With Byram off to Team Canada camp, Giants adjust
Star will miss eight games
Seth Bafaro’s seniority with the Vancouver Giants has suddenly skyrocketed.
Just a couple of weeks ago Bafaro was one of the least tenured rearguards with the WHL squad when it came to playing in Vancouver colours. He’s suited up 57 times in the regular season for the Giants over the past two seasons.
Kaleb Bulych (172 games) was traded. Dylan Plouffe (272) was dealt, too. On Monday, Bowen Byram (165 games) left for the Team Canada world junior team selection camp in Oakville, Ont. So for the time being Bafaro is the second longest-serving Giant among defencemen on the active roster, behind only team captain Alex Kannok Leipert (164 games).
Byram, selected fourth overall pick in last summer’s NHL draft at Rogers Arena by the Colorado Avalanche, is expected to stick with Team Canada, meaning he’d miss eight Giants games, starting with Saturday’s visit to the Everettt Silvertips.
How Bafaro and the rest of the rearguards handle this stretch may go a long way in
determining where Vancouver places in the final Western Conference regular-season standings.
Bafaro, 19, has 173 WHL regular-season games under his belt when you add in previous stops with the Saskatoon Blades and Tri-City Americans.
Eighteen-year-old Connor Horning (144 career WHL games), who came over from the Swift Current Broncos in the Bulych trade, and 19-yearold Trevor Longo (111), who was part of the Plouffe swap with the Medicine Hat Tigers, are WHL veterans. Seventeen-year-old rookies Jacob Gendron (24 games) and Tanner Brown (38 games) are expected to see their ice times rise with Byram away.
“I think we need to continue to play our game, continue to play fast,” Horning said. “Bowen’s a big part of this team but guys have to step up.
“It’s an opportunity. It’s an opportunity for guys to step up and show what they’re worth. It should be exciting for everyone.”
Unlike the NHL, the WHL doesn’t publish ice times for players. Byram regularly seems to play more than 25 minutes a game for the Giants.
In the earlier part of practice this week, the Giants had Kannok Leipert teamed with Brown, Bafaro alongside Longo and Gendron paired with Horning.
Associate coach Jamie Heward, who runs the defence for bench boss Michael Dyck, has shuffled his tandems frequently in games this season. He has been double shifting the likes of Byram and has been mindful of the matchups for Gendron and Brown as they became accustomed to regular duty.
That said, Gendron had one of his busiest outings of the season in Vancouver’s last game, Sunday’s 4-1 win against the Tri-City Americans at Rogers Arena in the Giants’ Teddy Bear Toss game.
Kannok Leipert, who’s 19, could get much of Byram’s power-play time, although that may also fall to Horning, who posted six of his eight goals and 20 of his 31 points on the man advantage last season with Swift Current.
“It’s going to be hard with him out of the lineup. He’s obviously a world-class player,” Vancouver forward
Tristen Nielsen said of Byram. “As long as we continue to do what we do and stick to our structure, our coaches will help us make up for it.”
That eight-game stretch that Byram is expected to miss includes three games against the Kelowna Rockets. They’re expected to lose winger Nolan Foote to Team Canada for that time.
Vancouver also plays two games against the Victoria Royals in that span. Victoria is currently without centre Phillip Schultz, who’s playing for Denmark at Division I world juniors in Belarus. That tournament wraps up Sunday and Schultz should be back by Boxing Day and in Victoria’s lineup against Vancouver on Dec. 27. The teams play again on New Year’s Day.
Everett goalie Dustin Wolf should stick with the Americans, but their selection camp doesn’t even begin until Monday in Plymouth, Mich., so he’ll be available for the Giants’ trip to Everett on Saturday. Teams generally take three goalies to world juniors and the Americans only named three netminders to their camp.
The world juniors are in the Czech Republic and Team Canada opens action on Boxing Day against the United States in Ostrava. Byram is aiming to become the first Giant to represent Canada at the world juniors since Brendan Gallagher wore the Maple Leaf in 2012.