Halford & Brough in the Morning - We've Got Whitecaps Playoff Action This Sunday!

Episode Date: October 24, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason look to Sunday's Whitecaps playoff match vs. FC Dallas with manager Jesper Sørensen, plus they set up tomorrow's BC Lions road game at the Riders, as radio commentator Bob "The Moj" Marjanovich 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.

704 on a fiesta Friday here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Halpert and Brough of 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 dash trustee.com. We are now in our two of the program. Hour two is brad to by Jason Homonock at Jason. 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.com. We're coming to live from the Kintech studio, Kintech footwear and orthotics. We're going together with you in step.

Hey, laddie. Guess what happens tonight? I don't know. What happens tonight? Game one of the World Series. Oh, yeah. Toronto Blue Jays taking on the Los Angeles Dodgers at the Rogers Center. And hey, vibe check.

The vibes are pretty high right now on the baseball front. And I'm going to bring AJ from AJ's pizza on East Broadway into the conversation now because AJ's both sides of the restaurant doing numbers with this fall baseball in the air. People are getting excited. It's become like the go-to baseball place. And then Lorraine, I'll say hi. Good morning, AJ. you doing, buddy. I am really good. Hey, guys, a little sullen today. I'm here to uplift everybody.

Come on. I know that I understand the Canucks. I get it. But yes to Friday, hey, laddie, and I mean this wholeheartedly, congratulations. Thank you. And, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, you say, you. I love it You set you up there, buddy You set you up there He sets them up He knocks him AJ AJ

He texted me yesterday And he said Hey man Like I love my family And everything But there's two things I really love Pizza and baseball So you're fired up right now

For the world series And you guys are doing crazy numbers At AJ's Hey AJ who are you cheering for buddy The Dodgers are from Brooklyn Oh come on That is Such a sneaky out

You know what? If they could both lose, I'm in. But hey, I was texting with Halford, and I said, I have an AUA, because it has been so insane at AJ's, a huge part to you guys. Who would be the best bouncer? So they need security at AJ's. They need a doorman. So we need security.

So out of view four, who would be the best? So Breft's got the most physically imposing stature of all of us, because you're six, five. You're 6-5, right? You can let everyone know. Have a little brag. Alford's worked security at hotels before. I've worked security before.

Not poorly, I might add. Right? Not good at it. I don't think I'd be good at de-escalating situations. No. I'd escalate them. No, you might escalate them, right? I was like, where's my taser?

I'm just looking for a table for two. That's right. Tase him. Shoot that guy. Shoot them. Just get rid of that guy right away. And then the dogs, of course, they have that dog in them. You would be good security dogs, which you all would always need.

It just seems like a really soft soul, so, like, yeah, I don't think Glad he's in. I let anyone in with the Jay's hat on. Right. And then there's A-Dog. Yeah, hey, it's going to be a great weekend. I mean, honestly, come on, it's epic. I mean, I, from the baseball to the white caps, which actually, you know what? I'm super excited about the white caps.

That's amazing. This weekend. And, hey, we're open to 10 a.m. again on Sunday, so everybody knows. Beautiful. Okay. So if you want to watch sports, drink beer, and eat pizza, there's no better place to do it than AJ's pizza on East Broadway. AJ, thanks for doing this as always, but enjoy the weekend.

It's going to be a lot of fun. Yeah, thank you guys too. Be safe. Take care and enjoy it. Thanks, AJ from AJ's pizza on East Broadway. Go check them out this weekend, 325 and 327 East Broadway. Okay, we're going to move along here. Esper Sorensen's going to join us in just a minute here.

AJ mentioned the White Caps game. White Caps play this Sunday, 430 kickoff at BC. Sunday's going to be a very very. very, very busy afternoon and evening in downtown Vancouver. You've got the white caps who are expecting potentially over 30,000 in attendance because they've opened the upper

bowl and they are looking to surpass the playoff attendance record they had a couple of years ago against LAAFC. That's 30,000. Then that night you've also got the Canucks playing against the Oilers 7 o'clock at Rogers Arena. You could do the double. You could do the double. You could do the double.

You could do the double. Let's go to the phone lines now. Our next guest is the manager of the Vancouver Whitecaps. Yesper Sorensen joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Yesper. How are you? I'm good, thanks. Thanks for taking the time to do this. I think I will only do the single, though.

I was going to say, you might be busy. You might have a few things on the go. I don't think I can make it to 7 o'clock, no, even though it's pretty close. Fair enough. That's totally understandable. I know you've done this a couple times already in your pre-match media, but I do want to ask for those listening and for us because we're curious. a couple health updates.

