Halford & Brough in the Morning - This Is A Whitecaps Town Now

Episode Date: November 13, 2025

In hour one, Halford & guest host Jamie Dodd look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), plus they talk MLS playoffs with Apple TV studio analyst Bradley Wright-Phillips (26:39).   This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to Haldon-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-na. You're listening to Halford and Brough. Savoy 2-0 with Rosalick, the shot! Scores! And the Edmonton Oilers win it, two-to-one in overtime. Emmett's looking for the Hattie. Shevo Nevin's with the overtime big winner Oh, what they're going to do?

He's the roofdaddy! Oh, look at that! Look at this, look at that. Good morning, Vancouver. What the hell was that? 601 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. It is Alfred and his prop with Jamie Dodd.

We are coming you live from the Kintech Studios and beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jamie, good morning. Good morning. Ad, good morning to you. The Roof Daddy guy, remember? We've played it before. And Greg, good morning to you as well.

Hello, hello. Halford and Brought for the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks. Visit them online at Sands-dustee.com. We are in hour one 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 the Middle 17-70 Powell Street in Vancouver. are broadcasting live from the Kintech studio, Kintech footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. Big Thursday show ahead on the Halford & Brough Show featuring Jamie Dodd on Sportsnet 650. We got a four guester today. Guest list today begins at 630 a.m. Bradley Wright Phillips is going to join the program.

One of the greatest strikers in MLS history, now a studio analyst for MLS season pass on Apple TV. Jamie, of course, was a huge fan of Bradley Wright Phillips doing his two-year stint at Plymouth Argyle. Of course. That's where I know him from. We are now just nine days away, nine days away, from the biggest white caps game in their MLS era, over 50,000 tickets sold to the November 22nd match against LAAFC in the Western Conference semifinals.

So we'll preview all that with Bradley Wright-Phillips at 6.30 this morning. 7 o'clock, Luke Fox, NHL writer from Sportsnet, is going to join the program. Relatively quiet night in the National Hockey League last night, which is four games. However, a busier night tonight, 10 games on the slate going on across the league. So we'll go around the NHL with Luke at 7 a.m. this morning. 730 Brady Henderson, our Seahawks Insider from ESPN is going to join the program.

The game of the weekend in the National Football League goes Sunday from Los Angeles. Seahawks, Rams, 105 kickoff from SoFi. Seahawks are three and a half point road dogs in this matchup between two teams that are seven and two. The winner will move atop the NFC West. They'll have sole possession of first place. And in the eyes of many, the winner will emerge as the top team in the entire NFC. We'll talk to Brady about all that at 7.30. At 8 o'clock, Thomas Dranths from Canucks Talk on SportsNet 650 and the Athletic Vancouver.

Very exciting moment for Jamie Dodd to speak with Thomas at an entirely different time of the day, which is really great. It's always a thrill. The Canucks traveled to Raleigh yesterday ahead of Friday's game in Carolina. line against the Canucks will practice this morning at 10 a.m. our time, so maybe we'll get some updates on the walking wounded for this Vancouver Canucks team. We are giving away Giants tickets today as well this Saturday, November 15th at 7 p.m. at the Langley Events Center. It's the Giants taking on the Edmonton Oil Kings. Parker Burgess was on the show yesterday, head coach of the Giants to preview that one. If you were so excited by Parker's preview and you have to go on

Saturday, we're giving away free tickets. Caller number five at 8 a.m. This morning, we'll get a pair of tickets to see the Giants. Don't call now, mostly because it's not 8 a.m. Call it 8. 604-280-0-650. That number again, 604-280-0-650. Caller number 5 at 8 a.m. this morning. We'll win the tickets. I'm not even going to do the guest list to reverse.

We have so many things to get into. So without further ado, Greg, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was. We know how busy you were like.

What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance, making safety simpler by giving construction companies of essence tools, resources, and safety training, visit them online at BCCSA.C.Ca.com. Back half of this segment, we are going to do some Canucks preview stuff, but it is what happened. And we are going to tell you what happened in the National Hockey League last night. And that begins with the Edmonton Oilers. It is not your textbook example of a two-game win streak. A little bit of luck involved and a little bit of good fortune

in overtime, but the Oilers won their second straight game in a row yesterday in Philadelphia, the overtime hero yet again. Jack Roslovick 1-19 into OT as the Oilers beat Rick Tockett's Flyers 2-1 at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Here's what it

sounded like. Flyers canceled out, turned over. Roslovick, up to Savoy, for the win. Back to Roslick, he scores. And Edmonton prevails 2 to 1 in overtime. Now, I said that this modest two-game win streak by the Edmonton Oilers has come with some good fortune.

Obviously, the game against Columbus earlier in the week. They get that fluky goal with a minute left in regulation while short-handed from a defenseman, Jake Wallman, to send the game to overtime before Rosliff won it. Yesterday, Philly's Travis Kineckney tipped a Travis Sandheim shot past Stuart Skinner with 24 seconds left, and it looked like it had given Philly the win in regulation. But hold on. That goal was overturned when moments earlier, Owen Tippett entered the zone prior to the puck getting in.

