Kulbida roars in hockey and softball’s fast lanes

Jordan Kulbida is a solid two-way forward with the Cougars.

    Jordan Kulbida was always a stellar softball player, but there was a time she wasn’t sure if she should bring hockey into her life even though she wanted to.

    These days, Kulbida is a 21-year-old solid two-way forward with the University of Regina Cougars women’s hockey team in the U Sports ranks and ace pitcher with the Saskatoon G Force senior women’s softball team. She can also hit and field well on the diamond too.

    Back when she was about 12-years-old, Kulbida was playing softball, but she hadn’t taken up hockey. Her friend, Nara Elia, was playing the sport, and Kulbida wanted to try it out.

    With that noted, Elia was really good and Sophie Shirley was among the talented group of players that were on the ice. Elia would go on to play for Canada’s under-18 women’s team and currently is a standout with the Boston University Terriers women’s hockey team in the NCAA ranks.

Jordan Kulbida is an ace pitcher with the G Force.

    Shirley has gone on to be cemented in Canada’s national team system and currently stars for the University of Wisconsin Badgers women’s hockey team. She helped the Badgers win an NCAA national title in 2018-19.

    “Since I did start so late in my life, I was so nervous, because all these girls were so good,” said Kulbida, who has played three full seasons with the Cougars. “They had been to all these camps and like skating stuff, and I had never done any of that.

    “I was like, ‘I don’t know if I want to do this.’ All the girls were so nice, and they were so welcoming. All those girls that I grew up with like Nara and all of them, some of them I played with them.

    “For the most part, I played against lots of those girls. They pushed me, and they helped me become better. They were all very supportive, and it was awesome.”

Jordan Kulbida in action with the Cougars in 2017.

    Kulbida quickly discovered her love for hockey. She found her groove in that game making the Battlefords Sharks as a 16-year-old rookie in the 2015-16 season in the Saskatchewan Female Under-18 AAA Hockey League.

    During her second and final campaign with the Sharks in 2016-17, Kulbida was named team captain, and she piled up 17 goals and five assists appearing all of the team’s 28 regular season games.

    While she got into hockey, Kulbida kept going with softball playing with the Saskatoon Selects program through to the summer of 2018.

    In 2017, Kulbida cracked the roster for Saskatchewan’s women’s softball team that played at the Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg. Saskatchewan came away with a fourth place finish at that event.

    Kulbida believes softball will always be part of her life.

    “Honestly, I just loved like the atmosphere,” said Kulbida. “I was always with like the same group of girls, because it was like zone ball, when we were younger.

    “I became like really close with like all those girls. We were such good friends, and we had like such good parents and such good coaching. It was so awesome.

Jordan Kulbida plays in the outfield for the G Force.

    “I loved traveling with the team and going to tournaments. It was just so much fun. Getting to play the game that you love with all your best friends is like anything that anyone can ever ask for.”

    Due to playing in the Canada Summer Games and making nationals with the Selects, Kulbida was approached by post-secondary schools in the United States about playing softball.

    While those opportunities were there, Kulbida’s desire to play university hockey during her Grade 12 year increased. Even with the fact the goals were going into the net during her final year with the Sharks, Kulbida had her doubts if the opportunity to play university hockey would present itself.

    That all changed when she met Cougars head coach Sarah Hodges.

    “I wasn’t sure I was going to be good enough,” said Kulbida. “When Sarah (Hodges) came and talked to me at the (Athol Murray College of) Notre Dame camp (in Wilcox, Sask.), she was like, ‘I see some really good potential in you.’

Jordan Kulbida started playing hockey at around age 12.

    “I loved hockey so I was like, ‘Yeah. Sure. I should give it a shot.’ I’ve loved the past three years at the University of Regina.

    “It has been a huge eye-opener for sure. It has been super fun.”

    In 81 career regular season games with the Cougars, Kulbida has recorded 14 goals and 14 assists. Last season, she netted career high seven goals and tied her career high in points at 10 in 26 regular season games.

    By joining the Cougars, Kulbida was able to continue her duel sports life. She played for both the Selects and G Force in the summer of 2018 and with the G Force in the summer of 2019 and this past summer.

    Kulbida said her continuing efforts in softball have been supported by Hodges.

