Halford & Brough in the Morning - Will Canada's Goaltending Be Up To The Task At The 4 Nations?

Episode Date: February 12, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), plus they preview tonight's 4 Nations Canada vs. Sweden matchup with Sportsnet's David Amber (27:01). 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.

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And that kid's got fire in the belly. He's a competitor. We're really confident in him. Four Nations facing off. Good morning, Vancouver. 6 o'clock on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday everybody. This is Alfred, it is Brough, it is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios of beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good

morning to you. Four nations facing off. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Alfred and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling.

Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Palisade Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. So Adog, how many nations are participating

in this year's tournament? Four nations. And Greg, what are they doing again? I believe they're facing off. Oh, okay, that's good. That's good, happy Four Nations Face face off day everybody the tournament gets underway tonight Five o'clock you can listen to it hear it watch it all here on sports at the television version Of course Canada Sweden at five we will be doing a whole lot of stuff leading up to the game today our guest list begins

Today at 630 David Amber is gonna join us Roger sports Roger, Sportsnet, Hockey Night Canada, NHL host. Coverage begins on TV at 4.30. David will be walking you through it. He'll be hosting the intermission panels as well. We'll talk to him, not just about tonight's game, but looking at the tournament as an entire entity. Seven o'clock, Frank Saravalli is going to join the program. Friendly reminder, there is no roster freeze during the break for the

Four Nations faceoff. That means that teams have to remain cap compliant and players, and here's the kicker, are subject to trades and waivers. So I'll ask Frank about all these teams that may need to be making moves ahead of the March trade deadline. Montreal, St. Louis, Seattle. What's Carolina going to do with Rantan? What's Colorado going to do? It's two C position, maybe Buffalo. They stink. What are they going to do? We'll talk to Frank about all that.

That's seven o'clock. 7.30, the man on the call tonight for Canada, Sweden, Chris Cuthbert's going to join the program. Uh, we will get our first look at Canada tonight and maybe for Canucks fans as importantly, what Elias Pedersen looks like for team Sweden, we should also talk to Chris about the

importance and significance of international best on best hockey because he of course is the voice of one of the most iconic goals in Canadian hockey history, the golden goal from Sidney Crosby in 2010. So we'll talk to Chris about that. What was that goal about? The 2010 goal, the golden goal. Was it a big goal? It was fairly noteworthy. Oh, okay. It had its time.

What happened? You know what happened? Did we win? We did win. Okay, spoiler alert. I was going to save it for the interview, but spoiler alert. That's awesome. We won.

Go Canada. Good for Canada. There were more than four nations facing off. Do you think Crosby knew at the time when he scored that goal that he would eventually be saying four nations facing off? All right over and over again. We're gonna need to let people in on this game. Four nations facing off. Four faces nationing off.

So, ahead of these tournaments the broadcaster cuts a bunch of promos with the players involved and one of them was Sidney Crosby and you know I was joking the other day when we were at NBC we had to do one of these for rivalry night androsby. And, you know, I was joking the other day when we were at NBC. We had to do one of these for rivalry night and you get the guy to look into the camera and usually try and, you know, deliver a line with impact. Well, Sidney Crosby, I don't know why it's so funny, but it's Sidney Crosby explaining the entirety of the tournament in four words. More nations facing off.

I mean, he nailed it, right? That's exactly what it is. Aren't there a couple versions of it? Yeah. He says it like four or five times. And you can see kind of like in his eyes that he's had enough of saying these four words. 300 take.

It's up and at him. It was like, you know the Russell Wilson when he joined the Denver Broncos and it was Broncos nation Let's ride and he you know over and over and over again. So someone on Twitter put together I'm not joking 60 minutes worth of Sidney Crosby say four nations facing off. He did it for an hour 60 minutes consecutively on a loop you think at the end of his career when he looks back on it He'll think of that moment more than anything else?

Golden goal, 1-B and then Four Nations facing off 1-A. Yeah, definitely. Okay, so Chris Cuthbert is going to join us at 7.30 by the way. 8 o'clock, Adam Kiersenblatt is going to join us. The Hockey News, Vancouver Canucks reporter. We'll talk to him about the two guys from the Canucks at the Four Nations face off. Elias Pettersson and his reset as he goes into play for Team Sweden.

Kevin Lanken again, again, anytime for Finland in the tournament. We can talk about Quinn Hughes. The vibe in the Canucks room. What has it been like since the two big trades? And Adam wants to discuss, I'm just going to read this verbatim from his notes, why the city of Vancouver should announce

a Louis Erickson day. So we'll leave that one hanging out there. Louis Erickson day. Do we all get money? Free money. I don't know. We're doing nothing. The city of Vancouver takes $36 million and has a bonfire.

You gotta make a shot from your own end into your own net though. That's the challenge. That's the tease. We're gonna find out why at eight o'clock with Adam Kears and Blatt. Good on the PK. So working in reverse on the guest list.

Maybe you can ask him why Elias Pedersen's skating so much faster at the Sweden practice. Did you see that clip? Jumping in steps. Did you see that clip? How could I not see that clip? Wow, he's going fast. Wow, he's moving out there.

