04/12/08 Tornado Alum Playing for Norte Dame in NCAA Championship     Brett Blatchford Class: Sophomore   Hometown: Temperance, MI   High School: St. Francis de Sales (Toledo, OH)   Height / Weight: 5-11 / 202   Position: Defensman   Birthdate: 06/05/1986   Last Team: Texas Tornado (NAHL)

Bedford resident playing for NCAA championship
by Evening News sports staff , last modified April 12. 2008 1:47AM
A Bedford Township resident will be playing for collegiate hockey's national championship tonight.

Brett Blatchford, 21, of Temperance, is a sophomore defenseman for the Notre Dame hockey team.

He was on the ice Thursday night when Calle Ridderwall's scored at 5:44 of overtime to give the Fighting Irish a 5-4 victory over Michigan in the Frozen Four semifinals held in Denver.

Notre Dame (27-15-4) will play Boston College (24-11-8) for the national championship at 7 tonight on ESPN.

Brett is the son of John and Denise Blatchford of Temperance and is an economics major. The Toledo St. Francis graduate played three seasons with the Texas Tornado in the North American Hockey League where he was the Tornado's all-time assist leader and earned first-team All-NAHL honors.

He has played in 44 games this season and has 12 assists. Last year as a freshman he had 2 goals and 15 assists in 30 games.

Blatchford, who wears No. 3, is one of eight Michigan natives on the Notre Dame roster. The others are Ian Cole (Ann Arbor), Erik Condra (Livonia), Kyle Lawson (New Hudson), Brad Phillips (Farmington Hills), Evan Rankin (Portage), Ben Ryan (Brighton) and Justin White (Traverse City).
 

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Published on: 2/5/2003 

#5 Brett Blatchford earns NAHL's Academic Achievement Award and NAHL 1st team honors.

Tue, May 09 - Boardman, Ohio

Texas Tornado defenseman #5 Brett Blatchford capped off his incredible season Tuesday night by being named as this year's recipient of the North American Hockey League Academic Achievement Award. Blatchford was also named to the NAHL 1st team. Since coming to Texas to play for the Tornado back in the fall of 2003, Blatchford has redefined excellence both on and off the ice. He is one of only five players on the current Tornado roster that is in search of his third straight Championship ring. Brett graduated high school with a 3.5 GPA, was a member of the honor roll, and scored a 1,280 on his SAT's. As a member of the Tornado, Blatchford has dedicated himself to assisting in the Read to Achieve Program. The program is designed to encourage elementary school students to read for enjoyment and reward. During the introduction of the program to area schools Blatchford was often the first player to volunteer to speak in front of thousands of school children about the importance of reading to develop better learning skills. Blatchford also reached out to the community visiting area hospitals and assisting those in less fortunate situations trying to provide just a couple memorable moments for people in need. Blatchford's development with the Tornado produced immediate results. At the beginning of this season, Blatchford announced his commitment to the University of Notre Dame, one of the top educational University's in the country for the fall of 2006. Blatchford received a scholarship to play ice hockey for the Fighting Irish. However, this did not stop Blatchford from excelling both on the ice and in the classroom during the 2005-06 season. Blatchford led all NAHL defensemen in scoring, and finished his career as the all-time leading scorer for a defenseman in Texas Tornado history, accumulating over 90 points in just three seasons. While doing all this on the ice, Brett managed a 4.0 GPA, taking three colleges classes this year at Collin County College in preparation for his academic load at Notre Dame this fall. Top all this off with the fact that Brett was the team captain this year, and the Texas Tornado is pleased and honored to have Brett Blatchford as the 2005-2006 NAHL Academic Achievement Award winner.

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