I semi-expected Lafleur to have a strong showing at this tournament after a couple of playoff viewings for his club team left me impressed, but his performance here happily exceeded my expectations of him as he finished tied with the team lead in points with 5 in 4 games and flanked one of the most effective lines in the entire tournament. His work along the perimeter, especially below the goal line, were highly effective as won a majority of his puck battles, hounded defenders to force turnovers and turned his puck touches into chances in the middle of the ice for both himself and his linemates. He was very difficult to contain while attacking downhill with the puck in the offensive zone, proving difficult to knock off stride at full speed and even flashing some intriguing handling sequences that allowed him to carve through defenders at full speed and attack the middle of the ice.

Lafleur is one of the rawer prospects out of Québec this year, standing at 6’3 and 170 lbs to go along with some high-end offensive ability, although he still struggles to put it together throughout games. He only finished with a goal in 5 games, but definitely had some moments that popped and helped you see his potential. His best moments came when he was attacking defenders head on off the halfwall, where he was able to leverage his puck skills to pull pucks through and around them to work his way to the inside to generate chances from the interior. His above-average frame allows him to hold onto the pucks for extended periods of time along the perimeter at this level of play, and with some time should make him a formidable power forward at the next level if he continues to develop.

Lafleur was often finding ways to pick apart the Team Daigle defence and create scoring looks for his teammates in the most dangerous areas of the offensive zone. There were multiple times in this game where his strong work along the perimeter led to grade A chances for his linemates including his pass on the opening goal where he connected on an impressive give-and-go play, sifting a pass through a defender right onto the tape of Napon in front. His quick processing ability and high volume of well-executed passing plays below the hashmarks made him one of the most dangerous Team Savage forwards with the puck on his stick.

Lafleur was one of the more productive players for Team Savage, picking up two goals while generating plenty of scoring chances. He was leveraging his frame and speed on the forecheck by closing in on defenders quickly and forcing turnovers which lead to lengthy offensive zone sequences. His first goal came late in the first period when he kept a puck in at the offensive blueline, deked around a pinching defender while attacking downhill then buried his own rebound off a shot in tight to score. His second goal came late in the second period when he fought his way to the front of the net and banged home a loose puck at the side of the goal that found its way over the goaltenders outstretched pad. He nearly capped off the hat trick later on when he took a stretch pass in stride but couldn’t capitalize on the breakaway.