Adam Fantilli & Kent Johnson Asked About Elvis Merzlikins
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.
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
Columbus Blue Jackets goalie cited family reasons last month and the Vancouver Canucks prospect is still involved in the AHL 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.
'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.'
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,
the Latvians qualified for the men's ice hockey tournament at the Winter Olympics for the fifth time out of the last six possibilities. Only once, in 2014 in Sochi, did Latvia reach the quarterfinals.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
The Hockey News' Vancouver Canucks Mailbag: Chytil, The 2025 Draft & More
Welcome to this edition of The Hockey News' Vancouver Canucks Mailbag. In this series, we answer your questions about what is going on with the Canucks. In this article, we look at where Filip Chytil fits in the lineup, the upcoming 2025 NHL Entry Draft & more. Latest From THN's Vancouver Canucks Site: Could The Canucks Lose Manny Malhotra To The Stars During The 2025 Off-Season? Advertisement Vancouver Canucks Head Coach Adam Foote Discusses New Assistant Coaches Kevin Dean, Brett McLean, And Scott Young 'They're Great Hockey Minds, And They'll Help Us A Lot': Canucks Adam Foote Details How He Will Utilize The Sedins During The 2025–26 Season Filip Chytil, first or second line winger? While Chytil is primarily a center, there is an argument that he could be dominant on the wing. One of the reasons why Chytil would work on the wing is his ability to create controlled zone entries, rather than dump and chase the puck. If the Canucks can add some depth down the middle, bumping Chytil out to the wing and playing him as a duo with Jonathan Lekkerimäki would give Vancouver more options in the middle six. Why are the Canucks so opposed to building through the draft? If they trade this year's pick, that will be only two first-round picks in 6 years? This is a good question that I wish I had an answer for. While the Canucks have found some late-round gems recently, like Kirill Kudryavtsev, Ty Mueller, and Ty Young, not having selections in the first two rounds over the past few seasons is likely to hurt them in the future. Ultimately, why give up assets and trade for a player like Dylan Guenther when, instead, the organization can draft and develop him? If the Canucks were to acquire the rights to Marco Rossi, what could a potential trade look like? If Vancouver is interested in acquiring Marco Rossi, it will cost them a few assets. While his time with the Minnesota Wild hasn't gone as planned, he is still a young, skilled player who could slide in as a second-line center. A very possible trade package could be the 15th overall pick in 2025, along with a prospect like Sawyer Mynio or Riley Patterson. Which Abbotsford Canucks have been the most impressive to you during their playoff run? There have been many standouts during the Abbotsford Canucks 2025 Calder Cup Playoff run. Up front, Max Sasson and Linus Karlsson continue to step up, while Victor Mancini has been arguably Abbotsford's best defenceman. The real star, however, has been goaltender Artūrs Šilovs, whose recent play will force the organization into making some tough decisions during the 2025 off-season. What does the Canucks defense look like for the next three years? How does it change? How Vancouver shapes their defence in the future depends on Quinn Hughes. If he elects to stay, the only significant change would be Tom Willander for Tyler Myers, as Myers would most likely be retired by then. If Hughes decides to leave, however, it could spark a rebuild, which would mean younger players the Canucks have acquired, either through the draft or trade, getting some opportunities at the NHL level. Advertisement If you have questions that you want answered in the future, you can submit them here.\ Feb 2, 2025; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Vancouver Canucks forward Filip Chytil (72) skates against the Detroit Red Wings in the second period at Rogers Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Frid-Imagn Images Make sure you bookmark THN's Vancouver Canucks site and add us to your favourites on Google News for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more. Also, be sure to leave a comment at the bottom of the page and engage with other passionate fans through our forum.
