they look ahead to the start of the BC Lions regular season next week, as commentator Bob "The Moj" Marjanovich (24:28) joins the show. 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.

This is actually Cruz Azul's warm up song. I was going to say, this is where they enter the stadium. There's a lot of symmetry going on right now in the Halferd and Breff show on Sportsnet 650. This Fiesta Friday, our next guest, Whitecaps assistant coach Michael D'Agostino is about to fly to Mexico. Things are happening on the program. You are listening to the Halferd and Breff show

on Sportsnet 650. Halferd and Breff this morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for debt help with over 3,000 five star reviews. Visit them online at sands-trustee.com. It's talking about so many twists and turns. You never know where it's gonna go next.

It's like a football match. You never know what's gonna happen over the course of those 90 minutes. We are in hour two of the program. Hour two is brought to you by Jason Hominuk and Jason.mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you.

Visit them online at Jason.mortgage. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Footwork and Orthotics. Yeah, both working together with you in step. Our next guest comes courtesy the Power West Industries Hotline. working together with you in step. Our next guest comes courtesy of the Power West Industries Hotline. As mentioned is Whitecaps assistant coach, Michael D'Agostino here now on the

Haliford and Brush Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning Michael, how are you? I'm great, how you guys doing? We're good, thanks for taking the time to do this. It's early too, but I know you got a big day ahead. So set the stage, the scene in the next 48 hours for you guys fly to Mexico, get acclimated, maybe some light training and then get prepped for Sunday. What's, uh, what's next on tap for you guys as you get ready for the conchic half cup

final on Sunday. Yeah. Uh, to be honest, it comes very quickly. Obviously, we had a game on Wednesday night. So, you know, yesterday at training, we did a few little things today. Uh, this morning we'll, we'll go a little bit deeper into getting the strategies on the field for Kuzozul. And then yeah, we're off onto the flight this afternoon and yeah, tomorrow, probably just tidy up a few things, make sure the guys are ready to go and basically move straight into one of the biggest games of the year.

Is it tough to scout a team from another league? Um, with the technology we have, it's, it's not overly difficult, just means we're a little bit less familiar with them. You know, we still have all the ability to, you know, to watch their video and go through their clips and get, you know, different advice from different teams and those types of things. But, you know, just cause we're not used to

playing them, uh, it can be a little bit more difficult, but, uh, you know, this is now the fourth, uh, well, I guess this is the third Mexican team we're playing and we put a Costa Rican team earlier. So we're kind of used to making sure that we have to go through those steps. Is there a certain style that a Mexican team will play or are all them pretty different? Uh, they can all be very different, but in general, they're, they're a bit more, uh, let's say, technical.

They're teams that want to keep the ball, want to pass it really quickly. They're not teams that are usually overly physical and like to launch the ball long, but they're going to be a team that's very technical, very good on the ball, very crafty, very tough. You know, playing in an environment is very hostile, but yeah, they're going to be, and they're usually very edgy. You know, the South American, Mexican teams, you know, they'll come at you with everything and you got to be a little bit careful because you know, they'll come at you with everything

and you gotta be a little bit careful because they are, they can be a little bit sneaky at times. You mentioned that you've got some experience against League MX teams and yeah, that's part of this tournament is you're gonna go up against them, but not to disrespect the previous two opponents that you had out of League MX,

but Cruze Azul is having a fantastic campaign both domestically and in this tournament, there are perfect four and out home. They've outscored opponents by a combined margin of 15 to three. Um, they are a class squad. So how does this challenge differ for maybe some of the other ones that you've had against league MX teams? Yeah, a difference that this is really, to be honest, is more, I know,

you take the league MX team out of it. It's more, it's a final. So it's a one game, it's a one-off and you have to manage the game appropriately. You know, before it was two legs, you played home and you played away. So you kind of knew what you needed going into that second and final game. But with this being a final, it's, you know, it's everything in 90 minutes or you mentioned 90 minutes might be 120 minutes, might be penalty shots. So it's about how you manage the game and control emotions in that way because knowing that this is the final is the final there's no extra game to save yourself if you don't do well this time and and then respect to Cruz Azul they

you know they're a little bit more of a technical team compared to some of the other ones we played but they're not overly different they've always had a very good campaign both in domestically and like you mentioned in the Champions Cup but you know I think we'll be ready to go against them. And if you can't get the guys up for this final, then you can't get them up or anything. So I think we'll be firing on all of us. As a former player, now manager, you've got good insight as to what goes on during a match and how you have to keep your heads, especially against a lot

of the league at max teams. Again, I don't want to lump them all in together, but I've seen enough of them now. And the start stop of the match is because of all the tactical fowling and, you know, trying to embellish to draw fouls. It's it's kind of baked into the recipe with how these teams play, because they do like playing at a high fever pitch. It throws the competition into arrears and it makes things very difficult on the opponent. How difficult is it to try and keep your head and not get drawn into the theatrics and the simulation and the constant trying, drawing of fouls

that you often get with a lot of the league of MX teams? Yeah, it's difficult. I mean, to put it into simple terms, it's very difficult because in the moment you're very emotional and to make decisions when you're emotional is always difficult. But, you know, we're going to definitely prepare the guys. They've been prepared over the last three legs that we played, last three phases that we played. So they should have enough of an understanding and respect. And I think that's what we've done a good job of this year as a group is trying to grow maturity wise to be able to play these types of games. And like you mentioned, these Mexican teams, they're kind of geniuses in terms of when

they want the game to speed up, they'll find ways to speed it up. And when they want it to slow down, they'll find ways to slow it down. So we need to make sure that we kind of keep ourselves as balanced as possible, you know, not get too emotional for down a goal or two and not get too emotional for up a goal or two, because we know that they're going to try and control the tempo and coach them being the home team with, you know, 40, 50,000 fans in the seats. You know, the crowd's going to be on the referee. The crowd's going to be on, on top of us.

