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Chapter 1: What listener questions are addressed in this episode?
I'm really excited to continue to find ways to unite, to make us better and stronger, to help young kids and the next generation to live their dreams of being great professionals and in future World Cups.
7.03 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Alfred Brough, Sportsnet 650. Maybe not the greatest music to play audio over top of. Why not? Just makes it seem a lot less serious. I don't know. What are you talking about? Have you heard this show before? Jesse Marsh, not our show. You are listening to the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.
I'm excited for the 1922 World Cup.
We're going to kick them all up and down the field. See? 703. All right. We knew that was coming. 7.03 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Halford and Braff in the morning is brought to you by Sands & Associates. Are you drowning in tax debt? If you are, the music's still going. Sands & Associates can often reduce your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees.
If you're drowning in tax debt and this music is playing, not as bad. Visit them today at sans-trustee.com. We are now in hour two of the program. Hour two is brought to you by Jason Hominuck at jason.mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit him online at jason.mortgage.
We're coming to you live from the Kintec studio.
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Chapter 2: How did Montreal Canadiens become successful in their rebuild?
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So we've got an entire open segment here. We have two things to accomplish. One, we're going to listen to our listeners who have texted into the Dunbar Lumber Tech message in basket about the aesthetically pleasing or lack thereof
aesthetically pleasing moments in this montreal carolina series we've also got to talk about canada soccer and the jesse marsh extensor i think we're going to start with the montreal carolina series because we're getting a lot of text at 650 650 into the dunbar lumber text message in basket so i basically threw out the question are you enjoying the montreal carolina series
and the consensus is that it could be better. Okay. And I'm going to read a few texts from each side of the aisle, and I'll start with the ones that are into the series. Ryan texts in, and he says, I personally love tight-checking defensive hockey. I would much prefer to watch an intense 2-1 or 3-2 game where every inch of the ice is contested than a 6-5 wide-open game.
I think high-scoring games are a sign of two bad teams competing So I do appreciate Carolina's style of play. Thank you. So Ryan definitely did not enjoy the 1987 Canada Cup where all three games were 6-5 between Canada and the Soviet Union. Two notably bad teams. Terrible.
Could just be bad goalies.
That could be bad.
Now. So we'll put Ryan on the side of the aisle that is enjoying this series. What about, what about somebody else?
No, no, no, no, no. I'm going to read a few more. Okay. Let's get some more. Let me handle the Dunbar lumber text inbox. Okay. We'll see how this Tatiana in Langley writes. The style of play isn't affecting my enjoyment because I think the most fun player on Montreal is Jakob Dobish.
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Chapter 3: What insights does James Mirtle provide about the Canadiens vs. Hurricanes series?
And if all the action is in his end, you get to see his antics more. And then occasionally you get to see a Habs breakaway to keep things fun. Another text on sign, for such low shots, the hockey is still pretty engaging. I still find watching Montreal entertaining with the confidence that with a bounce, they can score. Okay, so those are the... Bruff, you're wrong. The series is great.
Just be quiet. Here are other texts on the other side of the issue. Leaf texts in, if the Spurs OKC series is on, that's my priority at this point. As the playoffs wear on, I end up watching more NBA, less NHL. J-Rock in the Okanagan, I think Brough is half right. The style is a little boring, but I particularly blame the Habs. They could be far better in their own end.
You have to move the puck faster. Forchek is crushing them. free PD texts in and he says the Habs don't have enough heavy wingers every time the Habs enter the zone Carolina simply guides them to the boards and takes the puck away it's painful to watch because the Habs haven't found a strategy around that okay I'll read one more actually two more
I appreciate and respect how Carolina and Vegas are playing, but man, a series between those two teams would be a painful experience. Every game would be 0-0 going into overtime. One more. Craig and Poco. I was watching last night with my 8-year-old boy. I started dozing off in OT, and he said he would wake me when someone scored. Sure enough, he shakes me and was trying to pronounce Svechnikov.
Right.
Which is a pretty funny story. But Craig, I don't know if that says anything about the game. You have an eight-year-old child. You might have just been tired. It's true.
