After a dominating freshman year with an impressive 24 goals, it may seem easy to look at Matt Galati’s four goal performance this season and assume he’s had a less than productive year.

However, despite not lighting the lamp as frequently as he has in previous seasons, Galati has found new and different ways to contribute to his team and remain one of the most dynamic players on game night.

Being one of the better players on the ice undoubtedly requires tremendous skill, something Galati proves on a weekly basis that he possesses. But perhaps more than any other sport, success in hockey many times can be attributed simply to how the puck is rolling in a game, or in other words, luck, which is something the Toronto native was quick to admit he had a lot of in his freshman season as a Laker.

“My first year, I had a lot of lucky bounces to be honest,” Galati said. “Everything I shot was going in.”

With tremendous luck came tremendous success and with tremendous success came tremendous expectations for Galati to continue his prolific goal scoring. Such a dominant first year, however, seemed to create an unrealistic standard of play for the forward to maintain, as his goal totals dropped by half his sophomore season and more than another half this year.

A dominant first year also put Galati at the top of every opponent’s scouting report, which is a reason head coach Ed Gosek believes the junior’s goal scoring has decreased.

“The reality is every team that we play, every team in the country, is going to be keying in on him now and he’s not gonna have the space like he did has a freshman,” Gosek said. “Other teams are putting their best set of [defense] but against him and putting their best checking line out against him.”

With the most elite defenders in Div. III hockey now focusing on Galati, Gosek realized that a dip in scoring could be a result, which posed one simple question.

“What’re you gonna be able to bring us when the goals don’t come?” Gosek said.

For Galati, the answer to that question can be easily found under the assist column on his season’s stat totals. To compensate for his lack of goal production, Galati has stepped his passing game up in a big way. Leading the Lakers in assists this year with 13, the junior has become a reliable facilitator for his team, a role which is new to him and hasn’t had much experience fulfilling.

“I’ve actually never lead a team in assists at all, my whole career,” said Galati.

A pass first mentality may be unorthodox for the Canadian, but he’s happy to be the go-to feeder, so long as it benefits those out on the ice with him. He mentioned that he’s been focusing on finding ways to help his team win games if his shots aren’t falling, whether it be setting up teammates for goal opportunities on the offensive end, or stepping up his play on the defensive end, which he said has made him “a more complete player this year.”

Galati is currently four assists shy of his 17 total last season, but still has four more regular season games, as well as postseason play to try and match, if not beat, his performance last season. Galati will look to not only increase his number in the assist column this weekend, but help his team increase their number in the win column as well.

The Lakers are set to take on the Canton Kangaroos in a home-and-home double header this Friday and Saturday. Both games are slated for 7 p.m.