So we just need to try to manage the emotions and as difficult as it is, we'll be as prepared as we can be. You know, it was interesting. We had Jesper on the show a couple of times now. We talked to him about that dynamic and he kind of astutely pointed out that if you can keep your head,

you can actually use the emotion and the fever pitch against some of these Mexican teams. My question for you would be like, what are some of the like hows of that? Like, how are you actually able to do that? Is it just not responding or not biting or is it finding moments to bite back or is it just trying not to engage and keeping focused on a singular task? Yeah, I think the most important out of those three that you mentioned would be just

trying to stay completely focused on the task that and not being too emotional up and down. We also need to do the same thing that we're talking about. If there's times that we need to slow down the game, we need to slow down the game. It's really important for us, even though we're not the home team, to try and control as much of the rhythm as we can be. And if we are up a goal, maybe we do need to slow it down at times. And if we're down, maybe we need to find ways to speed it up. So it's, it's, it's a, it's a fine line between, you know, overdoing it and, and,

and reacting emotionally. But you know, we'll make sure that we're prepared and try and, you know, keep the guys as level headed as possible because we know this might be 90 minutes. It might be 120. It might be penalty shots. So we need to try to control those emotions as much as we can. We're speaking to Whitecaps assistant coach, Michael D'Agostino here on the Halford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650.

The white caps are a few hours away from taking off to Mexico for the CONCACAF Cup Final against Cruz Azul on Sunday. That's a 6 p.m. kickoff. The watch party sold out already. 2,500 tickets gone. So it's going to be a good atmosphere. That's going to be a lot of fun for those people. Michael, I did want to ask you about playing in a lot of different scenarios

because you guys have really ran the gamut. The last little bit in MLS matches, there was, you know, we're going to spot Real Salt Lake, a two goal lead five minutes into the game and then come back and win. And then on Wednesday, we're going to play against an opponent that had absolutely no interest whatsoever in trying to go forward in Minnesota. And you guys have had to adapt to a lot of different styles. Have you noticed that more with the success that you guys have had to adapt to a lot of different styles. Have you noticed that more with the success

that you guys have had this season that a lot of teams are coming in with more detailed plans to try and either stop what you're doing or negate what you're doing because you guys are atop the standings? 100%. And Jesper's mentioned it. We've talked about it as a group quite a bit.

We've talked with the players about it. It's different when you're the top dogs. When you're the team that everyone's watching, they're paying a little bit more attention to you, they're coming a little bit more prepared for you. You know, it's different being, you know, a mid-table team or let's say a top five team compared to being the top team in the Supporters' Shield because, you know, everyone wants to knock you off and that being becomes something that they circle on their calendar. And it's true, you mentioned it. Yes, we also said to the group yesterday,

we're a team that is active. We're actively going to try to create something. And we played against a team on Wednesday in Minnesota that was kind of a reactive team. They were waiting for us to make a mistake or waiting for us to do something that they could counter on it. Some teams are gonna come with that strategy

and it's something that we're maturing with and dealing with. And I think, you know, we get frustrated after games like Wednesday where, you know, we were clearly the better team. We should have won a game and we didn't. But we have to also know that teams are going to come at us with different strategies to try and to try and mitigate, you know, our chances of winning those games. I mean, it is wild how much of a difference a year makes.

Like Minnesota is not languishing near the bottom of the standings or anything in the second place. And they came up to Vancouver and it was very much like we are going to sit back. And I think they it was four shot attempts in the match. It wasn't even necessarily shots on goal. Yohei didn't touch the ball very much, but it does kind of speak to where you guys are at and where the rest of the league is at, because it didn't take the rest of the league very long to figure out that not only are you guys winning a lot

of games, but you're also scoring a lot as well. So stopping the white caps attack seemingly has become a priority for a lot of these teams. Yeah, I agree with you. And Minnesota is a unique case. I think they're probably the most in the league in terms of wanting to be that kind of reactive team that sits back. But yeah, I mean, I think what you gotta look at too is the underlying metrics. And I know not everyone has access to those, but you know, you look at how we're doing

across the course of the season, we are top of the standings, but we're also top of the standings in terms of expected goals for and engaged and those types of things. So it really shows that this is not just right now, you know, and things can change, we go through ups and downs,

but this is not just a, hey, we're putting together a good run. We're actually, you know, deserving the results that we're getting. And I think that's the most cherishing thing that we we feel as a club for the players, the staff, everybody involved, because we are kind of backing up the results with the data. OK, I know you got a busy day ahead. So one more before we let you go.

