Halford & Brough in the Morning - You Know He'll Play, He'll Play On Crutches

Episode Date: February 19, 2026

In hour two, Mike & Jason look ahead to Canada's semifinal matchup versus Finland tomorrow and discuss if Sidney Crosby will play after leaving the quarterfinal game due to injury (3:00), plus they chat with Boston Globe Olympic reporter Matt Porter (30:47) who joins the show from Milan.  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.

701 on a Thursday. Longer, Thrasch deviating from the norm today. I didn't forget. I just didn't feel like the time. It's fine. I thought it was Wednesday. We allow creative freedom. We allow the dogs to roam. Nah, he thought it was Wednesday.

I thought yesterday was Thursday. I don't know why I thought. The holiday money screws everything up. The Olympics and the time changes screwing everyone's up. I thought yesterday was Tuesday as well. I thought it was March. We are coming to live from the Kintech studio. New Year, new opportunity for comfort with orthotics from Kintech.

Okay, so we're in hour two of the program. Now we've got an open segment here. And then it's 730. Matt Porter from the Boston Globe is going to join the program. He's over in Milan, Cortina. I'm watching Rachel Holman here. She's got a big match against Korea. Needs to win this.

She's got the hammer in the sixth end. 4-4, Canada, Korea. That's the closest we can come to Colin Curling without getting sued. by the IOC. The, I would call them draconian media rules of the Olympic Committee. It's been tough.

It's been tough to do. Andy's been bemoaning the lack of access. Greg's trying to put together intros from all the highlights from yesterday and he's playing Alabama basketball calls. It's tough. We still, though, we still move on. Real quick before we get into this segment,

our two of the program, brought to you by Sands and Associates. Do you have payday loan debt? If you do, Sands and Associates could cut your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees. Visit them today at Sands-Trustee.com. Our two of the program also brought to you by Jason Hominoch at Jason. At jason.com. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you.

Just kidding. Let him do exactly that. Visit him online at Jason down mortgage. So speaking of the times that these Olympic games are on, Paul just sent in this information. Thank you for sending that, Paul, that the prime minister is in Burnaby today, and he's noted in his calendar

that he will take time to cheer on Team Canada's women's Olympic hockey team during the gold medal game. Yeah, it's coming over my place. He's coming to your place in Burnaby? Yeah. He's like, yeah, I'm going to Halford's. There's going to be a press conference. I'm making nachos.

And then Doug Ford, Premier of Ontario, put out on social media yesterday, he said, to help everyone get in the spirit of the games, I've directed the Minister of Education to make sure all Ontario students are able to watch the remaining Team Canada hockey games that take place during school hours and starting with today's game, the women's game, between the Americans and the Canadians. and then tomorrow's semi-final game, yeah, it's another fairly early morning game because the Americans are playing in the primetime slot. You thank NBC for that, even though Mike Sullivan isn't super happy with all these start times

and late-to-bed times for the American team. Bring it up with the peacock, Sullivan. I've got a little funny story about the boy going to school yesterday, and he was very obviously into the first period. and then, you know, Canada was obviously in a very tight game when it was like, okay, time to go to school. And he was able to watch the second period on the phone. And he was a little late to school because he wanted to watch the second period. And here's a quote from the boy.

He said, I am going to run away from school if they don't let us watch the game in school. And when I first got that, I was like, hey, you know, watch the game in school. And then I realized, wait a minute, I'm super old. They all have screens in the classroom. And then apparently his teacher allowed them to watch the game. And I was thinking, I mean, not a good teacher, but a good teacher. I was thinking how awesome is it that kids can, they can just be like, hey, can you stream this? And we can just watch it.

How cool would it be to be able to watch? that ending, think back to elementary school, 600 years ago, that ending with all your buddies in class. Yeah, I mean, were you saying, but you were saying your parents did this back in for the Summit series? They wheeled out the old, the tube TV. Back in the day, they used to find a way to get it done.

Even the pre-streaming era, they were able to do this. Yeah, they had to use an old school television, but by dangnab it, we figured out a way. Can you imagine how frustrating that would be? You'd all be what in the auditorium and, like, You roll out like a little TV. Get the rabid ears out. I cannot see a thing.

What is going on? Just give me the radio. You just need to hear the voice. Well, you bring up a good point though because you can't listen to it on the radio. So that cuts out that option for a lot of people. We want to do it quietly at your desk and have an earpiece. I guess, you know, I think it's interesting that they allowed them to watch the game. It's a great thing, to be honest.

