A hero to Panthers fans, Craig Kowalski backstopped the Panthers to the most successful period in their long history.
For years in the later ISL and early EIHL eras, the starting netminder role in Nottingham proved to be a tough gig. A steady succession of players had tried with varying degrees of success to live up to the lofty standards set by the fondly remembered Trevor Robins, but even the best of them never really came close. That changed in 2010.
In the summer of that year, Craig Kowalski was announced as the Panthers’ new starting netminder and it wasn’t long before his consistently strong performances were making a big impression, in Nottingham and around the league. With the nickname K-Wall reflecting his sturdy frame and the difficulty of getting the puck past him, he quickly became a fan favourite. Finally, those Panthers fans had found the goalie they had been waiting over a decade for.
Kowalski played a total of five seasons for the Panthers, and those years saw the team win silverware more consistently than it ever had before. In all, K-Wall won four Challenge Cups, three playoff titles and, in 2012-13, he was one of the mainstays in Panthers’ first league title for 57 years. No netminder before or since has come close to that record. His save percentage never went below .910 over that five-season period, and he even scored a goal in a pre-season game against Italian side Asiago (one of just a few iconic Panthers moments I have missed over the past 45 years. Not that I’m bitter not to have seen it of course).
Known for the speed of his catcher, his (mostly) unflappable persona and his unspectacular but incredibly effective style, Kowalski was the player who made the difference time after time at the key moments in the big games. At times, you would already have accepted that the opponents would score, only for his glove or pad to do something remarkable to keep the puck out.
It’s a cliché in hockey that you need a good goalie to win things. And it’s no coincidence that the times when Panthers won the most things were the times when Craig Kowalski was in the net. For that, he is a deserved inductee to the TCW Hall of Fame.
Words: Ian Braisby
Picture: Nottingham Panthers
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