Cardiff Devils: Brodie Dupont can be club's most successful head coach, says Ben Bowns
- Published
Ben Bowns spent six seasons with the Cardiff Devils before joining Austria's Graz99ers in 2020
Cardiff Devils goaltender Ben Bowns says Brodie Dupont could be the club's most successful head coach ever.
During his six years under former head coach Andrew Lord, Bowns won six titles - two Elite League titles, two Play-Off Championships and two Challenge Cups.
After the 2019-20 season was cut short due to Covid-19, the 31-year-old signed for Austrian side Graz99ers before joining Slovakia's HK Dukla Trencin.
"It's really nice to be home, it feels like I've never left," said Bowns.
"It's been a good experience the last two years, it's made me a better person and a better goalie.
"It's been a big life experience and I don't regret doing it, but I'm glad to be back in Cardiff and I'm ready to hopefully win some titles."
The Rotherham-born goaltender was the backbone of the Devils during his first spell with the club, winning the Elite League's goaltender of the year in three of his six seasons.
Bowns saved more than 90% of shots in each of those six seasons and had a 93.9% save percentage during the Devils' victorious 2018 Play-Off finals weekend.
But for the Great Britain goaltender, the team's success is of far greater priority than any personal statistics.
Ben Bowns has represented Great Britain 50 times
"As a goalie you always like to have the best stats, but I'd prefer to be second or third in the stats and win every single championship and be known as a winner," said Bowns.
"I wouldn't have come back here if I didn't expect to win.
"Every trophy is the target, we want to win everything, otherwise there is no point being here.
"As the goalie you have to set the standard from the back, it's the backbone of the team, and it can be pretty tough at times, mentally draining.
"The guys in the dressing room will hold everyone else accountable but as a goalie you can't put the blame on them, the guys in front of me don't go out trying to make mistakes.
"Whenever I make a mistake a red light goes on behind me and thousands of people start screaming, so it's already highlighted when I make one."
Bowns' previous spell with the Devils was one of the trophy-laden periods in the club's history; only between 1989 and 1994 did they have a similar level of success.
But Bowns believes his homecoming could be the start of an even more fruitful spell for the Devils under recently appointed head coach Dupont.
Dupont, 35, joined the Devils in the summer of 2021 as a player but was appointed temporary head coach in April 2022 after the departure of Jarrod Skalde.
With just seven games left, Dupont changed the Devils' fortunes after a rollercoaster season and led them to a Play-Off Championship less than a month later.
'It means everything' - Devils celebrate play-off victory
That success led the Devils to name the Canadian as permanent head coach, and Dupont will soon begin his first full season at the helm.
"He's a really open and honest guy, that's all you want in a coach," said Bowns.
"Once he settles down, the team get used to him and he gets used to us, I honestly think he'll be the best coach Cardiff have ever had.
"I think tactically he is unbelievable, his man-management so far has been spot on, so I have a lot of faith in him.
"Obviously we had Lordo [Andrew Lord] here before who was a great coach, but I look at Brodie and I see so much good in him.
"What has been awesome is the team spirit, it's one big family which I think was the focus.
"As long as we play like we should, I think he will have a lot of success and go down as one of the best coaches, if not the best coach."
'I definitely married the right person'
Ben Bowns and his wife Jade celebrate Cardiff Devils' 2019 Play-Off final win over Belfast Giants
Bowns' two years playing in mainland Europe were not without their difficulties.
After a handful of games for Austrian side Graz, Bowns suffered a knee injury in October 2020 which damaged both his anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament.
An injury of such significance requires surgery in the majority of cases and forces athletes to be sidelined for up to a year.
But with the help of his wife Jade, who works in sports rehabilitation, Bowns was back playing just three months later.
"I was unlucky the way it happened but lucky to avoid surgery," said Bowns.
"It was a lot of hard work that went into getting back onto the ice, I should have stayed off for another few weeks but I was chomping to get back.
"Looking back I wish I'd taken a bit more time off and made sure the knee was looser, I was struggling to bend it when I started back.
"My wife played a massive part in the recovery, we didn't have a proper physio out in Graz which shocked me a little.
"The first time I took the brace off, the muscle mass around my knee had gone.
"When I started working out there was a lot of pain but she was working on me every day really, giving me treatment back at the apartment.
"She was also crucial in making sure I didn't feel sorry for myself.
"When I had a down day she made sure I picked myself up and was always looking at what I needed to do, she helped me in every single aspect.
"I was very lucky for that and I definitely married the right person."