When a SM league club needs a specific acquisition in the middle of the season for its defense – to play in front of the goal – the eyes are easily focused on the two-time ice hockey king of the SM league and who mainly excelled as a fighter at the beginning of his career in the Finnish premier league to Ben Blood34,
First, the dynasty team of the 2010s, Tappara, recruited an American defender in the middle of the 2018-19 season from the English “Bad League” from Cardiff, and most recently, at the end of last November, the Pelicans announced that they had signed Blood, who had not played for a long time and gave try-out performances in Poland, for the rest of the season.
– I really wondered about the acquisition of a semi-fit Blood, although I understood well the player profile that the Pelicans were looking for. The team needed a basic physical package, says ‘s puck expert and who played with Blood in Tappara Top Nättinen.
– Both parties knew that if the club and Blood get the best out of it, then Ben will definitely be a player in the series who can help the team. In the big picture, this has been a successful signing when I’ve watched his games. There won’t be any more stupid flings, which have sometimes been seen.
The cult defender has 304 SM League regular season matches under his belt over seven seasons, including a total of 650 minutes on the ice. That is the fourth most of all time among foreigners in the SM League.
– Blood is not a basic defender in a classic way, because he always appears in the game as a physical player. The fact that Ben Blood is looming in front of the goal is a different physical threat than if the Pelicans were there Topias Vilen.
Dimensionality, brashness and boundless self-confidence help
How big, slow-moving, limited on the puck and almost his age is Blood still fit for the SM league level?
– The basis of a defender is to defend. This is where Blood performs well at best. There will be dark moments and days for him too. You can see strong, simple solutions from him. Dimensionality, impudence and boundless self-confidence in one’s own abilities help him. Mainly he understands that it is better to pass the puck to another defender and give a game tool to those who know how to build it, says Topi Nättinen.
Blood’s former teammate and roommate on away trips recalls that the 194-centimeter and 103-kilogram defender was a “victim of circumstances” at the beginning of his career and thus sought his own place in the SM league. Nowadays, the job description of a pike järkäle is different.
– Blood still has that physical essence, but he has clearly calmed down with age. Although physicality is the number one thing for him, he knows that he is not comfortable on the ice bench or suspended.
– Movement and playing on the puck are not his strengths, but yes, he can keep up with them in the SM league if he concentrates 110 percent. If the feeling starts to take away and the focus goes to other things, then you often have to break it, Nättinen emphasizes.
A vegetarian and a special personality
Over the years, Blood’s trademark has been the fact that the ice hockey player sticks a lot of vegetables and greens in his mouth and lives the life of a professional athlete.
Nättinen recalled that the health geek Blood wasn’t just a vegetarian or a vegan during the Tappara era. Clean meat and chicken were good sources of protein. Dairy products, bread and sugar, on the other hand, were not included in the list during the game season.
– According to my understanding, Ben is no longer as strict about his eating as he was when he first came to Finland.
At least in Tampere, Blood did a lot of his own training and enjoyed himself a lot.
– He is an eccentric, special guy who has his own ways of eating, recovering, training and recharging for matches. It gets a bit of a feeling that he does everything differently than others. When you move around the booth, it often occurs to you that I’ve never seen someone do something like that.
Blood sometimes has culture clashes
Nättinen reminds us that Finland is a country where you have to be humble and follow the crowd. If someone deviates from this, then such a person might be looked at a little in wonder.
– As a foreign player, Ben may not always adapt and he is misunderstood in some situations. He sees the world a little differently than the rest of us, and when he comes from a different culture, there are bound to be “culture clashes” at times.
Owner of a parking space in Lahti Kari Jarvansalo says on Twitter that he got into a war of words with Ben Blood in March.
– We have carports next to each other, although I use the place very rarely, only when I do business with them. Well, this pelican doesn’t know how to drive a car and always parks on the roof, also blocking my spot.
– One day he blocked my place again. It took me so much that I drove the Vito across behind our shelters and put a note under the windshield wiper saying that I would be back in a couple of hours. Immediately the phone started ringing, but I didn’t answer, Jarvansalo says.