Just an update on the squad that's available. So obviously, Ryan Galdden, he spoke midweek. He's still not close to returning in when we had Jesper on the show a couple of weeks ago, he had already ruled them out for Sunday's match. Anyway, a bear halter is out due to yellow card accumulation. So, but is everyone else pretty much healthy and ready to go for Sunday? Yeah, everybody else would be there. Great. Well, best of luck on Sunday. It's a very cool thing. We've been following it all season long and hopefully you guys are able to finish the job on Sunday.

Regardless, it should be great. It's a terrific experience. Travel safe, be safe and good luck down in Mexico, Michael. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Yeah, thank you, buddy. That's Michael D'Agostino, Whitecaps assistant coach here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Early what we learned from Greg in Pitt Meadows, what we learned. I'm at the airport, dozens of Whitecaps fans ready for the 8 a.m. flight to Mexico. Current estimate is 800 traveling fans. It's going to be epic. Yeah, I ran into my buddy Bruce the other day and he's like,

I'm going down to Mexico to watch the Whitecaps game. I'm like, dude, that's awesome. That is pretty awesome. So much fun. That is pretty awesome. I had a couple of buddies that are doing as well. I wanted to do it, but I am so dedicated to my job here at the Halford and Brough show that I just couldn't leave. Also, I couldn't get a flight. But aside from that, I couldn't I couldn't possibly leave in the middle. The Mexico City is such a sleepy town.

I don't even know if there are flights there. You got to have like three flights to get there. I take a little like what's it called? A pedal jumper just to get there. No, I mean, it's going to be fun regardless. I mentioned it, but I really do hope that the kind of little inconsistent form over the last two weeks from the Whitecaps. It hasn't been as thoroughly dominant as we saw earlier

in the season. And I think part of that, you feel that everything is related to this game that they're playing. I think it was hard to not look down the road. Yeah. Like all due respect to a scintillating Wednesday matchup at home against Minnesota. That one was going to always.

You're not starting your toughest lineup either. And you're always going to be looking past it. Yeah. Even if you started your best lineup, you're always going to be, the guys are out there. They're like, I know I want to win today, but I also don't want to get hurt because I want to play in Mexico.

All right. Well, go get them caps. Uh, go get that win. Um, I'm going to to win today, but I also don't want to get hurt because I want to play in Mexico. All right. Well, go get them caps. Uh, go get that win. Um, I'm going to be really curious to see what the atmosphere is in that, in that stadium. And if we hear that white cap support, uh, let's do a few Ask Us Anythings. I want to read one from a listener, then I've got one.

Okay. Let's go. Berthud with an Ask Us Anything. What are your guys' thoughts on jorts? I just bought a pair for a costume and I'm surprised how much I like them. Are they socially acceptable to wear or do I have to wear them ironically? Man, you're in Vancouver. I don't know if people are wearing them earnestly or ironically. I don't know if people are wearing whatever they wear earnestly or ironically

in Vancouver, but all I know is that I live in the Mount Pleasant area and jorts are part of the uniform as the weather gets better. Maybe slap a fanny pack on there. They actually ask you to leave if you're not wearing them. Yeah. Excuse me, where are your jorts? Now, clarification, when you say jorts, They have to be like the traditional like blue jean Jort color or that could they be other colors as well well

I think the real question a dog isn't the color, but do you say denim? Okay, yeah, because I mean I can I have some denim shorts They don't look like jeans though like is it a colored a regular denim short does a jort need to be a cutoff like See what I think George I always think of like the blue jeans cutoff shorts. Can my jeans? I don't have pieces now. I have a guy used to yeah like Tobias was wearing Jorts Yeah, like that's what I think of when I think of George because he's a never nude. Yeah exactly there are dozens of us If like put it this way if you have a tailored cuffed pair of jean shorts Denim shorts, I don't think you have Jorts a tailored cuffed pair of jean shorts denim shorts

I don't think you have jorts. I think the I think the Jordan kind of like a ripped and tattered I think the jorts previously needed to be a jean yes, that's what I think you go I don't think I've ever what are you laughing? No, I don't need to add at the end, okay? I don't think I've actually ever worn a jort really that's good. I don't want to see you in jazz, right? I've got some baby. I definitely have many. Yeah. Yeah, you've definitely seen me. They're super They're super comfortable. Oh, yeah Yeah, I was like one of my like tour staples if I was doing a summer tour with my band There would be the Jorts remember when I told you guys about cheese guy on my slow pitch team. Nope

He missed oh the guy that missed he is seminar. He went to the cheese seminar, yeah. He is also a Jorts guy. No kidding. He plays shortstop in his Jorts. You know what? We call him Jorts Stop. Yeah, there we go. I was waiting for that. I was waiting for someone to say it.

