Jory Kulbacki posted 16 points, four of which were goals in 36 games with the Yellowhead U15 Chiefs back in the 2019-20 season.
He then joined his hometown high school hockey team as he became a Neepawa Tiger when he was in grade 10; however, that season ended up being cancelled because of the pandemic. So a full year passed before Jory was able to represent his high school team and now that he's in grade 12, Kulbacki is looking to go out as a champion.
While there is still plenty of season left, Kulbacki has been giving hockey fans a lot to talk about this season. In just 23 games played, he has found the back of the net 35 times and his 77 points are the second-most in the league, only behind Connor Martin of the Killarney Raiders. Kulbacki has been masterful on the man advantage with seven power-play goals and he has also added 11 power-play assists to go along with four shorthanded goals and four hat-tricks.
Jory isn't focusing on trying to win the league's scoring title, but he is pleased that he's been able to produce so efficiently this year. He's playing on a like with Tarek Lapointe who has 63 points and Brody Pollock who has 38.
"My linemates are really good, they make it so easy for me," said Kulbacki. "Overall, we just have a great group. I love playing with this team, it's great to represent the high school."
With nine more games left in the regular season, next up for Neepawa is a date with Sandy Bay on Wednesday night at the Yellowhead Centre. The Tigers then play three of four games on the road before ending the season with a three-game homestand. Sitting at 15-8, the Tigers are in fifth place in the league and only one point back of Birtle for fourth and Neepawa has two games in hand.
The team has won three of their last four games and the team's offence has caught fire with 23 goals over that span.
"I believe we're capable of winning the entire league, we have a really good team," ended Kulbacki. "We know that we can compete with anyone in this league, even our losses against the top teams have been very close."
Neepawa did lose to Dauphin in the Christmas Classic, 5-4. As noted above, Kulbacki is five points back of Martin with a scoring title up for grabs and Kulbacki's Tigers also do have two games in hand on Killarney.