Cochrane lawyer Matt Kirk is in Helsinki right now, getting ready to lay down the law.
He’s refereeing at the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) men’s world championship, taking place in Stockholm, Sweden, and Helsinki, Finland.
It’s just the next rung up the ladder for 32-year-old Mabbott & Company associate, who’s a Level 6 Hockey Canada on-ice official and has been reffing Western Hockey League games for 10 years. He has also officiated American Hockey League games.
“I’ve been doing this (officiating) since I was a kid – 18-19 years,” Kirk says in a telephone interview with The Eagle. What started at the community hockey level has now earned him a spot on the big IIHF ice with the world’s top players.
“Work at the major junior level gets you noticed to go to events,” he relates. “I did a couple of Memorial Cups and, after the one in 2010, the IIHF asked me to go to the world juniors. I did the world juniors in Buffalo in 2011.”
Like players at these tournaments, he was scouted by IIHF officials who liked his work at the international junior level and asked him to move up to the senior ranks.
“I did well at the world juniors, so I worked the bronze-medal game there. Canada was in the gold-medal game, so I wasn’t allowed to work the gold.”
He’ll be spending the bulk of his time in Helsinki, where Canada isn’t playing in the preliminary rounds. To avoid any conflict, or notion thereof, IIHF game officials do not officiate games in which their country plays.
Kirk scored his Level 6 Hockey Canada national/international refereeing credentials in 2007 and has been moving through the international ranks since. He reffed at the 2012 men’s Division 1 B pool world championships in Poland, working with relegated teams just a level below where he is now.
“This is just a natural progression up the world championships when you’ve proven yourself at those tournaments.”
And he says he’s benefitted from a world-class refereeing program at Hockey Canada.
“We’re so fortunate in Canada to have the referees we do,” he observes. “You look at other countries and they don’t have such a strong program as ours. Each year there are about 30,000 referees in Canada. I suspect a great number of them would certainly appreciate the opportunity to go and do what I’m doing right now.
“I certainly recognize I’m pretty fortunate.”
Good fortune aside, he has to shake off a 10-hour flight and nine-hour time difference to prepare for skating on the larger international ice surface.
“It’s wider. It’s not just the longer surface. It’s wider. It has a real impact for your view across the ice for plays in your zone on the boards. It’ll be interesting for sure.”
And, with the larger international ice surface, comes a different style of game compared to the gritty, physical style of the WHL and AHL.
“You have to use your instincts to follow the play. You almost have to be more precise in a skill game,” Kirk relates. “With the bigger surface and the skilled players, speed is so important. Smaller hooks and holds can have more of an impact or be more of an advantage or a disadvantage.
“Officiating at that level is probably going to be more focussed than, say, a physical game where you’re looking for the most flagrant of fouls.”
And this Cochrane lawyer will be on the spot, ready to throw the book at anyone who breaks the law on the ice at the IIHF men’s world hockey championship.
