The Arty Party is alive and well in the offseason.
Arturs Silovs is becoming a local legend in Latvia after a hell of a performance at the World Championships which resulted in Latvia winning the bronze medal. The Vancouver Canucks goalie stood on his head for his country and finished the tournament with a 7-3-0 record, a 2.20 goals-against-average and a 0.921% save percentage.
Silovs was named tournament MVP and that helped him earn the nomination for IIHF Male Player of the Year.
Latvian fans have been loco for Silovs over the past few weeks and the 22-year-old goaltender has been having some fun with his fans.
Celebrations in Latvia to welcome home their ice hockey heroes who won bronze in the World Championship. Parliament convened to declare today a national holiday. The whole country is rejoicing.
This is what it means to be a nation.
(#GoodBalticTakes)pic.twitter.com/Rxs7Voftqn
— Bad Baltic Takes (@BadBalticTakes) May 29, 2023
Silovs took to Instagram early Monday to share a photo of his autograph on a man’s rear end.
Silovs is coming off a season that saw him become the starter in the AHL for the Abbotsford Canucks. He finished the AHL season with 44 games played, posting a 26-12-5 record, a 2.44 GAA, and a 0.909% save percentage. Silovs has two starts in the AHL playoffs but the Abbotsford Canucks went with Spencer Martin between the pipes in their final two games against the Calgary Wranglers.
We also saw Silovs play five games in the NHL this past season, he had a 3-2-0 record with a 0.908 save percentage in those five games.
There’s a serious possibility that the 22-year-old goaltender ends up as the Vancouver Canucks’ backup next season. He would get a lot of time with Ian Clark and be able to work closely with Thatcher Demko.
One of the reasons why Silovs may not begin the season in the NHL next season is his experience. Silovs has played in just 55 AHL games over his three-year AHL career. The organization likely wants him to play a lot more games before they give him full-time NHL duties. If Silovs ends up spending the season in the AHL, expect him to get a bulk of the starts and because of the proximity of the AHL team to the NHL club, we may even see the team try to sneak Silovs up to the NHL for some spot starts. Silovs will not require waivers, so the team has a lot of flexibility with where they play him and how they play him next season.
For now, he’s finally getting some time to enjoy the offseason and sign some behind.