I'll just limit it to two in particular. We'll begin with your striker, Brian White. What is his availability going to be like for Sunday? Probably no availability. Okay. Yeah. Brian is not far from being ready for something, but for Sunday, I don't think so.

And then we'll go to the backline. Tristan Blackman, what about him for Sunday? He's a little bit further ahead. We have to see it's going to be a decision. today in training if he'll be able to make it or not yeah you know the probability is that he won't but the highest probability it would be that he won't but we see where is the level of optimism within the club in the group right now

going into training and then of course going into the Sunday match against a Dallas team that you guys just got to see and it was a very odd game last weekend with the red card early so a two-part question what did you learn or glean from Dallas and then what is the optimism going into a match, a rematch with them this Sunday at BC Place? Yeah, it was

we of course got to see them first hand and we saw that it's a really tough and hardworking fighting team you know it was a strange game

normally you know it's a big thing that you have a man send off but I think that it was a fairly good game still and we saw what they wanted to how they would like to attack us and it's not new that they play very direct and wants to attack us very direct

and then of course they're good at set plays and we have to be yeah we have to be ready and not make too many mistakes because we know that it's playoff time, so the room for error is not that big

because we don't just have another game coming next week. So everything is a little bit more, you know, you pay the steeper price every time. So I think it was a good game last time. Also, we learned from a couple of mistakes we made, but also we learned from how they play. And hopefully we can yeah, we'll be well prepared and then

we have to see. I think we'll be able to play a good game and I think that the players are positive and I have a very good confidence. Yesper, this is probably the best chance the Whitecaps have ever had in their franchise history to get an MLS Cup. What does it mean to have a guy like Thomas Mueller on the team

to help with that goal? Yeah, it means that you have you can look around and then you can see a guy that you know has done some of the biggest things you can never do in our sports. And then you have the confidence, yeah, of course, he's here to help me and he knows what it's about and he will keep cool.

And I think for a teammate, it gives yourself a little bit extra confidence and calmness. And that's really what it's about. People think that you want to hype up and want to be, of course, everybody wants to do everything they can. to win, but it's also about relaxing and not over, you know, overthink things, but play the way that brought you here. That's very important and not just focusing solely on the result. And I think Thomas will be a great player who can, yeah, I know he's a great player,

but he'll be a great person to help players stay calm and relax, but still focused. it's interesting they use the word calm a lot how do you prepare your team for things to not go perfectly in a game like you never know you can play another game and someone makes a bad bad tackle and you get another red card situation and you're going to have to stay

I imagine calm and composed in that situation so is there a way to prepare your team for things to go badly in a game I think yeah so I think playing 10 against 11 who we've tried a couple times now we played it in San Jose

we played it here and I think there are some things that you definitely want to prepare your team on if it's going to be this scenario and I would say

yeah I will not go into detail because I think it's it can be different depending on who you play I think some of the things you often do is that then you drop back a little bit too early or you don't go forward enough you give the ball away a little bit too early I think we saw the other day that we were playing much better with the ball

than we didn't San Jose when we were 10 against 11 and we used Joe Hay way better so we could we could equal it out especially in the first phase of the game and I think that the player utilized that. But, of course, it's not a thing that you would like to happen, but it can happen. And we prepare daily on things that can happen. So we should be prepared. So that's, again, preparation and execution is two different things, but you have to prepare to be ready to execute.

And I think that's what we've been doing all season long. And that's also why we're keeping a very strict structure. so we know that we, if something happens, then you don't play alone and you have the opportunity to get help from your teammates and the structure around you. We're speaking to Whitecaps manager, Jesper Sorensen here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Yesper, since Ryan Gould's return from injury,

it's been a very slow and methodical reintegration for him back into the squad. Is he ready to fully participate in a match now, both health-wise and fitness-wise, or is he still in that process of integrating back into the team? He's still in the progress of integrating back into the team. It was very positive the other day because he had some, yeah, the first games he's played, he had some, he could feel it in his knee afterwards and it was swollen afterwards, but now it was better.

