Even the longest journey begin with a single step. 

Having chosen the bold move of departing the haven of Cardiff for Graz and the ICE Hockey League for the 2020-21 season, Ben Bowns deserved a better fate than the one that befell himself in his third game. Literally. 

With the clock showing 19:15 in the first period of a game against Dornbirn Bulldogs, a play in front of Bowns resulted in an attacker and defenseman crashing the blue paint and Bowns was knocked over, falling awkwardly. 

The result? A knee injury that would keep him out of action for almost exactly three months. 

Sustaining the worst injury of your career in a foreign country during a global pandemic is hardly the most ideal of circumstances. 

A long journey lay ahead.

Rest was the only medicine prescribed until a point in time where a doctor could assess the damage and whether surgery would be required. The news that surgery would not be needed arrived in late November and Bowns could then bring a full rehabilitation in preparation for a return to playing. 

The Graz 99ers were in need of services from the man acquired in the summer. The Austrian club may have won nine of ten games immediately following the injury to Bowns but the truth was that high-powered offense was papering over the cracks of defensive deficiencies. 

From November 27, 2020 – January 15, 2021, Graz lost 15 of 19 games and their most recent losing streak of three games had seen them allow a combined sixteen goals. 

In the 29 games missed by Bowns through injury, the 99ers had given up 4+ goals on twelve occasions. Not a recipe for success in any league. 

Would the GB netminder be able to turn the tide back between the pipes?

Playing the last-placed Black Wings appeared as easy an assignment as Bowns could have asked for on paper but proved to be far from the case when the puck was dropped this past Sunday as the Rotherham native made his long-awaited return. 

In the opening frame, the home town Black Wings opened the scoring with a shot that Bowns could not see through a screen. The hosts should have been further ahead through twenty minutes of play, with five excellent chances including four from the slot. Bowns had other ideas and his crucial saves kept Graz in the game. 

The visitors did a far better job defensively in the second period. Bowns faced just one scoring chance of note and turned aside everything else shot from the periphery. 

With Graz still trailing 1-0 and pushing for a tying goal in the third period, there were always going to be gaps left as the minutes ticked down. Bowns was called upon to make two terrific saves from just above the blue paint to keep the deficit at one. 

His reward was a tying goal by his teammates with a little over three minutes remaining. A tale of perseverance as Daniel Oberkofler netted on a beautifully worked power-play goal. 

It wouldn’t be a Ben Bowns story without a dramatic finish. In the resulting overtime he pulled off one save from an effort between the hash marks before Graz secured a come-from-behind victory courtesy of a strike by Erik Kirchschläger.

Bowns made 28 saves in for the victory but there lay tougher assignments ahead for goaltender and Graz.

 League-leading HC Bozen and fourth-placed Vienna Capitals are on the schedule for Graz, playing them both twice.

Whatever happens, it’s just fantastic to see Bowns back healthy and working his way back to the level of performance we know he’s capable of at the highest possible level.

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