I think more places should be like leaning into these singular moments in time where these things happen. Because I'll say this for, the tournament so far, it has been hamstrung by the start times. Yep, without question. There hasn't been as much buzz. I was, I kind of knew this was, we've been doing this for a long time. We've covered Olympic games and other events where you've got some really janky start times as it pertains to your particular time zone. But you do need to sort of at times, like the prime minister, put everything on pause and say, hey, I know we have many things we need to go over in school today, but this is important. I think,

brings the country together. It does. I think it's very important to focus on these things where we can all be in agreement about something in that we hope Canada wins this hockey game. Cyrus from Tuas and texts in and said, my wife is an elementary school teacher. The whole school was watching the game and they have frequent Olympic updates throughout the day that are Canadian-related. I think that's awesome. I would also like to point out, yesterday, and it's still fresh and it's still new, so we're all really trying to process everything. But yesterday was one of the,

and I would say maybe not even one of, the best days, the best series of games that we've ever seen from NHLers going to the Olympics. And there's been a lot of unbelievable moments. But to get what we got yesterday from the participants after such a long layoff, it's almost like a reminder like,

hey, this is what you missed. This is what you missed by not having these guys at the Olympics. That sequence of three games in a row that all went to overtime. And, I mean, the Marner goal and that comeback, I don't know where it ranks in the pantheon of great Canadian international performances with Canada Cups and World Cup of hockey and everything, because it was still just a quarterfinal game

and there's a long road ahead. But that's up there in terms of iconic goals. You know, Marner doing, knifing through the middle, the Suzuki goal that preceded it, losing their captain, one of the most decorated Canadians of all time. The storylines are magnificent off that. So it is important that everyone got to experience it. And, you know, Max didn't have to run away from school, which is nice.

Nick on the drive, Texan, I'm a grade 7 teacher, and we canceled most morning activities, did catch up independent work while I had the game on the class projector screen. It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing. They will remember forever. Now, did I ever tell you about the 1987 Canada Cup? Tell us again, Jason. No.

I didn't get to watch that. That was the whole story. It didn't get to watch it. So we got a text in and it's a very short text, but it's a good question. Okay. Do you still feel like Canada is the favorite? Okay, I'll start. No.

Really? Nope. Really? No, I don't. I think that the blue line is a lowercase eye, but enough to, it's a, it's a, issue. Well, I mean, doesn't it start with the Sydney Crosby injury though? No, for me, it starts with the blue line. The blue line has not been good. I don't want to say I told you so, but that was the one issue that I looked at and everyone was

focused on the goaltending and understandably so, but I was like, compared to other Canadian blue lines, this is a so-so blue line. Say it to the people what you said earlier about McCarr, voted game yesterday. Say it. Didn't think he was that good. I've been underwhelmed. I've been Underwhelmed by McCar. You know, his his pair got pinned a few times. He doesn't defend that hard. I heard...

Should have brought Schaefer. I think they should have brought Schaefer. Well, I told, I mean, that's one thing. But I mean, for me, when it starts with... First of all, I disagree with you. I do still feel like Canada is the favorite. But... Sid's injury changes a lot.

And if Nate... If Nate has to play the wing, and can't play center effectively, then that changes a lot too because all of a sudden you look at this wealth of riches down the middle for Canada and it just, it doesn't look so rich. Here's my line of thought here.

The American blue line yesterday was so good against Sweden. Unbelievably good. So here's where I'm going with this. I think Hughes is the best defenseman in the tournament I think that the Americans have the best depth behind the best defensemen in the tournament On the blue line, yeah. Their blue line is significantly better than Canada.

I think that the Americans have the best shut down defensive defensemen in the tournament in Slavin. Did you see how airtight they were yesterday against Sweden? For 59 minutes. Sweden couldn't get the puck through. I was like, am I watching the Canucks versus the Predators here or the Canucks versus the Oilers? It looked like that at times. They were just firing shots and they were getting blocked. For 59 minutes.

yesterday, they played that about as airtight as he can. And then it took a fantastic pass by Lucas Raymond, who by the way is very, I don't love Raymond's style and approach. A lot of diving. And he's a riverboat guy, but he is immensely talented. That pass he made over to Zabinajad

for the tying goal. It was like a cross-scene pass was great. That's what it took to be Hellebuck. And did you hear Greg Hellebuck's explanation? He is the most interesting guy. I don't know whether it's like just the inability to self-critique,

but he's like, yeah, I slid over, and I thought I made the save, and I thought the puck hit the side of the net. So I did everything right on that one. The puck just went in. That's his thought on everything. Like, goal-tending for him is like, I've done everything right,

and the puck just still went in. But it has nothing to do with me because I did all the things I need to do to stop the puck. Yeah, I feel like a guy of his standard, too. There's probably very few moments where he's actually, he feels like he, messed up on the play, right? And he's speaking honestly, too, and I think that's just his mindset, and that's the way

you have to think about it because there's so much failure ingrained with being a goaltender, that's how you have to think about it, or else you're just going to be in a negative mood the entire time. Now, one thing I'll say about the Americans that if there's an issue with that team, it's what I saw yesterday, and going into a defensive shell, I thought, way too early, and almost way too much. There was zero risk-taking. They weren't going forward.

They parked the bus about as thoroughly as you can do it. And it worked for 59 minutes. But when the Swedes had an extra attacker out, all it took was the one shot. And suddenly you're in a coin flip in three on three. That was not a great game, actually. The U.S. Sweden game. It was tough stylistically.

It was a bit of snoozer. It was a chess match. Yeah. It wasn't. And if you ever watch this chess match live, it is boring. Yeah. It's not a lot of action. Not fun.