That is aw- if he's good though. Yeah, he's great. Like if you- if that's confidence. Like that's what the Canucks need, right? A guy that's willing to show up in jorts and be like, this is who I am. You want to write about it, write about it. So if Petey shows up to training camp in jorts,

this comes in, you know he's going to have a good time. The Canucks oftentimes move around like they're wearing jorts or jeans. That used to be the big dis for soccer players back in the day. Like he plays, it looks like he's wearing wet jeans. Okay, here's my ask us anything. Okay. You got to put your imagination. Our thinking caps on?

Your imagination caps on. All right. Okay. Let's say the Oilers were the Canucks. Okay? Okay. So it's the Oilers team. In Vancouver. But they're actually the Canucks and we're cheering on the Oilers because they're the Canucks.

Okay. Okay. Okay. You're given two choices. Now remember, this is the Canucks, not the Oilers, but their history. Number one, you win the cup, but McDavid leaves after his contract expires. The other choice, you lose to the Panthers again, but he stays and signs long-term. Which choice are you taking?

Oh, a cup, sure. Really? Well, if you're guaranteeing me a cup win, I'd take the guaranteed win. Interesting, my friend's name. Because they could re-sign McDavid for life, and maybe they'd never win a cup again. But my answer would be you lose to the Panthers,

but he stays, because then you get eight more cracks at it with McDavid. Yeah, but you might lose them all. Yeah, I know. So you're picking the non-guarantee over the guaranteed cup? That's right, Adog. No, that's the wrong choice.

I'm in it for the long haul. Yeah, but you might not win any of those games. I understand that, I'm willing to take that. I might also win multiple cups. Yeah, you might yield many cups. And you also get to watch willing to take that. I might also win multiple. Yeah, he might yield. And you also get to watch McDavid and cheer for McDavid on a regular. I'm with you, a dog, because I want a cup man, because it's getting existential. Yeah, like I want to get a win.

If I'm 20, I'll keep McDavid. Like years to win cups. Now it's kind of like, you know what? I'm going to take the cup when it's offered to me. Look, I do wonder about what's on the other side, the dark side, the abyss, Win cups now. It's kind of like you know what I'm gonna take the couple when it's offered to look close here Yeah, I do wonder about what's on the other side the dark side the abyss if you will after you win That's for a different show after you that's that's for my fledgling podcast Well after that you would be forced to watch last year's caduck season if you didn't have a good

Oh, it's like we all on repeat though. I mean part of the show is ethos It's Genesis if you will is you know the never-ending quest for the Vancouver Canucks to win the Stanley Cup. But I have thought- That's true. We might lose interest. When the Jays won the World Series, I was like, nah, I'm out. Now what do I do?

Nah, you'd be like, I want another one. I was with the Seahawks, and then they nearly delivered the very next year, but they didn't quite deliver. But see, inherently- And the pain came back. Yeah. but they didn't quite deliver. Inherently. And the pain came back. Inherently, I want another is kind of problematic because you go from being the long suffering fan base to the greedy fan base.

And those are two totally different things. Yeah, but I think there'd always be this underlying, be like, well, at least we got one. So like if you were to lose, yeah, it'd suck, but at least you could have had one win. It would just change. And by the way, you wouldn't know all this while the team was winning the cup cup you'd still have hope about it

Like I'm not saying when it's like you'd be celebrating knowing McDavid is leaving like it would just all play out He always brings it up when it when it comes to Boston was specifically the Red Sox You know there was a time where Boston was synonymous with the lovable loser and the cursed friend for the Celtics Yeah, right, but I mean, let's just work with the red. Yeah, for example. Oh, it's yeah They were horrible and that was their identity and you know many Appundant and many a fan Like kind of based their entire experience off that and then it changed where they not only became successful, but they were the sort of model franchises and

It does do something to the shared experience because people often bond Weirdly enough over misery and losing and dejection than they do with winning. That's what this show is. Yeah, right losers congregate the thing is like I don't Hate teams from Buffalo. I don't hate teams from Buffalo. I don't hate teams from Cleveland. No. You know? You're just hitting them, but there's some good.

I don't hate teams from San Diego. I just, I feel bad for them. Yeah. You know, I feel there's that shared, like, you know, I don't want to say like, I want you guys to win because that would make me feel bad, but like, I'm glad we're all in this together. Um, and I hope to escape.

Yeah. By the way, the, the McDavid thing, like it, I was thinking yesterday when like people were like, what are the Leafs going to do with their cap space? Is there a thought in Toronto? Do you think like, we better keep our powder dry just in case? Yeah, I think so we better keep our powder dry just in case? Yeah, I think so. I don't think so. Just in case.

But now that they're in the final again, two years in a row, he's not leaving now. What if he wins and he feels like, I've done my duty here, I'm getting the hell out of Edmonton? Well, you know what's funny? And Dry Scythe's like, wait! Yeah. I think it'd be more likely that he would leave

if they win than if they lose. That's what I wonder. Because if they lose,'s like no we came so close to use in a row I got to stay and complete this task, but if they win he's like I've done my duties. Yeah Think there's your heated driveway. I Do think there's an unspoken agreement between him and dry saddle I Do think there is yeah, you know there's a blood pact Yeah, just quietly you know and like we got to keep the cameras away from this it won't play well publicly But dry side all signing on this little file. Yeah, right. I don't know if that's how it maybe that's how it's sealed sealed with a kiss

I don't know maybe it's time now for one to watch Rod. Why are you so kissy? This is very that was a good one actually those that was really clever Get it yeah, we got everyone get it. Yeah, do you want me to explain it? No ruin the joke okay? It's time now for one to watch you by Delaney's okay tire. This is appropriate because tonight's one to watch There's no game tonight. This is the final one to watch so this is it Connor McDavid since it is our last one to watch for the postseason It's fitting that we did it the morning after the Oilers and their captain punched their ticket to their second consecutive Stanley Cup final.

