Matīss Kivlenieks

Matīss Edmunds Kivlenieks (August 26, 1996 – July 4, 2021) was a Latvian professional ice hockey goaltender who played for the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Latvia
Kivlenieks played for Prizma Riga in the season of 2011–12. That was his only season with the team, and he only played 1 game with a 9.52 GAA. They decided not to keep him, and he went to the Prizma U18 team, where he played as a third-in-line goaltender playing only 12 games, but had a 2.6 GAA.

Junior
With NHL ambitions, Kivlenieks opted to leave Latvia and continue his development in the North American junior leagues, initially joining the Forest Lake Lakers in the Minnesota Junior Hockey League.

Professional
At the end of the season with the Sioux City Musketeers, despite going undrafted, Kivlenieks signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets worth $2,497,500. He started immediately the next season, joining the Blue Jackets, AHL affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters.

During the 2019–20 season, Kivlenieks was recalled on multiple occasions to the Blue Jackets before starting in his NHL debut, earning his first NHL win in a 2–1 victory against the New York Rangers on 19 January 2020. He stopped 31 of the 32 shots he faced and finished the night with a .969 save percentage.

International play
Kivlenieks was first selected to the senior Latvian national team, serving as the third choice goaltender at the 2018 IIHF World Championship. He later made his World Championship debut with Latvia as the host country of the 2021 IIHF World Championship. Kivlenieks was used as the starting goaltender as he led Latvia to its first win over Canada and also it's first loss against Kazakhstan during the group phase.

Death
Kivlenieks died in Novi, Michigan on July 4, 2021 at the age of 24. The Blue Jackets said he died as the result of a "tragic accident," suffering an apparent head injury in a fall.

In a statement, team president John Davidson said Kivlenieks "was an outstanding young man who greeted every day and everyone with a smile and the impact he had during his four years with our organization will not be forgotten." Former Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno said Kivlenieks "didn't take one day for granted which makes this tragedy even more hard to bear!"