Not fun at all. Anyway, you had something. Someone tell, oh, Rick from Colonna texts in. What's up with McKinnon? Good question. He didn't practice today. He's clearly battling through something. I don't know what it is.

He still managed to score a goal yesterday. So you can tell he's still got that fire. But, you know, the question is, where is he best deployed? Do you try and let him drive his own line? And then you have McDavid and Celebrini together on one line, or you put, I don't know, Tom Wilson back there. Wilson might be done. Or do you put McKinnon in that Wilson spot

and then play the hell out of those guys? I think that's the answer. You don't task them with... I hate going top-heavy because it makes it easier for the other team. It makes it easier to just get their best checkers out against that line. Yeah, but even the top-heavy,

they still have so many scores in their depth, though. That's the thing. That's why I also would disagree with Haliford and saying that Canada isn't the favorite. They are still the favorite just because they have way more game breakers. Like even if the U.S. stifles them defensively and Halebuck-U.S. has a lot of game breakers. Yeah, they have scores. Sure.

But Canada's more. Yeah. So that's Canada's still Canada's strength. Even if Crosby's injured, that's still Canada's strength. I think the U.S. I think the gap between the U.S. blue line, the Canadian blue line is bigger than the gap between the Canadian forwards and the U.S. forwards. Yeah, I would agree with that. But the Canadian fords that are at the very top end are better,

enough, better enough that that could be the difference. Well, the pressure, all I'll say is the pressure on Connor McDavid right now is immense. But to be fair to him, him and Selbrini look incredible. You can't say that McDavid has never won anything because he won the Four Nations and he scored the big goal in that, even though he conceded, and I would actually agree with him, that he wasn't at his best in that tournament as a whole. But Four Nations was a big deal, but everyone knew it was more just a warm up for the Olympics, and this is it.

Right? There's two things that matter in this day and age. What you want to win is a hockey player. Olympic gold, Stanley Cup. If Conflict David falls short, say they get to the gold medal game and lose, you know, we all remember the Players Tribune article that he wrote, and then we talked about. but it made a little bit of fun of. You know, he just wants to win.

And he wants to win Canadian Olympic gold. He wants to win a Stanley Cup for the Edmonton Oilers. And if he doesn't get it done, then the narrative, like he said in that piece, well, someone wrote for him in that piece, he said, sometimes people ask me, do I ever think about my legacy? Of course I think about my legacy.

With where he is in his career right now, Sid had already won a cup An Olympic gold Gretzky I mean he didn't play He didn't play later until his career He was in the Olympics in Nagano And he was like the last year

Of his NHL career there But he had won huge games Internationally that were essentially The Olympics And of course he'd won Multiple Stanley Cups With the Edmonton Oilers You just go down the list

Like Nate's won a cup McCarra's won a cup It must be Very very difficult To know that you're the best player in the world And yet What have you won? Well if Crosby's out for the remainder of the tournament

It really Really further Puts the weight of this on McDavid's shoulders If it's not already So okay by the way A couple people texted and do we have an update on Crosby So obviously from today multiple reporters.

I'll give you the Cole's Notes version. John Cooper said they have not, I repeat, not ruled Sidney Crosby out a Friday's game or the remainder of the tournament. They are taking it as, quote, a day-to-day thing. Cooper was also asked, well, who would replace Crosby as the captain

because international rules you have to have a captain serving. He wouldn't even go there in terms of trying to provide an answer. I think they are leaving every avenue and every opportunity open for Crosby. be to try and come back into this lineup. If he does come back and he is able to play, I do wonder if we could have one of those

Willis Reed in the 70s for the Knicks playing with a broken leg. Sorry, Josh Yohei tweeting an hour ago that kind of counters that, though, just to throw it in there. Yohei tweeting very much in line with what Cooper said today, a source of Yohei says it's iffy that Crosby will play tomorrow or Sunday, but of course he desires to play. Right. So Yohei making it sound a little less like,

I was, as soon as he went off the ice and the fact that he left the game and the way it looked. Yeah, it didn't look good. Didn't look good. I would be, I'd be a little surprised if you played to be. I know. Drager was fighting with someone on social media yesterday because there was a doctor that was just saying that's probably an MCL. And then Drager was like, why don't we just wait until the imaging? And the doctor's like, hey, I'm just speculating.

He's also like, are you new here? I've been doing this on Twitter for like 10 years. Like that's the doctor's bit. And there's other doctors that do it for other sports. And I don't think there's, there's nothing. Drager seemed to be suggesting that it was, it was lacking ethics to do that. I was like, well, he's not a patient of,

I know, like, Sid's not a patient of this doctor. Like he's just, he's just looking at this. He doesn't need to be a doctor with an educated. Yeah. I mean, I watched that. I was like, that's probably an MCL issue. MCL strain or something. I just don't know why you need to publicly try and discredit the internet

doctor. I think maybe his role inherently is a little flimsy and you don't need to point out. Anyway, back to my point. And thank you for mentioning what Josh said. There's a couple of, right now it seems like it's unlikely. However, the impression I'm getting is that they are going to let Sid make the call. Because what they've talked about right now is Captain Canada, our leader, our guy.