Now the final doesn't begin until Wednesday, but all eyes are going to be on Mr. Kissy face. Number 97 Connor McDavid, much like they were last night when McDavid scored what proved to be the eventual game winning goal, neatly tucked home a breakaway chance past Casey to Smith to score the fourth goal, which again, as I mentioned, proved to be the game winner. Uh, last year in the cup final, McDavid was an absolute beast. 11 points in seven games appropriately was named cons.

Smythe as playoffs MVP, only the sixth player in NHL history to be awarded the cons. Smythe while being on the losing team. This time around, he'll obviously want to have similar success, but more team success than last year when the Oilers lost in seven. And that is it for ones to watch for this playoff. It's time to put on your Toyo tires, whether you drive a car, light truck, or van. Toyo tires are designed to perform in all kinds of conditions. Visit Delaney's OK Tire in Langley in Aldergrove. OK Tire, service, repair, and Tires you're listening to the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

Why are you so kissy? Why are you so pissy? Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Strance. Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to two on Sportsnet 650. Or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. It's the moach. I did not eat four burgers.

Yes, it's the Moch. I don't want to go to Winnipeg. Nobody wants to go to Winnipeg. Yes, I love food. It's the Moch. I went online and kind of did a little surfing. Jamalala. Yes, it's the Moch. Halperd's fine, but you know, Bruff is just grumpy all the time.

734 on a Friday. Happy Friday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough of the Morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit them online at Sands-Trustee.com We are now in hour two of the program program with the midway point of the program. Hour two is brought to you by Jason Hominock at jason.mortgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you.

Visit them online at jason.mortgage. We go now to the hotline powered by Power West Industries, a presentation of the Clayton Public House with Bob the Moj Marjanovic here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What up Moj? Halford, you going McAfee? McAfee, how so? You saying program.

Program, yeah, sometimes I like to slide it in there. It's like program, there you go. Program, I'm a big pronunciation guy. I like to toy around with things. There you go. Surnames, everything else. So you are, you're in Edmonton, the land of oilers, malls, and tornadoes.

Are you okay? Yeah, well, actually, not a tornado warning. I just checked my emergency alert. We were checking into the hotel last night. 724, there's our entire party's getting organized. And all of a sudden, every phone goes off. And we get this warning, destructive winds in mobile coverage area take immediate cover and all of a sudden every phone goes off. And we get this warning, destructive winds

in mobile coverage area take immediate cover in basement or interior room if weather threat approaches. Shelter from flying debris if outside, severe thunderstorm warning. So that's actually the second time we've had one of these. It wasn't even like, you know, we really didn't notice that we were inside. We had one a couple of years ago

right at the tail end of a game in Regina and that was even scary because we were driving to the hotel and We could see flash flooding in the streets and by the time we got to the hotel We got our tornado warning at that time so prairie weather man I'm assuming that you guys are okay right now, and if it does not affect the game tonight We will have the final exhibition game of the preseason for the Lions taking on the Elks. What are you seeing? What are you expecting in terms of lineup

for the Lions tonight? Is it going to be veteran light tonight for the Lions? Yeah, well, in fact, talking about this with Buck Pierce after we got the depth charts yesterday, there are several players that did not, several veterans that we were assuming were gonna make the trip

because they didn't play in Langford. And they're not gonna play in Edmonton either. Justin McKinnesky on Hatcher Matthew, that's among those players. James Butler, but Butler's more nicked up. I think, you know, he's probably about 95% that didn't wanna put him in there, considering the fact that he is a little bit nicked up.

But I asked Buck Pierce about that. I said, so, you know, you're going in this game with players you're leaving at home that haven't played. And he said it was just a testament to the intensity that they had at camp. He feels that those players got the necessary reps for their preparation, their veterans, he figures they'll be fine.

And he's gonna use this preseason game and he snaps in this game to further evaluate other players. So one of the luxuries, I guess, of having a camp that they've been very satisfied with in terms of the intensity and in terms of the players getting their work in. Can you tell how Nathan Rourke has looked just by watching him at camp? Yeah. I mean, there's been some throws that he's made that have just been money.

Granted, he's still that have just been money. Um, granted he's still learning buck, there's his offense. Um, he is picking it up, of course, and he's just going to get better. I think as the season progresses, but the one throw that really blew me away was this corner to the pylon actually with Damon or Stanley Berryhill. And it was just like, he, it was the size of a, maybe like a bread box. That's where he had to put the football and he did. And it was just an amazing throw. Like the confidence is back.

