ABBOTSFORD, British Columbia -- Arturs Silovs was making the long trip home with the Abbotsford Canucks from Charlotte, North Carolina, on Monday when he was named one of Team Latvia’s first six players for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.
Teammates applauded and offered congratulations individually, but the news was not at all surprising to the goalie who played 10 games for the Vancouver Canucks this season.
“Expected,” Silovs said one day later with no hint of emotion in his voice.
Silovs has represented his country before, including being named MVP of the 2023 World Championship after going 7-2-0 with a .921 save percentage that included a 26-save, 4-3 overtime win against the United States in the bronze-medal game, Latvia’s first medal at the event.
But what the 24-year-old is doing in the Calder Cup Playoffs might seem more surprising. Silovs was Vancouver’s starter on opening night this season against the Calgary Flames back on Oct. 9, but he struggled early and lost the job to Kevin Lankinen before being sent back to the American Hockey League in early December when Thatcher Demko returned from a serious knee injury. After three more starts with Vancouver later in the season, Silovs finished 2-6-1 with a 3.65 goals-against average and an .861 save percentage.
But he is 14-6-0 with a 1.94 GAA, a .932 save percentage and five shutouts -- one short of matching the AHL playoff record -- while starting every game of Abbotsford’s run to the Calder Cup Finals against Charlotte, the Florida Panthers’ affiliate.
Silovs is two wins from an AHL championship and is a leading candidate to be named playoff MVP.
“He's just a gamer,” Abbotsford coach Manny Malhotra said. “He wants to battle. He wants to work harder. He wants the information from (goaltending coach Justin Pogge). He wants to take extra breakaways. The guy just wants to work, and so I think it's a product of obviously having the talent. But he wants more out of himself all the time. I think that's the difference for me.”
Silovs made 28 saves in a 6-1 win in Game 3 on Tuesday in front of a standing-room only crowd of 7,052 that chanted his name early and often. He even had an assist with a breakout pass that created a 2-on-1 goal for Phillip Di Giuseppe in the third period to help his team take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 series.
He has a .906 save percentage in 110 AHL games over parts of five seasons; however, he has a .944 save percentage in three games against Charlotte.
Game 4 is here on Thursday (10 p.m. ET).
It's not the first time he has stepped up in bigger moments and brighter spotlights.
In addition to the MVP run at the 2023 World Championship, Silovs backstopped Vancouver to Game 7 of the Western Conference Second Round against the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season after injuries to Demko and Casey DeSmith, including a 28-save shutout in a 1-0 win that eliminated the Nashville Predators in Game 6 of the first round.
He’s also posted shutouts in each of Abbotsford’s first three series-clinching wins during this playoff run, making 21 saves to eliminate Tucson, then 29 to knock off Coachella Valley, and 34 against Colorado before saving 23 of 25 to eliminate Texas on June 8 and advance to the Calder Cup Finals.
“You just realize when the games actually matter,” Silovs said after Game 3. “I think it's a psychological thing too. The fans are more active in playoff time; I think that's what you're feeding from too. It gives you more energy.”
It may also not be a coincidence that Silovs is thriving under a workload that has seen him start 21 games since April 23 after only playing 31 games -- 21 in the AHL and another 10 in the NHL -- the entire regular season. Even when he was in the AHL for extended stretches this season, Abbotsford often only played on the weekend, at least at home, and he usually split back-to-back starts, so he often only played once a week until getting the final five starts of the regular season.
“It's hard to practice five days a week, two hours a day, and then you play; you don't really get in a rhythm,” Silovs said. “Now you play every second day, you just reset, don't think too much. It doesn't matter, win or lose; it's just focus on the next game.”
That’s allowed Silovs, a sixth-round pick (No. 156) by Vancouver at the 2019 NHL Draft, not to overthink about his still evolving game, something he admitted was an issue during long stretches in the NHL season where he didn’t play and was often left sharing a net or even skating on his own with a couple shooters after practice while Demko worked back from injury.
“I’m still paying attention to my things but not over analyzing everything, and I think that helps a lot,” Silovs said. “When I was up, I felt like I was over analyzing everything. It's experience and you learn from that.”
