Most young kids that are into sports have role models. People they look up to and inevitably mould their own game around. Due to the fact that this mother was an elite Scandinavian skater it is perhaps no surprise that Rex Kirkby's main influence is Mia Landvik. A veteran of twelve SHL seasons Landvik has been active all through the formative period of Kirkby's youth and with her combination of smooth skating and ability to deliver bone crushing hits she immediately caught young Rex's eye.

Although not as focused on checking as Landvik the similarities in defensive focus and skating ability make an easy comparison. Both share a willingness to take the body to deny the opposition easy entry into the zone while also sacrificing their own to get in front of shots to help out the goalie. Neither will be breaking any goal records but Landvik has put up over half a point per game across her career and with Kirkby having spent a lot of time practising passing he will be hoping to emulate this by setting up his teammates both at even strength and on the power play.

If Kirkby ends up panning out anything close to Landvik he, the Armada and whoever chooses to draft him to the SHL will be very happy.

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