Lavoie is an undersized defender who relied heavily on his skating base to make a positive impact whenever he was out on the ice. He was an effective puck-mover for Québec Black from the backend, utilizing his lateral mobility to escape pressure on regroups and buy himself time to assess his options and move puck up ice. Lavoie had a few intelligent activation sequences as well, jumping into space off the rush, receiving passes as the trailer option and getting shots off from above the circle.

Lavoie is a player who got better and better as the tournament went along, playing his best games in the latter half of the event. He’s an undersized defender with a pretty strong skating base and aggressive instincts, which he used to cover ground in the neutral zone and break up rush plays before they could materialize. I thought he was very effective on defensive zone retrievals by leveraging his edgework to pivot away quickly from forechecking pressure and making quick outlets up ice that helped facilitate controlled exits out of his own end.

Lavoie had himself a solid outing in this one, keeping things at bay at 5v5 and finishing with 2 assists. He may not overwhelm you with dynamic skill as an undersized offensive defenseman, but he more than makes up for it with an intelligent and tactical puck-moving game. He was consistently able to connect on outlet passes through traffic in the neutral zone, hitting teammates in stride and allowing them to enter the offensive zone with momentum. He was very effective as a power play quarterback on the Estacades’ primary unit, moving the puck well from the top of the zone and executing downhill passes through seams that lead to deflections from in tight.