Yeah. The tendonitis must free itself. Now speedonitis. For the four nations facing off. That's right. Tendonitis, loosening up. 8 o'clock, Adam Kears and Blatt, 7.30, Chris Cuthbert, 7 o'clock, Frank Cerarelli, 6.30, David Amber. Also a reminder, we are once again giving away a pair of tickets to the HSBC

Rugby Sevens, which will go later this month at BC Place. If you want to go to the Sevens, be caller number seven at 815 this morning. The phone number here 604-280-0650. That number again 604-280-0650. Rugby Sevens tickets, be caller number seven at 815. Your chance to win a pair. If you don't win today, don't worry. We are giving them away every day this week.

Okay, that's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Missed it?

You missed that? No. What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. The big news, yesterday coming from Canada's practice and as you briefly heard in our intro, Jordan Binnington will be Canada's starting goaltender when the four nations face off

beginning tonight at 5 o'clock against Sweden. Yeah, I don't think it's a stretch to suggest that if Canada does not win this tournament, goaltending could easily be the reason why. Not just the potential for Bennington to play poorly, but the potential to get goalied by one of the other teams. Now, that being said, it's really, it's been such a main talking point, the fact that Canadian goaltending isn't what the Americans have or the Swedes have. And I know in the athletic today, there's going to

be an article on what has happened to Canadian goaltending. So some of you guys might be reading that. Again, all that being said, I feel like only the Americans should be feeling really good about their goaltending situation and laddie agree with me or not here. Um, like are the, are the Finns feeling great

about their goaltending with the way that, um, like, who's it going to be? UC Saros? It will be UC Saros. UC Saros. He's got like an 899 save percentage this season for Nashville. That's a pretty good track record though. I think they're feeling okay.

Lankenen can go in there and I wonder if you will see any action. And then in Sweden, you've got Jacob Markströminjer, so he's not able to play. Who's the starter there then? I asked Ladi before the show. Who's the obvious starter there? So they've got two choices right now, right? It's either gonna be Linus Ahlmark or it's gonna be Philip Gustafsson.

And if you were Sam Hallam, oh Sam Hallam, who would you pick to start against Canada tonight? I know Gustafsson's the hotter goaltender in terms of right now. I think I would go with the recent Vezna winner though, in Ulmark. If you have one at your disposal, you might as well just throw him in there.

Right. How confident would you be though? Like do you see- Pretty confident. Do you get what I'm saying though? Like in that, like how has Ulmark been in all, he had a pretty slow start. He had a slow start, then he went on an insane run.

Okay. And then he's been sort of- Then he got hurt. Yeah, then he got hurt and he's been sort of average just coming back. So it's been up and down, but he has obviously a high ceiling and in a small tournament, why not go with the guy with the highest ceiling?

So I feel like only the Americans should be feeling really good about their goal tending. And even then, if you want to get nitpicky, Hellebuck's performances in the last two playoffs have people wondering if he's a pressure performer or not. I think those are such small sample sizes that you're, that you throw them out.

And I, I would, I'm worried about Hellebuck, uh, beating Canada in this tournament, but you know, it's such a short tournament that any of these guys are capable of having a good game and any of them are having, capable of having a bad game. Like it is very short and it kind of gets me to the next point that I wanted to talk about. Um, Canada has typically come out a little slow in these best on best tourneys.

We talked about it, uh, I think earlier in the week when we were going through the history of best on best international hockey from a Canadian perspective. And you know, that 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake, they were pretty dreadful for the first three games and Wayne Gretzky got all upset and then they eventually won the gold. It's been the same in a few other tournaments, but. They can't afford to in this one. If they lose to Sweden tonight, they'll be in tough to make the finals. Like all of a sudden they're like, Oh my God, like if you lose your first game,

you're, you're, you're not done, but you have to win the next two. You absolutely have to. And even then I suppose there's the potential for three teams to finish two on one, one team to finish oh and three, and then you're looking at tiebreakers, whatever they are. So Canada better find their chemistry and get going quickly.

And John Cooper, the head coach of Canada was even saying that yesterday. He said, you know, it's not like the world championship where there's a whole bunch of preliminary games and you can put guys in and out for everybody. That includes forwards, defensemen, everybody. This is it. You lose your first game.

Now what? And that's why we hope that John Cooper has put the lines together in the right way. Now with all of Canada's talent upfront, I don't know if there's a wrong way to put the lines, but my whole point is like, if you were just like, yeah, I'll get into this tournament later, like, no, start watching tonight because if Canada loses.

Well, there's no later. There's no, yeah, there's no, there's very, very slim margin for error here. Yeah, so a few things to unpack there. One, the reason that Canada's had issues at tournaments past in terms of slow starts is people have the expectations that when you throw such elite level talent together,

that instantly it's going to look like a video game and it's going to click, and they're going to be racking up tons of points. And it hasn't always worked that way. Finding the chemistry on the lines has proven to be a more difficult thing. And I do wonder if we got a nod to that, even from the first day of practice

to the second day of practice, because Canada did make shifts to their alignment. For example, Sidney Crosby opened the first day of practice as a center. He was centering Mark Stone and Nathan McKinnon. When they returned for their second day of practice, Crosby had been bounced out to the wing and Nathan McKinnon, who by the way, a lot of people were kind of wondering if this was going to be the move, got shifted back to center because he's such a puck dominant guy. And the thought was maybe Crosby in terms of style and chemistry and continuity

would be more amenable to having the puck on his stick less because I don't know maybe he's a more cerebral player or maybe at this stage of his career he understands that he can be on the perimeter more and allow a guy like McKinnon to do the things that he wants to do. But in a short tournament you don't have a lot of time to figure these things out. Like when Crosby was speaking about making the move to the wing yesterday, he said two things. He's like, you need to figure it out quick.

