Man of the Week: Janis Kalnins
KHL.ru continues its weekly column with Janis Kalnins. The Latvian goalie is back in the KHL and is helping Amur make the playoffs for the third time in its history in the league after a four-year hiatus.
Janis Kalnins, the stalwart goaltender for the Amur has once again showcased his brilliance between the pipes. For the third time in his career, Kalnins has been crowned the Best Goalie, thanks to his stunning display of skill and poise last week.
Best Players of the 2022-2023 twenty-second week
With two wins and an additional victory after shootout, Kalnins stood tall in the face of a constant barrage of 134 shots, averaging 33.5 per night in the period. His determination was evident in his saves percentage of 95.52% and a remarkable goals-against average of 1.46. On Wednesday, Kalnins solidified his dominance with a commanding 3:0 victory over Sibir, earning his first shutout of the season and his 16th in his KHL history. But what’s even more important, is that he’s leading Amur to a playoffs qualification in spite of the Tigers’ star Evgeny Alikin missing time due to an injury that kept him out of the lineup since the team’s 2:1 SO victory in Nizhnekhamsk on Jan 25. The Tigers are currently the eighth seed in the East, with a three-point gap over Neftekhimik. What’s even more interesting, when talking about Kalnins, is his long and hard path that allowed him to become a prominent goalie in the top European league.
Early years
Janis Kalnins was born on Dec 13, 1991, in Limbazi, a town in northern Latvia, about 60 miles from the capital city of Riga. Limbazi is best known for its rich history, as it’s one of the oldest towns in the country and its castle dates back to the 16th century. Kalnins started playing in Liepaja, where he stayed until 2013, playing in the Latvian and Belarusian leagues, in addition to playing for the junior team in what was then called the JHL-B. But Kalnins wasn’t a goalie right away.
“I was playing as a defenseman and we had no goalie during summer training camp,” he recalled during an interview in 2021. “We had a bunch of players, but no goalie. I think ours just went to a different team, I don’t really remember. The coach asked me if I wanted to try to be a goalie, and I was nine or ten — so of course, I’m going to say yes. So I tried it. My first practice was probably terrible. The gear is a lot different than the skaters’ gear, but I kind of stuck with it. Just practiced, practiced, and got stuck with being a goalie. That’s how it happened.”
During his time in the JHL-B he was already emerging as one of the top goalies in his country, having represented Latvia at the U18 and U20 international stage, most notably at the 2010 World Juniors in Saskatoon and Regina. However, his path to KHL stardom then took an unexpected twist.
Move to pro hockey
Differently from many other Latvian players, he didn’t follow the vertical movement to quickly join Dinamo Riga, but left Liepaja and moved to Hungary.
“I know that no one would expect a goalie from the Hungarian league playing in the KHL anytime,” Kalnins told KHL.ru back in 2019 when he was a goalie for Jokerit Helsinki. “I needed to play five to six games before getting used to the KHL. I didn’t do anything special, just played, and showed my best game. I had a chance, and I did good use of that. My biggest competitor is myself and not any other goalies.”
“They would send me down to play juniors, which was…well, it wasn’t nice,” the goalie recalled of his time in Dunaujvaros, an industrial city south of Budapest in 2021. “That team wasn’t nice. The guys there, they were not the best team in the league. So I had 40, 50 shots in the junior team pretty often. I think I had one game with 66 shots, if I’m not wrong.”
Kalnins spent three years in Hungary, with a last season with Fehervar. By then, he has already started making to the Latvian national team, without however being able to have his debut at the WC level just yet.
Move to the KHL
After three successful years in Hungary, it was time for Kalnins to move up in ranks. He consequently joined Dinamo Riga back in his native Latvia to play in the KHL.
“After my third season in Hungary, I was looking for something else. And then, because I was on the National Team, my goalie coach there was also the goalie coach for Dinamo Riga. He asked me if I would be willing to go to Dinamo Riga, just for tryouts, for the first month and see how it goes. Of course I agreed. That was my only chance, and I would say things worked out. I’ve been in the KHL ever since. It’s maybe a different approach if you compare to the other guys in the KHL, but things fell in the right place at the right time, and I got my opportunity,” Kalnins said in 2021.
After two successful campaigns in Riga, and after finally making his debut at the senior WC, he moved to Jokerit. Kalnins spent the next three seasons in Finland. However, after three years, he was out of the KHL again as he signed a contract with Vaxjo in Sweden. After half a season, however, he moved East and signed with Tappara Tampere – he helped the team win a record-breaking eighteenth Liiga title.
After his triumph in Finland, Kalnins returned to the KHL. It would be harder to win the title with Amur, but just like every other team, they have to qualify for the postseason. And the goalie is giving his team a chance.