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Chapter 4: What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Canadiens in the playoffs?
Could have nothing to do with Montreal and Carolina. Could have everything to do with parenting.
At any rate, the onus is really on the Habs to figure this thing out because Carolina is just going to keep playing the same way until they need to make adjustments. So hopefully the Habs can show us something in Game 4. You know, that's the series right there. If they lose game four, they're not winning.
They're not rattling off three in a row in Carolina, especially with two of those games potentially being in Carolina. I think it would be over in five if they lose game four.
Can you imagine a Carolina Golden Knights?
Yeah, I'm not pumped. Look, are there storylines there? Yeah, Marner's a storyline. Vegas...
is just a storyline torts being there of course is a storyline and carolina i suppose you could say like this is a team that's you know tried and tried and tried and tried and and then you know if they win they finally get over the hump and carolina wins the cup and you're just like okay maybe the two boring styles will cancel each other out and they'll somehow be entertaining no yeah i know i'm probably wrong there no well there's the other part i mean the other big part of it is that this is going to sound harsh but what the hell carolina doesn't really matter
In terms of an important, attention-grabbing, intriguing market. The stakes are low there. If they win, it's great. If they lose, they're like, we'll just try it again next year.
They've won a cup before, too.
Yeah.
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Chapter 5: How do the Canadiens compare to other teams in the playoffs?
You get more bounces than you did the previous year. I think this year in particular, you don't run into the opponents that have had your number. But they're not going to fundamentally change anything. And quite honestly, they're not going to change anything around the National Hockey League. I'm not sure a lot of people are going to adopt
the style of play that they play, because I think a lot of, you know, savvier, more ardent hockey markets wouldn't want to see this particular style. They'd love to see the success. Don't get me wrong. But there are certain franchises that are just kind of irrelevant. I mean, we're talking about in the NBA, the New York Knicks going to the final. There's a reason that matters.
And some of it, and this might sound hollow and flimsy, has to do with the fact that
timothy chalamet and ben stiller and a bunch of other celebrities are fired up and are on camera flashing the fours when they sweep the calves out of the playoffs and they're playing at madison square garden yeah and the history and the tradition and all that stuff i mean montreal is that square garden montreal matters 10 times more than carolina does too bad because an abs habs final would be amazing it would be so good yeah did lewis hamilton go to the game did they find him at all did they show him on the screen did you see him at all
I don't know. They got referenced a bunch of times.
Yeah. Can you imagine? That's his first hockey game. He goes, is it always like this? Like, mm-hmm. Yep. The atmosphere is like this all the time. I hope you enjoyed it.
Yeah. I mean, you want to talk about the worst part of the series so far is that Carolina went into Montreal yesterday and due to their style of play, neutered any sort of energy and vibe there was in the building. That was part of it. Watching the overtime yesterday, I'm like, this does not feel like an Eastern Conference final overtime game at the Bell Center.
This felt like a regular season game. And that's because Carolina plays that style.
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Chapter 6: What are the expectations for Jesse Marsh and Canada Soccer?
And credit to them, I guess. I mean, you go on the road, you want to quiet the other crowd. Okay. Jesse Marsh. Wanted to talk a little bit more about this because Canada gave Jesse Marsh a four-year extension that's going to take him through the 2030 World Cup. And I wanted to ask you, Halford, why did they do this right now, right before the World Cup? Was Jesse Marsh... Demanding it?
Not demanding it, but was he saying... Or is this Canada soccer just really liking this guy and wanting to lock him down?
Okay, I'm going to work through it, so allow me, because I'm going to go like, this is the pro and this is the con. And this is the pro and this is the con. Okay? With all of this. So, right now, they've signed Marshawn as an understanding that he's the architect... Honestly, if Canada soccer in general, I'm not talking about being the manager of just the men's national team for the World Cup.
I'm talking about being the overseer of the entire shebang from coast to coast. And you might say, well, wait a minute. The announcement yesterday in the extension specifically said he'll be signed on as the manager of the men's national team. But it goes way beyond that.