Cooper said that Sid addressed the team after the, the second period and the statement from the guys coming back out for the third was we cannot let this be Cid's last game and that's why they performed the way that they did despite the fact they were playing against eight checks at one point. Maybe the more realistic scenario is he won't play tomorrow

most likely but if Canada were to win that he would play on Sunday regardless. You know he'll play just like he has to. If they were if they hold I mean it's a risky proposition like we just don't play the semifinal but you know we saw this at the four nations

with Matthew Kachuk playing through which was I think a sports hernia and a torn adductor Yeah, and he shouldn't have played And he shouldn't have played. And he shouldn't have played.

But they left it up to him and he went out there and did it. Right. Now, you talk about Crosby right now and there's obviously still what he needs to do for the penguins in the remainder of this regular season. Yeah.

But let's make this clear. This is probably the last time Sidney Crosby is playing at the Olympics. It is. Right. Yeah. This will be. hit. And the way that they talk about him in such hush and hallowed tones, all appropriate, by the way,

if he wants to go, there is a grand total of zero people who are going to say no. He's also not selfish. He's not going to do anything that hurts the team. I want to read a couple of texts here. This is unsigned, but it's a first-time texter. Listening on my way into work, I work in a Catholic elementary school in Surrey, and we did have our older intermediate students watch yesterday's men's game. And today our entire school has an Olympic-themed dress-down day in support of Team Canada. It's an amazing way to take part in these games in our own way. It's a big part of the Olympics, and it's a big part of when Team Canada plays hockey.

Men or women, it's a great way to unite the country. This other text, Lee texts in and this is a fair text not one mention about big game goalie in Binnington

against Hellebuck who's won nothing Advantage Canada interesting way to put it because I think most people would say Connor Hallibuck

is the better goalie than Jordan Binnington We'd haven't mentioned Bennington at all Hellebuck Hellebuck has a bit of a thing too

you know, he's had some rough postseason. He was the losing goalie in the four nations. And Bennington, he made some big saves, man. He made some big saves. He made some big saves. Halebuck is literally reversed Bittington. Like great in the season, not in the playoffs. Binnington, exact opposite.

Shows up in the big moments, if he in the season. Bennington does have the ability. Luongo-ish, I would say, especially given we've talked about 2010 so much, that he can allow softies or goal. that you'd think he'd want back, and he doesn't look great for long stretches. And he kind of makes you nervous, but when it comes time to, there's no margin for error. What?

Longgo-ish? Yeah. The, yeah, you just, you just hear the words that I said? I would not describe Luongo as, as that. I just wouldn't. When we played in 2010, and the knock when Luongo came in was that he looked shaky throughout, but when he needed you to provide a big save, he won a gold. In that one tournament.

Yeah. Well, how many golds is Jordan Bittington won at the Olympics? Okay, but when I'm talking about, we're talking about, we're talking about reputations, and Luongo never struck me as the guy that played like Grant Fear. He had multiple meltdowns, and oftentimes it ended badly. With the Canucks, for sure. I'm just talking about when we're talking about an Olympic tournament. You rolled your eyes at me. Well, yeah, because, like, we're not trying to reinvent Loongo's career here. We're talking about when he came in in 2010, and then when Bittington,

Biddington has been fine in large chunks of games for Canada. And I'm going back to Four Nations as well. And when they need him to not let in any more goals, he didn't let in any more goals. The one thing I remember about Four Nations was there was a soft goal in three consecutive games and the third period against Finland where they gave up multiple goals. When he needed to lock it down and not allow another goal, he did it. I mean, I saw people yesterday complaining about the game that he had yesterday. And I was like, I don't know if I had.

hang any of the goals on Bennington, but the same sort of reputation reputational things applies. There's this one wild take. I'm not having to say he said is like, I would go to Logan Thompson. I mean, like, you are crazy. First of all, you've obviously never been part of a team. If they did that, that would,

that would, just like, can you imagine what that would do to the room? No, like, this is what. First of all, Bennington would physically destroy the room. He'd throw a water ball. But it would be crazy. Mm-hmm. to not play a guy that has come up big for this group now multiple, multiple times. So what he's been able to do, and this is through, we're just taking the sample size with four nations and now in the Olympics,

is a remarkable ability to dial in when there's no margin for error, which is a very specific thing. You can't say that he's been lights out. You can't say that he's been lights out because there have been goals against that you're like he would like that back. Yeah. right? So it's, and it's a very unique skill set because some guys, when they're shaky, the idea is keep throwing pucks at them. They're going to go in, right? Well, the funny thing too is, you know, we talked about what would have happened if Canada hadn't tied up that game. Obviously there'd be a lot of focus on the officiating and the missed call.

