Sheffield Steelers Robert Dowd on how he fulfilled his 'boyhood dream' with Great Britain
EVER since his dad took him to watch Great Britain play an exhibition game in Nottingham as a bright-eyed eight-year-old hockey-mad kid, Robert Dowd wanted to follow in the footsteps of the players gliding around on the ice in front of him.
Last week, after fulfilling his dream – one which has lasted 17 years – Dowd called an end to his time on the international stage.
It won’t have been an easy decision but, along with Rotherham-born netminder Ben Bowns who also announced his GB retirement on the same day, the practicalities of domestic life, both on and off the ice, eventually take precedence.
Dowd made reference to the fact GB’s players are not essentially paid while on international duty, not that money will ever have been a motivating factor for him or anyone else when stepping out on the ice.
And while pride in representing your country probably remains the greatest motivational tool for GB players, maybe the powers-that-be at governing body Ice Hockey UK could look into at least making it worth their while going forward.
Dowd, who started his career as a junior in his hometown of Billingham, will continue to play domestically for Sheffield Steelers, having signed a new two-year deal only last month.
But, now aged 37, something had to give in order for him to maintain one of the most successful Elite League careers ever.
Bowns, who came through the Sheffield junior system before playing for Sheffield Steeldogs and then Hull Stingrays, will also continue playing in the EIHL with Cardiff Devils having expressed the same wish as Dowd of spending more time back home with family as the chief reason behind his GB retirement.
There will no doubt be a tinge of regret for both when it comes to the GB squad being announced for next year’s World Championships Division 1A tournament and their names aren’t listed – Pete Russell’s team having been relegated from the top tier in Zurich earlier this week – but Dowd and Bowns, who made his GB debut in 2012, have a stockpile of memories to fall back on.
The decision to retire means there are just five players still playing for GB from the squad that stepped out on to the ice to play Germany on the team’s return to ‘Pool A’ for the first time in 25 years in Slovakia back in 2019.
It is effectively the end of an era with the big challenge now for Russell and everyone else in the GB programme being one of overseeing a rebuild.
It has been a memorable ride for all concerned since Robert Farmer’s goal in Budapest back in 2018 secured promotion to get back among the elite, but that ‘rebuild’ will probably mean settling for a few years of not yo-yoing between Division 1A and the top-tier while they build up the necessary experience among the pool of British talent they hope is coming through.
Dowd still clearly remembers his own first tentative steps for GB seniors after getting the call from head coach Paul Thompson to play in an exhibition tournament in France back in 2008. His first experience of a world championship would come a few months later.
“It's funny because when I was younger, obviously coming from the North East, you had Newcastle Vipers as they were at the time, but there wasn't a massive hotbed of top-end hockey to go and watch,” recalled Dowd.
“And it sounds a bit silly. I didn't think as a kid, ‘oh, I want to play for the Sheffield Steelers, or ‘I want to play for the Nottingham Panthers or in the Elite League.
“I just wanted to play for Team GB because my dad took me to a game in Nottingham when I was about eight. So when I was older, all I wanted to do was play for Team GB.
“That was my goal. So, obviously getting to do that for the first time when I was just 18, was really cool. Just every young kid's dream, really.”
Of course, living that ‘dream’ is far easier when you love what you do for a living.
“You gotta love what you do,” said Dowd last weekend. “I have loved every second of my GB journey. I've loved and thrived on it. I've looked forward to it.
“It's not work when it's that much fun - the work doesn't seem like work.
“It's as easy as that. If you can love being in the grind and being in the grind of trying to get better every single day, if you can thrive and love that, you can't go wrong.”
Dowd bows out having played four ‘Pool A’ tournaments with GB and while it has been a tough “grind’ each time when coming up against the likes of powerhouse nations such as Canada, USA, Finland, Czechia and Sweden, the strong bonds forged during the many weeks away has made it all worthwhile.
“That's why I look forward to the time with GB so much every year,” added Dowd. “Because it's playing with guys who I've played with since I was 14 years old. We are a bunch of brothers, a bunch of best friends.
“We get to go on a lad's holiday and enjoy some hockey every summer. We love being together. And I think when you see a happy ice hockey team, you normally see a pretty good ice hockey team.- because of that brotherhood, that friendship.
“You can make special things happen when everybody's happy on the ice and playing for each other.
“There's no one out there trying to be something that they're not. Everyone's just trying to be the best player who they can be for each other.
“You just want to win for each other and I think having that special group like we've had over the years, that's why we've kind of beaten the odds when we have and completely played above our talent pool, to be honest.
“It's no disappointment in saying some of the teams we've beaten are better ice hockey players than we are. But we have just been a tighter group.”