Bafaro an unsung hero for Giants
Steady defenceman stays out of the spotlight but often gets the call to fill shutdown role
Seth Bafaro is having trouble flying under the radar right now.
The Vancouver Giants’ 19-year-old defenceman from Revelstoke seems to have a thing for being understated, considering how he’s been known to politely talk his way out of an interview or two.
The WHL warrior was often assigned key matchups during last spring’s playoff run, but his stellar play went largely unnoticed because of all the attention showered on fellow blueliners Bowen Byram, Dylan Plouffe and Alex Kannok Leipert.
Plouffe was traded away earlier this season. Byram just missed 10 games because of Team Canada world junior commitments. And guess who was named a game star during back-to-back home contests? If you said Bafaro, you’re right.
Did his game improve with Byram away? Or did we all just notice him a little more? It’s something to ponder as Vancouver, with a rested Byram back in the lineup, looks to climb up the WHL Western Conference standings.
“He does a lot of the things that guys don’t often like doing,” Byram said of Bafaro’s gritty, hard-nosed style. “It’s definitely nice having him on our side.
“I’m not sure how much credit he gets from outside sources. We understand how important he is.”
Goaltender David Tendeck added: “He’s not flashy. He does his job as best he can.”
Vancouver has a crucial three-game weekend starting Friday with the Giants (17-182-2) hosting the Victoria Royals (25-13-3-0) at Langley Events Centre. The same teams play again Saturday (7:05 p.m., Spice 1200) in Victoria and then the Giants are home Sunday (4 p.m., Sportsnet 650 AM) for a matinee at the LEC against the Kamloops Blazers (27-11-2-1).
Victoria features winger Brayden Tracey, the 2019 first-round draft pick of the Anaheim Ducks that the Royals added at the Jan. 10 trade deadline in a deal with the Moose Jaw Warriors.
The Blazers are led up front by forwards Zane Franklin (66 points) and Orrin Centazzo (58 points), who are second and fourth, respectively, in WHL scoring.
Vancouver needs wins, so they need to limit the effectiveness of those players. Bafaro is bound to be called on for shutdown duties by associate coach Jamie Heward, who runs the defence.
“We added him last year at the deadline and he was huge for us all the way through to the finals,” Kannok Leipert, the Giants’ captain, said of Bafaro, who was acquired in a trade last January from the Saskatoon Blades for a 2021 fifth-round draft pick.
“He’s your top-four, grindit-out, make-good-passes, score-the-odd-goal kind of a guy. He leads by example. He’s always there to fight for that last little bit,” added Kannok Leipert.
Bafaro said: “We’re starting to play really good hockey as a team and it’s coming at the right time.”
Giants GM Barclay Parneta had a good feel for what Bafaro would bring to the team, since Parneta was head scout for the Tri-City Americans when the Americans used a third-round pick in the 2015 WHL bantam draft to select the defenceman.
Bafaro maintains he’s learned plenty during his time with Vancouver.
“Alex and Bo are both (NHL) drafted players, so you can take a lot of things from both of them every single day,” Bafaro said of Kannok Leipert and Byram, who were picks of the Washington Capitals
and Colorado Avalanche, respectively.
Vancouver forward Jackson Shepard added: “There’s been a spotlight on some of the other defencemen here, but Seth is super consistent and he plays the game the right way. He sticks to the systems and he’s a really good teammate.”
Tracey was the marquee addition in the entire WHL at the trade deadline, coming to Victoria as part of a fiveplayer, six-pick swap. He appeared to be injured Wednesday when he suffered a knee-on-knee hit by Tri-City defenceman Bryan McAndrews in the first period of their game, but he returned to pick up two assists in a 6-1 Victoria triumph.
McAndrews was assessed a major penalty and game misconduct.
Vancouver has four games with Victoria remaining after this weekend and five more with Kamloops.
The Giant currently hold down the first of two wildcard playoff berths in the Western Conference. The top three teams from the B.C. and U.S. Divisions make the playoffs, along with the two teams with the next best records.