He's like, this sucks. This is where the bad players go. I don't want to be out here. What am I doing out here? I'm Sidney Crosby. He also said that, you know, you have to approach it with the mindset that all you can do is just continually get better. Like if we don't have a great first game,

it's like whatever, we have to get better in a hurry because our tournament's now on the line. If the results don't go Canada's way tonight, then all of a sudden Saturday's game, which was a huge game to begin with, because it was the US, five o'clock Saturday night, the entire country watching, the stakes would be even higher because

of that. Now, speaking of high stakes when it comes to Bennington, I was listening to Frankie Corrado and Anthony Stewart, both of whom know, apparently they were talking about know Bennington really well. They liked the choice of him over Hill as the starter. They might be the only two people that like it because the, the visceral reaction to have Bennington one on the team and then two in net has been pretty overwhelming. Like I, you know, it was funny when we were doing the from who, from who just listeners and

fans, listeners, social media, whatever, take your pick, uh, laddie in the intro. I mean, you want to talk about when we talked yesterday about unlikeable players and guys on Team Canada that you're going to have to kind of force yourself to cheer for. We focused on Marshawn. I think we missed the conversation about Bennington because you want to talk about a guy that's got a lot at stake

going into this tournament. He's not having an especially good time with the St. Louis Blues. And to be dead honest, there have been more downs than ups since they won the Stanley Cup in 2019 his numbers this year are not great I cannot remember the last time the Canada went into a tournament of this importance With this much on the line with a goalie Who had a losing record and a sub 900 save percentage for a non playoff team is Don Sweeney the GM

Yes, okay, so Sweeney the GM? Yes. Okay, so how much of the decision around this has to do with the fact that it was his team that Bennington went in and beat in 2000? I mean, that was a while ago now. Yes, it was six years ago. If that's the decision-making process,

I'd like to discuss. No, no, no, but he did mention it. I know. He did mention it. I've seen it like, because- And I didn't like it when he mentioned it. Again, in 2019, it was a bit of a odd time in Canada because the Stanley Cup final kind of got backburnered because the Raptors were in the final.

So there was a lot of focus on the NBA. Except for this guy. Wow. I mean, it was a terrific series. Yeah, it was good. And Jordan Bennington went into Boston in game seven and played one of the better games you'll ever see from a goalie in a game, in a game seven, the Stanley. And it was on the road, right?

And the blues had blown their chance to win the Stanley Cup at home in game six. And a lot of people thought, okay, well, Boston's going to go win it at home. The blues had their chance. Now it's over. And it was the Bruins who blew it really, cause they couldn't beat Bennington early on.

And then the blues, in case, I don't know, it was a while, long time ago, but you know, they took over the game and they won the game and people in Boston were shocked. And, and I think that has the ability, like it was just one game and I know it was six years ago, but it leaves such an impression, right? Yeah.

I don't know if that's a good thing though. Here's, I'm going to put on my. No, I, I, I agree. Like it's been tough since then. I'm going to put on my international football cap here for a moment and talk about, cause obviously, uh, in soccer, international football, when the international windows happen, um, they happen one with much greater regularity and frequency than

what we're getting here. The 11 year span between having to choose best on best, but there's always the conversation between what you've done for your country or what you've done in terms of your reputation and then the 11 year span between having to choose best on best. But there's always the conversation between what you've done for your country or what you've done in terms of your reputation and then what your current form is. And every international manager is tasked with balancing,

well, do I go with the guy that I know and I trust and has done it before? Or do I acknowledge that in a domestic league, this particular player is tearing it up and is in the better form and quite frankly, is playing like that's a big part of it. Do I take a guy that's been hurt for the last couple of months and take them to go play

Lichtenstein away in March? Or do I take a guy that maybe I don't know as well, but is lighting up, I don't know, the Portuguese league or something like that. I take your pick, right? So in good. But there are always those debates, even in soccer, right? Like, like, like, you know, the Portuguese league or something like that, take your pick, right? So in. But there are always those debates, even in soccer, right?

Like, like, like, you know, with England, for example, there was that loyalty to Harry McGuire, even if he wouldn't be even playing for Manchester United, you know, and that, and that was what a lot of fans had issues with frankly. Uh, Harry Kane at the most recent Euro where a lot of people were saying he's there just because his name is Harry Kane. You've got a young striker specifically Cole

Palmer why not give him a look because he's the more informed striker with the goaltending it feels like they went exclusively with either guys that they knew or guys that they trusted because the three most informed goalies right now are all in Cabo well I, I like your theory, Jason, about the Don Sweeney theory, but I think when you're alluding to a Thompson being on the board and not taken. Thompson, Kemper.

It has more to do with Bruce Cassidy and Peter DeBoer from the information that we've received recently that they don't like Logan Thompson. They're not huge fans of Logan Thompson. But that only speaks more to this dynamic. That you're basing your decisions and a very key position on what have you done before as opposed to what are you doing right now?

And I do wonder with a position like goaltending where it's so much about your current state, your mental state and being informed if you don't just ride the hot hand. And again, all three hot hands right now are probably like gripped around a margarita poolside. Like that's not the best thing to have. It's crazy to me that the three goalies for Canada, Again, all three hot hands right now are probably gripped around a margarita poolside. That's not the best thing to have.