So we have to, he's not fully ready to, if you're, think about playing 90 minutes or anything. But he participates in games, so he's fully ready to participate in games, but he's not ready to play full games. And we'll see where we can bring him the rest of the season, but of course it's a player that we would like to see on the pitch. Now, we've talked a lot about injuries already in this, like, segment alone. We've already gone through three different injuries that have hit your team,

not discounting the guys that have been lost for the entire year. One of the things that your squad has been able to do remarkably well this year is bring new players into the lineup and not just succeed with the results on the pitch but also keep the same style of play and not have to alter things even though the personnel is different. How do you go about giving the new players that come in

the confidence in the ability to play the same style even though they're replacing a player that like in the case of especially Ryan Gould is one of the best players on the team? Yeah, there's two things. One, you cannot replace players individually. attributes and what they can do individually

like Ryan but then there's other things you can do with the players you have available and I think Ryan can do what Ellie or Jaden can do but because they're so fast and that's

you know so you have to also play a certain style where you have a mix of players and a mix of ingredients into what your team can actually do and I think we've done that well I think that

every day when we train and we don't just train with one team up against another one we have a great coaching staff that really works well with every player and make sure that everybody is well integrated in what we want to do and how we want to do it and we've seen throughout the season

that yeah it's been there's been a lot of turnover So, for instance, the last game we played against Dallas here, we have four players in the starting lineup who was also starting in Mexico when we play Cruz Azul. So it's been a huge turnover of players throughout the season, but everybody has been doing very well. And I think that's, yeah, it's the players themselves

and the coaching staff, everybody has been working throughout the season, preparing everybody to when things happen because we know that players, will have their spots at some points throughout the season and just making sure that everybody is as healthy, as fit, as prepared as possible to when the day arise when you have to play. I think that's been, you know, also the mentality of the players have been very, very good because you can, you can, when you're not playing,

you can easily, you know, you want to play as a player and then you can easily get a little depressed and lose focus on what is really important for you and what you can do anything about. And then when you get given the chance, you're not really ready for it mentally. But I think everybody has been spot on and I'm ready for it all the time. The start of what will hopefully be a long MLS Cup playoff run begins on Sunday at 4.30 at BC place. It's the Vancouver Whitecaps in a best of three against Dallas FC.

Yesper, thank you very much for doing this today. We really appreciate it. Best of luck on Sunday. Go get a win. Thank you very much. and we'll do whatever we can. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Esper Sorensen. Whitecaps manager here on the Halford & Brough Show

on Sportsnet, 650. We're going to ask us anything for Mike here. Ask us anything if the White Caps can excel in the playoffs this year while the Canucks continue to disappoint, could this be a year where the Caps make up significant ground for popularity in this market? If they make a run to the finals, it could be paradigm shifting for this team

with regards to fan support. Yeah, I don't always look at this in like, I don't think Mike is insinuating this, but some people do. If the white caps gain more popularity, it doesn't mean it comes at the expense of the Canucks. They just gain more popularity. Yeah, that's fair. Do you know what I mean?

Believe it or not, it doesn't have to be a one or the other. Yeah, yeah. You know, not everything's like a zero-sum game for, you know, sports attention. You can, you know, if the white caps gain popularity, you can still maintain your level of interest in the Canucks and maybe just take away from time with your family or something like that. Sure. Start trying less at work.

There are other things that you can sacrifice to give your attention over to the Vancouver Whitecaps. Personal relationships, work commitments, all of those can fall by the wayside. By the way, the Joe Flacco audio was discussed at home yesterday. Yep, that's fair. I knew it. That was one of the funniest things. I knew it. I've ever heard.

Do you feel that way? See, I brought it up. I brought it up because we've had the conversation before. I've never eaten in a restaurant alone. You have. And you quite enjoy it. Quite enjoy it. I don't necessarily, I'm not scared of it.

Maybe I am at a deeper level. I think you're scared of being alone, buddy. But now, because Joe Flacco said so, not when you said it. When you said it, I was like, it's lame and sad. But Joe Flacco's a quarterback. He's cool and handsome. I don't know. I want to go back to what you were the text, though, with the white caps thing.

Okay, I'm going to be dead honest here. honesty time on the Halford and Brough show. I think it would benefit everybody, us more so, if this became a more robust, more multifaceted sports market. I'll be dead honest with you all at 722 on a Friday. Neither of us were super keen to come in this morning and talk about the Canucks game last night. I'll let that hang in the air there for a minute. But the game stunk.

It was not enjoyable to watch. And it wasn't, you know what, they're like, it's just not fun. It just wasn't fun. Yeah. It wasn't fun. It's why I was in a mood. I'm not in a mood because of the game. I'm in a mood that we have to like break it down.

