Hard Work Paying Off For Goulbourne
For Tyrell Goulbourne, his pro hockey career with the Philadelphia Flyers organization has been filled with highs and lows.
In his rookie season with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, the feisty forward was playing with speed and energy - chipping in with six goals and three assists in his first 20 games in the American Hockey League. He told Inside AHL Hockey then, after a November 11th game in Binghamton in 2015, that he had plenty of critics and plenty doubting him. He was determined to prove them wrong.
Goulbourne finished the 2015-16 season with 73 games played at the AHL level to go along with 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists), respectable numbers for a bottom-six forward adapting to his first taste of pro hockey.
Things hit rock bottom for Goulbourne last season. He wasn't playing with any kind of consistency, was often a healthy scratch for the Phantoms in the beginning of the year and spent most of the season in the ECHL with the Phantoms' affiliate Reading Royals - recording just 23 AHL games on the year.
Fast forward to this season, and it's a whole new player. Goulbourne has figured it out.
After starting the year in Lehigh Valley, Goulbourne earned his first NHL call up to Philadelphia on January 4th and made his debut two days later as the Flyers hosted the St. Louis Blues. In all, Goulbourne saw nine games with the Flyers before being reassigned back to the Phantoms last week.
"Waking up in Reading last year at this time and waking up in Philadelphia this year, it was a big accomplishment for myself," Goulbourne said in an exclusive 1-on-1 interview with Inside AHL Hockey last weekend after a game in Wilkes-Barre. "Again, I wasn't comfortable up there but it felt good to be up there. It was a great experience. I'm thankful that I got that experience."
Goulbourne said entering this season he had changed a lot of things within his game and got back to the basics. Playing his game - and being hard to play against - is what earned him his first taste of the NHL. And who said hard work isn't rewarded?
"It feels good to be rewarded for working hard," Goulbourne said, adding, "Been changing a lot of things up, switching up my mindset. Just a lot of things paid off when I changed up my game."
In the end, Goulbourne knows what it takes and what he has to do on the ice to be successful. He knows his role, and he's more than okay with sticking to it.
"They drafted me for a reason. I just have to go out and do it. There's really no pressure to go out and hit guys," Goulbourne said, smiling. "I knew I wasn't going to play a lot, but I was happy to get in the minutes that I did."
