Blue Jackets Pipeline Podcast: Matiss Kivlenieks

Little did Matiss Kivlenieks know that his life found its purpose at age 5.

He started playing hockey in his native Latvia around age 3 or 4 after visiting his cousin's practice, and shortly thereafter, he decided to make a switch at the urging of one of his coaches.

CBJ Radio · The Pipeline Podcast Ep 12 - Matiss Kivlenieks

"I think it was at that point, everybody was still skating, trying to learn how to skate, and there are no goalies out there," Kivlenieks told Dylan Tyrer on this week's episode of the Pipeline Podcast, a weekly interview series with top CBJ prospects presented by your central Ohio Toyota dealers. "One day on the way to practice, coach called and asked if I wanted to try to be a goalie. At that point, I said, 'Why not?' I tried and ever since then, I've just been a goalie.

"Over the years, you kept loving it more because you start realizing and developing and it just felt different."

Since then, the 23-year-old Latvian has been a goalie and a quite good one. This past year, he made his NHL debut with the Blue Jackets on Jan. 19, giving up just one goal in a 2-1 victory for Columbus in Madison Square Garden. He eventually played in six games, starting four, and posting a 1-1-2 record with a 2.95 goals-against average and .898 save percentage. Kivlienieks also posted a 2.96 GAA and .904 save percentage in 20 games with Cleveland of the AHL.

Making it to the highest level capped what has been a circuitous and nontraditional road for Kivlenieks' hockey career. Eyeing a career in the sport, he chose to move from his native country to the United States to pursue junior hockey in his teens, ending up in the Tier-III Minnesota Junior Hockey League in 2013-14. From there, he worked his way up the junior ladder, first to the Tier-II North American Hockey League and then the Tier-I United States Hockey League, where he was league MVP while playing for Sioux City in 2016-17.

He signed with the Blue Jackets from there and has been in the system the past three years with a combined 77 appearances the past three season with the Monsters.

"My goal was always to play and get to the NHL," Kivlenieks told Tyrer. "I saw that was one of my opportunities to get there was to come over here, play juniors and slowly move up to that point."

Kivlenieks did just that, and in his chat with Tyrer on the Pipeline Podcast, he talks about that winding road to the league as well as the popularity of hockey in Latvia, his first start and win this year in Madison Square Garden, what it's like to golf with Elvis Merzlikins and goalie coach Manny Legace, and what it's felt like to get back to skating within the past week with the team.

Be sure to check out the Pipeline Podcast in the audio player above, Video: CBJ@NYR: Kivlenieks shuts the door on Panarin or listen to it through your favorite podcasting app by searching CBJ Radio.