It was called outside. The goal was chalked off. Oilers go to overtime. They win again. Even Speck, who is, I would say, a ardent Oilers supporter threw it out there that, yeah, they're getting a lot of fortune against two not great teams. But hey, wins a win. You don't argue with a win streak in the Oilers

for as bad as they've been this season and as Rockies it's gotten over the last few weeks have won their second game in a row. Yeah, and that Jack Rosavik signing, paying off for them in a big way. What could have been? A guy that can put some goals in and play center in a pinch. Yeah, that would look pretty nice in Vancouver right about now.

We'll go through the rest of those scores, I know, but just the big picture headline for me was good night for the Western Conference. A lot of the Western Conference teams in action picked up points, and that starts with the Edmondton Oilers in the Pacific getting two points. Yeah, and it's crazy to be scoreboard watching on November 13th of this year of our Lord. But this is where you're at with the Vancouver Canucks because so much is on this season as what we've coined a referendum season here,

you need to start doing this right from the get because it's kind of understood that what the Canucks are doing right now is trying to stay afloat in that mushy middle, maybe at the back end of it, but just to stay alive in that playoff chase. I think it's also because these standings are so bunched up. Like usually at this point of the season, even this early, I think there's more teams that you look at and say, oh, they're done. They don't have a prayer.

And there's probably a couple more teams that you say, well, they're locked in for sure. There's so many teams in that middle area right now. I think we're all kind of waiting just to see how are the standings going to sort themselves out? Are we going to start to get clarity over the next week or 10 days here? And so you're waiting to see

like Chicago picks up a point, but they got a point. Point, right? And it's like, okay, they're hanging around. San Jose's hanging around. Utah wins again. There's all these teams just hanging around in this mix still. We'll get to Chicago in a second, but I do want to bounce to the Eastern Conference here because while this game obviously did not feature a team from the West, two teams kind of tied to the Vancouver Canucks, at least one currently, and one I think always will be as long as J.T. Miller's there. So the Rangers hammered the bolts in Tampa Bay yesterday, 7 to 3. Panarin had four assists. Miller scored in that game. The story, though, is from the Tampa Bay side of things. So an awful night for Andre Vasselowski, he gets pulled. But here's what you want to pay attention to, Canucks fans. Brandon Hagle got knocked out of that game by none other than former Canucks defenseman, Carson Sousie. Left did not return.

John Cooper doesn't have an update on him. So you can add Brandon Hagle to an injury list that includes deep breath, Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonough, Anthony Sorrelli, Pontius Holmberg, Dominic James, and Nick Paul. Why is this important? The Canucks have the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday. So the Canucks will go Friday night in Carolina, then Sunday in Tampa Bay.

Now, here's another interesting wrinkle to this. Tampa Bay has a game before they play the Canucks on Sunday. They take on the Florida Panthers on Saturday. And if you'll remember, these two teams hate each other. They want to murder each other. And to that point, the Lightning called up a couple of their AHA tough guys. One in particular,

Scott Sabrin, who some will remember, was the instigator in that preseason game where the Panthers and the lightning racked up 300 penalty minutes. Sabrin was the one

that went after Aaron Eckblad, and then Aaron Eckblad was the guy that everyone was going after because he had taken out Brandon Hagel previously. So as far as the Canucks go, they should just kick back, relax, and watch this very depleted

Tampa Bay Lightning team, expend all of its energy on Saturday and then go into the Sunday the second of a back-to-back against the Canucks. So something to keep an eye on there. Tampa Bay not in a good way right now. No, the injury situation is really, really serious for them. I mean, they still have the top line, which is extremely dangerous of point, Gensel, and Kutrov. But after that, I mean, especially if Brandon Hegel has to miss a few games here or we'll see you, like Zemgus

Gergensens is on their second line. It drops off in a hurry. It's like having Lucas Reichel on your second line. Not centering it, though. It drops off in a hurry. And then, as you mentioned no headman or McDonough on the back end as well. And then on top of that, under Vasalesky got shelled by the New York Rangers. So there are problems all over the place. I heard John Cooper say that there's maybe a little bit of thumb sucking. Oh,

you heard that too. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe they're feeling a little bad about themselves and they need to snap out of it. But the Canucks could be catching them at kind of the perfect time here. Yeah. And you got to assume that after getting shelled last night, Vaselowski would be in on Saturday to take on the Panthers,

meaning they'd probably get the backup on Sunday. So things might break well for the Canucks and the second of this road swing that's going on. Okay, I do want to turn our attention to one more game from last night and it was the game of the night. North Vancouver's own Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks at the United

Center, a rocking United Center, by the way. It was loud in there yesterday. Taking on Jack Hughes, Luke Hughes and the New Jersey Devils. And it wasn't the Hughes brothers that provided the heroics in this one. It was a defenseman. Simone Nemich with the hat trick, including the winner in overtime.

off an unbelievable pass from Jacob Markstrom. Here's what it sounded like, Nemich O.T. winner as the Devils beat the Blackhawks in Chicago in an absolutely fantastic game. Markstruck, stretch pass. He has Chicago caught. Nemmich for the hot track and the overtime winner. Simone Nemitz.

An all-time performance. He single-handedly brings the Devils back. and wins it in overtime. A little pre-scout there for when Simone Nemich has eventually traded to Vancouver Canucks. This game is rife with both past and future Canucks. All of this. Carson Sousy got a shout out in there. Shout out J.T. Miller got in there.

