How Colorado Avalanche draft pick Ondrej Ruml is helping the Ottawa 67's to a good start in the 2026-27 OHL season.

Ondrej Ruml may one day become the first hockey player from Boskovice, Czechia, (population: 12,000) to reach the NHL, but don’t ask him for fond memories of his hometown.

“I was only born there, I never lived there,” the 18-year-old Ottawa 67’s defenceman said. “I lived in a lot of towns in Czech.”

All of the moving around Ruml did as a young lad didn’t interfere with his development into a player whom the 67’s selected eighth overall in the 2025 CHL Import Draft and the Colorado Avalanche chose with the 11th last pick in this past June’s NHL Entry Draft.

And today, despite missing the season opener while at Colorado’s rookie camp, he leads 67’s blue liners in scoring with four points in four games, three of which (two goals, one assist) came in weekend wins that saw Ottawa outscore Oshawa (Friday) and Erie (Sunday) by a combined 10-2 count.

“I’m happy to score, but more important is the wins for us,” Ruml said. “Especially at this time of the season. Yeah, I’m happy for the wins.”

Both of Ruml’s goals — the third in the 4-1 road victory over the Generals and the first, less than 24 hours later, in the 6-1 TD Place beating of the Otters that was scoreless at the midpoint — came on the power play.

After netting 10, along with 18 assists, in 66 games as a rookie, he could be one of the top-producing back-enders in the OHL this season.

But putting up numbers hasn’t exactly been viewed as Ruml’s meal ticket to date.

“His lateral gap and his foot speed are elite,” 67’s assistant coach Norm Milley said. “He’s hard to beat 1-on-1 and his puck decisions … he makes plays. He’s a reliable, steady defenceman. You know what you’re getting from him every night, so having him in our lineup definitely helps us out.”

At the same time, Ruml’s offensive contributions would not only benefit the 67’s, but at just 5-foot-11 and 170 pounds, he’ll probably need to be a consistent points guy to take the next step.

“We’ve seen it from him,” Milley said. “You know he has the skill, you know he can make plays. I think once we get rolling here, I you’re going to start to see more of it. I think once he starts to get a little bit more confident with the puck and starts to feel the flow of the game, you’re going to start seeing more offence from him.”

It’s not like he had picked up any tips from Cale Makar during some 1-on-1 time, but he did witness what players in such a strong organization do to prepare for work.

“It was something unbelievable to see all the NHL players, how they are acting before practices, what they’re doing on the ice … to see another level,” Ruml said. “It was a really good experience for me.”

His primary takeaway from Colorado was that he needs to pick up the pace of his game.

“They do everything faster because the National Hockey League is such a fast league,” Ruml said. “So I’ve just got to do everything as fast as I can.”

After suffering one of the most lopsided defeats in franchise history with a 10-3 throttling by the Sarnia Sting in their home opener, this time the 67’s changed their travel plans for the second game in two days on Saturday.

Rather than bus directly home following the win in Oshawa, they spent the night in Belleville and then had a 9 a.m. wake-up call the next morning before heading to Ottawa for the 3 p.m. start against the Otters.

They still had what’s becoming their regular slow start against Erie, but instead of a second-half collapse like they suffered versus the Sting, the 67’s were able to turn things up a notch for the final two periods.

Early in a third period that saw them score three unanswered goals, they had four clear-cut breakaways during four minutes.

“It’s something we’ve talked about exploring in the past,” Milley said of the stayover on the way back from a road game that immediately precedes a matinee at home. “I know Jan (Egert, the team’s GM) has reached out to us before about maybe doing something like that.

“The one thing we try to do is eliminate all excuses and give our players the best chance to be successful. And going that route, we got a proper night’s sleep, traveled a little bit, got some food. So overall, I think it was successful for us.”

Goalie Jaeden Nelson, who has played all but 17 minutes of the team’s first five games, bounced back strongly after giving up five goals on 26 shots against the Sting.

He made 29 stops in Oshawa and then another 23 against the Sting.

Nic Whitehead had a goal and an assist against the Generals, with Brock Chitaroni adding two assists. Also scoring on Saturday were first-round pick Andrew Laurin (who now has three goals), Chitaroni, Filip Ekberg (who has four), Zach Houben and Spencer Bowes, who scored an empty-netter in Oshawa and now also has four on the season.

Chase Yanni added three assists on Saturday to give him four helpers on the weekend.

Trying to keep pace with the East Division-leading Brantford Bulldogs (7-1-0) and the Central Division-leading Sudbury Wolves (5-0-0), the 67’s (3-1-1) embark on a three-game road trip to Niagara (Thursday), Erie (Saturday) and Brantford (Sunday).

The following weekend, they are in Brampton on Friday before returning to face the Generals in their next home game on Saturday, Oct. 17.

“This is our first road trip as a team … for some guys it will be their first full road trip in the OHL,” Nelson said. “We just want to keep this (two-game winning streak) rolling. On the road, it can be tougher; you’re not playing in rinks you’re used to, and the schedule is a little different; you’re not eating home-cooked meals and things like that.

“But as far as being around the rink, nothing really changes. It’s just going out there and executing and performing every night.

“It starts between the ears, getting ourselves mentally ready and physically ready during the week. And then on the weekend, we’re just playing hockey.

“Each game rolls into the next one, and how we play will kind of determine how the next one will go.”