Charbonneau came into this camp as one of the more highly touted defenders for the 2025 QMJHL Draft, and I don’t think he did much to damage his reputation with his play at this camp. In terms of overall effectiveness, I thought he was one of the better defenders at making positive plays in all three zones and driving play from the backend. His strong backward skating and crossover technique allowed him to keep a good gap while defending off the rush, using his stick to poke the puck off opposing forwards stick and kickstarting the counterattack for his team. He’s a really strong puck-mover as well with the ability to process his options get the puck up the ice quickly into a teammate in space, threading pucks through traffic if need be to initiate controlled exits and entries. If he didn’t like what he saw, he could use his edgework to peel back in the zone and buy time for himself to reassess his options. From the offensive blueline he would always take the space that was offered to him up high to attack downhill and utilize his hard and heavy shot from the top of the circle.

As an anchor on the back end for Shattuck St. Mary’s, Thomas Charbonneau consistently played a sound two-way game for his team over the course of the tournament. He showcased some great defensive awareness, using his 6'1 frame to cut off cycle plays down low, pinning opponents to the boards taking them out of the play while also using a good defensive stick to close the gap on attacking forwards and disrupting passing lanes. With the puck on his stick there were very few mistakes made, he was decisive and would regularly make the smart play especially on breakouts by sending a short, quick pass to an open forward up the ice or if there was no immediate help, he would find a way to chip it out of the zone and away from any danger. On the offensive side of the game, he was just as efficient by keeping pucks in at the blue line and capturing a couple assists in which he was able to find the sticks of his teammates around the net with shots from the point through traffic.

One of the more heralded prospects to come out of Québec this season, Charbonneau saved his best performance for last after what I thought was an underwhelming first couple of games. His puck-moving was quick and accurate from start to finish, making heady decisions on his outlets that lead to many controlled exits and entries for Québec White. Charbonneau even showed an ability to deal with pressure that I hadn’t seen prior to this game, flashing some high-end edgework to peel back on regroups and either get the puck up the ice quickly to a forward or skate his way into space and gain the offensive blueline. He scored his team’s only goal of the game on the powerplay in the first period when he attacked downhill from the blueline into space and fired a perfect shot over the goaltender’s shoulder with a hard snapshot.

Our final standout player of the championship tilt, Thomas Charbonneau was an absolute pain to play against for Mount St. Charles. The size and tenacity, along with great strength and athleticism made him dominant in the corners and battling for 50/50 pucks. Through the middle of the ice in his defensive end he deflected plenty of passes, along with got in front of shots, deflecting them elsewhere, making his goalies’ job easier as a whole. In motion he gapped up on puck carriers well, kept them wide, prevented easy zone entry, along with denied a handful in the process. It wasn’t the flashiest game from Charbonneau, but without a doubt an effective one minimizing chances against.

I thought Charbonneau was steady throughout the whole game and rarely made mistakes when handling the puck. He made smart plays at the blue line keeping pucks in, reading the positioning of teammates and deciding to chip it deep into the zone or fire the puck at the net and contributed on his team’s go-ahead goal in the second period goal when Grubb deflected his point shot from the slot. I thought he defended opposing forwards well off the rush by closing them off along the boards when they entered the zone and using an active stick to disrupt passing lanes. He was very efficient on breakouts and regroups making quick decisions to feed forwards attacking up the ice.