Boston Globe
11 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Patrice Bergeron and others believe Marco Sturm can do for the Bruins what he did seven years ago for Team Germany
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up It was engineered by Marco Sturm. Advertisement The newest 'He changed the culture,' recalled Christian Künast, one of Sturm's assistant coaches and now the director of the German Ice Hockey Federation. Describing Sturm as 'the best coach I've ever worked with,' Künast raved from his office in Germany. Advertisement 'Obviously we didn't have too many NHL players at that time. It's still new for us, something special when a German player makes it to the NHL,' Künast said. 'He had so much success, scored goals, everyone knew him in the hockey world in Germany. But his biggest influence was when he started as the national team coach.' The coaching carousel spun Sturm in different directions since then, to being an NHL assistant with the Kings and then the head coach of Los Angeles's AHL affiliate for the past three seasons. It was what Sturm accomplished with Team Germany that feels so applicable to what he faces with these Bruins. Just listen to Künast. 'I remember we lost in the quarterfinals in the 2017 World Championships to Canada at home,' he said. 'We lost, 2-1. The feeling in the dressing room was, 'OK, we made the quarters, everything is great. We lost to Canada, no big deal.' Marco changed that. He was bitter and sour about it. He let everyone know about it. 'It's not good enough. We want to have more. We've got to change our attitude.' ' By the Olympics, Sturm's impact was clear, though not right away. Germany opened by getting thrashed, 5-2, by Finland, surrendering three power-play goals. Matt McIlvane was the assistant coach in charge of the penalty kill, an Illinois native who'd been coaching club hockey in Germany and joined the Olympic staff mere days before they departed for South Korea after another coach had to pull out. Now the head coach of the AHL's San Diego Gulls, McIlvane remembered feeling 'like I couldn't find a corner big enough to climb into, I felt so bad.' Advertisement Sturm stayed the course, trusting McIlvane, trusting his players. A win over Norway in the final group stage game soon followed, and then … a run for the ages. The ninth of 12 seeds in the medal round, Germany soared, beating Switzerland, 2-1, and Sweden, 4-3, both in overtime. Then the real shocker — ' Late in the third, Germany clung to a 3-2 lead. 'And we got a power play,' said McIlvane. 'I remember on the bench, talking, should we put two [defensemen] on the ice? We agreed on that … they ended up pulling their goalie, and with 20 seconds left, they scored a goal, tying the game. Then we took a penalty in overtime, they scored against us four on three. Advertisement 'You won a silver medal, but it feels like you lost the gold. It pains me to talk about it even to this day.' But disappointment eventually wanes, dulled as they arrived home to a massive airport welcoming party, embraced by a jubilant nation. The enormity of what they'd accomplished began to sink in. 'I think in that moment we were just pumped about the medal, but after a few years you realize it,' said NHL veteran and Germany team captain Marcel Goc, now a coach with the club Adler Mannheim. 'You need those moments of success for a team or individuals, like [Edmonton star] Leon Draisaitl is having right now, you get more attention, and more attention brings more players, which is what we need.' Goc, who played with Sturm on the Florida Panthers, laughed as he relayed a message for his former teammate, 'Tell him to continue, keep it going for German players.' Related : For now, that comes second to the Bruins, a franchise in the throes of a necessary reset where the roster needs more firepower — 'I was 20 years old when he came from San Jose,' Bergeron said in a telephone call Friday. 'I was trying to learn from the older guys, he was one of them. He was friendly, took me under his wing in a way, helped me along, always extremely respectful. He was a really great teammate, always there for you.' Advertisement Like the rest of the world, Bergeron later watched in awe as Sturm turned the Olympics on its head. 'I was impressed with their run, definitely, the way they came together and went above expectations,' Bergeron said. 'It was great fun for me to see him behind the bench. It was the first time for me to see his demeanor, the way he was acting, because obviously I don't know him as a coach at all, but going from teammate to friend to seeing him behind the bench was exciting.' Next up, Boston. 'There's a picture, the two of us celebrating together on the bench at the Olympics,' McIlvane said, 'I sent it to Marco with a text saying, 'This is the feeling I get when I see you're the head coach of the Bruins.' ' Tara Sullivan is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Yahoo
Rafael Harvey-Pinard is Back
The Montreal Canadiens have recalled Rafael Harvey-Pinard from Laval. When he was last up with the Canadiens, he averaged 12:38 last season. But now, things have changed and one has to wonder why this is occurring. Some say there are better players in Laval at the moment. Related: Can Rafael Harvey-Pinard Grab a Habs Roster Spot? Pinard hasn't been ripping it up in Laval. He has 11 points in 24 games. He should have much better numbers. On most teams, that's not good enough to get a promotion but my guess is this is just the latest in callups that will get a few games and then on to the next player. Injuries have forced the team into this for now but a trade could cure this problem long-term. Advertisement Let's see how he looks for approximately seven minutes a game. It's hard to have any kind of impact that way. Martin St. Louis has been stingy with minutes for call-ups lately so I'm not expecting anything better. Maybe he will surprise me. In his last five AHL games, he had three assists. He's been shooting a bit more lately so I'm guessing they are looking for some offensive push besides filling the minutes. Pinard did that once upon a time. Emil Heineman will be back in a few weeks and things will settle down at that point. For now, this is what the Canadiens will do to try and fill his spot in the lineup. They have a tough schedule coming up so any tinkering is good.