But I think there'd be some focus on Biddington too. You know, because the Pallat shot, it was a good shot, it was a great opportunity. He was wide open in the store. slot by himself, you know, so prime scoring chances. But then people will be like, hey, if you're a big game goal, you should stop that. Yeah. You know? And the goal by Suzuki

that allowed them to tie it also allowed Jordan Binnington to make more big saves that they desperately needed. Yeah. Man, that was an uncomfortable watch. The whole thing. Yeah, that's kind of what I was saying. Like, you know, it's not locked down

and airtight for 60 minutes with him. It can be... No, but it's like that, the moment where they would have lost in OT, I can't remember who was, it wasn't a breakway, but it was like it was that semi-break. It was the mix up between McDavid and McKinnon. Yeah, it was that play. And like, that was it. Like, that would have...

Most goalies, that's going in, and that would win the game. And that was like, okay, it's over. But Minnington, he was huge. And those are his moments where it's like it comes down to those singular moments where he gets big all of a sudden. Did you, did you see the save, the reverse angle of the save he made on Marty

Natchez on that breakaway that Taves might have got away with a hook in the neutral zone. And then Marty Natchez actually still got a great chance. Binnington just got his pad down because Marty Natchez was trying to pull him to one side and then go underneath

his pads and he just got his pad down. Hey, you got his pad down. I know. He got his pad down. That's what I'm saying. It's not a criticism. it's like it was by an inch that Nate just nearly scored there. Every goal off the posting in is just an inch from listening to net. We don't even need to be good all game. Just be good three times or four times.

It'd be not easier if he was good. Four specific times be good. And we'll win. Why is being good the whole game out of the question? Can he not just be good the whole game? That's not his superpower. That was always the thing with Grant Fuhr. You know, no one wanted to whisper.

It was like, maybe if he locked in a little earlier in the game, We would have to win these games 6-5 And you wouldn't have to make a big save When the game was tied 5 all Fear was like, ah, but look at the roster, who cares? Yeah, yeah, we're going to have scrolling out- We're in the entertainment business, baby. Do I even need to be here?

Like, really? Okay, we got a lot more to get to on the Halford & Brough show On Sportsnet 650. Coming up on the other side, Matt Porter's going to join us, Winter Olympics reporter for the Boston Globe. He was covering everything that happened on the men's side of things yesterday

and what might have been the greatest day ever of Olympic hockey that we've ever seen. Matt Porter from the Boston Globe is going to join us next. You're listening to the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650. It's Kinnock Central on SportsNet 650. From exclusive interviews to insider scoops and post-game breakdowns, we've got it all. Tune in weekdays 4 to 6 p.m. on radio and on demand through your favorite podcast app.

Thursday, happy Thursday, everybody. Halford, Brough, Sportsnet, 650. Halford in Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Are you getting collection calls? If you are. Sands and Associates, you cut your debt by a podcast. 80% and stop those calls. Visit them today at Sands

dash trustee.com. There is one texter who every time Luongo gets mentioned and somewhat criticized like we had a little argument about Luongo. He just like goes crazy. It just

like sends in these like unhinged texts about how great Luongo was and he actually tried to maintain that Luongo did not have a reputation for meltdowns in big games. I'm like, did you...

That's some revisionist history. Did you not watch any of the Chicago series? Did you watch any of the games in Boston in 2011? Like, none of them? Like, yeah. There was some melt. There was a melt. Two games out of his 1,000 game career?

Oh, okay. I guess he's a choker. Oh, Greg. Are you texting in? How many, how many meltdowns you think he had? Let's list them off, baby. Let's go. There was like three or four in the Chicago.

Chicago series. Let's go over with a fine-tooth coma, first ballot, Hall of Famer's career and check out every single time. Are you the guy that's texting in? It might be. It might be it. He was perfect. I want to take ownership of this in responsibility because I was trying to, all I wanted to do was compare Luongo in 2010, just in the Olympics, to what Bennington's doing right now. And I didn't frame it properly. You touched a nerve. Yeah, I didn't be. And it's my fault because I forget sometimes how polarizing Luongo is here. Like, because when you talk about him. It is very difficult to silo off parts of his career. But I was just talking about when he played in 2010, the entire run-up to the gold medal

game, when he took over the net was... But why do you think people were so nervous with him in net? Yeah. And I felt the same way with Bennington at the Four Nations, and I still feel it now. Even though, as we said, he's got an amazing ability to look shaky for 50 minutes. and then in those final 10 where he can't make a mistake, he doesn't make a mistake. It is quite impressive. It's close.

Yeah. A couple of people said like, it's the clutch gene. I'm like, I guess that's it, right? He's not a guy that's going to be lights out for 60 minutes of the duration of a tournament.

But as Cooper said, when we need him to not let in another goal, then all of a sudden, we're not letting in another goal. We got a guest. We messed up everything. I have like all this business to attend to. Okay.

Can't do it. not going to do it because we have a guest in the house Jason we have to be polite when we have a guest in the house. Joining us now, very happy to have them on the line. Matt Porter joins us now from the Boston Globe here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sports 10650. Morning of Matt. How are you? I'm great. I appreciate your politeness.

