Matīss Edmunds Kivlenieks (26 August 1996 – 4 July 2021) was a Latvian professional ice hockey goaltender who played for Prizma Riga of the Latvian Hockey Higher League (LHL), the Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League (AHL), and the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League (NHL) between 2012 and 2021.
Kivlenieks died on 4 July 2021 after being accidentally struck by fireworks.
Kivlenieks was born in Riga, Latvia.
His father died of natural causes when he was young.
His mother and stepfather are restaurateurs.
Kivlenieks had a younger sister.
He fluently spoke Latvian, Russian, and after playing in the United States, English.
He started playing ice hockey at age 3 or 4 after watching his cousin's practices.
At age 5, he began playing as a goaltender.
2011
Kivlenieks played for Prizma Riga in the season of 2011–12.
That was his only season with the team, and he only played one game with a 9.52 goals against average (GAA).
They decided not to keep him, and he went to the Prizma U18 team, where he played as a third-string goaltender, playing only 12 games, but had a 2.6 GAA.
2013
Kivlenieks opted to leave Latvia in 2013 at age 16 and continue his development in the North American junior leagues in order to pursue his goal of joining the NHL.
Kivlenieks was encouraged to try and join the North American Hockey League by Kārlis Zirnis, a coach for the Latvian national team and a scout for the NAHL.
Kivlenieks' first team in North America was the Edina Lakers, which played in the Tier III Minnesota Junior Hockey League.
After the 2013–14 season, he unsuccessfully tried out for the Janesville Jets of the NAHL, and again played for the Lakers, now the Forest Lake Lakers.
By 2013, Kivlenieks had played for Latvia's U-17 national hockey team.
Despite playing hockey in the United States since 2013, it was the first time he stayed in the country long enough in the offseason to experience the Fourth of July.
2015
In February 2015, Kivlenieks was called up to the Coulee Region Chill of the NAHL as an emergency backup, losing 5–3 to the Janesville Jets.
In 2015, Kivlenieks was named to the MJHL's second all-star team.
In the 2015–16 season, Kivlenieks joined the Coulee Region Chill as a permanent player.
Kivlenieks played for the junior Latvian national team at the 2015 and 2016 IIHF World Juniors Division I Group A and was named best goaltender at both events.
In 2015, his team won bronze, and in 2016 his team won gold and promotion to the top division, with Kivlenieks having a tournament-leading 1.71 GAA and a .941 save percentage.
2016
Kivlenieks reached Tier I junior hockey in the 2016–17 USHL season, leading the Sioux City Musketeers to win the Anderson Cup as the league's regular season champions.
He had a 1.85 goals-against average and .932 save percentage, with both stats being the second best in league history.
In the playoffs, his team reached the final, but lost the Clark Cup in overtime of Game 5 of the Best of Five final.
Kivlenieks was named to the First All-Star team, and won the league's Goaltender and Player of the Year awards.
2017
Despite going undrafted after his final season with the Sioux City Musketeers, Kivlenieks signed a three-year, entry-level contract in May 2017 with the Columbus Blue Jackets worth $2,497,500.
The following season, he was assigned to the minors, joining the Blue Jackets' American Hockey League affiliate team, the Cleveland Monsters.
2018
Kivlenieks was first selected to the senior Latvian national team, serving as the third-string 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 ever win over Canada and also its first loss against Kazakhstan during the group phase.
On 4 July 2021, Kivlenieks was fatally injured during a fireworks malfunction while at the home of Blue Jackets' goaltending coach Manny Legace in Novi, Michigan.
Kivlenieks had travelled to Legace's home alongside teammate Elvis Merzļikins, a fellow Latvian goaltender, to celebrate Independence Day and the wedding of Legace's daughter over the holiday weekend.
2020
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.
Kivlenieks started the final two games of the 2020–21 Blue Jackets season, both against the Detroit Red Wings.
On 7 May 2021, he made 31 saves on 34 shots in a 5–2 loss.
The next night, in what would be his final NHL appearance, Kivlenieks saved 33 of 37 shots in a 5–4 overtime win.
After the end of the season, Kivlenieks was considered a contender for the backup goaltender position in Columbus.
