Griffins add to goalkeeper group with Lethbridge transfer Gafiuk, who is on T&T U20 roster
Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – As they transition the position following the graduation/retirement of starter Oleksandr Popravka, the Griffins men's soccer team has added a second new goalkeeper for 2026.
Transferring from the Lethbridge Pronghorns is Edmontonian Bryan Gafiuk, who will join newly-signed Ty Kloppenborg, and veterans Keshawn Nurse, Kaleb Lutz and David Sithole in the Griffins goalkeeper union next season.
It's a reunion for Gafiuk with Griffins head coach Adam Loga, who also coached him with the Vancouver Whitecaps Edmonton Prospects.
"He's very calm – calm demeanour," said Loga of the 6-foot Archbishop MacDonald product. "Good shot stopper, he distributes fairly well. He's had his reps. He's been with the Whitecaps here, but then over with the Victoria Highlanders, playing there, the Trinidad and Tobago national team and then just even the experience being a first-year keeper under a more veteran keeper at the University of Lethbridge last year.
"I don't think he consumed eligibility, so coming into his first year with all of this experience and having two keepers in David and Kaleb who are fourth, fifth-year players, it's a perfect transitional moment (for the program)."
Gafiuk recently cracked the roster for the Trinidad and Tobago U20 national team and will play for them in an upcoming qualifying tournament for the 2026 CONCACAF U20 championship.
"I believe our former assistant coach Dominic Oppong made the call to the TTFA because his mom's from Trinidad," said Gafiuk. "He has caps with the U20s and he's got a national team camp that he's going to head to, and then he'll look to join us for the rest of the winter season."
Any time a player has that type of international experience, it can bring an infectious professionalism to the group.
"It should help," said Loga. "Our Achilles' heel, as we've preached to the boys, is not necessarily our ability on the field in the run of play, in the community or in the classroom, it's their overall professionalism, that maturity. When you play at levels like that, you have no choice. You're forced to grow up, you're forced to be professional. To have that in and around the lads and in the locker-room will be huge."
On the Griffins, he'll be joining several players who were with him in Loga's Whitecaps group. It's a group that includes many players who've gone on to higher levels, highlighted by Vancouver Whitecaps rookie Rayan Elloumi, who recently fell short in the final of the MLS Cup last Saturday versus Lionel Messi and company.
"We're excited to add him," said Loga of Gafiuk. "Again, another familiar face. He knows a lot of the lads – Sam (Zelaya), Malik (Abdul), Adam (Solokowski) – and myself from the Whitecaps, so it should be a pretty easy transition for him."