I also appreciate being patched in and listening to a little bit of that segment. And some of the first words I hear are Boston in 2011. That's pretty... I had a feeling you'd enjoy that. It was like, they're still talking about that in Vancouver. aren't they? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, is it not to,

not to continue the debate if you don't want to, but keep her going, bud. No, no, with Bennington, though. Isn't it also that the last 10 minutes of any game you have one of the best rosters on the planet selling out, doing everything, you know, as sharply as they possibly can to make sure that you can see Pucks,

you know, bad chances don't come his way. Like, that's got to be part of it too, right? It's part of it, but I think, you know, I don't think Canada was great. defensively yesterday against Chequia. There were some, you know, there was a one play where Chequiet had too many men on the ice where they scored, but there was other...

Oh, did they? There was, yeah, they did, apparently. But there were, I think there were some other plays they made that team defense just looked a little bit shaky. And I think it's kind of worth throwing out there that, well, first of all, they didn't have Sidney Crosby in the game, and his 200-foot game is probably underrated. And, you know, I think it's the importance of a guy like Nick Suzuki really stepping up because

he could be there, since we're talking about, talking to a Boston guy here, he could be there Patrice Bergeron because they don't really have one of those guys down the middle, except if it's a guy like Nick Suzuki. You'd think, right? And Suzuki really showed me a lot in that game. Like, he saw his face after he missed that chance. I mean, that was, I was sitting next to Bruce Arthur and we were just both looking at each other. like, this guy's going to go on the tank.

Like, he looked distraught after missing that open net, mostly an open net. And then he comes back and he, you know, makes some huge plays down the stretch. I was really impressed. So I want to get your thoughts on the USA Sweden game. We'll circle back on the Canada stuff.

But obviously, we had it a fantastic day of Olympic hockey and there were several, like, huge moments here. We were hyper-focused on what Marner did. And over time, the Crosby injury the Suzuki goal, but what Queen Hughes was able to do, not just in overtime, but throughout that game. He got the secondary assist on the only regulation goal for the Americans as well.

Americans survive the scare. They get through the semifinals. Your thoughts on that game, the 2-1 overtime winning at Sweden yesterday. Well, it was a great game, and it didn't really dawn on me how good of a game it was until, you know, the final minutes, you know, Sweden gets that huge goal. You know, they finally, they're trying to break the U.S. down. They finally find a theme. you, Maccamoys just a little bit late sliding over to block it.

Nobody gets that in the lane for that beautiful pass that Raymond made across, and then just a perfect shot by Zabanajad. You know, that really kind of upped the intensity level in the building. I noticed there's a lot of Canadian fans there that, you know, must have had tickets to the game were kind of just, you know, hanging out, you know, basking in the afterglow of that incredible game against Chechia. So there wasn't a ton of energy, but then, you know, it went to, you know, 11 in the building there. You know, the U.S., what Queen Hughes does for them, like, he just, he makes them look more, like, not more skilled,

because there's obviously plenty of skill in the roster. There's a lot of speed, you know, it's as good of a team as Canada, you know, obviously, maybe not the highest of the high-level talents, like, you know, like all the names that you're probably thinking about when I say that. But, you know, they're right there, but they just, they're seemingly content to just play this, like, methodical, grind you down, wear you down, lock a pass, you know, and then, you know, turn that into offense kind of style. It's, it's nothing high flying. It's, you know, nothing like that Marner goal. And then there's the Quinn Hugh shifts, which is, of which there are a lot of them, right? I mean, he played 27 minutes in that game, was on the ice for two-thirds of the overtime.

And he actually, I didn't see this, but I saw it later that the camera's got him waving off, you know, a line change. He's been out here. Yeah. So, I've done that before. Monster. Yeah. Well, yeah. I'm sure. I mean, you know, I've gotten to the full Quinn Hughes experience here in the Olympics.

It's been pretty interesting. So, yeah, I mean, he just, you know, he's dancing with the puck. I mean, Jack Hughes has kind of doing the same thing from the forward perspective, maybe not as impactful. But, I mean, the Quinn Hughes shifts were just a delight to watch. I mean, he's all over the place. He's that guy for them right now. Tell us about the quote you got from him where he acknowledged the memes going around on social media about him looking like he's seeing ghosts.

It's funny. I was standing there in the mix zone, you know, which anybody that's covered the Olympics, you know, they kind of just, you know, bring a bunch of, all the players walk through. You have to try to stop them and, you know, talk to them. And there was a, I was standing at kind of the end of it. There was a huge crowd. You know, I'm maybe one of the Kachuk brothers was talking. I don't know. But pretty much everybody's over there. So I was just kind of hanging out. And it was pretty much just me and Quinn. And we're talking about the game a little bit.

And then, you know, he said the post that's kind of been going around, I posted it without really thinking too much of it. And then I posted it and, you know, realize like, oh, no, yeah, that's right. That is going to kind of, people are going to, people are going to notice that. So, you know, I asked him about the chucks, you know, because there was that hot Mike moment where Matthew said, you know, the Leon Dryside, I'll always the Brides made a Leon, never the bride. Great quote.

So I was looking for some color on that. And then he said, you know, the people, I'm usually focused on my own game, the people think I'm seeing ghosts out there anyway. So I was like, oh boy, he said the thing, didn't he? You know, it was clear to me that he doesn't want to participate in that kind of stuff. Like he thinks people maybe have a little bit too much time on their hands. But, yeah, he said the thing.

