Anctil was at his best with the puck on his stick from the offensive blueline. His daredevil approach from up top is enough to get anyone out of their seat, often baiting pressure toward him before delivering a head fake followed by a quick move to the inside. He was frequently looking to activate off the rush as the fourth forward, which helped create number advantages off the rush and bolster Team Québec’s transition game whenever he was on the ice. The risk in his game still reared its ugly head from time to time, often in form of over aggressiveness in his offensive zone pinches or rush defending. Despite this, I thought it was still a positive performance overall from Anctil.

While Anctil’s renegade style of play could often make coaches pull out their hair, I thought he was playing a more composed risk-mitigated game while still displaying his patented offensive flash. He was reading and reacting to the play around him more effectively than I’ve seen him do in the past by picking his spots to jump into the rush and pinching down low more wisely. He was using his frame in the defensive zone to defend physically along the perimeter by using his body to lean on opposing forward and force them into the boards. His shot from the point was a weapon he used quite often throughout the event, which he also used deceptively to get defenders to get down for a block before he made a quick move around them and into space to attack downhill in the offensive zone. His aggressiveness in all three zones got him into a bit of trouble at times, but overall, I thought Anctil played to his identity at this event and was one of the better defenders because of it.

Anctil continues to turn heads at this tournament with yet another impressive performance in this game. He’s deceptive from the offensive blueline, often using head fakes or quick stickhandling maneuvers to get around defenders at the line and get into secondary coverage and attack downhill. He scored a goal in the second period by doing exactly this, picking up a loose puck at the line, beating two defenders with his hands and firing a shot into the upper half of the net. His outlet passes were quite consistent as well, making quick reads with the puck on his stick and speeding up the transition game for Team Lecavalier.

You could see Anctil’s confidence growing with each passing shift throughout this game. He’s a big sized defender who wasn’t afraid to impose his will on the offensive side of things, often acting as a fourth forward when he was out on the ice. His activations in the offensive zone were often intelligent, creating numbers advantages down low and making some flashy cross-ice passes to dangerous areas. He was equally dangerous in joining the rush, where he would often jump into an open area and make himself a dangerous passing option for teammates. In the defensive zone Anctil was using his frame effectively to eliminate opposing attackers along the boards and thwart any chance of a cycle game developing when he was on the ice.