Ben Bowns (born 21 January 1991) is a professional British

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

goaltender for UK

Elite Ice Hockey League The Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), sometimes referred to as the British Elite League or, for sponsorship reasons, the Viaplay Elite League, is an ice hockey league in the United Kingdom. Formed in 2003 following the demise of the Ice Hockey ...

side

Cardiff Devils The Cardiff Devils are a Welsh ice hockey team who play in the British Elite Ice Hockey League. The team play at Ice Arena Wales in Cardiff Bay. Cardiff are the reigning EIHL play-off champions, winning their third title in a row after beating ...

and the Great Britain national team.

Playing career

Bowns played youth hockey in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

, before signing with the

Hull Stingrays Hull Stingrays were a British ice hockey club from Kingston upon Hull who was a member of the Elite Ice Hockey League from 2003 until 2015. They played their home games at Hull Arena. The Stingrays replaced previous clubs Humberside Seahawks ( ...

in 2012. He would play two years as the starter in Hull before signing in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

in 2014. With the Devils, he won the EIHL

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

twice and has been named goaltender of the year three times. Despite receiving offers from other European leagues, remained in Cardiff until 2020. On 14 August 2020 it was confirmed Bowns had departed Cardiff for IceHL side

Graz 99ers The Moser Medical Graz 99ers 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 start ...

. Bowns had played against Graz twice in the 2019–20 Champions Hockey League, helping Cardiff to two wins over the 99ers. In March 2021, Bowns was drafted by EIHL side

Nottingham Panthers The Nottingham Panthers are a British professional ice hockey club based in Nottingham, England. They are members of the Elite Ice Hockey League. Their main team sponsor is the Nottingham Building Society. The Nottingham Panthers have won four ...

ahead of the 2021 Elite Series. On 16 June 2021 it was announced Bowns had signed to a second contract abroad after agreeing to join

Slovak Extraliga The Tipos Extraliga (Slovak Extraliga) is the highest-level ice hockey league in Slovakia. From the 2018–19 season to the 2020–21 season, the league included one or two teams from Hungary. In 2009, it was ranked by the IIHF as the fifth stro ...

side

HK Dukla Trenčín Hokejový Klub Dukla Trenčín is a professional Slovak ice hockey club based in Trenčín, playing in the Slovak Extraliga. The club has won three Slovak league championships (1994, 1997, 2004) and one Czechoslovak league championship (1992). Th ...

for the 2021–22 season. After two seasons abroad, Bowns returned to the UK and to a second spell with Cardiff – re-signing in May 2022 ahead of the 2022–23 season. In February 2023, Bowns was credited with a goal in Cardiff's 4–1 victory at the

Dundee Stars The Dundee Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in the Scottish city of Dundee. They were formed in 2001 and play their home games at the Dundee Ice Arena, situated off the city's main Kingsway dual carriageway. The current title sp ...

, as he was the last Devils player to touch the puck prior to the Stars' Johan Eriksson putting it into his own net. As a result, he became the fourth goaltender to be credited with such an achievement in British league ice hockey, after Tony Melia,

Jody Lehman Jody Lehman (born 1 July 1975 in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada) is a retired Canadian-British professional ice hockey player, most recently playing for Lloydminster Border Kings. Playing career He began playing for the Moose Jaw Warri ...

and Mark Bernard.

International play

Bowns made his first appearance for the British senior team in 2012, and has played as the country's starter ever since. In 2019, Britain made the

IIHF Men's World Championship The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annua ...

for the first time in 25 years, where Bowns was named player of the match after making 59 saves in a 6-3 loss to the USA. He finished the tournament as the goalie with the most saves. Bowns again represented Great Britain at the

2021 IIHF World Championship The 2021 IIHF World Championship () took place from 21 May to 6 June 2021. It was originally to be co-hosted by Minsk, Belarus and Riga, Latvia, as the IIHF announced on 19 May 2017 in Cologne, Germany. Their joint bid won by a very tight margin ...

, finishing with a save percentage of 91%. In late April to early May 2023, Bowns was Great Britain's starting netminder for the IIHF World Championship division 1A tournament in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

. He played all five games in the tournament and was awarded netminder of the tournament with a save percentage of 93.46%, a goal against average of 1.39 and 3 shutouts against

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

and

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

. Team GB was promoted to the 2024 World Championship in Czechia after winning all 5 games.

Personal life

Bowns has named former

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

goalie

Patrick Roy Patrick Jacques Roy (; born October 5, 1965) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey goaltender and executive, who serves as the head coach for the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). In 2017, Roy was named o ...

as his favourite player growing up.

References

External links

* 1991 births Living people Cardiff Devils players Graz 99ers players HK Dukla Trenčín players Hull Stingrays players Nottingham Panthers players English ice hockey goaltenders British expatriate ice hockey people English expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia English expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate ice hockey players in Slovakia Expatriate ice hockey players in Austria Sportspeople from Rotherham {{UK-icehockey-bio-stub