John Fulton’s responsibility on the Castle View hockey team was different than his role when playing club hockey.

Fulton, a junior who attends Ponderosa High School, played club hockey with the Arapahoe major AA team this year and last season was a member of the Colorado Thunderbirds 16U AAA club.

He was more of a complementary, checking, defensive forward with his club teams but became a goal scorer when he joined the Castle View team this season to play in the Highlands Conference, which was one of the Colorado High School Activities Association’s four leagues.

Fulton was the CHSAA regular season scoring champion with 23 goals and 21 assists for 44 points. In two playoff games he added two goals and an assist to wind up with 47 points for the season.

He is the 2017 Colorado Community Media South Metro Hockey Player of the Year.

“For the Thunderbirds last year I wasn’t necessarily the guy,” said Fulton. “I was relied on a little bit more with Castle View and I felt like I had to play a little bit better.”

Fulton adapted to his new role and during one 13-game stretch he filled the scoresheet with 22 goals and 34 points.

“I felt like I kind of started off a little slow but I picked it up halfway and finished strong,” he said. “It was a lot of fun. My line played really good and made it pretty easy to score goals.”

Castle View coach Al Quintana welcomed Fulton when he decided to double up and play high school hockey along being on a club team.

“He was a team player and leader on the team,” said Quintana. “John is a 4.3 GPA student in school. He works hard every time he is on the ice. His is an inspiration to the younger players.

Fulton enjoyed playing for the Castle View co-op team and didn’t feel pressure in his new role.

“The more you feel like you need to improve, the worse you play,” said Fulton. “When you feel like you’re the guy that needs to make it happen, there is less pressure because you feel like you can make the plays.

“There were a lot more teams than there used to be in high school hockey and the atmosphere for hockey is a lot better. For the big games and the playoffs there were a lot of people there so it was fun to play.”