Connor Bedard and Simone Nemich taking center stage. Those guys are going to look great together in a few years. Also, speaking of former Canucks, you see the goal Sam Lafferty of all people scored on Jacob Markstrom? So it was his first point of the year. And it was Alex Faust working the game At least the call that I was on And you could see him kind of scrambling

To have something to say about Not the most common household name Sam Lafferty An unbelievable burst of speed That game last night For those that did not watch Was one of the most entertaining NHL games I've seen this year And a large part of it had to do

With the speed in which both teams played Like say what you were about Sam Lafferty But he can, he can wheel Like he's got speed And he was a footnote to this thing because the show that Bedard and Jack Hughes put on every time that they made an offensive foray, you know, the broadcasters were over the top

and their praise of it. And I think rightfully so. It was just, it was such a display of speed and skill and unencumbered too. There was no clutching and grabbing. Actually, you know what, though, I will say, Badaar got laid out by Brendan Dillon in that game. Yes.

Coming into the zone. So there was that. But as I don't want to tie everything back to the Canucks, although we're kind of want to do it. But when you watch some of these teams with the really good young, high-end talent, it is just a reminder of what it looks like, the danger on every offensive possession, and how unique their talents can be.

And then it goes to, well, how do you acquire those talents? And what do you need to do in order to get one on your team? And why are they never available for trade? All those conversations can be had on a night where the Canucks aren't playing and two other teams are. I think also notable from that game as we tied it back a little bit to the Canucks, but we're kind of all on watch for are the Chicago Blackhawks for real? Are they really going to hang around? Maybe not make the playoffs,

but at the very least pose a challenge to some of these more veteran teams pushing for the playoffs in the Western Conference. And of course, the number one guy in the spotlight is Connor Bedard and what he's doing scoring-wise. But we also got to start talking about Spencer Knight and what he's just going to say that.

Yeah, well, sorry. No, no, that's good. We saw it here in Vancouver. He put up a great performance. Another fantastic performance last night. I think the Blackhawks were outshot 37. to 20 by the New Jersey Devils. So yeah, they lose, but Spencer Knight instrumental in helping them pick up a point. And I think it's kind of easy to forget given there were stops and

starts to his career in Florida. And it obviously didn't start the way he wanted it to. But this guy was a 13th overall pick as a goalie, not that long ago. That's hard to do. Like there's a lot of talent there. If you're getting picked in that spot in the first round, he's 24 now. And it really feels like he's coming into his own and there's obviously still a lot of flaws and a lot of holes on Chicago's roster but if you're pairing superstar scorer who's probably going to break 100 points

this year if he keeps this up with goalie who's capable of going red hot and stealing you games that's a team that can hang around for a long time of the playoffs it seems like it sneak into the playoffs to be honest Greg as our resident goalie expert how close are you following the Spencer Knight story this year

not really that close I don't care for it yeah It's the Blackhawks. Not a big fan, to be honest. What do you mean it's the Blackhawks? They might make the playoffs. It's just another American goalie. Adam to the list of, you know, the...

But this is sort of the culmination of, like, what Jamie was referring to, like, high-end talent, high-end pick, and sort of coming to fruition this year. I don't know if it's a break-out year or not, but he certainly looks like he's got the potential to do it. Well, he just never had the opportunity. Right, now he's got the runway to just go do it, right? He's a great goal. You're even starting to hear people say he might be in the picture for the Americans at the Olympics

with the way he's... playing and some uncertainty around, for example, Thatcher Deppico. Which is crazy to think about what the competition he's got. Yeah. Okay, so there's your out-of-town news from yesterday. Back half of this segment, we will turn our attention to the Vancouver Canucks. As I mentioned, they traveled to Raleigh yesterday in advance of Friday's game against the Hurricanes. Today, they will skate at 1 o'clock local time. That's 10 a.m. Pacific at the Carolina Hurricanes practice facility in Visaline Arena,

my favorite of the dental arenas. The big news from yesterday was the Jonathan Lekaramaki. And it's good news for the Abbotsford, Canucks. He was activated from injured reserve and quickly reassigned to H.L. Abbotsford. Yeah, and hopefully he can get, it probably is more of a conditioning stint thing, even though it doesn't need to be technically labeled that or anything. But hey, go down, get your legs under you.

I'm sure we'll see him sooner rather than later in the NHL, considering the state of the Canucks roster. But as you mentioned, Abbotsford could really use, I don't want to say boost, but I'll just say it, a boost right now. There you go, Lattie. What a freaking boost. I was like, wait, I can't think of another word. I'll just say it.

I like how you've created fear of that word in Jamie's mind. It's not fear. It's like, oh, I don't want to play into their trap. It's a great drop, right? That's fate. That's a trap. Yeah, exactly. Anyways, if we're looking ahead to the storylines coming up on this three-game trip

and we'll talk more about the Carolina game specifically tomorrow, but obviously it starts with the situation in goal. And we'll see, I know Rick Dollywall was saying yesterday, that, you know, more evaluation needs to be done on Thatcher Demko. We'll see if we get any more clarity beyond the, the two to three week timeline that Frank Sarah Valley put out there. I know Sat was on Canucks Central yesterday, kind of saying he'd be shocked if he sees, if we see Demko in three weeks, which given Demko's history makes a lot of sense.

