Goulbourne's 2015-16 Season in Review

Then, there were his fights. Always known to be tough, Goulbourne impressed in the fisticuffs department in his first two pro fights - both of which he didn't seek out but was challenged by the opposition. On October 24th, it was a one-punch knockout of Providence Bruins' Anthony Camara. Just two weeks later, Goulbourne dropped the gloves off the opening face-off against former Phantoms forward Zack Stortini and rung his bell









The former Kelowna Rockets forward continued to build confidence in November, scoring a goal in Binghamton - his 4th in his first 13 games - and explaining that he had a bit of extra motivation entering the season.



“What’s helping me is a lot of people have doubt against me,” Goulbourne said back on November 11th in Goulbourne played off his big knockout punch of Stortini after the November 8th game saying , "Actually he went after me. I just answered the bell. It's scary to see those kind of things happen. I'm glad he's okay, and it shows a lot about his character to come back out after something like that happens."The former Kelowna Rockets forward continued to build confidence in November, scoring a goal in Binghamton - his 4th in his first 13 games - and explaining that he had a bit of extra motivation entering the season.“What’s helping me is a lot of people have doubt against me,” Goulbourne said back on November 11th in an interview for Hockey's Future . “People believed I wasn’t going to do much in this league and I really wanted to prove them wrong. I knew I was a good player, and it’s nice to be rewarded for hard work. I want to keep it going.”





Phantoms head coach Scott Gordon was also pleased with Goulbourne's start to the season.





"He's a strong kid, obviously brings an element of toughness, but he can make plays," Gordon said after the 6-3 win over Binghamton . "We are happy with the way he's playing. He's getting better and he's going to be an important part of our team."

Goulbourne went on to produce seven points (four goals, three assists) in 13 November games, including points in three straight early in the month and his first two-goal peformance at the pro level at the tail end of the month at home against rival Hershey.





Perhaps a little overconfident in putting up offensive numbers early in the season, Goulbourne began to get away from his skill set a bit throughout the middle of the season. That, combined with the team's overall struggle for offense, led to a rough middle part of the season for the rookie forward. He went 33 games without a goal, and his overall game simply wasn't where it needed to be in order to be successful in a bottom-six role.





After tallying six goals in 20 games, Goulbourne tallied just once over his final 53 games. Still, his game is not predicated on offensive production. The reason he wasn't successful throughout the middle part of the season stemmed from his inability to play his game.





Toward the end of the season, Goulbourne was getting back on track and was more noticeable in games. He has the right mentality, and agreed he was getting away from his game during both his and the team's struggles in the middle of the season.





It will be interesting to see how much his game has evolved next fall. As is the case with most prospects, finding a level of consistency and playing like he finished this past season on a regular basis will be the key to his success.



