The arrival of Liam Kirk didn’t come a moment too soon.
“He’s our best player, he’s just won the DEL, and he’s going to help us massively on the power play and offensively,” British coach Peter Russell said after the team’s second underwhelming performance of the tournament.
“He’s a game-breaker type player and has been the last few years for us, so we’re very excited to get him back in the lineup,” said Brett Perlini, who is often Kirk’s linemate with the British national team.
That’s not to say that Great Britain’s tournament had gone terrible to that point – the team had one both of its games. However, they had taken only four of six points against teams they were expected to beat. They needed a late equalizer to force overtime against Ukraine, eventually winning in a shootout, and then struggled to produce offence against Romania, eventually winning 2-1 in overtime.
Kirk arrived in Sfantu Gheorghe on Tuesday, four days after winning the title with Berlin, in time for the last 20 minutes of Team GB’s practice. He was then was in the lineup for Wednesday’s game, a 12:30pm start against Japan. Two games later, Kirk has seven points and Great Britain needs just one point in its final game against Poland on Saturday to secure promotion.
“I’ll be honest, that third period was tough,” Kirk chuckled after the Japan game. “I was feeling it in the legs a bit – celebrating with Berlin caught up with me. But it’s good to get that first one out of the way and to get the job done. And it’s good to be back with the boys and everyone – it’s fun.”
In that game, Kirk had an early assist and goal to give GB a 2-0 lead but in another inconsistent performance, needed another late goal to force overtime, eventually winning. Then against Italy on Thursday, the line of Kirk, Perlini and Ben Lake was on fire. Kirk had four points and Perlini had three in a 5-1 win – by far the team’s best performance of the tournament so far.
“Him and Lake are two good players who work hard,” Kirk said of Perlini. “We had some good looks and hopefully we can build on that. We’ve got so many talented players that we can swap lines if need be, but I think we’re fine.”
“He’s so easy to play with,” Perlini said of Kirk. “He’s a smart player, plays with poise and confidence and it’s great to have him back in the lineup. We’ve played together in years past so we’re familiar with each other’s games and Ben Lake’s been a workhorse for us too on that line.”
An emotional season
Kirk has long been seen as the great hope for British hockey. He played junior hockey in Canada for the OHL’s Peterborough Petes and was drafted by the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes in 2018.
Injuries derailed his career in North America, but he’s been trying to work his way back and during last year’s IIHF World Championship in Prague, Kirk signed a two-year contract with Eisbaren Berlin of the DEL. This past season, he recorded 44 points in 48 games with the German club, then 15 more points in 14 playoff games as Berlin repeated as league champion.
“It was surreal,” he said. “It was the first championship for me at the club level and to do it in Berlin was amazing. Our fans were there, our families were there made it extra special. That’s a great group – it’s a family.”
When a team is that close, it hits especially hard when tragedy strikes. During training camp in August, Berlin forward Tobias Eder was diagnosed with a malignant tumor. Eder passed away on 29 January.
“Everyone’s seen it, it was an awful time, we lost a great teammate and an amazing person,” said Kirk. “We were really pulling for that the rest of the season and the playoffs, just playing for him. He was in our hearts and we wanted to win it for him. Of course, there were moments where you think of it, but he would have wanted us to celebrate it. We wanted to do that for Tobi and I’m glad we did.”
Kirk is looking forward to returning to Berlin for another season, but his focus is now on returning Great Britain to the top group of the Worlds – a place they’ve grown accustomed to playing in recent years. At 25, this is already his sixth World Championship. Of the previous five, three were among the elite and the other two the British team won Division I Group A. That’s a trend that he and his team intends to continue on Saturday.