Welcome to the final stretch of the offseason! School is back in session, the guys are back on campus and fall training camp is here for the Omaha Mavericks and college hockey teams around the country.
Mike Gabinet and the Omaha coaching staff have added 11 newcomers to the roster this summer and we’re going to do a quick preview piece on each of them so that you know a little bit about who they are and where they’re coming from before they hit the ice on October 2nd.
I didn’t really know what the best order to do these in was so we are going to go in order from when they were officially announced by the program.
Next up, we’re talking about 6’1″ 180 pound goaltender William Lacelle from Gatineau, Quebec!
Omaha has a long history of elite goaltending and in my opinion, it has been the best recruited and developed position in the program by far. From Kendall Sidoruk to Dan Ellis, Chris Holt to Jerad Kaufman, Jeremie Dupont, and John Faulkner, to the most recent success of Ryan Massa, Evan Wenninger, Isaiah Saville, and Simon Latkoczy, this program has had a solid protector of the crease as long as it has existed. Gatineau, Quebec native William Lacelle looks to continue that legacy as he takes over between the pipes for the Mavericks this fall replacing a four-year starter and 2025 NCHC Goaltender of the Year in Latkoczy.
Lacelle will be coming to Omaha after spending two full seasons and part of a third in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League where he played in 79 total games for Rimouski Oceanic before being traded on January 5th, 2026, to the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada for the final 21 games of the regular season and Armada’s 15 game run in the Q playoffs, ultimately losing in game seven of the league semifinals. He was drafted 10th overall by Oceanic Rimouski in the 2023 QMJHL draft out of the Lac St-Louis Lions minor hockey program where he played the three seasons prior to joining Rimouski.
The newest Maverick netminder is heading to 67th and Center after putting up some pretty impressive numbers in a historically high-scoring league. Compared to the other leagues in the Canadian junior hockey system, the Q averages around 6.8 to 7.4 goals per game, while games in the WHL average around 5.8-6.5 goals per game. Lacelle posted a .914 save percentage and 2.44 goals against average across his two full regular seasons in the Q. For reference, he finished 6th in ’24-’25 with a .909 save percentage and 2nd in ’25-’26 with .917, while also finishing 1st in ’24-’25 with 2.38 GAA and 4th in ’25-’26 with 2.49, meaning he gave up roughly an entire goal per game less than average across the entire league. Records are more of a team statistic than the previous ones mentioned above, but the record in games played by Lacelle is just as impressive boasting 66 wins, 11 of which were shutouts, while losing just 28, and recording ties in 7 other contests.
It is a bit puzzling as to why he was passed over in the 2026 NHL draft as he was a consensus top-100 draft eligible prospect and top-10 goaltender, paired with a legitimate NHL build and the stats to back up those accolades. Lacelle will be eligible again next spring and with a strong rookie campaign wearing the crimson and black, he could very well position himself to be the third Maverick goaltender drafted all-time and the first since the Flyers selected Anthony Stolarz in the second round, 45th overall, of the 2012 draft. To read more on his journey to the 2026 NHL draft, and how he has overcome partial deafness to solidify himself as a top hockey prospect, the NHL did a wonderful profile on him here: Lacelle ‘motivated’ by hearing limitations ahead of 2026 NHL Draft | NHL.com
Elite Prospects’ draft profile had this to say about William in their 2026 Draft Preview: “Lacelle uses quickness to get square to shooters, make the save, get up, and get to the puck again. He makes incredibly quick recoveries from his saves, jumping instantly into a ready stance. Part of this is due to his wide butterfly [technique]”.
The Hockey News’ Rory Arthur said this about Lacelle’s game in his 2026 Draft Profile: “The big strengths of Lacelle’s game is his quickness and technical skill, being able to move across the net quickly and rely on his ability and reflexes to make easy and more difficult saves. He’s not the biggest goalie at just 6-foot-1, but that agility and quickness helps make up for where his size would be a disadvantage. Where his game may falter a bit is consistency and, at times, positioning, where he can be caught out at times and be forced to rely on that quickness and reflex skill to bounce him into the right spots.”
You can see highlights of Lacelle’s game linked below.
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