So you break it down too much and people are like, you're being too negative. You don't break it down enough. And people are like, why are we talking about the NFL? And I'm like, I would love to get to a space where, you know, this market. And maybe the white caps and what you're talking about could kind of like forge that multifaceted. Where people are interested in a lot of different things. And maybe. the entire conversation isn't dictated

by a 2-1 loss in Nashville where the team looks exhausted and quite frankly not that good and there's some other stuff going on. I don't think that's a bad thing. I know that this is your home of the Canucks and yesterday I believe we had 11 hours of Canucks-related coverage programmed

here on SportsNet 650, but I'm also very interested this weekend in what the white caps are doing. And I'm very interested to see if the, honestly, if the Lions are going to win and book a home playoff date with a win What a great accomplishment would that, that would be considering where the team was like a month and a half ago. Back to back home playoff games at BC Place is an awesome thing, right?

People are going out, they're going downtown, they're going to the games, they're getting excited, they're getting behind it. And it's a good thing. It's an enjoyable thing. It's a fun thing. The World Series right now, like we haven't talked about it much, but I do want to reiterate, this is the most that I've paid attention to baseball in years. And I know I'm not alone. There's Lattie and other people. There's other humans that are interested in it.

But there's a good thing. It's exciting. It's interesting. The stakes are high. The games are intense. The volume is on at bars. It's captivating, right? And sometimes you need that.

It's not even a distraction. Don't think of it as a distraction. Think of it is that that passion that you have for sports and your local teams, it can go other places and it can spread its wings and fly. By the way, I did mention tonight, 5 o'clock, speaking of a diverse sports program here on SportsNet 650, we're going to have the Game 1 of the World Series right here after Connect Central starts at 5 o'clock. So it's time to do one to watch, brought to you by Limitless A.V., Vancouver's most trusted audiovisual integration experts. Tonight, one's the watch.

I think this one's pretty obvious. If you're watching the World Series, game one starter, Trey is Savage. A big, big moment for the rookie pitcher who does have 22 strikeouts across his playoff starts so far and that's kind of been the key to his success is getting whiffs,

not allowing run. The game against the Mariners when he didn't have a great start and gave up the early home run and wasn't, you know, didn't have the same whiff rate. It's going to be interesting to see if he can get that done against a Dodgers team

that's got good bats that was very effective throw these playoffs but they are going to need to deliver some kind of shot the Blue Jays are I feel in this series in game one Laddie your thoughts

Savage is the key you know that's a guy they haven't seen yet he wasn't with the team when they went to L.A. this year and he didn't even have a chance to look at him so he's the guy he's the guy

like obviously Vlady has to hit and you know everything else has to happen but for me he is I don't want to say a secret weapon but kind of close there's a reason they're starting him in game one I think

there's a reason that they're trotting out there tonight using Gossman in game seven and kind of facilitated that, but yeah. But I think everyone sees the blueprint here, like what it is and what he represents to deliver that first blow against the Dodgers team that is a heavy, heavy favorite in this series.

So tonight's one to watch, Trey Savage, brought to you by Limitless AV, Vancouver's most trusted audiovisual integration experts, specializing in seamless video conferencing solutions and hybrid workspaces. Book your personalized tour of their experience center today at limitlessav.ca.com. You're listening to the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650.

Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Strance. Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on Sportsnet 650. Or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. It's the moche. 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 to. It's the moch. I went online and kind of did a little serving. Jamalaya. Yes, it's the moch. Halpert's fine, but, you know, brook is just grumpy all the time. Moach, moach, mooch, mooch, mooch, mooch, mooch, mooch, mooch, mooch, mooch. It's the moch, moch, moch, moch, moch, moch, moch, moch, moch, moch, it's the moch, moch, moch, moch.

It's the moch. 734 on a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody. Halford Brough, SportsNet 650. Halford and Bruff in 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 in our two of the program. It's the midway point of the show. Moge is going to join us in just a moment here. Our two of this program is brought to by Jason hominock at jason.morgage. 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. Before we get to Moge, it's not quite breaking news, but it's big news from the World Series and the world of baseball. The Blue Jays have announced their official World Series roster. Boba Chet is indeed on that roster. Hard lines to you, Joey Lopafito. You will not be participating in the fall classic. Anyway, let's go now to the phone lines.

Bob the Moge Marjanovich, play-by-play voice of the BC Lions, joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sports 9-650. What up, Moge? Good morning, gentlemen. Let's, before we get into all of your talking points of the day, I just want to set the table for what's at stake this week, and it's pretty simple, right?