But in the meantime, all eyes now turn to Kevin Lankinen. And the big question for me is just how soon does fatigue or the overwork factor start to kick in for Lankin? And I was thinking about the conversation we had with Kevin Woodley earlier in the week and talking about goalies playing back to back games. And he said, you know, it's not so much the back to back games themselves. It's what it does for you down the road and kind of in the immediate future after those games. And he played back to back.

Then he had a day off. Then he played 40 minutes in the next game against Winnipeg. So that's a lot of work in a very short time period for Kevin Lankinen. Now he does have two days off before this next game. But you're going into a three and four. there's travel involved. I like Kevin Lankin as a goalie. I know Pete, he's come under criticism this year so far for his performance,

but it's asking a lot for any goalie, let alone one who's not use to carrying the starters load to play this volume of games in a short time period and maintain the level. And already the Canucks are giving up three and a half goals a game. That's one of the lower marks in the league. Now, you can point to penalty killing is a big part of that. But ideally, goaltending would be

part of the solution to the penalty kill. And is it realistic that you're going to get that level of goal tending that can kind of mask some of the defensive deficiencies from this team with the burden that Kevin Lankin is now going to be asked to take on? Well, we're going to get, I would imagine, I would imagine we're going to get a look at Petera this weekend, right? They're going to go Friday, Sunday, sorry, could be Monday as well. They're going to go Friday, Sunday, Sunday, Monday in Carolina, Sunday in Tampa Bay,

Monday in Florida. So you would assume, and I underline it three times, assume, that he would get one of either the lightning or the Panthers. If they go to Lankton and all those, my word, I think we'd all walk in on Monday pretty gobsomack if that was the case. So again, I'll throw

it to you, Ladia, because you're excited to see Yuri Patera play here. What realist, and I guess maybe it's not necessarily about Patera so much it is, is to any NHL team going to its third, or dare I say, fourth goalie in this instance, because if he was healthy, Tolapilo would have been the third guy.

What can you realistically expect? or is this one of those moments where, I don't know, a guy that hasn't been seen by a lot of NHL teams could come in and do the business. Well, if you've done your research and you've brought in players that you wanted to and listen to your goalie coaches, ideally out of your fourth goal,

you could get replacement level, right? Like, that's the bar you kind of set for yourself. And we've had Woodley on the station enough times for him to say, you know, the days of having two goalies is over. You need three. You need four in the pipeline. And we're seeing that now.

And yeah, I think replacement level is, it's a high bar for a fourth goalie, but I think if you've done your research and you have the pipeline that you want, you should be able to at least get that out of your fourth goal tend. Okay, let's turn our attention now to the center depth or lack thereof for the vector economy. And this is going to be a really interesting challenge,

I think, for Adam Foote specifically on this road trip because we've talked a lot about the quality of the teams they're facing, right? Carolina, Tampa, Florida. Now, Tampa and Florida come with asterisks here, right? We all know the injury situation in Florida, as well with Tampa Bay, and we'll see what their availability is by the time the Canucks face them. But it's not just three really good teams the Canucks are facing here. It's three really good coaches as well.

It's Rod Brindamore. It's John Cooper. It's Paul Maurice. Those are three of the most highly regarded coaches in the NHL. And when you're going on the road and your center situation is what it is for the Canucks, you got to believe all those coaches are looking at this and thinking, Oh man, can we get, can we get Braden Point out there against Lucas Reichael? Can we get Sebastian O'o out there against Lucas Reichael. I think he's played three road games for the

Canucks since they traded him. That was still, he was still kind of in the honeymoon phase. Whereas like, yeah, we're going to play this guy 15 minutes a night. We love him. He's the new toy. Since then, the minutes have gone down quite significantly for Lucas Reichel. We saw he was at like 11 and 10 in the last couple of games on this homestand. So obviously the bloom is off the rose a little bit here in the eyes of the coaching staff. They're already struggling to find him minutes in home games. When you control the matchups to a much greater degree, what does it look like now on the road?

They're already asking Elias Pedersen to do so much when it comes to faceoffs, defensive responsibilities. I'm not sure how much more you can turn the dial in his direction. Like there's only so much one center can take on. Atu-Ratu's looked good recently. But again, I mean, where is the trust level from Adam foot in the coaching staff to guys like Ratu and Max Sasson and Lucas Reichel. It's one thing to have one center that you're pretty skeptical about in your lineup and try to hide on the road. I think Max Sasson kind of

falls into that category as well. So I don't know how Adam Fitt's going to manage it. It's going to be really, really difficult. But again, as I said, you got to believe all those coaches are looking at it and thinking, oh man, this is a huge matchup that we can exploit in these games. Skeptical of 50% of your own centers. Not ideal. There's a number. You don't love it. Okay, finally. Finally, Quinn Hughes. Yeah, lost in all of this talk about Thatcher Dempco this week. I mean, we should remember that Quinn Hughes took what looked like a pretty gnarly, painful hit in that game against Winnipeg, left the game.

Now, he only missed, what, a few minutes, came back. And, yeah, I thought he looked pretty good after he came back. I'm very curious, though, to see if there's any noticeable lingering effects or drop-off. I think we've gotten pretty good at diagnosing when Quinn Hughes is being hampered. by some sort of physical ailment. We saw it down the stretch last year, right? Where it's, hey, he's still out there. And credit to him, he's fighting through it.

