He was looking tougher to handle and dynamic in the early stages of games, pivoting quickly and able to drift in all directions with his head up to survey options. I love how he’s always looking for ways to cut and slice into the high slot off the rush without making his movements obvious. He nailed the post far side in one game and was trying some backhanded roof shots which just missed. Late in a period, he tossed a puck on net with 13 seconds left and banks it in somehow. I also loved how he was extending his stick and reach to protect possession but also does the same thing defensively to cause defenders to pass around him and not easily through him. He’s quite simply a consistent and dangerous goal scorer who attacks the middle and shows high-end patience and puck control to constantly be adjusting when needed.

Not often does a player seem to dominate every shift of every game, but that was the case for Louis Oscar Holowaychuk. He led the tournament with 11 goals and 17 points in 6 games, doing everything fluently and at a pace no one could match. His speed through the neutral zone was incredible, using crossovers to build momentum and explode into open ice. His hands were lightning-fast, and he changed direction so quickly that defenders struggled to disrupt him. He preferred working from the outside, cutting hard laterally to the middle and ripping shots on net in stride, often beating the goalie. His vision and hockey smarts were equally impressive; Louis consistently had a plan with the puck, slipping it under or through defenders’ sticks to create space for himself or set up his teammates. It will be exciting to see how Louis continues to build his game throughout the season.

While I’ve seen Louis play quite a few times already, I thought he surprised me with how much confidence and assertiveness he ramped up through the games. He’s fast, moves his feet very quickly, and can use his skill and decision making at top speed too. That includes toe drags into the middle to react to defensive stick positioning, driving the inside shoulder around defenders, and not being afraid to try to gain that inside step against bigger and stronger opponents. It led to him causing some penalties and certainly creating ample scoring chances. His point totals were not an accident and I’m excited to see how high in the first round he can rise in this year’s WHL draft potentially.

He scored four goals. Four beautiful goals, honestly. He was mobile, pressuring the defenders at both 5on5 and on the PK by taking away time and space and eliminating passing options to the middle. His ability to be aggressive and dart laterally to the inside worked very well. His goals came from different placements as one was a quick wrist shot, one a snap one-timer from the slot as he made sure to get to a spot quickly, and others came from gaining the zone and cutting laterally or elevating the puck up high and snapping with accuracy. I can’t remember if his one goal was short handed or not exactly but it might have been. He broke out off the rush, baited the goalie wide to open up the five hole and scored. He was the best player on either team in this one for me and at this point it is just a question about how high he can push up the rankings in the first round.

The dynamic BC forward could’ve easily been the first star of this game as he singlehandedly kept his team in this game using his constant motor to impact plays on both ends of the rink. He created a couple highlight reel plays in this one which included a quick give-and-go play that saw him use some nifty edgework and stick handling to maneuver his way through two opponents before finding a teammate on the backdoor as well as scoring a goal from his knees after winning a foot race to a puck in the corner of the offensive zone and driving his way to the front of the net. His ability to process plays at such a high speed and then execute them with such fluidity made him a constant threat with the puck on his stick. Off the puck, I liked his ability to create turnovers and regain possession in his own end as he did a good job of sticking with puck carriers and putting himself in the lanes to get deflect point shots away from the net or step in front of plays.

I think this is another player who has continued to get better as the event rolled along. He’s smart, agile, determined, and really sets the tempo in spots. I think it took him a little to establish his confidence in the first game and he’s been rolling ever since. You could find him in this game attempting to split the D down the middle, driving wide to try and finish or curling back heavy to the slot to release heavier in motion. He doesn’t shy away from attempting those things against bigger defenders too. Even if it doesn;t work out, he’s going to draw some penalties from putting players in tough spots defensively.

The determined pacesetter continues to slowly up the ante as my watches go on. I knew he was a quality player but he seems to really wanna put his stamp on games not only by his footspeed and the quickness and agility of his game, but also how he works with and off his linemates. He was active on his edges, hunting pucks both with possession and without, and showed this readiness and awareness to adapt to play. He cut back to the far side on a possession for a goal and got rewarded for simply being in a good spot. If he can keep up that pacing, agility, smarts, and confidence, it’ll certainly be a massive factor in his continual growth as a player.

He got better and more effective as the game wore on because I think more of the positive habits led to points. He began the game by getting rush attempts while controlling the puck through his crossovers, tried to center passes to teammates, and was constantly up in the play. There ended up just being lots of positive possession moments and when he stopped net front on many plays he got a tap in goal and a little rebound shovel goal around the goaltender. Those details on spacing and positioning in order to stop net front when the play asks for it are simply things that a lot of top players don’t do yet. He was good today.

I have a feeling I am going to really like Holowaychuk as he progresses through his minor league career. He is so crafty with possession and marries skill with boundless enthusiasm. He is always game to try unique puckhandling moments, shimmies, shakes, fakes and the sort to throw the defence off balance. These instincts also serve as a self preservation tactic as an undersized skater. He may look like an easy target, but he has a knack for avoiding contact. He scored the first goal for St George’s in the game and was one of the better players at cracking the defensive shell that the Chiefs tried to employ.

Louis Oscar Holowaychuk played with some great pace and flashed some good skill in instances for St. George’s playing a strong secondary offensive role for the team in the tie game. He was the one to follow up on Brock Cripps rush chance early, hammering home a rebound getting to the puck first and battling through some bodies in the process. He was consistently able to be the first to pucks in several different situations, one of which led to a shorthanded chance where he rang a shot off a post as he beat all nearby skaters to the loose puck, took a few steps, and fired it on net. He had another quality scoring chance later in the game pressuring a defender in front of their own net, he landed a stick check to force the puck free, curled it to his forehand in extremely tight to the goalie, had the goaltender down-and-out but unfortunately was unable to elevate the puck. The quickness through both his feet and hands made Holowaychuk both an effective off-puck forward along with intelligent and capable of making deft moves in tight for his team.