Lions go to Saskatchewan, win, and you're in to hosting the West semifinal, and Calgary will be coming to BC Place on November 1st, so I have it all right. lines are seven and a half point favorites which suggests to me that the odds makers at least don't believe that Saskatchewan is going to field their full strength team do we have it all right moj yeah i'm hearing just listening where you guys are saying that's all um yeah from what i'm hearing Saskatchewan Trevor harris will probably play as much as a half um they are going to rest some

regulars but you know this is a team that has some pretty good talent we saw that last week. I mean, they hung in there with Winnipeg with basically their C team. And they're guys that are out there. They're playing for maybe jobs. I mean, and I'm talking about guys that are second stringers. A perfect example is a guy like Antoine Brooks. He came in and looked great for the riders. There's a guy that could probably wind up getting a gig somewhere in the CFL. So it's going to be an interesting game. There's a very interesting dynamic to it because, as we mentioned, we don't know what Saskatchewan is going to do, what their strategy is and personnel. But the simple fact of the matter is this

the Lions take care of business they host a playoff game if they don't well then things get dicey they'll know their fate prior to the game because this will be the last game of the schedule but yeah if they lose this game then it's either to Calgary or probably to Montreal

so it's pretty crazy that the Lions are in this position to host a playoff game I know the CFL oftentimes teams go on heaters in the second half of the season and they're able to go in with some great momentum into the playoffs. But be honest with this moge, when it was those dog days of summer and the lion's defense was getting gouged, did you think that they'd be in this position in week 21 where

they'd be able to win and clinch a home playoff game? Well, I always thought they'd be in the hunt for the playoffs, but yeah, I was surprised. You know, to be honest, if you recall at the start of the year, A-Dog, of course, mysteriously loses these tapes, the audio to it. We don't have tape anymore, I guess, but he loses the other. What did I tell you guys at the start of the year? This team will get get better as the season progresses under Buck Pearson. I really believe that. But what's really shocked me is how well the defense is performed in the second half

while the last four or five games, I guess. They've really turned it around. They've got a couple of, they made some changes in terms of personnel bringing in Levi Bell and Bradley and I. That helped the defensive line. T.J. Lees kind of studied the secondary a little bit. And all of a sudden, they've gone to, they've transformed into a defense that's playing with a lot of confidence and a lot of aggression.

We're speaking of Bob the Moge, Marjohnovich, here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Okay, Moge, tell us about the Lions nominees for the MOP Awards. You know, it's interesting. When you look at the awards, if you look at them in, I'll use the Securian term here, silos, individually, I think a lot, probably maybe like four candidates,

four really strong candidates, but I think when it's all said and done, because of biases and such, I think you're going to see Nathan Rourke when the most outstanding player, the most outstanding Canadian, that's almost a slam. Well, the most outstanding Canadians

is a slam dunk. The most outstanding player, there's a real debate going on between him and Bull Levi-Metrel from Hamilton, but I think Rourke's ability to run, I think he's like the league's seventh or eighth leading rusher will probably tip the scales in his favor. I believe Jarrell Broxton should be the most

outstanding lineman in the league. I mean, the least amount of sacks, the highest-scoring offense, and he's the best linemen on the team. But, you know, there's going to be competition there from Jamarck out of Saskatchewan and Stanley Bryan out of Winnipeg. I think Robert Carter's had a great season.

The Lions rookie corner, of course, he's been a human highlight reel. Troy Vival from Winnipeg will probably get the nod. I'm not a big fan of giving a player on specials nod over the nod over a guy who plays defense. To me, the guy who plays defense on a regular basis carries a little more weight, but Vival's the sexier pick. So you'll probably see Rourke come away with a couple.

And as far as the most outstanding defensive player of the year award, Matthew Betts will probably wind up winning that. If not, I'd be surprised. Okay, let's turn our attention to the Vancouver Canucks. You know what? I'm just going to read Moge's notes verbatim, and then you can take it away. You ready for this? Yeah.

Ha, ha. EP40, Canucks start. Moge, go. Well, I'm just kind of chuckling because, you know, everyone's talking about EP40 and his start. Here's the thing that I don't see from his game. fellas, and you tell me if I'm wrong. Do you see any dynamic play from him?

Do you see that explosion? Do you see that ability to beat players one-on-one and create space and create chances? I haven't seen any of it yet. I mean, he's been okay, but you're not paying a guy $11 million to be okay. He's got to be a difference maker. And right now, man, I just haven't seen it. And I don't know, you guys tell me if I'm wrong. But that's probably the biggest thing that I've seen with Pedersen is the fact that

that what I haven't seen I just haven't seen that dynamic play from them. I am beginning to just slump onto the desk right now. Third period, third period yesterday. We talked about this earlier in the show.

It was pretty dire times for the Canucks offensively. And I was half jokingly but also I gave Pedersen credit because when he made his foray into the Nashville zone, I was like, hey look, he's trying to do stuff.

