Adam Nemec is still new to this whole North America thing — the third-round draft choice of the Ottawa Senators only arrived in Sudbury this past January, after spending the first half of the 2025–26 season in his native Slovakia, with Nitra MHC.
During the winter, he was busy playing with the Sudbury Wolves. During the summer, he was back home in Slovakia. Therefore, he hasn’t had time to take in many of the sights that Canada has to offer — but he did get to one NHL arena, Canadian Tire Centre, as fate would have it.
The Wolves were in the nation’s capital to play the Ottawa 67’s in late January, and by a stroke of chance, Nemec’s older brother Šimon and his former New Jersey Devils were also in town to play the Senators.
The Wolves purchased tickets for their players to attend the Saturday night matchup and see the Sens defeat the older Nemec and his Devils teammates by a score of 4-1. After the game, they were lucky enough to see the Senators locker room and facilities.
He had no idea that six months later, the Senators would call his name at the NHL Draft.
“It was great to see the locker room, and now it’s reality,” said Nemec after he took morning skate on Saturday morning at Centre Slush Puppie, ahead of a 6 p.m. Prospect Challenge game against Toronto.
While the 18-year-old Nemec might be new to NHL facilities, he’s not new to NHL training methods. He and his older brother are accustomed to training together in Slovakia in the offseason.
“Yeah, I think it helps a lot. Like to see an NHL player on-ice and off the ice, and he's a professional both ways, so that helped me a lot to grow my game,” said Nemec.
Nemec returned to Sudbury this summer to prepare for Wolves training camp. He and fellow Slovak Jan Chovan share a billet family, which helped ease the transition to living in Canada. Their billet mom even visited the pair in Slovakia this summer.
“Yeah, it's super crazy to be with [Chovan] there,” said Nemec. “That helped me a lot when I came there last year, and it's been crazy. We’ve got good chemistry on and off the ice, so that’s good.”
Nemec will return to Sudbury after rookie camp to begin his first full season in the OHL. He’s looking to build on the 14-goal, 35-point season he put together over 31 games.
Off the ice, the Slovaks are looking forward to spending time with their billet brother, who introduced them to the area’s golf courses last week.
“It was actually my first time last week, and I think it’s pretty fun,” said Nemec. “I might go a little bit more.”