We're speaking to Matt Porter, covering the Winter Olympics for the Boston Globe here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. I want to ask you about the scene and the vibe, but also trying to contextualize 24 hours out of what you got to witness yesterday. It's being widely regarded as maybe the greatest day that's ever been played in international Olympic hockey. Three of the four quarterfinal games go to overtime. drama really much throughout, with all due respect to Germany and Slovakia, wasn't as exciting, but three of the four deliver in such a major way. Have you had a chance to sort of take a step back and acknowledge what you witnessed yesterday and how special a moment it was?

I was doing it right as we were watching it. I mean, I think I tweeted a few times stuff like, this is awesome. Like, I was so excited to be there. You know, I do a lot of feature writing now. I'm not, you know, covering the brood day to day like I used to. I've kind of, you know, taken a little bit of a step back. So coming back to Olympic hockey and particularly this Olympic tournament was just absolutely fantastic. It's been from start to finish.

But I will admit, when we're watching the Slovakia-Germany games, I'm thinking, oh, we got four of these, huh? You know, it's the early game. And, you know, Slovakia is a great story. Don't get me wrong. You know, what your eyes Slavkowski is doing is incredible at age 21. And he's, you know, already up to, you know, what, 10-11 Olympic goals, 11 Olympic goals, I think, something like that. I mean, it's just crazy.

You know, the player that he's shown himself to be on the stage. And then, you know, Finland, Switzerland was not in this arena, not in Roe. It was over across town in Roe, you know, which seats about 6,000. It's where a lot of the women's, most, almost all the women's games have been played. So,

you know, it wasn't really able to keep up with that too much. Canada, Chetia was as good hockey games as I've ever seen live. It was just fantastic. There was so much skill, like how are they going to shut down natures and posternock you have a guy like roman shrivenka the check captain's 40 years old

and he's out there making plays and on their on their first power play like he's a great story Radco gootis you know just being a menace all over the ice and the crosbie injury there's just so much going on we were trying to figure out you know what happened to crosbie and watching the replays and you know i thought his new buckled there boy it really looked bad and you try to come back oh he gets hit again and you know crosbie's gone to the room so there's all that just

frenzy of covering that live game. And then the U.S. Sweden game late. It was a full day and just an absolute treat as a hockey fan to watch that live skill, the pace, the storylines, the drama, the crowds were incredible. It's going to be an amazing medal round. Did anyone in Press Row note that the checks had too many players on the ice on the

Andre Platt goal? It's a great question. I didn't notice it. I certainly didn't. The first I, it's funny, a reporter quote tweeted me, you know, saying, you know, wow, I think this is kind of a hobby horse for them, like noting this kind of stuff, but they were like, there's four forwards on the ice and won the defensemen, you know, kind of like, hey, look, hockey coaches are being progressive kind of thing.

Yeah, it turns out there were aggressive play. Four fours and two defensemen on the ice. The crazy thing is, I learned all of this afterwards. that like, Radam Rulik, the Czech coach, he actually sent out a couple extra players to just like make it seem like, oh my gosh, they're piling off the bench, you know? Right.

They were, I mean, it's just, and then the crazy thing for me is just, I can't believe he chose the words. Like we were, like, complaining about the refs, you know, being pro Canada. Like, he actually used the words. Like, we were playing against six players out there. I can't believe it.

Are we being gaslit here? What's going on? I read it like five times. Like I ran the quote through a translator, like, checked to English, like, just to make sure that that's what I was seeing. I asked another reporter, like, did he, like a check reporter? Like, did he really say this? And he just shook his head. Like, I can't believe he did either.

I mean, that was just absurd. I mean, have you guys ever seen that? I have not ever seen that in a hockey game. No. And particularly in that, could you imagine if that was the winning goal that you can't review? Like. And no one's. No one appeared to see it while it was happening.

That, you know, no one on Press Row, you know. Players are the same thing. Yeah. No one on the Canadian bench. McDavid said it today. McDavid said it today at the availability with Canada. Like, we got to do a better job, I guess, because we didn't see it either. But, I mean, who expects that?

It's like, it's amazing. Yeah. So from an American perspective, how much does the Sydney Crosby injury? and I guess we'll add in the fact that Nathan McKinnon doesn't seem like he's 100%. How does that change the optimism for that American team? Yeah, it's a little bit different

when you're thinking about those guys versus you know, Brad Marsden and Josh Morrissey being, you know, banged up, that kind of thing. With all due respect to those players, they're great players. They wouldn't be here if they weren't, but, you know, a hit is different, you know, those names that you're talking about. And, you know, I was talking to a couple of Canadian reporters who were just telling me that, you know,

Canada is not really sure what to do with McKinnon. Like, McKinnon can't drive a line. Like, he's kind of showing that right now. You know, it turns out if he's not feeling, well, yeah, he can't drive a line if they don't know what to do with him. You know, I don't, he really hasn't had that kind of an impact. The Krosby thing, I think, is huge because to have him as your second line center, you can, you know, you mentioned his 200-foot game.