He's trying to do some Dickey Pete stuff. And then what happened? He got flattened. And I think you said it was Cole Smith. I think he might have got his skate pushed out from under him. But still. Like he tried it and it didn't work. And I was like, so back to your point.

We've been talking about this since the All-Star game. It's now almost two years. What the hell happened at that All-Star game? That's when it all fell apart. when the Canucks started to pressure him to sign that contract, I'm not saying it's related, but it might be. He has fallen off in a way that I have not seen a player fall off, and you can show me all the advanced analytics you want.

Use your eyes. Moge, what you're saying is exactly right, and I just, I don't know, man. I have no idea. Here's the thing, though, like you see that drop off or that fall off, maybe if a player's like 31 or 32 like you know you know age catches up to everybody but this guy should be in his prime right now and man like I said I just don't see that explosiveness in his play that dynamic component to his game and yeah I'm with you guys just scratching my head going

where did it go I mean it's a great question because we've talked about the fall off the precipitous fall off. And have you, you've seen this too, bro, for people texting in and I don't know how similar it is, but the Linae fall off is the other one too. They're like, when is the last time we've seen someone reach the heights that they did early in their career? And for

you, you, use, though, there that don't remember when Linae broke in, I distinctly remember people like, this is the finish Ovechkin. That's what it's going to be. It's going to be a guy that's lock him in for 50 goals every year. And he's a shadow of him, his former self. He played with such joy, and he played with such excitement and,

you know, Moge, like, he was dynamic out there. He was, he was hungry, he was hungry for the scoring opportunities, hungry for the puck. I mean, that Canucks power play out, Moj, I don't know if you had a chance to watch the game last night. Oh, yeah, I did. I mean, the Canucks had, what, four power plays in the first period? And nothing, no goals.

And then the five on three, the extended five on three at the end of the period, they just had no, like, what were they trying to set up there? It didn't look like they really knew. There was no, like, hey, like there was no go-to play that they were trying to set up. Yeah, you know, like the lack of scoring opportunities on the power play particularly are mesmerizing. But, you know, I look at the big picture as well. As I heard Frank Sarvelli talking about this this week with you guys. This isn't sustainable.

I'm sorry, Keeper Shrew can't be your leaning scorer if you're going to be a playoff team. And I love Keeper Sherwood. I wish everybody played with the emotion that Keeper Sherwood plays with. But, man, I'm just looking at this team right now and going, if Patterson doesn't get going if this power play doesn't get going, they need that power play operating at peak efficiency because they're not going to be scoring goals and bushels otherwise, right? I mean, this isn't a highly productive offensive team,

given its lack of depth in terms of the center ice position. So they need that power play to click. And the other thing, too, with Quinn Hughes, man, you talk about frustration. I mean, you know, everyone's talking about his body language and such, you know, slam on the stick. I wonder if this is getting to him as well, right? Because clearly, I mean, there's a sense of frustration there with Quinn Hughes. For sure. Hey, Moj, Alfred and I had a bit of a sports radio argument yesterday.

And we were talking about what the fan reaction for J.T. Miller is going to be on Tuesday. when the Rangers are back in town. What do you think it'll be? I thought you guys were talking about poker or something. I would probably, I think it's going to be a really solid reaction for J.T. Miller. I mean, the fans love him here in Vancouver. Make no mistake about it. I mean, you'll probably hear a couple of those J.T. Miller chants come up at some point, I imagine.

But, yeah, I think he's going to get a great reception at Rogers Arena when the Rangers come to town without it done. I mean, especially given the way that Pedersen has played to start the season, right? I mean, you know, you look at that, either you're in the Pedersen camp or in the Miller camp. Right now, I think a lot more people are going to be in the J.T. Miller camp. Mojee-N-Norke agrees with me. Oh, well, there's an endorsement. We're speaking to Bob, the Moge-Marjanovitch, here on an Alphabet of Brough show on Sportsnet 615. Thanks, Mike. I appreciate that vote of confidence.

Oh, by the way, we're giving away Food Fighters tickets this morning. I should mention we're going to be doing the call at 8 o'clock. Food Fighters. Caller number 5 at 8 a.m. 604-280-0-0-6-50. That number again, 604-2-80-6-50. A pair of tickets to see the Food Fighters with Queens of the Stone Age and gouge away.

