Wyatt Galley's performance for the Langley Chiefs on Friday night was much different than the one he had in his first game against Powell River.
On February 18 last year he was in the net for 10 goals when he faced 37 shots and stopped just 27 of them.
It seemed like everytime the Kings shot the puck went in the net.
Fast forward to Friday and it seemed that no matter what the Kings did, the puck was hitting Galley, legs or deflecting wide.
Chiefs came in looking to get the jump on the Kings and credit a good forecheck and some nice odd man rushes to jump out to a 2-0 lead at the end of the first period.
They almost made it 3-0 when they got a great chance shorthanded but Garteig stoned Myers on a breakaway in the first minute of the second period.
That was a wakeup call for the Kings and they settled down after that and pretty much took it to the Chiefs for the rest of the game. Finally midway through the second period Garbowsky pounced on a loose puck and flipped it up and over the shoulder of Galley to put the Kings on the board.
Their second goal came on the powerplay when Garteig scooped up a cleared puck and wired a great pass up to Chris Williams on the Chief's blueline and then walked in to blast a slapshot to tie game 2-2.
Kings were dominant in the third period but despite having a number of great chances couldn't get the winner.
Their best chance came with 50 seconds to go when Chad Niddery wrapped it around and found Garbowsky sitting in front of the net.
“There's not much to say about that one,” Garbowsky winced after the game, “I'd like to have it back.”
“I know where he goes with it there and he goes right across the crease so that's where I try to be and I don't know I just couldn't put it home.”
“I had the top of the net and I knew that's where I had to go but I guess I went a little too high.”
Garbowsky had a great game but laments the loss of a point saying, “It definitely was a rough loss.”
He was talking about the winning goal for Langley that came at 1:57 of overtime that slipped in on the shortside of a bit of a scramble around Garteig. The puck barely crossed the line but they all count and the Kings lost a tough one to the 1st place Chiefs.
Chris Williams thought the Kings missed an opportunity in this game.
“We should have done a little better job of getting to their goaltender and their D and burying our chances that we had.”
“We had plenty of opportunities to put the game away.”
Looking ahead he said, “I don't know much about Westside but like most teams we face they come in ready to play and everyone wants a shot at the back to back Coastal Conference champions so we'll be ready to play tomorrow night.”
Shots on goal:
Kings 47 Chiefs 28
Ron Armitage Mens Wear Three Stars”
1. Wyatt Galley
2. Michael Garteig
3. Kody Dhaliwal
