Recently coming back from injury, Noel had a few hiccups early but got better and better as the tournament went along and proved he might be one of the more projectable defenders in the entire class. His gap control is excellent, consistently forcing puck-carriers to the outside before leveraging his lateral mobility to close in quickly and cancel them out along the boards. His physical play stood out in the defensive zone as well where I thought he took strong angles to opponents which helped him close them out below the goal line and kill cycle plays as a consequence. He still had a few awkward puck bobbling moments, but it looks like an area he’s improved on over time and I’m intrigued to see just how much more efficient his puck touches become.

Noel’s simple yet effective style of play made him one of the more impressive defenders throughout the entirety of camp. He was consistently able to maintain a tight gap while defending the rush, using lateral pushes and timely stick checks to smother opposing puck-carriers and knock them off the puck. He was calm and poised while going back for pucks in his own end, demonstrating strong scanning habits to assess forecheck pressure which allowed him to move pucks quickly up ice away from danger. He showed a good understanding of space, especially in the offensive zone where he was able to generate looks for himself by jumping down from the line and catching a pass around the circle. At this juncture in his development his deficiencies in puck handling don’t allow him to be a true puck mover and limit him as a transitional defender, although adding this dimension to his game throughout the year could make him a legitimate QMJHL prospect.

If there was one word, I would use to describe Noel’s play here it would be “involved”. He was frequently looking to include himself in offensive situations, whether it be activation off the rush to create number advantages or jumping down into space from the offensive blueline to make himself a backdoor passing option. He was pretty effective from the top of the zone with the puck on his stick as well, often pulling pucks to the middle of the ice from off the wall with his head up and fire low hard shots through traffic.