He's feeling good. And like I said, when I talk to the players on the offense, they're all telling me how good Nathan Rourke is feeling and how good he's looking. Looking back to last season, if we can take out the confidence aspect of it or how hard it was for him to come to the team, you know, in the middle of the season, if it's

possible to take that out, like where did he struggle? Like from a technical standpoint, what was going on with his game that made him a less dangerous quarterback than we'd seen before? I think the one thing in my colleague, Julio Caravato, always pointed this out and I totally agree with him. When you watch Nathan and his processing, um,

when he's playing quarterback, it's, it's extremely fast. When Nathan's on a roll, you're going to see him drop back and it's going to be one, two, three, boom, the ball is gone. There's no double clutching. And last year, Nathan, he had that double clutch. He wasn't 100% sure where he was going to go with the football.

In 2022, he would drop back and he'd look at one, look at two, look at, go through his progression, and that ball would be out of his hands quickly. Right. And like I said, there wouldn't be that double clutch. And I, you saw that last year. You're not seeing it this year. He's dropping back and he's just finding his receiver instantly, which I think is a great sign in terms of Nathan Rohr quote being back.

Is he going to be the strength of the team? Well, I think any team, I mean, if you want to contend for a championship, it starts at your quarterback position, right? So, um, he is obviously the guy they're paying big money to and he is going to be the guy that builds confidence within the team. I mean, football, it's like hockey guys. I mean, I think we've talked about this before. If you've got a guy that you believe in and you have

confidence in, uh, at quarterback or, or in goal before. If you've got a guy that you believe in and you have confidence in at quarterback or in goal and hockey, you feel like you can win any game, even if you play subpar sometimes, right? Because you just feel that this guy's gonna find a way to get it done. If you don't have confidence in that position,

whether it's goalie or quarterback, all of a sudden now, and a pitcher in baseball as well, I guess all of a sudden, now, and a pitcher in baseball as well, I guess all of a sudden now, you don't play with as much confidence, right? You don't feel like you can make a mistake and get away with it. You feel like a mistake is gonna cost you.

So I think, you know, when it comes to football and quarterback, I think the Lions are gonna be in great shape with Nathan Rourke. So Mojo, I was thinking about what you were saying about the Canucks a little while ago and some of the questions you asked of management at the end of season presser when you were talking about maybe going out and finding some veteran guys that have

been around the league for a while and, you know, are able to speak up in the room, feel comfortable speaking up in the room because I think it's probably worth noting that the Oilers have Corey Perry on their team and the Panthers have Brad Marchand on their team and both those guys even though they've maybe lost a step in their game a little bit, they found a way to be major contributors on that team and I have no doubt that they're helping their respective teams. Well, I'm gonna tie this in with the Lions

and with the Canucks. And there was, I'm not going to name any players, but I'll just say there was an incident in a game this year where one of the players made a mistake and kind of berated an official, right? He was one of the younger players on the roster. And Rick Tocket told him a story and he said that, he wasn't really happy with what the player

did to the official. He was blaming the official for a call and it wasn't the official's fault, it was this player's fault. And this was like I said, one of the younger players on the team. And Tocket, you know, found the time to come over to the bench and said,

hey, you know what, you're wrong there. Don't do that again. And the point that Rick was making was he shouldn't be doing that. He says, when you have a strong enough leadership group, it's the leaders on your team that will police the other players. Like it should have been another player coming up to him and saying, man, that's not you. It's not none of the official calm down or

whatever, right? And it kind of ties into what's happening with the Lions right now. One of the things that I've heard at training camp from Ryan Rick Maiden and even Buck Pierce is that the veterans are policing themselves, right? When you have a group of veterans that all of a sudden say, Hey, no, what? No, that's not right. Or you got to do it this way. Or they're holding the younger guys or the other players even accountable. Right. And I think that's when you have that going, you're in good shape. You're, you're on the right road.

And I think that's one thing that when we've talked about the Canucks this last year, that they really didn't have, they need more of that. And I think it's something that they're going to really address in the off season. You also need to do it in the right way. Yeah. And I think there were times when JT Miller

was trying to hold everyone accountable and maybe it was just a little too much or not the right way because at least this season it didn't seem to work. Well yeah and you know that's something that we talked about in the past was that you know the year before you had guys like Ian Cole and Zdorov who would basically keep JT Miller in check and once those players left now the checks and balances are gone, right? Now that player can basically run rough shot and do whatever he wants. Whereas if he started to get out of line,

you would have a veteran player like Cole or the door off and just say, hey, you know what, JT calm down or JT, you know where I'm going with that. So that's the one thing that again, when you look at what transpired this year, those checks and balances are gone. And you're right, you need those, a strong enough group that even if you know, when you look at what transpired this year, those checks and balances were gone. And you're right. You need those strong enough group that even if you have

a guy who is kind of keeping others accountable, that in turn, some of the other veterans are holding them in balance. We're speaking about the Moj Marjanovic here on the Halford and Brush show on Sportsnet 650 Moj is a presentation of the Clayton Public House. I got two more for you Moj. I do want to circle back to one CFL question. Then we'll do our Friday. Ask us anything about food. We got one from Tyler here in the Dunbar lumber text message in basket.

