Joseph seemed to get better and better with each game throughout the tournament, ultimately becoming one Québec’s more effective forwards despite being their youngest player. It’s quite rare for a 6’2 and 180 lbs forward to be such a graceful puck-carrier at 14 years old, but that’s exactly what Joseph brought to the table here. He was demanding the puck while he was on the ice, often acting as the primary puck transporter for his line and driving back defenders with his unique blend of powerful crossovers to go along with his long stride. His ability to anticipate passing lanes made him a dual threat rush attacker, forcing defenders to respect his speed while also trying to shore up any passing lanes. He flashed some highlight reel one on one ability throughout the tournament as well by pulling pucks through defenders and performing nifty outside-inside moves to get himself into high-danger areas.

Seemingly a man amongst boys, standing at 6’2 and 174lbs at 14 years old, Joseph played a few games against u17 competition last season, and you can see why. His stride is next level compared to his peers, long, deep, controlled, powerful, fluid – and whatever other compliments you can give to it. He was dominant in skating the puck up the ice because of this stride, but mixed with a lengthy reach and soft puck handles as smooth as anyone else in the event, and you have yourself a transition monster. Skating the puck across both bluelines with control and relative ease time after time, he seemed unstoppable at moments. Carrying his momentum from the neutral zone into the offensive zone, he bolted past defenders on a few occasions, giving himself all the ice, he needed as he converged in on the goaltender alone. The pace and routes he took with the puck simply were too much to handle the majority of time for his opponents, slipping pucks under their stick as he attacked from the wing, he was a master at getting leverage under opponents while in control of the puck to box them out and carve his way to the middle of the ice. Because of his size and strength, on top of edge work, he was lethal at protecting the puck, drawing in 2, and even 3 defenders at time, sucking up all the attention, yet still managing to filter a pass to an open man in-and-around the slot. Some of which passes came as no-lookers. The raw puck skills and shot are above the rest as well. An elite shot, perhaps nearing major-junior caliber already – he was a lethal scoring threat, on top of his playmaking ability. It’s early, but expect Alexis Joseph to be atop our 2009-born North American rankings once they get debuted.

This was far from a performance I’ve come to expect from Joseph as he was rather ineffective throughout the majority of this game despite picking up a goal and an assist. He wasn’t able to generate a whole lot of puck touches in this game, which limited his ability to impact the game severely. What he was able to do in this game was make strong passes in the transition game, threading hard and accurate passes to teammates in stride who could then enter the zone with speed. He scored a goal in the second period off a two on one by tapping home a cross-ice pass. The highlight of this game for Joseph came on the powerplay in the third period when he executed a perfect downhill cross-ice seam pass that was redirected in by Bibeau-Rivard.

The best player in this game by a fair margin also happened to be its youngest. Joseph was the most dangerous forward in this game from start to finish, driving play every time he stepped on the ice and consistently getting pucks into dangerous areas whether it be through a deke or a pass. His speed through the neutral zone was difficult to contain for the opposition, as he was consistently able to push back and turn around defenders and create space up high for his teammates, who he would then execute a slip pass to for a scoring chance in a dangerous area. I thought Joseph was anticipating the play very well with the puck on his stick, often putting pucks into lanes a second before they had fully developed and hitting a teammate in stride just as he had entered into it. Time and time again he was executing slot passes from everywhere in the offensive zone, and with a little more finishing luck probably would’ve finished the game with 3-4 assists.

It was yet another high-end performance from Joseph despite his team’s defeat. Every time he was on the ice the Phénix were able to establish some serious possession time in the offensive zone and garner some dangerous scoring chances. He is a player who constantly demands the puck and wants to be a difference maker every time he steps out on the ice despite being thee youngest player in the entire league by a full year. He scored a magnificent goal in the first period when he took a pass in the neutral zone, entered the zone with speed, then put the puck through a defender and deposited the puck into the top corner to tie the game at two. There were plenty of other times where he was able to push back defenders off the rush thanks to his speed and stickhandling ability, which created space up top for teammates and allowed for high danger scoring chances. There were times where I thought his shot selection could’ve been shored up, as a lot of shots were getting blocked, but that’s also a testament to just how much he had the puck on his stick.

There haven’t been many teams that have been able to contain Joseph these last couple of weeks and the Blizzard were no different in this one. He was the driving force behind the Phénix offense, scoring two of his team’s three goals. His first goal saw him make a nice drop pass off the rush, drive the net then tap home a beautiful pass from Alex Levasseur to open the scoring. His second goal saw him get in behind the Blizzard defense, corral a bobbling pass with one hand then fire a quick snapshot high blocker on the ensuing breakaway. His in-zone offensive game has grown exponentially as well, as he now shows more consistent flashes of puck protecting ability along the perimeter which allows prolonged possession time with the puck.