Cardiff Devils have announced that goalkeeper Ben Bowns has signed a new contract with the club, extending his stay into an 11th season.

The 35-year-old netminder continues his decade-long association with the Devils after originally joining the club ahead of the 2014-15 season.

Last season, Bowns put up career best statistics playing 36 games with a goals against average of 1.94 and a save percentage of 93.19%.

He also led the league in shutouts with eight across all competitions.

Bowns was part of the new regime that started with the ownership taking over in the summer of 2014. The netminder was a key signing that summer and led the Devils to the Challenge Cup Championship that season.

The next season, he won British Player of the Year, Netminder of the Year and was selected to the EIHL First All-Star Team.

The following season in 2016-17, Bowns won Netminder of the Year again and was a First Team All-Star again as he backstopped the Devils to their first League Championship in the EIHL era.   They also won a second Challenge Cup in 3 seasons.

In 2017-18, he backstopped the Devils to the League title again, and their first Playoff Championship in 19 years. Once again, he was selected the League’s Netminder of the Year and another First All-Star Team selection.

In 2019, he led the Devils to another Playoff Championship, led the league in wins again and had the most shutouts in the league.

Bowns moved away to play in Austria while the Elite League was shut down due to Covid-19, then spent another year away in Slovakia before he came home to Cardiff where he has been for the past four years, adding a Continental Cup Championship and another Playoff title in the last two seasons to his list of trophies he has lifted over his storied career.

“Bownsy has done it all in Cardiff and we are lucky to have him returning to our goaltending duo,” said head coach Paul Thompson.

“He still has that fight and desire to win every day, and we will need that going forward.

“His experience and qualities make our team better – it’s a simple as that.”

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