Career
Kowalski"s Pro career begun on June 25, 2000, when he was selected by the Carolina Hurricanes in 2000 National Hockey League Entry Draft. He was chosen in the eighth round by the Carolina Hurricanes as their seventh overall pick and 235th overall. More than four years after being drafted, on August 6, 2004, Kowalski signed a multi-year contract with the Hurricanes.
He was spare Goaltenders of Carolina during the playoffs.
In 2007, Kowalski was released from a Player Try Out Contract with the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League, and subsequently signed with the Gwinnett Gladiators of the ECHL. During the 2007–2008 ECHL Season, he was named to the All-Star Team, and was chosen as the American Conference"s starting Goaltender. Prior to the 2008–2009 ECHL Season, Kowalski was traded to the Phoenix RoadRunners of the ECHL, for Bryan Esner and signed on July 22, 2009 a contract with The Human Context Valpellice.
On December 3, 2009 he scored an empty Netto goal against Sportivi Ghiaccio Pontebba. On July 8, 2010 Kowalski was revealed as the new starting netminder for Nottingham Panthers in Great Britain"s Elite Ice Hockey League.
Kowalski would go on to spend a further four seasons in Nottingham and become a Panthers legend! Kowalski was also selectd as part of the EIHL Select who were to play against the National Hockey League"s Boston Bruins as well as being selected for the EIHL Second All Star Team with a overall Save Percentage of.923 in 60 games.
Throughout the 2013-2014 and 2014–2015 season, Kowalski was plagued with various injuries which saw him sit out most of both seasons. On March 14, 2015 Kowalski broke his collarbone after an accidental collision between him and Former-NHl"er Kevin Westgarth who was playing with the Belfast Giants during the 2014–2015 Season. Kowalski was ruled out for the rest of the season due to this injury.
On May 21, 2015 Nottingham Panthers announced that Kowalski wouldn"t be returning for the 2015-2016 Season, ending a superb 5 year stint with the club
Kowalski has gone down in the history of the Panthers to be one of the best Goaltenders they"ve ever had.