Nättinen smiles when he hears about the incident in Lahti and says that during the Tappara period, Ben got into disagreements with parking fines at least once and took the matter to the appeal stage, even though he was told that it might not be worth it.
– For the most part, he doesn’t mean anything bad to anyone and he’s a warm guy when you can talk to him in peace. It seems that family means a lot to him, Nättinen says.
Nättinen thinks that as a long-time professional, Blood gets the freedom to do things differently, and it doesn’t mean that he takes liberties or steals the team’s values.
– Ben is very particular about how he wants to do certain things. And this is not always possible without friction. When you want to do things differently, it’s never simple. He often has to crash course and people wonder about his ways, describes Nättinen.
Under the skin of a lynx
In the first two matches of the Ilves semifinal series, Blood has been hurt more than usual in the rink.
In the opening game, the American defender was in the rink at the time of all the comeback goals, was dully left in the freezing cold (-3) and crashed in the 3rd period in his so-called inattention. as the third player in his end tackle, his own pair of defenders by Peter Anderssonwho was injured in the crash.
In the second Ilves game, Blood only managed to be on the ice for a minute and a half until the match ended with the captain of the opposite side Emeli Finland for tackling and jet commanding.
– There’s a feeling when you read social media, you even hope that Ben Blood would play, because the fans don’t think he would help the Pelicans. This means that he has gone under the skin, Nättinen sees.
– Taklaus Eemeli Suomei will be informed, but I can’t believe that Ilves would start focusing on Blood. If Ilves focuses on Blood, it will fall on the Pelicans, Nättinen estimates.
– Blood’s job is to create confusion in long playoff series. Although the world is developing, he still has the hockey of the old league. During the season, he organized HPK Eetu Liukka with a show fight. It’s no accident that Ben finds himself in those situations. He doesn’t back down and goes into situations really hard. Spatters when plastering.
Prisoner of his reputation
Blood, who debuted in the SM League with Pelicans in 2015–17, has said afterwards that his role at that time included intimidation. At that time, the hot-blooded Yankee mumbled, among other things in training with a teammate (you move to another service).
The biggest blunders the point guard made immediately in his first season with the Pelicans, when, for example, reported that the SC League offensive player was banned again – 25 games played, 14 games suspended.
– When I arrived to play in Lahti, I was told to play hard and mean. They wanted other teams to fear me. It was my job, I was ready to do anything for the team. In the end it got out of hand, but I want to be on the ice and help my team, said Blood five years ago on Ari Vallin’s show (you switch to another service).
In the ace, Blood dragged out the 2017–18 season and for the second time in his career conquered the ice hockey kingship of the SM League with his 207 penalty minutes. The defender from Pori went to England.
In the middle of the 2018–19 season, Tappara surprised his own supporters by announcing that he had washed up Ben Blood, the ice hockey king of the SM League who played in Cardiff in England, whose entry into the axe-breast was astonishingly good; 37 regular season games and 18 points, +15 to the power statistic.
Tappara didn’t want a circus artist, but a defender
The former hockey legend has admitted that before the 2018-2021 Tappara season, he exceeded a certain limit in his first three league seasons, paid a lot of fines and negotiated too many suspensions.
– The Pelicans and the Aces wanted me to play differently and that’s why there were a lot of ice breaks. In Tappara, the coaching wanted me to play cleanly, emphasized Blood during his time in Tampere.
Blood’s 2019-2021 Tappara seasons were no longer as good as the first personally. Part of the player’s back problem contributed to the drop in level. So far, the defender’s trophy cabinet has only one WC bronze medal in 2018–19.
Nättinen recalled that in his time, Tappara’s training was always done together in practice, although at certain moments there were individual liberties. For Blood – a man of his own way – this may not have suited him so well.
The head coach of Pelicans, the surprise team of this SM league season Tommi Niemelä has emphasized several times in his speeches that everyone in the team is allowed to be the person they are.
– I believe that Blood’s jaggedness has been seen as wealth in the Pelicans. I haven’t been in the Pelicans booth, but from what I’ve heard, it’s a more relaxed atmosphere. When Blood gets more responsibility himself, then he doesn’t have to go against the system. It’s easier to commit to the team’s values when you can do your own things along with it and be “yourself”, Nättinen reflects.