One of the interesting things about covering the IIHF World Championships as a journalist is the media presence from the different participating countries. As a nation that is crazy about hockey, Latvia always sends a significant number of journalists to cover the tournament and, like a lot of Latvians, were disappointed when Elvis Merzlikins announced that he wouldn’t be representing his country this year.
However, that didn’t stop them from asking Kent Johnson and Adam Fantilli, Merzlikins’ Columbus Blue Jackets teammates, about the popular goaltender. Two themes that came out in both of their answers were his personality and his generosity.
“He’s a lot of fun to be around,” said 20-year-old Fantilli, who’s been a teammates of Merzlikins for two years now. “He’s got a big personality and it’s a pleasure to be around him in the locker room.”
“I have a good relationship with Elvis – he’s a good dude and a good goalie too,” said 22-year-old Johnson, who has now been a teammate of Merzlikins for more than three seasons. “He won us a lot of games this year. That was huge and I’m looking forward to the same thing next year.”
“He’s been our starter for quite a few years now and he’s stolen quite a few games for us,” said Fantilli. “This year he was phenomenal in shootouts. I don’t know exactly what his record was but it was pretty good. When you have him back there, you have a little bit of confidence and you can play a little bit harder offensively.”
“We have a lot of fun away from the rink, the whole team,” said Fantilli. “The rookie party was a blast, a lot of team dinners are awesome. At the rink, I just love his personality and how much he celebrates shootout wins.”
It was mentioned how Merzlikins sometimes buys dinners after the Latvian national team comes up with a big win, and Fantilli confirmed he also does that sometimes in Columbus.
“Sometimes he throws a team dinner up on the board and if we win,” he said. “I know he did it this year in Toronto (pictured) and he’s done it in past years too.”
No Merzlikins, Silovs, Or Any NHLers For Latvia, But Daugavins Returns
The
Latvian national team will not have Elvis Merzļikins or Artūrs Šilovs
in goal at this year’s
IIHF World Championship – the
<a href="http://thn.com/columbus">Columbus Blue Jackets</a> goalie
<a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/columbus-blue-jackets/latest-news/blue-jackets-merzlikins-will-not-play-for-latvia-at-the-world-championship">cited family reasons last month</a> and the <a href="http://thn.com/vancouver">Vancouver
Canucks</a> prospect is still involved in the <a href="http://thn.com/ahl">AHL</a>
playoffs. But
the small nation of less than two million seems to have no trouble
producing goalies and Latvia
will
give the net to 32-year-old
Kristers
Gudlevskis, the two-time top
goalie of Germany’s DEL.
Both players were disappointed but understanding when they heard Merzlikins wouldn’t be going to Stockholm.
“I was hoping when we’d play Latvia that he’d be in the net. It would be fun to score on him and make some jokes about it after,” Johnson laughed. “But no, I hope he’s enjoying his time off and he’ll be ready for camp.”
“Just before I left Columbus, he told me he wasn’t going to be playing,” said Fantilli. “I knew Canada and Latvia were in the same group so it would’ve been fun to play against him, but I knew he’d just had a baby, so family comes first.”
Predicting Latvia's 2026 Olympic roster
When they beat France 5-2 on home ice on Sunday, <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/international/latest-news/latvia-denmark-slovakia-and-maybe-france-qualify-for-2026-olympics">the Latvians qualified for the men’s ice hockey tournament at the Winter Olympics </a>for the fifth time out of the last six possibilities. Only once, in 2014 in Sochi, did Latvia reach the quarterfinals.