*Author’s Note: I missed the 7:30am MST start time for the USA/Sweden game yesterday, and didn’t get tuned in until late in the game. So today’s review is an overall Ta’amu analysis for both the Sweden and Germany games.
The Hlinka-Gretzky Memorial Tournament continues on and Team USA has secured their spot in the Semi-Finals. Their reward will be a date with Team Canada on Friday to determine who will play in Saturday’s championship game.
We don’t care about winners or losers here, though, this is an Edmonton Oil Kings focused review. The only thing we truly care about in this tournament is our beloved Samoan defender, Alofa “Noa” Ta’amu. After a rough 1st game in the tournament, Ta’amu settled things down in the last 2 games. So what happened with our big defenseman and how does this translate to his future success? Well, let me tell you.
Ta’amu Stands, USA Stumbles Against Sweden
The second game of the tournament for USA saw them fumble 2-0 and 3-1 leads against Team Sweden, ending in a 5-3 loss and moving to 1 win and 1 loss to start the tournament, and putting Sweden in first place of Group B at 2 wins.
Ta’amu saw an increased role on the Penalty Kill in this game, and although the penalty kill was the largest failure of the game it was not necessarily at the fault of Noa. He was on the ice for the 1st and 5th Sweden goals, both coming off a fast moving Swedish cycle in the zone, and both away from Ta’amu’s side of the ice.
The first Swedish goal saw Ta’amu cycle in front of the net to take the net-front player while his partner shifted to cover the puck carrier. Ta’amu boxed out his man, providing a clean sight line for his goaltender and removing any threat of a tip or screen from the Swedish player. His defensive partner on the penalty kill, Zaide Penner, attacks the puck carrier but the snipe from Marcus Nordmark eludes goaltender Kaenan Smith to get Sweden on the board. No fault to Ta’amu or the defense here, simply a quality snipe and a shot that was on Smith to be able to find with a clear view of the play.
Sweden’s second, third, and fourth goals all came with Ta’amu watching from the bench, and put Sweden up 4-3 early in the third period. Having scored the third and fourth goals only 30 seconds apart, to flip a 3-2 American lead into the Swedish lead, Team USA’s Kade Meyer then took a Hooking penalty 8 seconds after the fourth goal to go back onto the Penalty Kill.
On that kill, Ta’amu again found himself in the middle of the ice in the role of boxing out the player looking for a tip or screen in front of his goalie. Yet again, Noa did his job admirably and ensured that his goaltender had a clear view of the shot coming at him from the point. This time, Smith makes the save on the point shot coming from Axel Elofsson, but kicks a big rebound into the faceoff circle on his right side. Ta’amu is still to the goalie’s left boxing out his man, and his D partner on this penalty kill, Nathan Bienstock, can’t grab the rebound. Elton Hermansson of Sweden quickly catches the rebound and snipes it through the block attempt of Bienstock and a sliding Smith to put Sweden up to 5-3 on their way to the victory.
It is unfortunate for Noa to be on the ice for these goals against, but a positive review to see that neither can be attributed to anything he did. His positioning was strong, his ability to recognize a threat in front of the net and successfully box them out is one of the stronger points of his game and something he can definitely build on. We have always known he is a big strong body and hard to move, seeing his role on these penalty kills affirms that he has the sense to understand a play developing from the defensive perspective and recognize where he needs to be to succeed.
Defense First, Fortune Follows Against Germany
Team USA vs Germany, in the final game of the Preliminaries for both teams, looked academic on paper and followed the script on the ice. Germany has begun to develop into a more respectable hockey program in recent years with the likes of Leon Draisaitl, Tim Stutzle, and JJ Paterka making themselves at home in the NHL. Despite the advancements, however, they still aren’t quite at the level of the tournament heavyweights. They entered this game with zero goals scored through the first 2 games against Slovakia and Sweden, and were simply looking for their first of the tournament.
Noa Ta’amu was looking to build on his improved Game 2 performance, and continue to grow as the tournament went on. It started very well only 2 minutes into the game on a German powerplay. Ta’amu broke up a dangerous play in front of goaltender Brady Knowling, German Forwards Leon Lell and Erik Michel both had swings at a centering pass from Max Penkin but Ta’amu managed to clear Lell from the front after Knowling made the first save, and Michel’s shot went wide. Michel tried to recover his miss but his clearing pass went onto the stick of Luke Puchner. Puchner & Jaxon Williams grab the loose puck and break out shorthanded 2 on 2 on Germany, a quick move by Puchner and a cross ice pass to Williams and USA jump out to a quick 1-0 win. Ta’amu managed to grab a +1 for his role in the play, as he was skating for a line change while the goal was scored but still technically on the ice.