He's gotten it out. He's giving it as all. And, you know, he's still doing Quinn Hughes things on a pretty regular basis. But just the overall impact isn't there. I think we saw that at the start of this year as well. Didn't quite look right. Took a few games off, came back and was much, much better. And we've talked about the Canucks looking more dangerous as a team offensively.

A huge part of that is Quinn Hughes, getting back closer to the top. of Quinn Hughes's level, they can't afford any slippage there. And that, again, that was a tough hit. I don't know. Maybe it was, I just needed to take a few minutes and then I'll be fine. But if there's any sort of effect on his performance, you add that to the Thatcher Dempco absence. I don't think the Canucks can really sustain that as a team. So I'm going to be very, very curious to see what version of Quinn Hughes we see on this three game road trip. Okay. And finally, in closing of the first half hour of this program. We do have some very sad news to pass along as we bring this first segment of the show to its end. This morning, it was reported that legendary New York Post

and Rangers reporter Larry Brooks passed away on Thursday at the age of 75. Brooks, who in 2018 received the Elmer Ferguson Award from the Hockey Hall of Fame as a distinguished member of the hockey writing profession, was for me, the greatest hockey writer of his generation. He was a guest on this show on a number of occasions and it was always an honor and a pleasure and I almost felt like I was back in journalism school whenever Larry Brooks came on the show because I felt like I was

looking up to someone who I had followed for an awfully long time. He did his beat with the Rangers about as well as anyone can do a beat in this sports industry. One of the best to ever do it. He will be sorely missed. Rest in peace to Larry Brooks passed away yesterday

at the age of 75. You're listening to the Halford and Brough show on SportsNet 650. Canucks Talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drans. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on SportsNet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford Brough, featuring Jamie Dodd on SportsNet 650. Halford and Brought of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Get out of the penalty box of debt and back into the game with a financial fresh start.

Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. We are still an hour one of the program. Bradley Wright-Phillips, one of the greatest strikers in MLS history. Now a studio analyst for Apple's MLS TV coverage is going to join us in just a moment here to preview the Whitecaps L-AFC match next weekend. hour one of this program is brought to 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

as I mentioned we are now just nine days away from the biggest white caps game in their MLS era over 50,000 tickets sold to the Saturday November 22nd match maybe the match of the round against LAFC joining us now to preview that one of the greatest strikers in MLS history studio analyst for MLS seasons pass on Apple TV. Bradley Wright-Phillips joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650.

Morning, Bradley. How are you? Good morning. Good morning. It's really early for you guys. How are you doing today? We're good. It is early, but we're excited to be doing this because even though we're still a weekend away from the Whitecaps match against L.A.F.C., it has been a real focal point for a local sports enthusiast because this is a huge match for the club, for the league, given the stars that are on display.

But before we get into the match, I do want to dial it back a little bit. So a couple weeks ago, we had Dax McCarty on the show recently, fellow MLS studio host. He's your guy. We went through the preseason predictions, and I mentioned to Dax,

I'm like, through no fault of your own, Dax, you had the White Caps finishing 11th, and a lot of the pundits on Apple TV had the white caps near the bottom of the Western Conference, except for one, Bradley Wright-Phillips, who had the white caps finish finishing eighth and a playoff squad prior to this amazing season.

So I got to ask you, Bradley, what were your thoughts on this White Caps team prior to this impressive season that they've put forth? You know, I've always been like, the last couple of years, I've been a fan. I've been just seeing what the performance have looked like, you know, consistently. And I've liked it. You know, I've got to be honest. I actually bottled my prediction. I wanted to put Vancouver a little higher.

Oh. But there just wasn't enough evidence, you know, for me. You know, there just wasn't enough evidence. I didn't stand on what I really, you know, was thinking at the beginning of the season. But I just liked, I liked what they were doing last season. I thought there were a few players away from being like a really, really good team. And get into this stage of the players playing against the LASC.

I just think it just shows the work that's been put in, like, gradually. And I think the Whitecaps are in a place they thoroughly deserve to be right now. But, yeah, I've just always been a fan. I love Ryan Gold. Brian White, me and Brian are quite close from our Red Bull days, you know. I think that's one of the most natural goals. that league has right now. So, yeah, there's just something about that team I just like.

Well, I actually wanted to ask you about Brian White because I know you guys were together in New York. And, you know, it was obviously at a different stage of his career where he was a lot younger and hadn't gotten to these heights. When you knew him back then, did you envision that he'd become the type of player where he was going to be capped by his national team and he was going to be one of the leading goalscores in all of MLS?

I wouldn't say I was thinking, you know, I wasn't thinking as far as the national team. But I did know that if he's got opportunity, he would score goals. I remember in the 2019 season, it was a frustrating one for me. I had an injury that kept me out in limiting my minutes.

I couldn't really play much. And I remember feeling bad not being able to help the team and Brian got a run of games. And from the first game, I was like, okay, we're going to be cool. This guy can hold up the ball. He scores goals.

He worked hard and, you know, it kind of put me at rest. It kind of put me at ease with him in the side because I felt like I didn't really have to rush back. That's the biggest compliment I could give to him. He's always had a knife of goal.