You know, you can do so much with him, obviously, you know, even at his age. it's like that line with martyr and stone is like you know it's almost like a you know I know marter is a fast gator but you know it almost feels like a change up to the fastball that the that the number one line is putting out there you know it's and they're just so effective with the different styles that they can play and still that they have so if you don't have him I mean obviously you're going to need like somebody like Suzuki to step up huge and you know you're going to maybe rely on you know guys like Bennett kind of coming into the lower parts of the lineup.

You never knew who's going to step to the forefront in those types of cases. But I think from an optimism standpoint, it's certainly, it's a lot like the women. We're about to watch the gold medal game here. And, you know, the fact that, you know, the U.S. is this dominant. I think they feel like they can win gold no matter who's in the Canada lineup right now. But, you know, to have Marie-Philip-Puland playing on one leg, basically, I mean, that certainly changes the vibe out here for that team and I'm sure it will for the men as well if uh if crosbie can't go one final one for matt porter from the boston globe before we let you go here matt we're down

to the final four on the men's side of things um who's the favorite right now boy i'd still i mean i'd still say it's canada um you know if there was any real shakiness in bingington's game if there was any kind of doubt there like i don't know i don't have doubts about bennington at this point and and also i'd say the same about hell of like he's been fantastic um you know obviously that's an incredibly committed group in front of him, as it is for Canada as well. So, you know, but he's, he's extremely solid and so is Bennington. So, you know, I got to give it to Canada just based on their top talent being just the absolute best in the world. And what Celebrini's done to join that group is just an absolute delight to watch.

And, you know, it makes me excited for the next time we see Best on Best, hockey, what he might be able to do. So I got to give it to Canada, but I'll tell you what, if you're expecting a U.S. Canada final and I think a lot of people here are, I thought you're getting disappointed because those are by far, to my eye, the two best teams

that are left. Matt, thanks for doing this today, man, and we appreciate your patience while we were arguing about something that happened 15 years ago. Thank you, bud. See you guys. I'm Matt Porter from the Boston Globe here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Okay, all that business that we missed at the beginning of

segment. I gotta do it right now. Okay. First, the one to watch. Brought to you by Limitless A.V., Vancouver's most trusted audiovisual integration experts. At 10-10 this morning, it's the gold medal final between Canada and the USA and women's hockey. I've mentioned this numerous times, but I'll mention it again at every major sports book, the American women are overwhelming betting favorites on this one. That being said, of the seven Olympic golds that have been handed out in women's hockey,

Canada has won five. Today's one to watch. Who else am I going to go with other than Marie-Philippe Poulin? She returned for the semifinal, although it was a slim two-one score line in which Canada beat the Swiss. They did out shoot the Swiss. 46 to 8, which is rather lopsided. So even though the score was close,

the shots were not so much, and Marie-Philippe Poulin scored twice in that game. She will be your one to watch today as Canada, and I can't believe I'm saying this, looks to pull the massive upset against the U.S. in the women's hockey. That, of course, is the one to watch. Brought to you by Limitless AV, Vancouver's most trusted audiovisual integration experts,

specializing in seamless video conferencing solutions and hybrid work spaces. Book your personalized tour of their experience center today. Visit them online at limitlessavit.c a.c.a. We also need the great decision brought to you by Crow. Crow, Makai, by the way. Visit them online at crowmachai.ca. I'm going to go with what John Cooper did in the aftermath of the Sydney Crosby injury. two line changes that, you know, I think they were maybe pretty obvious, but they worked. And one in particular was elevating Suzuki to play center between Stone and Marner.

And obviously Suzuki has a massive goal to tie it up at three. The other one that I think might have longer lasting impressions throughout the remainder of this tournament was going to that top line. And again, not exactly like the most innovative coaching. I'm going to take three of my best players. I'm going to put them all in the same line. What if? What if? I put Celebrini, McDavid, and McKinnon all.

together on the top line. Do you like the Exist theory that that just happened because Wilson came off the ice at one point, I don't know, for some reason, and McKinand was like ready to go? Yeah. And Coop's like, sounds good to me. Let's give her a world. That's great coaching. I'm John Cooper.

Look how calm I am. So that is, I think it was a very, very sound decision, even if it kind of fell into Coop's lap. Anyway, Kroa Kha, you're trusted accounting and tax advisors for over 55 years. Crow, smart decisions lasting value. Learn more at Krookai. I say mar. Mour. Mour.

I don't know why I said it like that. That's weird. Learn mower. But more is such an easy word. It's four letters. One syllable. Learn more at cromachai. Dot CA.

We got one final hour to go on the Halford and Breff Show on Sports Night 650. We've also got a giveaway. At 8 a.m., we're going to be giving away a pair of tickets to see the Vancouver Giants take on the Portland Winterhawks. On February 21st, the Langley Events Center, caller number five gets the tickets. Call right at 8 a.m. The number is 604-280650. That number again, 604-280-650. On the other side of the break, we're going to be joined by Thomas Drans of Canucks Stock and the Athletic Vancouver.

We can do some Canucks Talk. We'll obviously do some Olympic hockey talk as well. One final hour of the program to go, you're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.