Ben Bowns says Cardiff Devils are ’Simply The Best’.
Cardiff Devils netminder has been named the last Elite League Player of the Week in 2017-18 and said: “This is the best team this country’s ever seen.”
The 27-year-old Yorkshireman played a massive part as his team scooped the PredictorBet Play-off title, beating Sheffield Steelers 3-1 in the final.
Bowns conceded only one goal in the two games, including a shutout in their 4-0 semi-final win against Fife Flyers.
“To lose the way we did in the play-off final a year ago, losing in sudden death overtime after 90-plus minutes of action, was horrible,” said Bowns.
“We won the league in two successive seasons and I believe this is the best team this country’s ever seen.
“I know it’s a bold statement, but the skill, the speed and to see what we’ve done at this standard is unbelievable. We all deserve it.
“We knew Fife would come to Nottingham pumped up after their huge win in Manchester. Then Sheffield came into the final after beating Nottingham in one of the best games I’ve ever seen.
“We were left thinking it didn’t matter who we played in this final, it was always going to be hard for us. But it was nice to win it against Sheffield after last season.
“I don’t know how this team can raise the bar again after what we’ve done, but we’ll have to wait and see what happens around the league.”
It’s the third time this season Bowns has scooped the Player of the Week prize and comes after he was named EIHL British Player of the Year and Netminder of the Year in the end-of-season awards.
This week he is with the Great Britain national team preparing for the World Championships in Budapest. GB take on Lithuania in two warm-up games.
The first game is at Milton Keynes this Saturday (April 14, 7pm) and the second at Coventry’s Skydome the following evening (5.15pm).
Since 2007, GB and Lithuania sides have met six times in World Championship action with three wins each, although Britain have won the last two encounters, including last season in Belfast on their way to promotion to Division One Group A.
“We always have good games against Lithuania and make no mistake about it they will be a tough opposition,” said Bowns.
“We may have won the last two matches, but they gave us no end of problems in 2015 in Eindhoven.
“They have a great goalie and some star names on the roster who can really hurt you if you let down your guard.
“They got a deserved bronze medal in Belfast and they will no doubt be looking to improve on that this year.”
Lithuania are hosting the Division One Group B tournament on home ice in Kaunas at the end of next month at the same time as GB will be making their return to their second tier of the World Championship structure.
“The boys are already talking about Budapest and it will be great to come up against some top-class nations,” said Bowns, who is one of four Devils players in GB’s 28-man squad.
Bowns, Thomas Murdy, Mark Richardson and Matthew Myers are the Devils players involved, but there is no place for Josh Batch.
Welshmen Jonathan Phillips and Ben Davies, both former Devils forwards, are also in the GB squad.
After the games against Lithuania, the squad will be reduced to the 23 players who will represent Great Britain at the World Championship in Budapest, Hungary between April 22 to April 28.
Britain play in Division One Group A following their gold medal promotion in Belfast last year and will face hosts Hungary, along with Italy, Kazakhstan, Poland and Slovenia in the Papp Laszlo Sportarena.
Great Britain squad:
Netminders: Ben Bowns (Cardiff Devils), Thomas Murdy (Cardiff Devils), Jackson Whistle (Belfast Giants).
Defence: Dallas Ehrhardt (Manchester Storm), Steve Lee (Nottingham Panthers), Jeremy Lundin (Guildford Flames), Evan Mosey (Nottingham Panthers), Ben O’Connor (Sheffield Steelers), David Phillips (Sheffield Steelers), Mark Richardson (Cardiff Devils), Zach Sullivan (Braehead Clan), Paul Swindlehurst (Manchester Storm).
Forwards: Ollie Betteridge (Nottingham Panthers), Brendan Brooks (Braehead Clan), Ben Davies (Guildford Flames), Robert Dowd (Sheffield Steelers), Robert Farmer (Nottingham Panthers), Luke Ferrara (Coventry Blaze), Mike Hammond (Manchester Storm), Lewis Hook (Milton Keynes Lightning), Liam Kirk (Sheffield Steelers), Robert Lachowicz (Nottingham Panthers), Ciaran Long (Manchester Storm), Matthew Myers (Cardiff Devils), Jonathan Phillips (Sheffield Steelers), Brett Perlini (Nottingham Panthers), Colin Shields (Belfast Giants), Ross Venus (Coventry Blaze).