I think Red Bull, and, you know, I think they made a little mistake on letting him go. What can you say about the job that the gaffer, Yesper Sorensen, has done with this White Caps squad this season? Oh, man. It's hard to, you know, I don't think I'll do it justice. I think, like I said, I liked the team last season, but he's just added to that.

He's got a group of players playing in a way that, you know, when you look at the white caps, there's just balance all over the pitch, that great backline, when fully fit, the midfield of Kubas and Burrater, unbelievable, or whoever's had to go in there. Then adding Mueller to that, you know, to that Ryan Gold and Brian White and Sabi, the Ahmed, like just so many good players,

like individuals, but put together, it's a great team. That's what I like about them. I feel like, barring Mueller, there was no superstars. It was just a team full of talent and guys that look like they want to work for each other. And I always go back to the saying, I like this team because it reminds me of my Red Bull team. There was no superstars. There was just some talented players that all were, you know,

going in the same direction, all wanted the same thing. And it's fun to watch. We're speaking to MLS analysts and one of the greatest strikers in MLS history, Bradley Wright Phillips here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. You set up by next question nicely because you did mention Thomas Mueller there. So if you were to tell any of us ardent white cap supporters at the beginning of the year that this team would be one of the top teams in the West, go to the Concaf Cup final.

Oh, and also Acquired Thomas Mueller mid-season, I would have said, like, yeah, that's not happening, but it all happened, and it's remarkable. To even go beyond that, Mueller's ability, not just on the pitch, but off the pitch to invigorate and really, like, crystallize everything about what he wants to do with this club. He's been awesome to watch. How impressed have you been with what Thomas Mueller has done impactfully for this entire organization this year? No, no, I was like super impressed. He done more than what I expected. I knew he would come and bring quality. I didn't think you'd be invested.

I think when MLS teams, the league in general, when you go out and go and get a big name, you have to, there's no guarantee that that player is going to buy in. And that's the first thing you have to do. David Vee has done it, Messi's done it, son's done it, and Mueller's the same. Mueller has come and been unbelievable on the pitch and off the pitch. you can see when he plays the game

from his first game. I remember seeing a nice clip of him while I'm watching the game. He's been there it felt like three hours. He was in Vancouver for three hours and he's already, you know, telling the guys when to press, telling them to calm down. He's got a great relationship with the boys. I'm like, this is what it's supposed

to look like. We don't just want to bring in superstars. We want to bring the superstars that would lead, that buying, fully buy into the club they're at and help their young players around them grow. And he's doing just that. It's amazing. I remember being asked last season, I think on This is MLS, when Vancouver were, like, really close. I can't remember where they were in the playoffs, but they were a team that just needed a little

bit more, and they were asking, should they go out and buy a DP? And I was on the fence because I look at that team, and to bring a superstar to Vancouver, it has to be the right one. I didn't know at the time who it was. Vancouver went and got the right one in Mueller, because he's a guy that he doesn't ooze superstars, not like a Cristiano Ronaldo or one of those guys that, you know, it doesn't seem like it's all about them. You had to buy the right one.

And for me, Mueller is that person. He just seems like he was supposed to play for Vaggris. I want to dive into that dynamic a little bit more because, you know, players that have come over to MLS, having had a successful career abroad, there's been a lot of different end results. Like for you, for example, a brilliant MLS career. And I'm curious, when you came over in 2013, what were your impressions of the league and

how did you go about? like, one, ingraining yourself into whatever the soccer culture was over here, and then two, lifting up your teammates and understanding that, you know, rising tide lifts all boats and that everyone had to be going in the same direction. My story is a little different because I had to come and kind of prove a point. The advantage I had was having Tieri Omri here, Tim Cahill, Lloyd-Sam. These are players that played, you know, in England and, you know, coming from where I've come from to go into the MLS.

So I had an advantage. I remember my first mindset was very ignorant. I think Europeans, especially back in the day, would come over and think they're better than everyone in the league. And, you know, I remember speaking to Dieri, I watched a game. My visa wasn't sorted yet. I was in the stands and I watched them play RSL. And I was like, I think they tied the game.

I was like, how do you guys tie that? Look at the players we got. How do you even, like, tie a game like that? And he shut me up quickly. He's like, hey, don't underestimate this league. There's good players. There's good teams. And from that day, it kind of like humbled me.

So going on to your question, I think if you come here as a European export, you have to humble yourself, you have to buy in, you have to start to understand the league what it's about in order for you to do well. And like I mentioned, some of the names I mentioned, all of those players that do well have done that, they humble themselves, they buy in and the results show for themselves. If you look at one of my favorite players, Stephen Gerard, he probably came here and, you know, didn't buy in as much. And I'm speaking out of, you know, just from what I'm seeing in my opinion.

and we're not talking about Stephen Gerard like we did when he was in England. Yes, he was older, but it doesn't matter. These players have come over at our older age and still done well. So I think it's just understanding, you know, you're coming here not just for money, not just for the fame, you're coming here to buy in it and be a part of an organization. And Mueller's done that. Amazing.

So what you're describing with Thomas Mueller is almost identical to what Jungman-Sahn has done with L-A-F-C. Proper buy-in, but also still an amazing technical ability on the pitch. There's going to be a lot of people in Vancouver who will be attending that match on the 22nd that are probably going to see Sun play for the first time. Let them know if they're listening right now, what makes him so impactful?

