Blue Jackets Add Matiss Kivlenieks on Emergency Recall
Feb 24, 2020The AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, top affiliate of the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets, announced Monday that the Blue Jackets added goaltender Matiss Kivlenieks to the team’s roster on emergency recall.
A 6’2”, 180 lb. left-catching native of Riga, Latvia, Kivlenieks, 23, signed a three-year, two-way entry level contract with Columbus on May 25, 2017. In four appearances for the Blue Jackets this season, the first of his NHL career, Kivlenieks posted a record of 1-0-2 with a 2.41 goals-against average (GAA) and a .907 save percentage (S%) and went 9-8-2 with one shutout, a 2.97 GAA and a .904 S% in 19 appearances for Cleveland this year. In 76 career AHL appearances, all for the Monsters, spanning parts of three seasons from 2017-20, Kivlenieks posted a record of 27-33-7 with three shutouts, a 3.23 GAA and a .892 S%. During the 2018-19 season, Kilvenieks logged a 5-3-0 record with a 2.71 GAA and a .923 S% in eight ECHL appearances for the Kalamazoo Wings.
Prior to his professional career, Kilvenieks went 36-7-2 with five shutouts, a 1.85 GAA and a .932 S% in 49 appearances for the USHL’s Sioux City Musketeers during the 2016-17 campaign. That season, Kivlenieks claimed USHL Player and Goaltender of the Year honors, was named to the 2016-17 USHL First All-Star Team and helped Sioux City claim the 2017 Anderson Cup as USHL Regular-Season Champions while leading the league in wins (1st), shutouts (T1st), GAA (1st) and S% (1st).