UPPER ARLINGTON — Blue Jackets goaltender Matiss Kivlenieks was hailed as a friend and hero during a memorial service for the player who died on the Fourth of July from an errant fireworks mortar blast.
Matiss Kivlenieks brought joy to everyone that knew him.
Today we are celebrating his life and remembering the wonderful person that he was.
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) July 15, 2021
Authorities have said the firework at a private home northwest of Detroit tilted slightly and started to fire toward people nearby.
Kivlenieks was in a hot tub and was trying to move out of the way of the firework when he was struck.
Fellow Blue Jackets goalie Elvis Merzlikins, a close friend of the 24-year-old Kivlenieks, told the mourners on Thursday that his teammate saved him and his pregnant wife the night he was killed.
According to a post on the Blue Jackets website, Merzlikins noted he and his wife Alezsandra were standing behind Kivlenieks and said that Kivlenieks got in the way of the fireworks to save others.
“He saved my son. He saved my wife and he saved me. He died as a hero,” Merzlikins said, adding that his son’s middle name will be Matiss.