After enduring the worst of his career in what was a season of mixed fortunes for Ben Bowns, he once again impressed between the pipes for Great Britain at the recent World Championships.

Back to his best – Ben Bowns excels again on the world stage

The exact circumstances are not known but Bowns finished his year on Graz on the bench despite being healthy. 

With the 99ers ultimately finishing their season earlier than expected, changes were on the card and Graz informed Bowns he would not be returning despite being one of the team’s better-performing imports albeit in a very small sample size.

The Hull native will however be returning to European hockey next season having signed for HK Dukla Trenčín .

HK Dukla Trenčín plays in the Slovak Extraliga and is nicknamed Vojaci, meaning “Soldiers” in English.

The city of Trenčín is in the western part of Slovakia close to the border with the Czech Republic. 

Home is the Pavol Demitra Ice Stadium which has a capacity of a little over six thousand.

A native of Trenčín, Demitra had a long and successful hockey career which included time in the NHL with St. Louis Blues, L.A Kings, Minnesota Wild and Vancouver Canucks. He was a three-time NHL all-star.

Demitra lost his life on 7 September 2011, when he was killed in a plane crash along with the entirety of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl roster and most of the flight crew.

In his honour, HK Dukla Trenčín renamed their stadium and his number 38 hangs in the rafters.

Dukla does not have a track record of recent success but finished runners-up in 2017-18.

Before that, the best they have mustered was a third-place finish in 2011-12. 

Bowns will become the first player from the UK to represent the Slovak club but he’ll face very tough competition between the pipes in the form of vastly experienced Michael Valent.

The Slovak netminder was drafted 145th overall by the Buffalo Sabres way back in 2004 but has spent his entire career in the Czech and Slovak leagues.

This will be his fifth season with Dukla and the 35-year-old has an excellent track record with a combined .923 save percentage during his time in Trenčín.

Ján Pardavý will be entering his third season as Head Coach of HK Dukla Trenčín and will be somewhat familiar with the GB netminder.

That is because the 49yo Trenčín native was an assistant coach for Slovakia at the recent World Championships.

Bowns will be working closely with goaltending coach Peter Kosa who has been with the club for a decade now.

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