Merzlikins gets his chance to represent Latvia on the Olympic stage

Elvis Merzlikins left Latvia to chase his hockey dream as a teenager. He grew from a talented youngster into a man playing in Lugano, Switzerland, and has established roots over seven years in Columbus, where his two children were born.

He still finds time each year to go to his homeland, though. Summer trips to his hometown of Riga include seeing friends, visiting family, and the meals he grew up with. LIDO, a popular Latvian restaurant serving the traditional dishes of the country, features the kotletes – flattened, fried meatballs – potatoes and salads he misses when overseas.

“It’s always nice to go back and get the homemade food,” Merzlikins said. “You can literally have whatever, from desserts to everything, so usually I'm getting really disgusting there.”

He said the last line with a laugh and a smile, a trademark Merzlikins quip. He’s always been unapologetically himself, an outsized presence playing for a nation that fittingly punches above its weight in international hockey circles.

He’s worn the carmine red and white of his country at the World Championships, World Juniors and Olympic qualifiers, but his dream ever since he rose up the ranks was to play in the Olympics for the country where he was born, flanked by the lifelong friends he grew up playing with.

Now, the opportunity is finally here. Merzlikins is on the roster for the Latvian squad that will compete at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, with the experience of a lifetime beckoning.

“I didn’t spend, I would say, most of my life in Latvia, but still I was born there and that’s where I grew up,” he said. “I think that’s where my character and all of me was born, right? It’s obviously a huge honor. Each time you put that jersey on, it’s an honor. You defend your country.”

In many ways, the experience will take Merzlikins back to his roots. He started playing hockey as a defenseman but was moved to the net because of his proclivity for just trying to get in the way of shots – and an inability to skate backwards – with his excellent athleticism making him the prototype for the goaltending position.

In a country known for producing goaltenders – including his first netminding hero, 13-year NHL standout Arturs Irbe – Merzlikins has long been seen as a potential heir apparent to being the next Latvian standard bearer between the pipes. His time with many of his Olympic teammates dates back to when he was just 15 years old, making this equal parts a homecoming, an opportunity and a reunion.

“The best part is I’m going to meet my boys with who I literally start playing hockey – since Under-15, I would say,” Merzlikins said. “It’s always nice to go back to the national team and play. We have an amazing locker room. We are really tight together. We are as a family there, and it’s just unbelievable joy.”

The challenge facing Latvia is a big one. A nation of less than 2 million people – smaller than the Central Ohio area – will face the United States in the first game Thursday, then take on Germany and Denmark in Group C play with an eye on surviving the group and making it to the quarterfinals.

But while Latvia has just three wins in 25 Olympic games all-time, the country has shown a recent ability to hang with hockey’s big dogs. In 2021, the late Matiss Kivlenieks backstopped the country to a memorable win in the World Championships in Riga vs. Canada, making 38 saves to earn a shutout victory on home ice. Two years later, Latvia earned a bronze medal at the World Championships by beating the U.S., leading to a national holiday in the country marked by more than 50,000 fans descending on Riga’s Freedom Monument to celebrate.

At international tournaments the world over, Latvian fans are known for being among the most passionate, hoping to inspire their countrymen to victory.

“I feel really lucky that our country has really crazy fans,” Merzilkins said. “They love us. We are a small country that we all the time cheer for each other. If there is a basketball tournament or something going on, we are going to cheer for them the same way they are doing for us. As a small country and with the unbelievable support what we have from them, it makes us proud to wear that jersey and play for our fans and our country.”

This year’s Latvian team features six NHLers, including two between the pipes in Merzlikins and Pittsburgh’s Arturs Silovs. The other four are forwards Teddy Blueger (Vancouver), Zemgus Girgensons (Tampa Bay) and Sandis Vilmanis (Florida) as well as defenseman Uvis Balinskis (Florida).

The goaltending should be a strength, though, with Merzlikins entering having won five of his last six starts and Silovs – the MVP of the 2023 Worlds – posting a .922 save percentage in his last seven NHL games. Then there’s Kristers Gudlevskis, who made an Olympic-record 55 saves in a 2014 loss to Canada.

Merzlikins and Silovs split the time in a warmup game ahead of the tournament, and how the playing time will be given remains to be seen. But the netminders will likely be the key for Latvia, along with the team’s strong will to succeed.

“We are a small country,” Merzlikins said. “We don’t have many superstars at home, so we know how to battle. We know how to fight, and we know the most important thing – we know how to not give up. We always play until the last second and then we look up at the scoreboard and we see the result.”

Should Merzlikins get the call to start, he’s shown his mettle over his career in Latvian colors. He has appeared in six World Championships and was named a Top 3 player on his team three times – in 2016, ‘17 and ‘18 – while compiling a career 2.79 GAA, .907 save percentage and three shutouts at the tournament.

But nothing else is quite like the Olympics, and Merzlikins has been waiting for this moment for an entire career. His son, Jaxon, has drawn a version of the Olympic rings logo that adorns the top of his helmet, and Merzlikins is ready to represent his home.

“I was waiting for this moment all my career, so it’s something particular,” Merzlikins said. “There is the best of the best, and not just hockey players – other athletes. You don’t have, I would say, often the chance to see them, how they get ready for their competition or how they prepare themselves and how they perform. It’s one of the best moments I think of your career in general, and it’s something particular and special.”