    Hodges was a multisport athlete herself playing for the Dartmouth College Big Green women’s hockey team in the NCAA ranks from 1992 to 1996 as a star utility player piling up 146 points while also being a member of the school’s track and field team as a javelin thrower. On top of those sports, Hodges also played competitive rugby.

Jordan Kulbida has played softball for most of her life.

    “She (Hodges) thinks it is good that I have other interests in my life,” said Kulbida. “She knows that I play softball, and she loves it.

    “Her daughters are getting into softball too, and she always like asks me for advice or how to help them. I am able to help her in that way, so that is really awesome to be able to give back to the community like that. She is super supportive of it.

    “She loves it that I am a double sport athlete.”

    Kulbida has found that she has been a good fit with the G Force. She adds it has been fun being one of the younger athletes on the teams, as a lot of her teammates are about two years older than her.

    Kulbida has been impressed with talents her teammates bring to the game. Growing up when she wasn’t pitching, Kulbida would usually play shortstop.

    With the G Force, they have a spectacular shortstop in Brielle McCullough, and Kulbida said it is amazing to see the plays McCullough makes. Kulbida is pumped to be part of the G Force team.

Jordan Kulbida has played three full seasons with the Cougars.

    “It is so awesome,” said Kulbida. “It is such a great group of girls.

    “Those girls have mostly been together since they were little, (and) they’ve been so welcoming and so kind to me. It has been so fun. I love all the girls, and I love hanging out with them.

    “Going to a game is like the most exciting thing ever, because we are there, we are having fun and we are also winning, so that is good. The coaching staff like Dave (McCullough) and Tony (Rupps) and Cory (Volk) are all awesome. I really enjoy it.”

    While she was able to play softball this past summer, Kulbida is keeping her fingers crossed she will get to play meaningful games with the Cougars for the 2020-21 season. U Sports has cancelled all its fall national championships due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Jordan Kulbida expects to play for the G Force well into the future.

    The Canada West Conference, which the Cougars play out of, has set Oct. 8 as the latest date about making a decision on whether the seasons for men’s and women’s hockey, men’s and women’s basketball and men’s and women’s volleyball will continue. At the moment, all those sports are targeted to start in early January.

    Kulbida is enrolled in kinesiology and health studies at the University of Regina and like all students is doing her courses online. She is still living in Saskatoon at the moment and continuing to work at her summer job.

    She said the Cougars have set a date of Oct. 5 to have all their players return to Regina, but the team has been flexible and understanding about everyone’s real life living situations.
    Whenever she can get back on the ice, Kulbida is looking forward to continuing her career with the Cougars.

Jordan Kulbida hopes to play more hockey after her Cougars days.

    She would like to have a chance to continue to play hockey for a campaign or two after her university career wraps up to in order keep playing hockey, while continuing to play for the G Force.

    “My first three years (with the Cougars) went by so fast,” said Kulbida. “I can’t believe that I am going into my fourth year already.

    “I look back and everything, and I am like, ‘Wow. That is crazy and all the good memories and everything.’ I’ve looked at maybe going to play hockey in Europe after I am done at the University of Regina.

    “Hopefully, I will get a cool opportunity to go play there (in Europe) for a year, because that would be awesome. We will see.”

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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Track and Field teams clean up at Huskie Salute

The track teams hauled in the hardware at the Huskie Salute.

    Could another golden age for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Track and Field teams have been foreshadowed?

    On Friday night at TCU Place, Huskie Athletics handed out its Major 7 Awards at the annual Huskie Salute, and four of those honours were claimed by members of the school’s track and field teams. Julie Labach, who was part of both the women’s track and field and soccer teams for her fourth season, claimed the Mary Ethel Cartwright Trophy as the female athlete of the year.

    Kieran Johnston, who completed his second season of eligibility with the men’s track and field team, captured the E. Kent Phillips Trophy as male athlete of the year. Kendra Farmer from the women’s track and field team was named the winner of the Patricia Lawson Trophy as female rookie of the year. Jason Reindl, who was in his first year as head coach of both track squads, won the Colb McEwon Trophy as coach of the year.

Julie Labach, left, was the female athlete of the year.

    The Huskies women’s team won their 22^nd Canada West championship this past season, while the men’s team finished fifth in the conference. At their respective U Sports nationals, the Huskies women’s team finished fifth, while the men’s team finished 13^th.

    Looking back on the campaign, Labach said the highlight was helping the women’s team win the Canada West title for the first time since 2012.

