Matiss Kivlenieks Net Worth: How Rich was the Ice Hockey Player?

Matiss Kivlenieks was a 24 years old Latvian professional ice hockey goaltender. He is best known for playing with the ice hockey teams, Prizma Riga, and the Columbus Blue Jackets. Matiss accidentally died of chest trauma from the fireworks mortar blast on July 4, 2021. Matiss Kivlenieks net worth at the time of his death is estimated to be around $2 million.

Early life

Matiss Kivlenieks was born on the 26th of August, 1996 in Riga, Latvia. He was raised by his mother and stepfather. When he was young, he lost his biological father. He grew up along with a younger sister.

Matiss started playing ice hockey when he was just 3 or 4 years of age. He was actually influenced by his cousin who used to practice ice hockey. At the early age of 5, he started playing as a goaltender.

Matiss Kivlenieks Net Worth & Career

Matiss officially started off his career as an ice hockey goaltender in the 2011-12 season, where he played with the ice-hockey team “Prizma Riga”. However, his first game didn’t impress the ice hockey team, and they decided not to include him in the team. After that, he joined the Prizma U18 team as a 3rd line goaltender. He played along with the U18 team for 12 games, where he had 2.6 goals against the average (GAA).

Matiss left Latvia in 2013 and traveled to North America to join the NHL. He got to play his first game at the NHL with the ice hockey team, Edina Lakers. After playing two years with the team, he was called up by the Coulee Region Chill to play as an emergency backup. Though, his team lost the game to the Janesville Jets with a 5-3 score.

Kivlenieks became a permanent player of the Coulee Region Chill in the 2015-16 season. Soon after a year, he was able to make his way to Tier I Junior Hockey in the 2016-17 Season of USHL. He showed his best game with the Tier I team Sioux City Musketeers, due to which, the team won the Anderson Cup. In the game, he had a GAA of 1.85, and a save percentage of .932. With his brilliant effort, the team made its way to the final, however, it failed to win the championship trophy of the Clark Cup.

Matiss’s good performance in the Clark Cup leads him to include in the First All-Star team. Likewise, he was named the League’s Goaltender, and Player of the Year. In May 2017, he signed a 3-year entry-level contract deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets. In the 2018-19 season, he played along with the Blue Jacket’s affiliate team, the Cleveland Monsters.

Matiss got to play his first game with Blue Jackets during the 2019-20 season, where he earned his first-ever NHL win against the New York Rangers with a score of 2-1. He was in great form in the game where he saved 31 of the 32 shots. After having a good game in the 2020-21 Blue Jackets season, he was considered a strong contender for the backup goalie in Columbus.

Matiss Kivlenieks Personal Life

Matiss Kivlenieks was believed to be single. Though in July 2019, he posted a picture with a lady, where he captioned the post as Brain. We have not got any clue on the lady being his girlfriend yet.

Matiss died on July 4, 2021, during a fireworks malfunction at Blue Jacket’s goaltending coach, Manny Legace’s house in Novi, Michigan. He had an extensive internal injury after the mortar tube accidentally fired towards him, that struck directly in his chest and heart. He was immediately taken to the Ascension Provident Hospital, and later the officials confirmed that he is no more.

Matiss Kivlenieks Net Worth

Matiss Kivlenieks had gathered the total net worth value of $2 million before he died on July 4, 2021. He was signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets for a whopping contract amount of $2,497,500 in May 2017.