Uh, as it pertains to the CFL, hey, who's the favorite right now to get through the West? I know most of the betting odds still have it as Winnipeg is the team to beat. And then in terms of the shortest odds after them them Saskatchewan BC comes at third. Do you see it the same way? Is Winnipeg still the dominant team even though they lost their offensive coordinator Buck Pierce who now of course is the head coach of the BC Lions? I'm leaning towards Saskatchewan. Okay. I just think you're too with Corey Mace there. I really like what Corey Mace brings to the table and I think that

for me, it's Saskatchewan's team to beat. And I know Winnipeg has been the fourth straight great cup. But man, they kind of slide sooner or later, don't they? At some point you would think that they're not gonna get it on. We've seen it in a couple of great cup games, but they're not gonna get that break

or that play that they need in either a semifinal or a Western Division final or maybe even a game to get them into the playoffs. I mean they showed signs of weakness last year the way they started of course they finished extremely strong but I just think Winnipeg at some point they've got to take a step back and then I'm thinking it's this year I think Edmonton's gonna be better they've made a whole bunch of free agent acquisitions I think BC is gonna be better Cal, we see what happens there, but, you know, these teams are going to be better and Saskatchewan is going to be

better. Well, it's going to come at someone's, someone's expense. So for me, it's Winnipeg. Okay. We've got a Moj food related AUA into the Dunbar Lumber, text message in basket here. It comes from Tyler. He writes Moj, if you were opening your own restaurant, what would your signature item be? Oh, wow. It's not bad. You know, I've kind of thought about that sometimes.

And I've thought about all these delicious dishes that I have and that you love eating. But the problem is, if I were to do a restaurant, if I was to open up a restaurant, there's a part of me that would probably lean towards Cajun food, because there's no real good Cajun places in Vancouver. There used to be a place on Granville called Wheezy's.

That was pretty good. But I got a certain, some of these restaurants and they got jambalaya on their menu and I'm like are you kidding me this isn't jambalaya it's basically rice with like one prawn and one chorizo sausage. Give me a break. Like if you're gonna have good jambalaya you need a lot of good stuff and what I mean by stuff is like chicken, prawns you know whether you use chorizo and dually like and Dooley preferably. Yeah. But I mean, you have to have enough of these items in the jambalaya to make it good. Like, no, I don't store jambalaya with like one measly small,

medium sized prod or whatever. Right. So if I were to do a restaurant, I'd probably do, I'd open up a Cajun place because like I said, there's not really, I don't think there's really any Cajun restaurants in Vancouver. So there you go. I don't think anyone specializes in jambalaya, by the way. Moj is jambalaya truck. Can we just get it off the ground? I think it'd be a great idea. Can we get Moj, like can we make Moj into a Cajun character?

You know what? If you go to the BC Lions Twitter account, I actually last year, like it's funny because one of these, there's a group of fans called the Lionbackers anyways this one lady brought out this jumbly one day and I'm not gonna say anything about it you know if you can't say anything nice don't say anything. All right all right. I said no no that's not jumbly and I brought my jumbly out one day well I brought my jumbly out it was like a whole production I didn't bring it out my alter ego brought it out my alter ego being hokey tibetal Louisiana

What hokey tibetal? Thibodax but it's tibetal. Yeah. Yeah You know little mustache on the glasses a big sign We have the Cajun music playing and the players absolutely loved it. They thought it was like off the charts. So. I mean, this is a food truck right now.

If you go to the Lions media account, they scroll back to last year, there should be something on Twitter with Hokey Tebudo serving. Like I like three of those big, you know, serving trades full of it. So yeah, the Jumbalaya was a hit with the fans. And I took it as a personal insult

because this other person was raving about her jambalaya and it was great. And I was like, no, no, no. I'm ready to take out a small business loan and invest in Hokie Thibodeau's jambalaya truck. Oh my God, yeah. Until Noah just canceled for appropriating the Cajun culture.

But until then, we're gonna be a hit. Hey, I gotta tell you a story so obviously the game going on in that bit to last night we got here I think we got to the hotel lounge and started watching like midway through the second period and one of the guys in our support stuff wasn't one of the players but one of the guys in our support staffs wearing a Dallas Stars jersey and the reason he's wearing a Dallas Stars jersey. And the reason he's wearing a Dallas Stars jersey, number one, he's not an Edmonton fan. But I guess at Moxie's, if you walk in

with a Dallas Stars jersey, you will get a free steak. They're Edmonton jersey. Yeah, that's what I've been told. So I think he was gonna go down to Moxie's. So anyway, well, of course you make the connection, right? Moxie's, Sutton Place, all owned by, guess who? Tom Gullardi, the stars owner, right? so that's one of the promotions they had going on in boxes here but I know a few of our guys from again the support stuff we're going

down to the boss pit last night but obviously we I'm just waking up here it's like 830 in the morning so what I get to those guys later Ted I'll find out how much fun they had in the boss pit last night all right buddy thanks as always for doing this we We really appreciate it. Uh, enjoy the game tonight. Have a good call. We'll do this again next Friday. Okay guys.

Have a good weekend. Yeah, you too. Thanks buddy. That's Bob the mode Marjanovic here on the Halford and brush show on sportsnet six 50 little bit of a NHL news. Let's go. You're okay.