Moj, I know you wanted to know if we're Food Fighters fans. I want to know is Moge a Food Fighters fan. Do you guys ever hear my Super Bowl foo fighter story? No, tell it. You never heard this? Nope. Oh, my gosh. All right. So

go to the Wheels Up party on a Saturday. I want to say it was Atlanta. I think it was the Atlanta Super Bowl. Okay. And I start chatting with, of these guys. This guy's got a South Carolina jacket on, right? So I'm kind of chatting with him and him and his friends.

His friends are from Montreal, and we're talking about, you know, from Vancouver and said, hey, I go, did you play football at South Carolina? He goes, no, I did. And he goes, I go, we had a couple guys in the lines that come from South Carolina. I said, so we kind of introduced each other, everybody kind of introduced. I go, say, how are you doing? Jackie Bradley Jr.

I'm like, Jackie Bradley Jr., the guy that played center field for the Red Sox, he goes, yeah. So we start chatting about what we're to do that night. So what are you guys doing? They go, we have no plans you want to see when you, you know, figure something out, maybe go to one of the events or whatever. So I phone my buddy up, who's the VIP concierge.

He goes, you got Jackie Bradley Jr. with you? He goes, yeah, he goes, the Foo Fighters manager is a huge Red Sox fan. He goes, I'll get you some backstage passes to the Foo Fighters. They played the direct TV concert that night in a kind of like a temporary 4,000, seat facility. It was, you know, like, you know, the scaffolding and the tenting and all that. It was like a temporary little mini stadium that they had the direct TV party at. So we get five tickets. I tell Jackie Bradley Jr., there's four of them. He goes, well, there's four of us going an extra pass. It goes, when you come with us? All right. Show up to the event. Go to this trailer to get

the passes. And I said, sir, where do we stand? Oh, you go on this line over here. Like, there's a huge line to get in. All of a sudden, lady comes out of the trailer. She goes, no, come with me. We go to the back of the arena backstage. And we're sitting there. Peyton Manning was there. All of a sudden, the Food Fighters manager comes over and starts talking to Jackie Bradley in our group.

And I'm looking over at this guy who's taking pictures with someone. And the manager looks over and says, you know who that is? I go, no, I'm sure he goes, that's Roger Taylor from Queen. Wow. He goes, you should get your picture taken with him as well. So I walk over, get a picture

with Roger Taylor. Like I said, backstage passes were right by the stage the entire night for the concert, had a great time. And at the end of the night, go to the backstage pass for like the little after-party, and I bump into Dave Grohl, right? There's actually a video that Ryan Henderson has where I send him a video of Dave Grohl and I. And Dave's going like, Ryan, where were you? You missed him good.

He's chirping Henderson, right, because he wasn't at the concert. Henderson got it. He said they, like, he almost drove out the road after, you know, seeing Dave girl give him a personal message. But yeah, that was my food fighter story. Probably one of the best Super Bowl stories that I've got, but that was a great, great night. Honestly, Moge, that story, your name drops per 60. That was an elite Moge story. Can I also?

You even threw in like, there's like, paint manning gets in there. So, yeah, by the way, Neil Armstrong was there. No, no, no, no, no, Peyton was there. But, you know, if you want, there's, like, there's visual confirmation of this. If you go on my Instagram page, I put a big post on. and I bet the real moge. But yeah, it was a great night. And the concert, when Roger Taylor came out and played under pressure,

oh, like the place just blew up. I mean, it was just such a cool concert that night. It was such a great time, yeah. But yeah, a great food fighter story for you. So when you were telling a story, I actually did remember when you jogged my memory. And I also remembered, and this is also crazy. There's not just video confirmation. Mass Live, the Massachusetts Live, the newspaper group,

did our interview with Jack. Bradley Jr. And he talks about going to that concert. With Moge? Yes. Well, he didn't mention Moge. But he mentions everyone else. Direct TV, go into their...

And then I think, like, the bouncer was there or something? You know, he mentioned Joe Montana. He mentioned Peyton Manning. He didn't mention the third member of that group, Bob Marjanovich. But he mentioned everyone else. So, yeah, that is a very good Super Bowl story, Moge. I like that one. Okay.

There you go. Finally, before we go, you really did work today. These notes are fantastic. His own food-related, ask us anything. I don't know where we're going with this, but the best high-end chocolate. Well, he kind of started last week when I was talking to Aiden Emberhard of the lines. Yep.

He had some wine gums of practice one day. And I said, no, no, no. You got to get the Maynard strawberry gums, right? So I left him a pack at the game last week at a BC place. And I saw him at practice. He goes, man, he goes, those are like, Those are red. They're so good.