Oh, man. By the way, I'm trying to get to that game. I want to be there. I'm trying to get out of studio and get to that game. But, yeah, no, Son just in general, like, I've always loved, I'm a big Arsenal fan, so it's been hard for me to like and appreciate Sun. Sure.

Him being in Major League Soccer, I can really appreciate him. First of all, what you get is a player, you know, that it's lightning quick, not afraid to run out his defender every time. I think that's something that we're losing in the game. Attackers, when they get up to defenders sometimes, they passable back to the fullback, swing it back around, recycle play. No, son, he's running at you every time. He can use both feet.

It's not often you see a player that, you know, we call him a wide player, but he's playing more nine now and behind Buangar. But it's not often you can see a player come inside on one foot, shoot accurately, you know, with both feet. He's dangerous. He's difficult to shut down. clever movement. He's added to his gameway. He can drop into the pocket turn and then drive at plays. He can run him behind. He's electric. Let's be all the way on. He's electric. There's not

many things he can't do on a football pitch. We're talking to Bradley Wright-Phillips here on Halford & Brough Sportsnet 650, MLS analyst, of course, former legendary striker with the New York Red Bulls as well. Beyond the playoffs happening right now, Bradley, there's another interesting MLS story, which is that the board of governors are meeting today and they might make a pretty significant vote on whether or not to switch the MLS calendar to line up more with the top European league. So this would be more starting in late summer and ending in the spring. And obviously that's a big, big change from how MLS has done business for decades since its inception. As a former player, now an analyst, and of course you played in Europe and here in

MLS. What are your thoughts on the potential change? benefits and maybe some of the the obstacles and stumbling blocks as well. Yeah, yeah, I like it. I think it's been a bit too long. I think, first of all, selfishly, as a player, you know, coming from England, I like my summer breaks. I think you want to let summer vacation, you know. And yeah, and in terms of just like aligning with Europe,

I think it helps for the transfer windows, even we're seeing players, like, let's say Mueller, the transfer window is different Mueller comes, you know, at a time where you can have a whole season where you can get a preseason with the Vancouver whitecapset. same for Sun also competing with these leagues in terms of attracting players to the league I think it benefits major league soccer a whole heap

there's a lot of benefits I like it it makes sense you know to be aligned with with the top leagues around the world it just I don't know why it's taken so long I'm a fan of it hopefully they vote in the right way Bradley before we let you go

we do want to ask about the match itself it's the Whitecaps to tell AFC November 22nd at BC place preview it for our listeners and then, of course, give us your pick. Who will advance of the two to the Western Conference Final? Oh, man, I'm not telling you who would advance

because these are two teams. These are two teams that kind of have my bias. The last three games, if you're going back to 2024, it's been a win for Vancouver, a win for LASC and in a tie. So it's hard to really call it. Yeah, I think what you're going to see,

let's imagine you don't really watch soccer. What you're going to see is two very balanced teams, superstars on both sides, very exciting attacking players you know yeah I see it being end to end I imagine Vancouver going to have the share of possession but they're going to have to watch out for LAC

in transition with two dangerous players in Bwanga and son that you know at any moment could hurt any backline in this league so yeah it's a really exciting matchup I said to you before I'm genuinely trying to get to that game I would like to see this in person if you're not doing anything get out to that game

because it's going to be one filled with high quality and great players on show. And it's going to be filled with a lot of supporters as well, over 50,000 tickets sold already. Bradley, if you get a chance to come to Vancouver to watch a match, thoroughly enjoy it. It should be a lot of fun. Everyone here is looking forward to it. And this has been great. Thank you very much for joining us this morning. We really appreciate you taking the time.

Enjoy the rest of the week and all of the MLS Cup action. And if you do get to Vancouver, enjoy your time here. Thanks for having me. Try and get me a ticket and you guys have a nice day. We'll do what we can. Thanks, buddy. That's Bradley Wright-Phillips, MLS analyst. Apple TV, MLS studio analyst, and one of the greatest strikers in MLS history here on the Halford and Brough show on SportsNet, 650. Tickets are hard to come by. I'm going. I waited too long, though. I'm sitting like, and I'm going to need my binoculars to see the pitch. It is, again, just to sort of recap everything that's happened this year. The White Caps had a new manager that nobody knew anything about, including myself.

I tend to fancy myself with someone that knows what's going on with the team I had no idea they get off to this blazing hot start they make this incredible run through MLS Champions Club including writing the wrong of the previous

messy match not only do they Vancouver footy fans get messy at BC place but the white caps put on a performance not once but twice because they do it again in Miami so they beat MLS Cup final

yes that match was a disappointment but it wasn't a setback. The team continued to thrive in the face of adversity and then a bunch of injuries and then the Mueller signing happens. And now you're looking at a year where the white caps are going to play in front of a packed 50,000 plus crowd

at BC place twice in a singular season, which I never thought I'd see, never ever thought I'd see. And it's really significant this time because the 50,000 for Messi, that's partly, that's messy. Yep. Yes, it was a big game.