Team USA potted a second and third goal all within the first 5 minutes of the period before coasting into the first intermission with a comfortable 3-0 lead. After a potential fourth goal for USA to start the second period was called off due to a high stick, they scored one for real only 1:26 into the period. A D zone shift where Penkin and Michel were again threatening for Germany, and Ta’amu disrupted them both, saw the Americans break out quickly and use their speed to get in behind the Germans. Puchner places the puck on a tee for Levi Harper who hammers it home. Once again Ta’amu was in the midst of heading for a line change while his teammates finished the scoring play, and he became a fortunate recipient of a +1.
Mid second period, Team USA took a puck over glass penalty, and Ta’amu drew in for the penalty kill in the 4-0 game. Nolan Duskocy was late trailing a German rush after jumping from the bench on a line change. Joseph Salandra knocks down a German pass behind the goalline and quickly wraps it around the boards and out of the zone. Duskocy catches the puck at the German blue line with speed, beating German defender Darian Rolsing to the puck. He wins the physical battle with Rolsing through the zone, takes it around behind the net and slips home the wrap-around goal to make it 5-0. For the third time on the day, Ta’amu is the benefactor of his teammates' hard work and gets another +1 for the goal.
In the third period, Team USA would give goaltender Knowling a rest with a 5-0 lead and backup Aidan Hesse got to see some game action. Late in the third period, with USA now up 8-0, Germany would finally manage to score their first goal of the tournament. John Paterka, younger brother of the earlier mentioned JJ Paterka, capitalizes on a turnover behind the American net and finally puts Germany on the scoreboard with a snipe over the glove of Hesse. It was a nice moment for German fans, but ultimately Team USA finishes with the 8-1 win. Ta’amu would finish the game, and the preliminary round, with an overall +3.
Final Verdict
The preliminary round may be done, but Noa Ta’amu’s tournament is still going and improving with each game. Despite some positive stats, Noa has largely been a passenger on this American team and heavily overshadowed by the more offensively gifted talents on the blue line. Players like Levi Harper, Zaide Penner, and Will McLaughlin seem to be drawing more headlines while Ta’amu just sits back and does what he does best in the Defensive Zone.
Many of the shifts when Ta’amu is on the ice, if I wasn’t looking closely for the #5 jersey, I may not even notice that he was there. Surrounded by all of the talent on this roster, Ta’amu hasn’t really done anything to stand out above anyone else. His 2 gaffes in Game 1 were very minor, and more a testament to what Slovakia’s Ozogany did than anything against Ta’amu.
In all honesty, there’s nothing really wrong with being invisible as a defenseman. If you are not being exposed and exploited by the opponent, if you’re not making mistakes that lead to goals, then it is perfectly acceptable to be a steady, reliable player who stays in his position and knows what his role is.
The only flaw of Ta’amu’s game in this tournament may have been in my own expectations of what I expected Ta’amu to be able to do. He is not a speedy, offensive threat who is going to jump into the rush and score highlight goals like Levi Harper. He’s going to be tough to play against and make opposing teams battle for every inch of ice, while trying to keep the puck away from his area of the ice.
In Game 1, I got excited at his jumping the plays at the blue line to hold the zone and create scoring chances early. I think he has adapted since those early moments, and truly embraced that his role is not to be that guy for this team. The coaches have shown trust in him since then as well, relying on him late in the Slovakia game to close out a tight win, and on important penalty kills through the Sweden and Germany games. He did not get much time in the Sweden game after going down 5-3, but that is an outlier most likely because USA were chasing a goal and going for pure offense which didn’t have much opportunity for the defensive defender to get into the game. In the Germany game, with a large lead late, Ta’amu was seeing regular rotation minutes and seemed much more at ease in his game.
Next up, Team USA will face Canada Friday in the Semi-Finals, while Sweden will play Finland in the other Semi-Finals. The winner of these 2 games will face each other in Saturday’s championship, and the losers will play in the 3rd Place Game.