“There is bound to be a dip or two through the season for Kirk, who may be tried at the centre position at some point, but the signs are encouraging that the Englishman has hit the ground running in Canada’s premier junior league.”

I wrote the above in a previous article following a bright start which saw the GB forward register four point in his first three OHL outings.

Well there was a dip in production almost immediately as Kirk went thirteen games without recording a solitary point.
There are many factors to consider including settling into new surroundings, getting acclimatised to the league after the initial adrenaline rush and the Peterborough Petes struggling for consistency.

What’s far more important than any adversity is how a player bounces back and Kirk has ten points in his last ten games (pointless in just two games during current stretch).

He’s also riding a four game point streak with five goals in his last three outings and is shooting the puck more through this hot spell – 2.9 SPG as opposed to an average of 2.5 through the season.

If you need to see evidence of confidence in his ability right now then check out this spin-o-rama goal.

First power play goal which tied the game en route to a come from behind victory for Peterborough.

Making the correct decision to shoot during a 2-on-1 rush with the defenseman having taken away the passing lane.

Speaking about acclimatisation to the league:

Rewarded by going to the net and then throwing the puck toward the danger area.

Kirk is currently 8th in Petes scoring (7-7-14), recently scored his first power play goal and now the challenge facing the young man is whether he can build on this run of good form through the dark days of winter.

Now over a third of the way through the season, Peterborough are in a decent position to make the playoffs barring a collapse or an injury crisis and like Kirk are enjoying recent success riding a three game win streak.