And there was lots of, the fans were cheering for the white caps and of course messy was more of a villain here in Vancouver at that point but still the primary attraction the primary reason that there were 50,000 fans was for Messi. This time it's people are really excited to watch this team. They're like, oh wow, this is a massive game. This team's awesome. They have a global superstar and Thomas Mueller. I need to be in the building and I was joking about where my seats are, but I was talking with my buddies and I said like, I just want to be there. I want to be in there for the atmosphere to see it because we've never seen this. This scenario play out.

for the white caps. I will say the draw of hummanson is also a big big part of this. When you talk about the greatest Asian footballers of all time he's right at the top of that list if not a top that list.

Also his popularity in Korea transcends like the sporting celebrity. He's one of the most popular figures in the country so that's going to be a massive draw as well. Whatever the case though, I've often, you know, when they talked about the Miami match and you know a lot of people were there for

messy and there's no doubt that that's absolutely true but all that presents to the white caps is an opportunity and it's an opportunity and what they did over the course of those two legs and especially at home was have a bunch of people that showed up to see messy go oh well the Vancouver base squad is exceptionally good at this particular sport they did really well and that is something that just doesn't come along that often to play in front of that kind of crowd period doesn't happen that often for a lot of these guys. Fifty thousand is a lot. Fifty thousand a big crowd. Yeah. And you know, it's great that especially I think in this second

tour here where it's going to be, this is going to be a very large, very pro-partisan whitecaps crowd because I was at the messy match, right? And I know that there was a lot of people wearing Argentina messy jerseys and inter- Miami messy jerseys. And I understand that part of it. The greatest player that's ever laced up boots. I get it. But this will be different. and a lot of it has to do with the fact that this is more than a novelty. This is about a team that could make a, and it is in the midst of a viable MLS Cup final run. The point about it's an opportunity,

no matter why fans are there, I think is a really important one. And I was at the playoff game against Dallas as well. And I was with a few buddies. And there was kind of all along the spectrum of knowledge and interest in soccer, from very, very hardcore committed to like, oh, yeah, hey, it's a sporting event, whatever. And even the people on that,

that end of the spectrum. I mean, they played so well in that match. You don't need to know a lot about soccer to be like, oh, they are wiping the floor with Dallas here. And that's the kind of performance that's like, well, that was fun. Like, it's fun. Even if you're not a soccer aficionado and you don't necessarily know the vocab to describe it, you know what you're seeing.

And it's fun to go and cheer for a team that's capable of that type of dominant performance. And I'm not expecting that dominance against LAFC because they're such a good team. But I think there's a similar, as Bradley was saying, it should just be an incredibly entertaining match between two really good teams. And again, that's the kind of thing that just jumps out at you whether or not you're a soccer expert. It's a conference final worthy of an MLS cup final

to be perfectly. Isn't it a conference semifinal? What did I say? Final. Oh, sorry, it's a conference semifinal befitting of an MLS Cup final. And this has meant as no disrespect to some of the other teams left, especially in the East, but Philadelphia and Nashville, two of the remaining teams, don't really have a lot of star power or driving power

if they were to get to a final. The obvious goal for MLS is to have into Miami and Messi in this final. And I would suggest that right now they would be quite happy if it was either Vancouver or LASC in that final. This is meant as no disrespect to the other teams that are left. Like Minnesota is a very sort of workmanlike, a good quality squad, but no star players to the level. And San Diego is an interesting one because there's a neat storyline with being an expansion club and finishing first overall. in the West, and they've got nice players, but they are a virtual unknown across North America.

If San Diego goes all the way, I'm going to do a big rant about how it's a slap in the face for an expansion team to go to the MLS Cup final in their first season. Isn't it how outrageous it is? What kind of Mickey Mouse League lets an expansion team go all the way to its championship game? No, it's interesting. I guarantee you there are some people out there right now that didn't know that San Diego had a 100%

And that's fair It's a fifth tier league to a lot of people Which is why we've been talking about it so earnestly In the sense that we're not trying to promote something That doesn't deserve promotion And we're not trying to build up something Because it's a personal plight Or like want or need

Like this is something A moment in time that you might not actually get again You might not get a year Where Lionel Messi and Thomas Muller and Heung Minson, all these unbelievably legendary players come and play in Vancouver where they're still able to put on a show.

I think that's the important part. And with huge stakes. Yes. Not just, oh, they're here and the team sucks, but I'll go out and see them, but these are big games. These are massive games with huge implications and the white caps are challenging for a title. Like Thomas Mueller in the Canadian Championship. The one title that it always eluded him. What a moment

for him. Okay, we got to go to break. We got a lot more to get into on the program. Coming up on the other side, Luke Fox, NHL writer from Sportsnet is going to join the program. Relatively quiet night last night in the NHL with just four games. But it's a busier night tonight, 10 games on the slate. So we'll go around the league with Luke at 7. Then 7.30, Brady Henderson, our Seahawks Insider from ESPN is going to join us.

Massive, massive game on the weekend. The game of the week in the National Football League, Seahawks Rams from L.A. Two of the best teams in the entire NFC vying for top spot in the NFC West. So we'll talk to Brady about that at 730. and then at 8 o'clock, Thomas Drance. Canucks talk on SportsNet 650 and the athletic Vancouver. Drancer is going to join us to talk about

the upcoming game for the Vancouver Canucks. They practice today in Raleigh, and then they play the hurricanes tomorrow. That's a Friday night game. You can hear it all right here on SportsNet 650. Hour one is in the books. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show featuring Jamie Dodd on SportsNet 650.