It's crazy to me that the three goalies for Canada don't have a 900 save percentage between them. That would leave me to believe that this is not the most informed group. Now, oh, just one more thing on Binnington. I'll get back. So the guys were talking about Binnington, and they said, if you wanna talk about,

put the numbers aside, and you want to talk about attitude and swagger and all that stuff, they said the one thing Bennington has and probably sometimes to his detriment is unwavering confidence, borderline cockiness. There's probably hasn't been a goal that he ever thought was his fault, right? And that's a psychological thing. Some sports psychologists teach that. And it's probably why't been a goal that you ever thought was his fault, right? Like easy and that's a psychological thing

There's some sports psychologists teach that and it's probably why he got the start, you know Great as that is but I would I think I'd rather have Logan Thompson's 921 Well, that's what I'm saying at the end of the day if you're basing this decision on well, we got a guy It's pretty cocky back there. Like that's great. But it's a big test tonight for him for sure. What is Logan Thompson's? How many big games has he played? None. Yeah. Does that factor into it at all?

Yes. That's almost exclusively. No, no, no, to you, to you. I don't, personally, personally, if I had to make the decision between did a guy win a Stanley Cup six years ago, or is the guy playing really well right now in a short tournament where you have three games, I would say just go with the informed guy. Because here's the thing, I don't know how overwhelming the pressure is gonna be

in any of these games. Like it's not an Olympic gold medal game. It's not a Stanley Cup final. I think when you look at- It's a Wednesday night against team Sweden in a, I mean, Wyszynski kept calling it a made up tournament. I didn't care for that term and love it, but I think that you go with the informed guy.

I think there's going to be pressure on Saturday night when you're looking at that American lineup and going, oh my God, the whole hockey world is watching and this team could really light me up. What I wanted to get into, I'll allow your by the way first. You can't say that the Americans have the best goaltending in the tournament because Mike Sullivan

yesterday would not commit to who his starter is going to be when they take on Finland. Why would you do? Why? Why Mike Sullivan? Why? Why? Why? Were you going to make it a secret? And then when hell of a comes out of the tunnel, they're like, I did not see that coming. Whoa. Hell of a bug starting. Just say it. Just say it. Anyway, go on.

So we're talking about in form. Don't you think, um, when we saw, we talk so much about like Finland, it gets ignored. And we talk about the Canadians and the Americans, but the Swedes are going to be fascinating to watch from a Canucks perspective because Elias Pedersen went into this tournament with that one good game against Toronto. And we're like, is he back? Is he back? He made that really confident pass to Hronik, right?

And I guess that clip of him at practice was making its way around social media. I saw it retweeted into my timeline like 20 times. And everyone was like, wow, he's moving pretty good out there. Um, and you know, everything that's coming out of the tournament is that Pedersen is feeling good. He's feeling confident. He's really excited for this tournament, but I think you can say the same sort of thing applies to Zabanajed. Like those are their top two centers and you'll be hard pressed to find two guys

who have been criticized more for their play this season. And not so much, well criticized, yes, but also people going like, what is going on with these guys? Zabana Jed's been bounced to the wing in New York. Like that was one of the things upon JT Miller's return, right? Yeah. Like early on in the season, people were like, I can't believe what's happened to Zabana Jed and how bad he's been. And of course, we've been saying the same sort of thing about Elise Pedersen.

Like we've been totally flummoxed by the performance. So, you know, on paper, you look at Sweden's team and you're like, man, this team, you know, if they're all in form, this team could easily beat anyone in the tournament, but the top two centers are going to be fascinating to watch in this tournament. So, Pedersen centering Forsberg and Kempe, Zabinajad's centering Raquel and William

Nylander, which I thought was interesting because they didn't go with the load up the first line strategy. If you did, you would, I mean, safely assume that it would be Forsberg, Pettersson, Nylander across the top. And then you drop Kempe down to play with Raquel, Sabinejad, that would be the mix.

So they balanced out their top six. Their blue line is the strength of the team, without question. Their first pairing is Victor Hedman and Jonas Brodin. Like that's about as good as it gets for international hockey. Second pair is Forsling and Rasmus Dalian. And then the third pair is Atcom and Carlson. So to give you an idea,

like Rasmus Anderson, who's having an unreal year for Calgary, you probably won't play tonight. Like he's the seventh defenseman right now. So you're looking at a team that's got a really good blue line. If Allmarq can play at the Vezna caliber that Laddie mentioned or get back to it, like it's a tough opponent for sure. All the teams are gonna be a real tough out

because it's one game, not quite winner takes all to start, but you don't have a lot of time to find your footing. And you gotta remember, like Finland goes into these international tournaments, it always finds a way. And you wanna talk about a Sweden team that outside of maybe the depth at forward, they can line up with Canada the US pretty equally so it's gonna be a lot of fun to watch moving forward it all gets underway

excuse me i'm getting choked up i'm so excited tonight five o'clock coverage begins at 4 30 on sportsnet and our next guest is going to be leading that coverage David Amber hockey night in canada sportsnet nhl host is going to join us on the other side. More Four Nations talk to come. You're listening to the Haliford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satya Arshah, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the post game show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. 6.31 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday everybody. Happy Four Nations Face Off Day everybody. Tournament gets underway for real tonight. Five o'clock our time. Canada, Sweden, first

game of the tournament. Very much looking forward to it. You are listening to the Halford & Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. Halford & Bruff of the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts.

