"Spring Silovs" is a real thing and in 2025 the Abbotsford Canucks goalie carried his seasonal surge to a Calder Cup win and the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy.
Arturs Silovs dominated the AHL postseason with a 16-7 record, a goals against average of 2.01, a save percentage of .931 and five shutouts. All of those numbers (including wins) were improvements on his 2024-25 regular season totals. The Latvian netminder also recorded two assists during the Canucks Calder Cup run.
Silovs is just the second goalie in the last 14 years to win the Butterfield, joining Hershey's Hunter Shepard in 2023. Other recent goalies to receive the honour include: Robin Lehner (2011), Michal Neuvirth (2009) and Carey Price (2007). The trophy originated in 1984 and other top players to win it consist of: Brian Skrudland (1985), Olaf Kolzig (1994), Tomas Tatar (2013) and Tyler Bertuzzi (2017).
He was pulled once during the playoff run after allowing three goals on eight shots during the first period of game two of the Pacific Division semifinals against the Coachella Valley Firebirds on May 3. He bounced back after that performance and never left the Abbotsford Canucks crease the rest of the playoffs.
"Game two was like lucky bounces, hits our d-men and gets in the net," he said, reflecting on that game two. "You don't really care about those kind of nights because you can't really do anything about it 鈥� it's just puck luck. But yeah, bounce back for games three and four 鈥� so that's what matters."
He added at that time that he loves the pressure of the playoffs.
"It's so much fun to play at this moment of the year," he said. "You want to put everything on the line. I feel great under the pressure."
But those playoff pressures almost boiled over in game one of round one against the Tucson Roadrunners on April 23. With the Canucks up 4-3 late in the third, Silovs knocked the net off its moorings when Tucson was pressing down low and that resulted in a penalty shot for the Roadrunners with just 35 seconds left in regulation.
Silovs was forced to square off with Roadrunners defenceman Max Szuber and made a huge stop to help the Canucks hang on for the win. He said he was motivated to make the save after the ref called for a penalty shot.
"The ref sees what he sees," he said. "He saw movement and he made the call for me. It was important for me to make that save, I was really mentally prepared for that."
Another ongoing story line with Silovs was his ability to step up in close out games. He recorded a shutout in game three to eliminate the Roadrunners in round one, a shutout to eliminate the Firebirds in round two and then blanked the Colorado Eagles to bounce them in round three. In the final two rounds he held the Texas Stars and Charlotte Checkers to two goals or fewer in eight of those 12 games.
Silovs also became part of a memorable viral hockey moment in game one against the Checkers when the official decided to drop the puck for a face-off in the Abbotsford defensive zone in overtime before he was ready. That face-off was won by Canucks centre Ty Mueller, who played the puck behind him and it went directly into the net. Charlotte thought they scored and celebrated, but the refs met and decided it was not a goal. Abbotsford later won that game.
"It was special," he said, speaking to the media after winning the Calder Cup. "There are so many guys that grew up together, special chemistry. Just seeing guys fighting for every inch of the ice, blocking shots and doing everything in their power to win these games. We managed to bounce back every single game, we didn't get two losses in a row."
Spring Silovs initially began in 2023 when he helped lead Latvia to an IIHF bronze medal, which was the first ever for his country. Then in 2024 he helped the Vancouver Canucks eliminate the Nashville Predators in round one of the Stanley Cup playoffs and then pushed the Edmonton Oilers to seven games.
"You want to play your best when things matter," he said.
While he appreciated the historic run and his achievements at the AHL, Silovs appeared to hint that he believes he's ready to take that next step and become an NHL regular.
"Finishing this point of your career with a milestone 鈥� winning the championship 鈥� I think it's really special," he said. "As a springboard to come from I think it's going to help a lot in the future."
No one can ever take away his achievements and Spring Silovs will now be remembered all the way now from Abbotsford to Latvia as something to behold.
