Ben Blood (born March 15, 1989) is an American professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

defenseman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the l ...

currently playing for

Lahti Pelicans The Lahti Pelicans are a Finnish professional ice hockey team playing in the Liiga, Finland. Founded in 1996, they play in the city of Lahti at Isku Arena. The team is co-owned by (among others) former National Hockey League (NHL) goaltender Pasi ...

of the

Liiga The Liiga, colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. The league comprises 16 teams from all around Finland with relegation and promotion between the Mesti ...

. He was drafted in the fourth round, 120th overall, of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft by the

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. The Senators compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Di ...

Playing career

Blood played prep hockey at

Shattuck-Saint Mary's Shattuck-St. Mary's (also known as Shattuck-St. Mary's School, Shattuck, or simply SSM) is a coeducational Episcopal-affiliated boarding school in the city of Faribault, Minnesota. History Established in 1858 as an Episcopal mission scho ...

for two seasons. He helped them win USA Hockey's Tier I 18 & Under National Championship in 2007.

Collegiate

Blood played for the

University of North Dakota The University of North Dakota (UND) is a Public university, public research university in Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States. It was established by the Dakota Territory, Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishm ...

for four seasons while majoring in recreation and tourism studies. In his freshman season, Blood was named UND's Most Improved Player. He recorded one point that season, an assist, in a game against the

Michigan Tech Huskies Michigan Technological University's sports teams are called the Huskies. The Huskies participate in NCAA Division II as a member of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC), a member of the Central Collegiate Ski Association f ...

on March 13, 2009. His sophomore season was more productive. Blood put up 14 points in 43 games and was named to the All-WCHA Academic team and WCHA Final Five All-Tournament team. In his junior year, Blood played in all 44 games of the season and set a new career high with 10 assists. At the conclusion of the season, he was again named to the All-WCHA Academic team. In his senior year, Blood set a new career high with 21 points in 42 games. Blood was named an alternate captain for the Sioux at the beginning of the season, however, after an on ice altercation during a January game against Minnesota, he was stripped of his A status. Despite this, Blood was selected for the NCAA (WCHA) Third All-Star Team. On April 4, 2012, Blood signed a two-year Entry Level Contract with the Ottawa Senators and an amateur tryout contract with the Senators

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental league of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Cana ...

affiliate, the

Binghamton Senators The Binghamton Senators were a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) that played from 2002 to 2017. Nicknamed the B-Sens, they played in Binghamton, New York, at the Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena. The B-Sens w ...

so Blood could finish the season with them.

Professional

Blood began the 2012–13 season with the Binghamton Senators but after three games was reassigned to their

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a minor professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams across the United States and Canada. Competitively, it is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The ...

affiliate, the

Elmira Jackals The Elmira Jackals were a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Elmira, New York. They were members of the United Hockey League from 2000 to 2007 and the ECHL from 2007 to 2017. The Jackals played their home games at First Arena. ...

. He was periodically moved between the AHL and ECHL until he agreed to terms with the

Wheeling Nailers The Wheeling Nailers are a professional ECHL ice hockey team based in Wheeling, West Virginia. They are the ECHL affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey Lea ...

in October 2014. His agreement was short-lived, however, as on November 25, 2014, Blood left the Wheeling Nailers and joined

Stjernen Hockey Stjernen Hockey is a Norway, Norwegian ice hockey team based in Fredrikstad, Norway. They currently play in the EliteHockey Ligaen. They play their home games in Stjernehallen. Their team colours are red and white. History Stjernen was founded ...

in the

GET-ligaen EliteHockey Ligaen (EHL) is the premier Norwegian ice hockey league, organised by the Norwegian Ice Hockey Association. It comprises 10 clubs and works on the premise of promotion and relegation, in which the two teams who placed last must play ...

league. The following season, Blood joined the

in the

. While playing with the Pelicans, Blood received a two-game suspension due to an altercation with Siim Liivik and a three-game suspension for

Cross-checking Cross-checking is an infraction in the sport of ice hockey, ringette, and lacrosse where a player checks an opponent by using the shaft of their stick with both hands. This article deals chiefly with ice hockey. In the rules of the National Hock ...

and injuring Anthony Guttig. On October 30, 2015, Blood signed a two-year contract extension with the Pelicans. On April 11, 2017, Blood left the Pelicans and joined

Ässät Ässät or Ässä may refer to: *HC Ässät Pori Oy, Finnish sports club **Porin Ässät (men's ice hockey) **Porin Ässät (women's ice hockey) **Porin Ässät (men's football) **PATA (esports) *, Finnish band from Oulu *S Group, Finnish Consumer ...

. In July 2018, Blood joined the

Cardiff Devils The Cardiff Devils () are a Welsh professional ice hockey team who play in the UK-based Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL). The team plays at Ice Arena Wales in Cardiff Bay, currently known as ''Vindico Arena'' for sponsorship reasons. Cardiff' ...

of the

Elite Ice Hockey League The Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), sometimes referred to internationally as the British Elite League, is an ice hockey league in the United Kingdom. Formed in 2003 following the demise of the Ice Hockey Superleague, it is the highest level ...

. However, he soon left on November 7, 2018, to re-join the Liiga league with

Tappara Tappara (; Finnish language, Finnish for "Battle axe") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team playing in the SM-liiga. They play at ''Nokia Arena (Tampere), Nokia Arena'' in Tampere, Finland. The team has won 20 Finnish league championships, wh ...

on a two-year contract. In May 2021, Blood agreed to terms with

Graz 99ers The Moser Medical Graz99ers are an Austrian professional ice hockey team from Graz, Styria. The club was founded in 1999 after the previous club, EHC Graz, folded prior to the 1998–99 season due to financial difficulties. The Graz99ers started ...

on a one-year contract ahead of the 2021–22 season. Following a return to Lahti Pelicans, Blood continued his journeyman career in Europe by agreeing to a one-year contract with German club, Löwen Frankfurt of the DEL, on May 26, 2023.

Personal life

Blood's sisters, Erin and Molly, both play hockey. Molly played for the Minnesota Thoroughbreds and Erin played NCAA hockey for

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

. His second cousin

Danny Kristo Daniel Kristo (born June 18, 1990) is an American professional ice hockey forward for the Coventry Blaze in the Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL). He was selected in the second round, 56th overall, by the Montreal Canadiens in the 2008 NHL Entry ...

was drafted by the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal Canadiens (), officially ' ( Canadian Hockey Club) and colloquially known as the Habs, are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal. The Canadiens compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic D ...

in the

2008 NHL Entry Draft The 2008 NHL entry draft was the 46th entry draft for the National Hockey League. It was hosted by the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa, Ontario, on June 20–21, 2008. The Senators were originally awarded the 2005 NHL entry draft ...

Career statistics

Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blood, Ben 1989 births Living people American men's ice hockey defensemen Porin Ässät (men's ice hockey) players Binghamton Senators players Cardiff Devils players Des Moines Buccaneers players Elmira Jackals (ECHL) players Graz 99ers players Indiana Ice players Lahti Pelicans players Löwen Frankfurt players North Dakota Fighting Hawks men's ice hockey players Sportspeople from Plymouth, Minnesota Ice hockey people from Hennepin County, Minnesota Ice hockey players from Minnesota Stjernen Hockey players Tappara players Wheeling Nailers players American expatriate ice hockey players in Norway American expatriate ice hockey players in Austria American expatriate ice hockey players in Finland American expatriate ice hockey players in Wales Expatriate ice hockey players in Germany