Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Matiss Kivlenieks was hailed as a friend and hero during a memorial service held Thursday for the player who died on the Fourth of July from an errant fireworks mortar blast. Fellow Blue Jackets goalie Elvis Merzlikins, a close friend of the 24-year-old Kivlenieks, told the mourners at the Schoedinger Funeral Home in Upper Arlington that his teammate saved him and his pregnant wife the night he was killed. He saved my (unborn) son, he saved my wife, and he saved me." CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPTo honor his fallen friend, Merzlikins said his son's middle name will be Matiss. Police in Novi, Michigan, have not requested charges in Kivlenieks’ death, saying it still is considered accidental.

Source: Fox News July 15, 2021 21:45 UTC