[News] Jackets goalie Matiss Kivlenieks has passed away

[devo22]

very sad news coming out of Latvia. Only 24 years old, played 8 games for the Jackets over the last two seasons and played well for Latvia during the last WC. Cause of death wasn't initially given, but apparently he had an accident.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1412016784790728706

translated:

The talented Latvian hockey goalkeeper, Matīss Kivlenieks, who plays in the "Blue Jackets" system of the National Hockey League (NHL) club Columbus, has lost his life, Viesturs Koziols, the Secretary General of the Latvian Hockey Federation, confirmed to the portal "Delfi".

The reasons for Kivleniek's death are not yet officially known. Unofficial information at the disposal of the portal "Delfi" shows that the life of a hockey goalkeeper was interrupted in a tragic accident.

https://www.delfi.lv/sports/news/hok....d?id=53359005

RIP

[Hockey_Ninja]

Only 24. Horrible. RIP to him and I send my condolences to his family and the Bluejackets association

[Scroopy Noopers]

Ugh, awful.

[transplant99]

CBJ organization issues their release.

Spoilered only for size.

Spoiler!

[shortminute]

So sad to hear. Rest In Peace.

[CaptainCrunch]

God that's awful, 24 is way to young.

[bdubbs]

RIP. Too young.

[JackIsBack]

Crazy accident... we had a similar thing happen to us at a wedding where someone setting off fireworks didn't secure the base and when the first one fired off, it caused the others to fall over and fire into a group of people, thank goodness the only injury was someone got a small burn on their leg... but the panic running could have caused something worse I now realize.



It's just a series of unbelievable and unfortunate events like I guess most accidents are.... hot tub, fireworks falling over and firing into people, people running away, wet slippery feet, falling backwards (I presume) and on the back of your head - truly sad to hear. How delicate is life and how everything can change by seemingly harmless events and people just out to have fun.


My heart goes out to his family and friends.

[Textcritic]

Wasn't Levante Szuper a Latvian goalie?

Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk

[Flamesguy_SJ]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Wasn't Levante Szuper a Latvian goalie?

Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk

Hungarian. The "Backstop from Budapest."

[agulati]

Oh man. Such sad and tragic news. RIP.

[FlamesAddiction]

For such a small country and considering how few NHLers they produce, they seem to have more than their fair share of good players pass away well before their time. Skrastins, Zholtoks, and now Kivlenieks.

Very sad news.

[tvp2003]

Won his NHL debut, at Madison Square Garden. Not too many people can say that.

As far as entries to the NHL go, they don't come much more daunting than skating onto the ice at Madison Square Garden.

It's the World's Most Famous Arena -- just ask them -- and if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. So as Matiss Kivlenieks skated out of the tunnel and onto the ice for warmups ahead of his first NHL start Sunday night, there were certainly nerves bouncing through the goaltender's body.

Then, after skating out toward center ice, Kivlenieks turned around and was surprised by what he saw.

Absolutely no one.

Led by Cam Atkinson, the Blue Jackets stayed in the tunnel, giving the rookie netminder a traditional solo lap ahead of his debut. Kivlenieks burst into laughter and had a broad smile on his face as he skated back toward the net, then he was joined on the ice by his Blue Jackets teammates.

"It was pretty interesting," he said of his rookie lap. "I've seen it before, but I kind of forgot about it. I didn't expect it, honestly. Once I turned around, I saw everybody was still in the tunnel and I just started laughing."

Whether that was the moment broke the nerves for the 23-year-old Latvian goaltender is up for debate, but there's no question once he took the ice for the game, Kivlenieks was fantastic. He stopped 31 of 32 Rangers shots and got the win in the Blue Jackets' come-from-behind 2-1 victory.

Afterward, he could hardly process the moment.

"Honestly, I still can't believe it happened," he said. "I'll probably realize it tomorrow or something. It's always been a dream. It's obviously hard to even get a game, plus to win the first game you've ever played … but I think the guys played really good in front of me tonight, and at the end there were some really good blocks and (Oliver Bjorkstrand) scored a couple of huge goals. I'm just really happy I won the game."

https://www.nhl.com/bluejackets/news...ts/c-314168346

RIP.

[Jordan!]

Brutal.

[tvp2003]

Update:

https://twitter.com/user/status/1412096563615252484

[Reggie Dunlop]

What a way to go.

If it's indeed chest trauma.... there'll be lawsuits.

[Chi-Town Hustler]

Mortars are no joke. I've taken one to the leg. In a safe manner, they are awesome. Rip.

[Jetfire]

Ah man that's so sad. Only 24 and he had a bright career ahead of him... A talented undrafted goalie, he put up really good AHL numbers and was starting to find his way in the NHL. He played great at the World Championships this summer too and shut out Canada. What a loss for Latvian hockey and more importantly I feel horrible for his family.

[devo22]

looks like it happened at Manny Legace's place. Legace is the current goalie coach for the Jackets and Kivlenieks and Merziklins were visiting him for the weekend.

just a sad situation all around.

[sharkov]

If true, would that mean manny legacy would be legally responsible for death?