We are in hour one of the program. David Amber, Hockey Night Canada Sportsnet NHL host, is to join us in just a second here. Hour one of this program is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the following lines we go. David Amber joins us now on the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Morning David, how are you? Good guys, how are you doing? Finally it's here. Finally it is here. It feels like we've had you on the show for the last two months coming on and always talking about

this tournament, the roster selection, getting the teams together, getting everybody into Montreal. Now finally, yeah, it's here tonight, five o'clock, tournament kicks off, Canada, Sweden. Let's just start with how excited you are for this one, David, because we've been talking about it for the last two days. We are very excited to finally get the return of best on best international competition. Yeah, I'm really excited. And what's actually added to my excitement is being at the media availability yesterday. And really every single player talked about how excited they are for this situation, nervous. You know, some guys said, I haven't been this nervous in years coming to the link. I mean, that's just, these are the best players

that play hockey in the world and they're anxiously awaiting hitting the ice. It was honestly, it's kind of like the day before the Stanley Cup playoffs or the day before the Stanley Cup final or you know for for all these guys since it's kind of like Christmas for them because this is something they've dreamt about it and it's so excited about to pull on their country's sweaters and go out there and compete against the best players in the world. So I'm really pumped. I think it's gonna be a really fun tournament. Do you think the players also feel like,

and obviously there's excitement for best on best, but almost like a obligation and a responsibility to go out there and give it all because they've been asking for this for so long? A few of them mentioned that, that it's a responsibility and it was the Canadian players. I think, I think the pressure on the Canadian players in general at every international tournament at every level that we saw at the World

Juniors, there's immense pressure because the expectation is always win and if you don't win it's a disappointment. Canada never goes into any tournament where they go, yeah well if we can if we can grab a medal or finish you know into the to the final, that's a, that's a job well done. It's always win or you haven't met expectations. So there's incredible, uh, pressure, I think being felt by the Canadian team to live up to that. A few of the players mentioned that they didn't use the word pressure. They just said, you know, this is something we wanted and we really cherish the

responsibility and we know what it means to this country when our teams go out there to represent Canada. So yeah, that's definitely part of the storyline. Guys have been chomping at the bit for this. Kale McCarr couldn't hide his excitement over the idea of getting the opportunity to play. And Seth Jarvis, who's the youngest guy on the Canadian team, you know, they put him in a stall, a locker stall between Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid. And he's like, I'm just sitting there, I'm not saying anything, I'm just listening

to the other guys, and sort of all speak when spoken to. And I think, you know, there is that sort of awe factor. A lot of the guys just couldn't believe, like, wow, I'm staring, you know, there's Nathan McKinnon, there's Connor McDavid, there's Kale McCarr, like, the, you know, Canadian hockey royalty had to be sort of in the same sweater and in the same team photo as these guys. I think it was a bit of a real moment for some of the players over the last 24 hours,

which is cool. How much did they talk about the importance of getting going right away because there's no time to just dip your toe in, in this tournament, which Canada has done before at best on best tournaments. But if they do that in this tournament, it'll be over before they know it. Yeah. And like, I was a question that was posed to both,

uh, the American coaching staff led by Mike Sullivan and the Canadian coaching staff led by John Cooper about how quickly you can make adjustments. You know, what do you do if you go out today and Jordan Bennington lets in two bad goals from the first period, right? Or you just, some periods in and you see one of the line combinations you put together just they're not achieving anything you'd hope for. How quickly you're full the blood or how much patience can you have? And they both said it's all about feel. You know, Sullivan just said, you know, it's not a matter of you have guys on a

short rope, but you're putting together a plan you think is going to work. You want to see the guys executed. And if they're on, you know, if they're unable to, then you're going to have to make quick adjustments on the fly. It's going to have to come down to feel, but that's a hundred percent true. No guys were conceivably a team that loses today or tomorrow, tomorrow's Finland versus the U S today's Canada versus Sweden. If you lose, one of those, you know, the two teams that don't win today and tomorrow, conceivably

on Saturday when all four teams play, you might be pulling your goalie tied in regulation just because you need to get that regulation win. Imagine two minutes left in a Canada-U.US game and Canada's goalie in regulation because they need to win in regular time so there's all sorts of kind of crazy scenarios that present themselves so I think the coaching staffs are preparing themselves to be as flexible as possible knowing the format you know unlike other international tournaments where you have that little bit of margin of error you really don't have a huge margin of area.

If you lose a game, you're going to need some help essentially to get to the championship. We're all very interested in Canada, of course, but their opponents tonight, Sweden, I think are a fascinating team in that their top two centres, Mika Zabanajad and Elias Pedersen have been among the most criticized players this season. What were they seeing at Media Day? I think both Sweden and Finland are enjoying the fact they're walking in sort of as prohibitive underdogs and doesn't mean they don't have anything to lose because you know you want to go out there embarrass yourself and under perform but I do feel that they're kind of deflecting the pressure. I sat down with a new lander yesterday and did it sitting down and he basically

just said, you know, and I said, well, this whole, you know, Willie styles, a mantra that you have your whole brand is about just being a chill dude. He goes, yeah, you know, we can be calm. He goes, I leave the panic up for other people. So, and I think that wasn't a shot at Canada, but I think he's, you know, he plays in the Canadian market, Pedersen plays in the Canadian market. Everyone's hair is always on fire in Montreal and in Vancouver and in Toronto and Edmonton and the fan base and the media hangs with every win and with every loss. And I think these guys

are kind of pleased in a way you go over if you're Zabanajad, if you're Pedersen, you go over to Team Sweden and suddenly you're not facing that level of pressure and scrutiny and maybe that'll actually you know bring up the best in them. We wait to see how that goes but that's a very interesting dynamic where as you mentioned Zabanajad with Nylander and Raquel and Kempe with Pedersen and Forsberg, I mean those are your top two lines. But I also think that's what really makes Sweden a formidable opponent and an interesting team is their blue light. They're absolutely huge. They're 6'3", 215 or something on average.