So today, actually, I've got some chocolate that I'm going to bring in for the flight to resign in a couple of hours. But high-end chocolate, right? I mean, are you a Lynn guy, are you a Toborone guy, or are you a Brookside guy? Have you guys ever tried Brookside chocolates? Never tried that. Are they the ones that have the chocolate covered blueberries? Yeah.

Yeah. They're good. They're really good. Yeah. And they have cranberry as well. Yeah, those are good. I like Lynde at Christmas. The blueberry ones are phenomenal.

And I love Lynn, too. I mean, to me, Lins are like, I... Is that high end, though? No, you know what? I shouldn't say it's high end. And I feel like if you can buy it in London drugs, you're not... Yeah. It's not super high end.

I should say high end. Could I have the Lind, please, sir? But, I mean, it's just, you know, it's a little above the old chocolate bar scale. Yes, sure. It's not like, you know, the snotty Westman. I get my chocolates from Belgium for $200 a case or whatever. high end, but it's like, you know, say mid-range. So, yeah, I was just wondering, if you guys are you like Brookside guys, are you letting guys?

I mean, you know, Halloween coming up. Yeah. Or is Brough just basically an old Henry guy. Oh, I had a Kit Kat yesterday, which I enjoyed. By the way, I really enjoy the idea that some guy was just eating wine gums and Mojo went up to him and was like, no, no, no, no, no. You're not eating wine gums the right way. But he's right.

There's Maynard's in a class all by itself And then second tier are like water bridge I just feel like did Moj usually like knock The wine gums out of his hands Just slap them out of his hand What are you doing? Moj You're the best buddy

It's going to be a pretty crazy sports weekend World Series on Canucks have two home games Against Montreal and Edmonton Before preparing for that Tuesday game Against the Rangers The Lions Big gamer

Regina hope they get it done the white caps have a playoff game Halford and I were joking around there was like I think we're like the Seahawks have a buy week and we might have an NFL by week as well just because like we don't have the bandwidth to keep up with all the sports There's so much going on and you know it's good like you said

it's going to be a great weekend for sports fans with everything that's happening travel safe buddy have a good call enjoy Saski pal adios amigos have a good weekend see you Bob the Mojvajon Janovic here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650 I'm a chocaholic Big time.

Oh, yeah, way in on this. I didn't want to, like, interrupt Moge because he was going off and it was really, really fun. You don't want to interrupt Moge. No, no, of course. That's some legendary stories right there. The name drops per 60. I love that. But no, at my work, we sell these chocolate bars made by one woman in her kitchen.

A company's called, I can never pronounce it. O-N-M-E-L. It's a strange name. $15 a chocolate bar. They're not cheap. Okay. But it is honestly the best. Is it local?

Yeah. Yeah, it's a local company. Better be the best chocolate bar. It is the best chocolate. You didn't really sell me. I was like, it's made by some woman in her kitchen. It's one woman's show, and she's incredible, and she comes by, like, once a week and drops these off for us. At first, when I saw the sticker, I was like, okay, this better be the best damn chocolate I've ever had because it's $15 a chocolate bar.

But they're big bars, too, though. They're not small. They're really big bars. What is it called again? Spell it? O-E-N-O-M-E-L. I think it's O-N-M-M-L. Can you do it again?

O-E-N-O-M-E-L is the company. should tell her is to get a better name. It's a hard name to pronounce. I work in radio and I cannot promote your product. But honestly, it's one of those things when you have the chocolate, you're like, this is the best chocolate I've had in my entire life. It's honestly incredible. It's so damn good.

And I'm a guy that loves his chocolate. And I have nothing against lint or any of the other high-end ones. You can get London drugs or whatever. But this is like a tier above. If you really want to go like to like the crim to the cram to the cram of chocolate, that's the one to get. All right. We're going to go to break.

when we come back, it's the final hour of the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650. If you thought it was unhinged already, while Rick Dollywell is on the other side of the break. We're also going to do what we learns, and we're going to ask us anything's giving away a $100 gift card to A.J's pizza on East Broadway. Finally, a friendly reminder at 8 a.m.,

so in five minutes time, call in to get a pair of tickets to see the Food Fighters. We're giving away a pair today, and then Monday Tuesday. Food Fighters. Monday, Tuesday, I forgot we were doing that. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Wednesday, next week. The concert is September 20th, 2026, in case someone, someone was asking, when's the concert? I'm like a year. Tickets go on sale Friday, October 31st, which is Halloween. But you can get tickets today and Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday next week. Caller number five at 8 o'clock,

604-280-650. That number again, 604-280-650. A pair of Food Fighters tickets. Caller number five at 8 a.m. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650.