How is Jaeden Nelson approaching this season as the Ottawa 67's most important player?

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Sounds like a pro, right?

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Behind a strong 67’s defence, expect Nelson to use this season as a stepping stone to becoming one.

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What’s the pressure like entering the season as the primary puckstopper on a team that’s expected to contend?

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Nelson’s backup is rookie Noah LaGambina, a Richmond Hill native the 67’s selected in the fifth round of the 2025 OHL Priority Selection.

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While he has yet to get his first taste of OHL action, Nelson entered the season having played 65 games for the 67’s over the past four seasons.

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No. 66 was this past Sunday, when Nelson stopped 23 shots in Ottawa’s campaign-opening 3-2 overtime loss in Kingston.

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“People say you can’t teach experience and I have played a lot of junior hockey games,” Nelson said. “It’s a good feeling to know the coaches trust me, that they have trust in what I can bring to the table night in and night out for the team. It‘s a relieving feeling, but you also want to go out and prove to the coaches and your teammates and yourself that there’s a reason why they’re putting this trust in you.

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“It definitely feels good to know that the team can rely on me, and I have the support of teammates and coaches, but then there’s a job to be done as well, and you have to be pretty sharp if you want to be the guy the team relies on.

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“We want to be a good team and I want to help the team win a lot of games and winning lots of games in in this league is is not a very easy thing if you get very complacent. So it’s a job that you have to work for day in day out, and I think I’ve been I’ve been very very well prepared for it.

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“I’m happy that I can have the trust, but I think every day trying to prove why I deserve that trust is what’s super important to me this year.”

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Nelson says the pressure, in part, comes from the expectations he has of himself and what he wants to accomplish.

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“Pressure is something that is just going to be there,” he said. “It’s a matter of how I let it get to me, and the noise of what other people outside of the team have to say. I think like it’s definitely there, and then maybe some pressure as a competitor that I put on myself to try and find a way to be better. I

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“think it’s there for sure, but it’s just a matter of not feeding into it and looking at it as opportunities for things to go wrong, but rather opportunities for me to show what I can do and have some fun and play some good hockey for the guys.”

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What’s in front of Nelson and the 67’s?

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Up first is the Sting, who as of Friday had a 1-1 record after a season-opening 4-3 victory in the Soo and a 7-4 loss in Peterborough.

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Centres Jack Van Volsen and Easton Walos have combined for four of the team’s eight goals.

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Scoring for Ottawa against the Frontenacs last weekend was defenceman Theo Avila — a Greely native who was playing in just his 13th OHL game — and 2026 first-round pick Andrew Laurin.

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It was the first OHL point for both players.

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After Sunday’s game, the 67’s will play in Oshawa next Friday, then return home to host Erie on Saturday.

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“We had an incredible year last year that no one really expected us to have, and with a lot of returning guys, we want to do the same and then some,” Nelson said. “I think we have the group to do it.”

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