And we're talking about Vikings, right? Edmund and Ekholm and Brodin. These are big, big men. Forsling, it looks like will draw in despite the fact he missed practice two days ago. And looks like the Flames, Rasmus Anderson might be the seventh fee. As they start this tournament, we're going to head down to the morning skate. They're taking the ice in about 20 minutes. So when I've done this, this interview, I'm going to head down there and see what the line combinations look like

and everything else. But I think it's going to be a really, really interesting test for Canada because Sweden has a lot of lockdown defenders. They're going to play a very stifling style of play. And you're right, maybe if Sabanajad and Pedersen don't find that second gear, it's going to be very hard for Sweden to generate much offense, but I'm certainly not concerned about them on the defensive

side of the punch. How do you think Eric Carlson will fare if they have a lock down style? Well, he's playing with that calm. So kind of like when Evan Bouchard gets to play with that calm, it probably allows him the freedom he wants to roam and to do what he'd like to do. But certainly, He wants to roam and to do what you'd like to do. But certainly, you know, I'd say he's the outlier on that on that blue line because and you have Rasmus Dulleen there too. So they do have a few guys who certainly, you know, have an offensive side to their game. Carlson is an interesting, you know, person to me.

There was a lot of speculation where, you know, if they didn't have to pick their team, you know, six players in advance, would Eric Carlson have made this team? You know, which seems like such a crazy notion, but it's not so much a reflection of his play as much as, you know, you have the Forslings and the Akhoms and the Headmans of the world who are some of the top defenders in the league. So I'm interested to see what his ice time and his style of play looks like. And you know, it's not that dissimilar to Drew Doughty. Drew Doughty said when he got the call

from Team Canada, they said, we're not bringing you on to be 2014 Drew Doughty. We need you to play a defensive style. Doughty was very candid in his comments yesterday, guys. And he said, I embrace that. He goes, that's what I do with LA now I'm totally comfortable playing a more defensive brand of hockey and that's what you're gonna see from me he'll leave the up and down the ice to more see in the car so maybe Carlson will be mature and adopt a style that's the fitting of the what the team's requesting but again this is all to be seen tonight and quite frankly when you look up the icing of McKinnon and McDavid and guys flying towards you

with the puck, you better be ready to play some defense while he's going to be in the back of your net pretty quickly. I mean, I was going to push back on you a little bit when you said it's not really about him, it's about the other guys. I'm like, to me it's about him, right? Like we're all talking about liabilities on the

other team and what can other teams attack and Eric Carlson has been caught flat footed multiple times this season to the point where it's brought up quite a bit. And if we're going to talk about Jordan Binnington being a liability for Canada, I'm more than comfortable, if I'm the coaching staff of Canada and I'm looking to score goals against a team that's going to be pretty good defensively, I'm more than comfortable, you know, if I'm the coaching staff of Canada and I'm looking to score goals against a team that's going to be pretty good defensively, I think I might be picking on Eric Carlson.

Yeah, I mean, listen, he's going to have to play up to the level of what this tournament dictates. And you're right, he won the Norris two years ago and quite frankly, it's been a disaster since he's been in Pittsburgh, both for the team and for himself. You're 100% correct on that. You know, one thing Carlson might say is, you know, he hasn't been playing with the likes of Ekholm and Edmund and Jodine and these star players. So maybe this is a situation where he feels, I'm going to be playing with elite players

and I can play elite around other elite players. But yeah that's something that's left to be determined and that is a storyline tonight and again I don't think we're going to see 24-minute a night Eric Carlson. We might be seeing 13-minute a night Eric Carlson in this situation so that's something to keep an eye on absolutely and I think every team sort of has a guy or two on the roster that short leash is the wrong term, but just maybe there's less confidence in the coaching staff and a few of these players. So the other thing to keep in mind guys, there's extra TV breaks, which I know no one wants

to hear, but I guess this is a real cash opportunity for the NHL and the Players Association. So every TV timeout now is not two minutes, it's two and a half minutes. You know, you kind of shrug and say, well, that's not that big a deal. You know, I was sitting with some of the members of the Canadian brass who were saying, yeah, you know, if we want to play our players for a longer time, we could do that. I mean, you might get 30 minutes of Kale McCarr tonight, right? Like those extra 30 seconds are all the difference to ride your big dogs, whether it's McDavid, McKinnon, McCarr, whomever seconds are all the difference to ride your big dogs, whether it's McDavid, McKinnon, McCarr, whomever. So all the teams will have that same luxury,

but you might start seeing it where your third and fourth line guys are only getting 10 to 12 minutes and the top dogs are getting 25 to 30 minutes. So that's something to keep an eye on over the course of this tournament. We're speaking to David Amber, Sportsnet NHL host here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. David, I did want to ask you about a couple of reactions from the collective media from yesterday at Canadian Media Day. I guess the first is that Jason's already alluded to Bennington getting the nod for Canada as the number one net miner.