    “Winning that Canada West banner with the team was really, really special,” said Labach, who stands 5-foot-7. “That was the first banner that we won since I have been on the team.

    “Coming from soccer, that is what I miss sometimes about track. You don’t really get that whole team atmosphere. It really felt like we were all in it together and like every point counted and that was really great.”

Julie Labach gives a speech at the Huskie Salute.

    Labach had a memorable campaign personally. As a striker, she helped the Huskies women’s soccer team finish second in the Prairie Division of the Canada West Conference with a 7-3-4 record before falling in a quarter-final match in the playoffs 3-0 to the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds.

    The 21-year-old graduate from Saskatoon’s Aden Bowman Collegiate had a stellar season on in track and field. At the Canada West championships, she claimed gold in the 1,000-metre and 600-metre races and won silver medals in the 1,500-metre race and the 4 X 400-metre relay.

    At the U Sports nationals, Labach won gold in the 1,000-metre race and bronze in the 600-metre race.

    Before the U Sports campaign started, Labach won gold in the 800-metre race and silver in the 1,500-metre race at the Canada Summer Games, which ran July 28, 2017 to August 13, 2017 in Winnipeg, Man.

Kieran Johnston, right, was the male athlete of the year.

    “It was honestly like a dream year,” said Labach. “The momentum kind of started in the summer when I was at Canada Games. I won a gold and silver medal there.

    “It just carried forward into the soccer season. The soccer team had a really great regular season. Unfortunately, we didn’t really go as far as we wanted to in playoffs, but that happens sometimes.

    “Coming into track right off the bat from that first meet, everything just kind of fell into place. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

    She said her most memorable individual moment came winning gold in the 1,000-metre race at the U Sports nationals, which were held in March in Windsor, Ont.

    “I do a lot of different events, but the 1,000, which is the one I won gold in, is one of my favourites,” said Labach. “I couldn’t have written that race better than it went.

    “It was like magic. It was really special.”

    Being named the Huskies female athlete of the year provided an unexpected topper.

Kendra Farmer, right, was the female rookie of the year.

    “It was amazing,” said Labach. “I got a little bit nervous when I got up there and saw everyone.

    “It was really, really special. It is really just an honour. There are so many great girls nominated. I means a lot.”

    Labach said she wasn’t sure if she would return to use her fifth year of eligibility. The business student has been accepted into the law school program at both the U of S and the University of Toronto.

    No matter what she decides, she believes the track team can relive its storied past. The women’s team has won seven national titles and the men’s team has claimed five national titles. The last U Sports national championship win for both track teams came in 2005.

    “I think the future is really looking good,” said Labach. “Jason Reindl, this is his first year as our head coach.

    “He has really brought a lot of like life and energy back into the team. We said that our goal like at the beginning of the season was to win a Canada West banner, and we accomplished that (on the women’s side).

    “I think next is a national title. That is what we are aiming for so figures crossed.”

Kendra Farmer gives a speech to the crowd at the Huskie Salute.

    Kaitlin Willoughby, who is the graduating fifth-year star captain of the Huskies women’s hockey team, captured the Valerie Girsberger Trophy as the all-around female athlete of the year for excellence in sport, in the classroom and for leadership. Willoughby likely delivered the night’s most stirring speech highlighting the other nominees for the award she won and telling how much her time at the U of S meant to her emotionally and how important her support system was that surrounded her in family and friends. The speech ended with a bit of humour.

    The humour part included giving a shout out to her boyfriend from the Huskies men’s hockey team in Parker Thomas, who is a fourth-year grinding forward. The two have dated for the majority of their time at U of S. Willoughby, who is the second all-time regular season leading scorer in the history of the Huskies women’s team, said the pair always had a bet on who would score the most points each season and that she always won that bet.

Jason Reindl, right, was the coach of the year for Huskie Athletics.

    Kendall McFaull, who is the graduating fifth-year captain of the Huskies men’s hockey team, claimed the Rusty MacDonald Cup as the all-around male athlete of the year for excellence in sport, in the classroom and citizenship.

    Dylan Mortensen of the Huskies men’s volleyball team won the Howard Nixon Trophy as the male rookie of the year. The recipient of the Dr. Walter Hader Award as student trainer of the year was Rachel Mamer from the football team.
    A tribute video was shown for Lyle Sanderson, who was the legendary Huskies track and field coach who passed away in February.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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    If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.