Kyle Beach shines in first game since coming forward.

There's little doubt that this has been one of the most difficult periods of Kyle Beach's life so far. The former Chicago Blackhawks 1st round pick (11th overall) came forward in October to identify himself as the former player that had filed suit against the Blackhawks following allegations of sexual misconduct made against former Blackhawks video coach Brad Aldrich.

While what Beach did was commendable I would be shocked if coming forward and being so open with the world hasn't taken some kind of toll on him. Victims of sexual abuse often feel embarrassed or even humiliated about their experiences and therefore it can often make talking about those traumatic events, especially publicly, extremely difficult.

It may have also been a huge weight off of his shoulders however. I don't know Beach personally and I can't speak to how much this has weighed on his mind over the years, but if his recent performance is any indication of how he is feeling Beach might be in a pretty good place right now.

Although Beach has not been seen playing hockey on this side of the ocean since his days in the ECHL all the way back during the 2015 - 2016 season, he has maintained a professional hockey career overseas. Currently Beach is a member of the TecArt Black Dragons of the German Oberliga, and he returned to his team for the first time since coming forward, this week.

Not only did Beach's team easily walk away with the victory, winning by a score of 8 - 2, but Beach himself shined in his return to action for the first time since the now infamous interview where he revealed himself to be the John Doe named in the lawsuit. The veteran forward notched a pair of goals for the Black Dragons, his 3rd and 4th goals of the season respectively, which put him over a point per game pace on the season with 4 goals and 5 assists through 9 games of action.

We don't know what the future holds for Kyle Beach at this point, no doubt a great deal of that will depend on the outcome of this lawsuit, but we wish him continued success as he looks to move forward.