What was the reaction to that? What was the reaction to Sidney Crosby being bumped from centre to the wing and McKinnon taking the centre spot on that line? Well, as far as Bennington is concerned, um, there was some surprise. I think a lot of people felt Aiden Hill might get sort of the first run, uh, at, at, at the, you know, at starting for Canada. Um, the way that they put it, the way John Cooper

and, and, uh, Don Sweeney put it is this guy is a gamer, this guy battles, this guy we know has incredible confidence in how he plays and that gives them I guess a level of confidence in how he'll perform on this grand stage. Bennington definitely has a bit of chip on his shoulder. They put all the players at podiums, you get a chance to meet individually, you know, the media can go and scrum around each individual player. And Bennington, you know, in typical Jordan Bennington fashion,

was kind of like feeling disrespected and feeling like this is a great opportunity to showcase he's still in the league goalie. So I think that that's something to keep an eye on. And you know, he might have the last laugh. Like, you know, he might be able to say, you guys didn't trust me and the media and the fan base and, and look, I was able to do it.

You know, time will tell. Oh God, that'll be terrible. Actually like, that would be insufferable. Come on, Sweden. It absolutely might be, but it'll be, it'll be interesting. And I think he's looking at this as a personal thing that he has. And you know, guys, you guys saw the last dance with Michael Jordan, and I'm certainly not comparing Jordan to Michael Jordan.

But my point is athletes find the funniest things to help motivate them, right? You know, Michael Jordan, the usher looks at him the wrong way, and that's it, I'm going to put up 50. You know, and for Jordan Binningtonton he's using whatever he can to motivate himself and to gain his confidence back uh to be the goal he needs to be uh having said that you know as we said the margins are so small as a rough start you know don't be surprised if it's the short leash and you're on to your next goalie but as Mike Sullivan of the team USA coach said you know this isn't a three goal rotation. You're kind of bringing someone in and you're running with them and that's how it's going to be unless something goes dramatically wrong. So, yeah, that was the storyline. I think

that's going to be the big storyline for Canada is can we trust the goaltending on this team? We all know what Halibut is. We all know what Parker or, you know, Osoros. We all know what Hellebuck is. We all know what Parker or Osoros. We know the other teams have their goalies, are comfortable. That's going to be a storyline to keep an eye on. You mentioned the second part. I didn't hear you that well. Was it McKinnon not playing centers? I just was wondering what the reaction was to Sidney Crosby bumping out to the wing and then McKinnon taking the center spot on that line with Stone and Crosby. Oh, I don't think there was much made of that. I think the big storyline there was more about Mark Stone being reduced to thorough treads. That's all

going to look. So I'm interested to see one thing they said about Mark Stone was that they love his sense of the game and his mind for the game. And when a guy think John Kupfer played it, it's an interesting dynamic. Uh, one thing just guys, it's just moving quickly and just so much skill. Uh, you know, in team, but watching all four of the teams practice, it's going to almost be hard to go back to NHL hockey. You know, just the skill level is going to be so dramatically high here. Um, one thing is the Canadians had a really fast pace skate yesterday and there was a lot of tenacity there.

I mean, Brad Marchand, which is funny, and I know he's public enemy number one, pretty much in every Canadian market. But, uh, this is the kind of guy you're so happy to be wearing the red and white. You should have seen him just all over the ice yesterday and a certain level of tenacity and will that's really remarkable. So I'm excited to see how it all translates. It's going to be a fantastic game tonight and it should make for, you know, listen, if we got a Canada win tonight and a U.S. win Thursday,

just picture what Saturday night will be like in Montreal. Those two teams going at it. And quite frankly, if we get a Canada loss today and a US loss today, tomorrow it'll be just as dramatic. So I'm very excited to see how the next few days play out here in Montreal. It's Canada and Sweden, four nations face off tonight, five o'clock our time. Coverage begins at 430 on Sportsnet. Be sure to tune in. David, thanks a lot for doing this today, man.

We really appreciate it. Enjoy the game tonight and the rest of the tournament. We'll do this again next week. Sorry, say that again, sorry? Just said enjoy the tournament, enjoy tonight. We're saying goodbye. And we'll do this again next week. I'm sorry fellas, I'm sorry.

No problem. Have a great time guys, enjoy the games. Enjoy buddy. Appreciate it. See you David. David Ember, Hockey Night Canada Sportsnet NHL host here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650.

Here's a question for you. Okay. Is the Olympics more compelling if Canada wins this tournament or if Canada loses this tournament? So if Canada wins this tournament, it's like four nations face off forever, greatest event ever.

If they lose, it was a fake tournament. So there's that dynamic to consider. Well, that's how maybe. There was that graphic going around on social media yesterday. It's like the flow chart. It's like, did Canada win the tournament? It's like, what a great tournament.

Did Canada lose the tournament? It's a fake tournament. I don't think everyone looks at it like that. Like, you know. I know. I might in the aftermath. I'm reserving the opportunity to go there. But for the Olympics, to answer your question, for the Olympics, it makes, that I know. I might in the aftermath. I'm, I'm reserving the opportunity to go there, but for the Olympics, for the, to answer your question,

for the Olympics, it makes it way more compelling if Canada loses this tournament. Yeah. It does. For sure. It does. 2002, 2010, what did both of those iconic Canadian Olympic moments have in common? They were preceded by failures

on the grandest stage prior to. 98 set the stage for 02 and that awful 06 team in Torino, which really doesn't get talked enough about enough. I barely remember it. I know you do. I barely remember it because. Hockey was in a very weird time. Yeah.

