How Jaeden Nelson's 'best' has sparked the Ottawa 67's fast start to the OHL season

The inscription on the back of Jaeden Nelson’s mask, “Be Best,” is a phrase the Ottawa 67’s goalie has lived by through an Ontario Hockey League season that is less than a month old.

On Tuesday, the 19-year-old Nepean product was named the league’s goaltender of the week for the second consecutive week after posting a 1.59 goals-against average and a .950 save percentage while helping Ottawa to five of a possible six points on a three-game road trip.

Following a 2-1 overtime loss in Niagara, Nelson posted a 36-save, 3-0 shutout win in Erie on Saturday, then stopped 41 shots and a couple of shootout attempts for a 4-3 victory in Brampton less than 24 hours later.

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Not only has Nelson been the top starting goalie in the OHL, but his overall season numbers to date — a 5-1-2 record with a 2.28 GAA and .925 save percentage — suggest he’s been the best in the country.

“It comes from a book I read two summers ago,” Nelson said of Ryan Holiday’s Discipline is Destiny: The Power of Self-Control, when asked about the words on the back of his mask. “Be best to me just kind of stuck out. It’s the name of one of the chapters, and it’s just something that reminds me every day to put my best foot forward, no matter how I feel. Every day I’m not going to be the most energetic, or there are other things going on outside hockey that might make it easy to kind of just throw the towel in that day. But I showed up, I’m here, and I might as well try and put my best foot forward and get a little bit better that day.

“Everything that I do, I’m just trying to do the absolute best that I can.”

Nelson was lined up to be the 67’s No. 1 guy last season before Ryder Fetterolf, a training camp walk-on from Pittsburgh, wrestled the job from him and ultimately walked away with the Canadian Hockey League goalie of the year award.