Bowns celebrates career with Devils testimonial
Ben Bowns is poised to join an illustrious group of Cardiff Devils players as the club celebrates his contribution in a testimonial game at Vindico Arena on Saturday, 20 June (17:00 BST).
As one of the Devils’ longest serving players, the 35-year-old netminder joins fellow Great Britain internationals such as Mark Richardson, Matthew Myers and Ben Davies in being granted such an honour.
For a British goalie, Bowns has done pretty well.
“Looking back, it gives you goosebumps,” he says.
“I think if someone had said this is what’s going to happen over the next 12 years I would have said, ‘no, you’re joking, you’re having a laugh’.
“You’re going to have a testimonial. You’re going to have played in the top division of the World Championships for GB. You’re going to play in Europe and you’re going to have won all these trophies.
“To have actually lived that and get to share that experience with my wife Jade here is unbelievable.”
For Rotherham-born Bowns, one of his earliest experiences of live sport was a hockey match that involved the team that eventually became his employers.
“The first time I ever went to watch a game, I was six years old, Sheffield Steelers against Cardiff Devils, so Devils always had a special place in my heart,” Bowns recalls.
“I always had a soft spot for them, wanted them to do well.
“They’d come in as big bad Devils, and there’d always be a couple of fights and stuff, and I also used to love the kit as well, the flames and the BT logo and stuff like that.
“It all stemmed from that first game.”
From youth hockey in Sheffield, Bowns played in the English Premier Ice Hockey League for Sheffield Steeldogs before signing with Hull Stingrays in 2012, aged 21.
He moved to Cardiff two years later – though the club he joined was more bad than big.
‘What if he didn’t want me?’
The 2013-14 season had been possibly the worst in Devils’ history, churning through three coaches and 40-plus players.
The summer of 2015 brought new owners, who recruited Todd Kelman from Belfast Giants to run the new Cardiff Devils.
Bowns was one of only two players who were offered contracts to stay with the organisation, not that he was immediately aware.
“When the new ownership got announced, I was actually in Fuerteventura, and this was back before you had free data,” remembers Bowns.
“I got a text from my mum saying Todd Kelman’s taken over the Devils, and I thought, ‘Oh, that’s awesome – and then all of a sudden, I’m like, ‘oh no, what if he didn’t want me? I’m a 23-year-old goalie that’s just played two years in a hole, he’s used to winning championships with {netminder] Stephen Murphy in Belfast, so does he really want me?’.”
It was a question he had to stew on.
“We’d gone to the beach that day, so I had no signal, nothing.
“I didn’t enjoy that day one bit, to put it politely… we got back to the villa, hooked up to wi-fi, and all of a sudden a message popped up on Facebook from Neil Francis saying ‘Don’t worry, your contract’s safe, you’re going to be our goalie next season’.”
It was a huge weight off Bowns’ shoulders.
“I think it was the next day or two, Todd gave me a call, and we had to meet the fans and owners in Cardiff.
“When we saw the event, and we saw the crowd, the reception that we all got was amazing, you’re just like ‘wow, we’ve come to something different here now’.”
Success, departure and miracles
With a squad put together in four weeks under player-coach Andrew Lord, the Devils went on to win the club’s first trophy in eight years -and five more titles in the next four.
It brought with it European competition as Bowns became the first British netminder to play in the Champions Hockey League.
Along with his appearances for Great Britain – who by 2019 had risen to the top level of the World Championships – it brought the Englishman to the attention of continental clubs.
“As a British goalie it’s hard, it’s hard enough as a British goalie to be a goalie in the British League, never mind in Europe, but it always had been a goal of mine to play outside of Britain,” says Bowns.
Two days after the 2020 Challenge Cup Final loss to Sheffield Steelers, Bowns went to see Lord and Kelman to tell them that he would be leaving the Devils to join Austrian team Graz 99ers in the central European cross-border ICEHL
“Todd and Lordo were unbelievable,” adds Bowns.
“I can remember having to come in and just say, look, there was never going to be a great time, but I’ve got a contract in Graz next year and I’ve got to initiate the clause that’s in my Devils contract allowing me to leave.
“I expected Todd to be a bit mad at me, but he stood up and gave me a massive hug, and I think that just showed the type of guy that Todd is and the GM that he is.”
Bowns spell with Graz coincided with Covid – where British hockey closed down but European hockey continued – and with a potentially devastating injury.
Tearing several ligaments in his knee he was told he would “need a miracle” to avoid surgery, but with the help of his physio wife, Jade, was back on the ice within 15 weeks.
However, with Graz 99ers failing to make the play-off quarter-finals it was decided he would move on, joining Slovakian side Dukla Trencin where he was told he “should speak with a North American accent to fit in”.
“Even at Graz,” remembers Bowns, “the final words at the exit meeting were, ‘you’re a great goalie, unbelievable teammate, your work ethic is second to none but we just need a bit more of an exotic passport’.”
‘It’s in our blood now. It’s in our family. It’s part of us’
Halfway through the season in Slovakia, Bowns had started looking for a return to the UK and, offered a deal by Cardiff, in May 2022 announced he was coming home.
One year later the departure of Pete Russell brought another reunion, with the arrival of Paul Thompson as new head coach.
The former Sheffield Steelers boss – who made it plain in 2016 he was mystified that Bowns had been allowed to leave the Steelers’ feeder system – had been the netminder’s coach on the international stage.
“It’s been great. Obviously, the first time was when he was the GB coach when I was really young,” says Bowns.
“And there were a few chances throughout my career where I could have maybe played for his teams when he was at Coventry, or when I was going through the rough patch in Slovakia and he was at Odense Bulldogs, but there were certain things that came in where it didn’t quite happen.
“So, to finally get to work with him again last season was really good.”
Having announced days before his testimonial that he will return for his 11th campaign with the Devils, Bowns has no intention of leaving the club again.
“Cardiff as a city and Wales as a place and a country just means so much to us and we love it.
“It’s in our blood now. It’s in our family. It’s part of us. The Welsh people are amazing, they’re so passionate, so loyal.
“The way that the club has treated me and my wife Jade and my family has been unbelievable.
“It’s something that I’ll always be grateful for.”
Discover more from NAIRAVOICE.COM.NG
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.