He played junior hockey for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and won the Memorial Cup in 1993. The Buffalo Sabres picked him 227th overall in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft. Kowalsky never made it to the NHL. He played pro hockey from 1993 to 2005, mostly in the AHL and the ECHL. He was an assistant coach of the Norfolk Admirals in 2005-06 and then head coach of the Trenton Devils from 2006 to 2010. In that year he was named the caoch of Albany.