There's a vision that he has from the grassroots to all different coaching levels about sharing his philosophy and kind of developing an identity for what Canada soccer could be. Some of it is style of play, but some of it is also how we identify talent, how we grow the game. What are some of the philosophical approaches we want to have? How do we want to play?
Okay.
Hockey in Canada is played a specific way as opposed to other countries. Canada doesn't really have an identity. And Marsh, I think because he's done a really good job and Canada soccer is so enamored with his vision, this is more than that. That's the pro. The con is that
If this goes badly at the World Cup, all of those conversations suddenly become a lot more confusing because there needs to be an end product at all of this.
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Chapter 7: What strategies can the Canadiens implement to improve their performance?
It can't just be about philosophies and ideas and big picture. There have to be results. And Jesse Marsh right now is tasked for results at this World Cup, 2026, three weeks from now when it begins, June 11th. Canada needs to do something of significance.
He seems like a volatile figure at times, too.
He's very volatile.
You know, where sometimes his mouth can get ahead of him. And I was talking about expectations for the World Cup. And, you know, I think I've set them. The more I think about it, the more I'll be disappointed if Canada doesn't get to play Switzerland for the group at BC Place.
So in case you don't know the schedule, they play Bosnia-Herzegovina in Toronto, and then they play Qatar at BC Place, and then in their third group game, they would play Switzerland at BC Place. It would be a massive match. I know the Canadians have a bunch of injuries. But they need to at least put themselves in position to win the group with their first two games against Bosnia and Qatar.
Those are two countries ranked well below them in the FIFA rankings. Plus, they'll have home field advantage. Now, people will say, what about Bosnia beat Italy on the way? Yep. I didn't say it was going to be easy. I'm saying those are my expectations. And maybe it's a draw against Bosnia and a win over Qatar. But they need to go into that Switzerland game with, if we win this, we win the group.
And then we stay at BC Place for a knockout stage game. That's where I'm at. Now, if they go into that game and they are in a position to win the group and they end up losing to Switzerland, I'm not going to lose my mind. They're going to advance then at any rate. And, you know, they won't be at BC Place for the knockout stage, but they'll have advanced.
And they'll have won a game, which is, you know, Canada's never done that at the World Cup. You know, those are my expectations. Now you tell me, are those fair expectations?
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Chapter 8: What are the future prospects for the Canadiens following this season?
I don't even think they're that crazy.
Yep, it is a fair expectation. Now let's tie that back to the start of the conversation with Marsha's extension, okay? Okay. Expectations, especially for a host country at a World Cup, are always high. And... Even Qatar. Now, I'm glad you brought them up. Because Qatar, in 2022, had the worst ever showing of a World Cup host in the history of the tournament.
Three matches, three losses, one goal out in the group stage. Shortly thereafter, their manager... Felix Sanchez was essentially ousted as national team manager. His contract was expiring. They had designed it entirely so that you would have an opportunity to prove yourself at the World Cup. Or on the flip side, if it didn't go well, we were going to move on.
Well, it didn't go well, and they moved on.
They had to be fair to Qatar.
they bought the world cup but also they had a tougher group they had the dutch senegal and ecuador that's fine but it was a disappointment sure they expected more yeah and when you have one of the worst showings in history from a host you kind of can see the writing on the wall like i'm not going to survive this performance even though i didn't have a strong team we had a strong group how does this pertain to marsh well i think it's fairly obvious but
You can go back in history and you can look at managers who have had their fate decided almost entirely by how they've done at a short tournament like a World Cup. After Qatar in 2022, seven different managers had their tenure end in one way or another. Either they were fired or they resigned because of how their teams performed at the World Cup. It's just the nature of the beast.
It's just how the international game works. Canada soccer has entered a very, very tricky situation with giving... And Dave texted in, like, this is about stability. Dave and Merritt texted in. It's called stability. We aren't used to that in Canada soccer. I get that. But I also know that a really bad performance at a World Cup on that biggest stage can dramatically alter, not just...
The perceptions?
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