At that point, we were just. It was also time zones. You know, the time zones play a factor in this tournament. Yeah, without question. 02 and 10 being North American based, obviously played a huge factor, but you needed the failures to have the rebirth and the revival and the, and the reclamation.

You needed it. There wasn't as much pressure on that 06 team too, because they'd won an 02. And they ran it back with a lot of the same guys. They didn't take Sidney Crosby. They didn't take Eric Stahl. They didn't take the great young players of the era, the break, the guys that you could

tell were going to be stars. Yeah. They took Chris Draper and Todd Bertuzzi and a lot of old guard and the team looked old and slow and lethargic. Their blue line was really old. Robin Regear was out there. Like it was a, it, and that was a nod to when they, because I remember when they went in 2010,

one of the big questions was like, who can we take Drew Doughty? He's 20 years old. Yeah. And then Drew Doughty goes and he's a phenom at the tournament. Mm-hmm. And I think there was a, maybe a mindset change or at the very least a nod to every tournament is its own entity. Like what you're seeing. There was also pre-lockout was 2002.

Yep. And then post-lockout when the game really was changing. You're also forgetting the 2004 World Cup, which nobody remembers because the entire tournament was overshadowed by the fact that there was going to be a lockout as soon as that tournament ended. Canada won it, uh, to, and I like, nobody remembers it.

And then you had an entire year of no hockey and then guys kind of trying to regain their footing going to the Olympics in Italy. It was Torino, right? You know, six and it was a disaster of a tournament. They never found their footing. They never figured out how to play, but it was a disaster of a tournament. They never found their footing. They never figured out how to play, but it was

an important step back because it made the 2010 reclamation project that much more interesting. And again, I know that for a lot of people that don't remember it well, everyone thinks that 2010 was this, um, glorious, unforgettable two week time for Canada hockey. A romp. Wasn't that.

Wasn't a romp. I mean, I remember cause we covered, we covered it in a very unique fashion is we couldn't get media credentials to the games. So we got media credentials to all of the Olympic houses that were throughout the lower mainland. And we went to the Swiss house to watch

Switzerland, Canada. And that was the one where Canada needed a shootout to beat the Swiss house to watch Switzerland, Canada. And that was when we're Canada needed a shootout to beat the Swiss. And everyone was like, this team doesn't look great. Yeah. And then we had a host watch party at Malone's for Canada, US. Then that was the last game for Marty Broder

in that tournament. Canada did not look good. You also have to remember that there were four automatic buys to get to the quarterfinals of that tournament. Canada didn't get one. Like they finished mid in their group and they had to go to that qualification playoffs with like Norway and Germany and Latvia. Like it was not a good tournament for large. Wasn't a good start. It ended amazing and it couldn't have been capped off any better, but it was a real roller coaster throughout. And that's kind of what you need in 2014.

I'll say this. Canada was phenomenal. I don't think defensively you could play the game of hockey any better than Canada played it in that term. I don't think you could. They were airtight and they played the game plan to perfection.

It was also boring. It was also not compelling. They got some breaks too with some injuries. Remember the centers that Sweden was running out there in the gold medal game? For sure. Nicholas Backstrom couldn't go because he took allergy medicine.

Remember that? He got knocked out of the final. Whatever the case. Running around on pseudo-ephedrine or whatever it was. I shouldn't have taken this before the game. Whatever the case. Running around on pseudo offedron or whatever it was. I shouldn't have taken this before the game. Whatever the case, that tournament, if you want to compare gold medals, and I know time zones and location

has a lot to do with it and everything, but you can't compare what happened in 2010 to 2014, because 2010 has so much more of a narrative arc to it. Yeah, yeah. And remember 2014 they went in, they kicked ass and chewed bubble gum and they were all out of bubble gum. Like they were dominant, right? And arc to it. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and remember 2014, they went in, they kicked ass and chewed bubble gum and they were all out of bubble gum. Like they were dominant, right?

And that was it. And you were there covering it. It wasn't super compelling. The one game that was supposed to be compelling was the game against the U S and Canada went and choked the life out of it. Yeah. Did everything they needed to do to win that

game. It was a defensive masterclass. The bet, the best, the best hockey game of that Olympics was the women's gold medal game between the Americans and the U S that was. It was a defensive masterclass. The bet, the best, the best hockey game of that Olympics was the women's gold medal game between the Americans and the U S that was, that was incredible. Do you remember in 2010, when we went to the Russia house?

Yeah. It was at the S so Russia took over science center, science world, science world or whatever it is science center. Um, and, uh, Halfern and I went in there and like it was like out of a, I want to say like a Russian gangster movie. It was weird. It was weird. The security there was very Russian and we walked in there. I was like, are we going to get disappeared here? It was very hard to get credentialed and all the other ones were easy. They're like, yeah, sure, come by, whatever. You

don't even need a credential. The Russia house was, but it was because they were hosting in Sochi. So they also had the responsibility of being the subsequent host. And there were things that went along with that. Yeah. Frank Cervalli is going to join us next on the Halford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650.