All right. Uh, Yermo Kekelainen is, uh, has joined the Buffalo Sabres as a, I actually don't know what his job exactly is. Assistant to the general manager. They already added Eric Stahl as a general manager's assistant. So I guess.

A real vote of confidence for Kevin Adams. We're not going to fire you, but we're going to bring in some guys that are probably better at the job than you. We're going to prop you up with a couple of guys, including your future replacement, Yarmoukhealyanin. And that's interesting to me. Buffalo is the team I keep circling back to when we talk about where are the Canucks going to find all of these players and how are they going to get a top six forward or

two? And then you hear the reports from Frank Sarvali. I believe he had a new one yesterday on Daily Face, saying a number of younger Buffalo Sabres players are either not happy with their role on the team or not happy with the team's trajectory currently. I'm not happy. Why? Buffalo take a pick. I got a lot of reasons why that's the one for me. I mean, it makes a lot of sense. You look at what a guy like Reinhardt's done.

Oh, the guys that have escaped Buffalo and gone to great things. I mean, but I mean, even if escaped Buffalo and gone on to great things. I mean, but I mean, even if they don't go on to great things here, I think in terms of filling the void, Buffalo is the team that makes a lot of sense from a trade partner perspective, because they're also looking to do different things than they have in the past. And at a certain

point, and I'm sure Kevin Adams is feeling this pressure, this playoff drought has to end. Mm-hmm. I think we're coming up on, you're going to be closer to two decades out of the playoffs than you are to just one decade out and one decades long enough. It'll be very interesting to keep an eye on them

now that Jarmo Kekalainen, noted trader Jarmo Kekalainen is in the mix. Uh, Laddie, can we play that clip from 32 Thoughts about the Toronto Maple Leafs having thought about, I don't know when it was, but at some point they thought about shopping Mitch Marner to Vegas. And even though that never happened, I don't think that it ever came to the point where they

asked Mitch Marner to waive his no trade clause or his no move clause like they did in their discussions for Rantanen. Vegas to me is a pretty good candidate for Mitch Marner because I think he wants to go to a winner, a good team. And he loves the bright lights. Everyone kind of wants, well, everyone kind of

seems to want to go to Vegas. I don't know if that's still a thing, if that's lost a little momentum, but here's Fried from the latest 32 Thoughts podcast. I do believe on some level last year that the Maple Leafs and Vegas talked about a trade and this was last summer at some point. I think Vegas was interested in Marner. I think Toronto talked to them. Nobody has ever confirmed it.

And I think there were two reasons it never even got close and number one was that I think Toronto was interested in Shay Theodore and as the Golden Knights proved they were not interested in trading him. They wanted to keep him As I heard they told people you want to watch say say Theodore You're gonna watch him You can buy a ticket to watch him play for us and they followed through on their word And the second thing is I just think there was no guarantee that

Marner at that time was gonna be agreeing to anything So well, I do think the two teams talked about it and Vegas had some interest, I don't think it was ever, ever realistic because of those two reasons. So some people might be like, well, why are you bringing it up if it never even happened? I think it just goes to show that Vegas had some interest in Marner. Vegas right now is in that list of teams that's disappointed with their playoff exit. Everyone's disappointed when they're losing the playoffs, obviously, but the way that it went down for Vegas, given their trajectory since breaking into the NHL, that's a bad year for them. I don't think there's any question that's a bad year for them.

They also have to make a decision on Jack Eichel and Jack Eichel has to make a decision on them. He's got one year left on his deal before he's an unrestricted free agent. Just let him walk. You have a new target of hate. It's not Jack Eichel anymore. It's Peter DeBoeur now, right? You've moved off. Hey, there's plenty of hate to go around.

Yeah, that's true. That he is a generational hater. I just wonder if Vegas is going to do some surgery and they haven't been afraid to make big moves in the past. You know, Mark Stone's got two years left on his deal before he becomes unrestricted and for a ruthless organization like Vegas, would you not be surprised, you wouldn't be surprised if they were like, listen Mark, like you've been great for us, but we can't rely on you anymore.

Yeah. And we want to move off this contract, even though you got a full no move. If we can't rely on you to be healthy, then we'd rather bring in someone who can be healthy. There's two guys on that team that are highly paid, that are well into their 30s and are showing signs I wouldn't say of rapid decline but pretty steady decline one of them is

Mark Stone the other one in the playoffs is Alex Petrangelo because that blue line right now is more about Shay Theodore and Noah Hanifin than it is about Alex Petrangelo and I know that he's their high money guy. I think he's at 8.8 million. And I know he's done amazing things during his career. He's 35 years old. Yeah, yeah. Stone's 33. For sure.

And they looked old and slow in the playoffs. Yep, they did. So put that little nugget there in the context of this is an organization that has shown zero loyalty to anybody since it's broken into the NHL. You could say, well, you can't move off a guy like Stone. You can't move off a guy like Patrangelo. Vegas would say, just wait and see. What are the connects going to do with Thatcher Demko this off season? We're going to have that discussion with Rick Dollywall coming up next on

the Halford and Bruff Show on Sportsnet 650.