For a franchise as young as the Columbus Blue Jackets, two events stand out. The first is the death of Brittanie Cecil, a fan who was hit by a deflected puck in 2002, the only fan death in NHL history. The second is the death of Matiss Kivlenieks, the team’s third-string goaltender, who died on July 4th of this year. For a team that has only played 21 seasons, an astounding amount of tragedy has struck them.
The death of Matiss Kivlenieks also greatly impacted Elvis Merzlikins. Easily his closest friend, the two Latvian goaltenders were practically brothers.