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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Since the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins&#8217; very first game in their inaugural 1999-2000 season, there&#8217;s been one constant - Tom Kostopoulos.</p><p>He was just a 20-year-old from Mississauga, Ontario when he erupted in his first season in the AHL scoring 26 goals, with 32 assists and 58 points, instantly becoming a fan favorite.</p><p>Now at 36-years-old, Kostopoulos is playing in his 17th season, his ninth in Wilkes-Barre and there seems to be no slowing down in his game, his desire, and the admiration from his teammates.</p><p>&#8220;He means a lot to me, he&#8217;s been around here for a long time and he has a lot of experience,&#8221; said 21-year-old linemate Oskar Sundqvist. &#8220;Even though he&#8217;s a little older then everyone here, he&#8217;s usually the last guy to leave the ice in practice. He&#8217;s probably one of the hardest workers I have ever seen, so he means a lot to this team by showing by example with how hard he works.&#8221;</p><p>The 1999 seventh-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Kostopoulos has played in 630 games at the NHL level. He&#8217;s scored 61 goals, with 96 assists and 157 points in parts of 11 seasons playing for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Los Angeles Kings, Montreal Canadiens, Carolina Hurricanes, Calgary Flames and the New Jersey Devils.</p><p>On the AHL level, Kostopoulos has played in 561 games recording 167 goals, 259 assists and 426 points playing one season with the Los Angeles Kings AHL affiliate, the Manchester Monarchs.</p><p>A career&#8217;s worth of knowledge is what players like Sundqvist enjoying tapping into everyday, particularly those bits of advice for life off the ice and in most cases, in a new country.</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s always trying to let the group do something together to get closer to each other,&#8221; Sundqvist said. &#8220;He knows what it takes and he always comes up with ideas to bring us together.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;They are good kids, I think they are getting used to North America,&#8221; Kostopoulos said. &#8220;We have a good group in here, all the guys are trying to help the guys who are new to the team and new to the area get settled, whether it&#8217;s moving in, or getting comfortable in practice. The young guys have come in with open ears and are listening and they&#8217;ve been working very hard.&#8221;</p><p>The Penguins 21-year-old reigning AHL Goalie of the Year, Matt Murray, echoes the same feelings Sunqdvist has for their captain.</p><p>&#8220;He was big for me last year as a rookie when I didn&#8217;t really know what the professional life style was all about and I was living on my own for the first time,&#8221; Murray said. &#8220;He showed me how to really take care of your body away from the rink to give you the best opportunity to perform on the rink.</p><p>&#8220;TK is the epitome of that. He displays every quality that you need in a captain and a professional athlete, so I think he&#8217;s a big mentor to everyone on this team and he&#8217;s a great guy to have around.&#8221;</p><p>When it comes to having a seasoned captain like Kostopoulos on the team, head coach Mike Sullivan believes the value is immeasurable.</p><p>&#8220;I think he&#8217;s invaluable,&#8221; Sullivan said. &#8220;He brings so much to the team. First and foremost, he&#8217;s a real good player. We use him on one of our power plays, and he plays on Sunqdvist&#8217;s line that&#8217;s been a real solid checking line for us. He&#8217;s got the ability to generate offense for us, and I think his presence in the room and on the bench help us handle the adversities throughout the course of the game.</p><p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t say enough about him, I think he&#8217;s a guy who sincerely loves the game, loves to come to the rink every day. I think his personality is infectious. I think the players admire him and respect him for what he has accomplished in the game, and certainly this coaching staff does as well.&#8221;</p><p>As much guidance Kostopoulos provides to the younger players, it&#8217;s those same guys who keep the spark going in the veteran.</p><p>&#8220;I love the game, I love the guys that we have in here and it&#8217;s fun to be around them,&#8221; he said. &#8220;If I can share anything in my career that I&#8217;ve learned with them I try to do that all the time. It&#8217;s a good group in here and they are all working hard, so hopefully they can get to the next level and stay there. So if I can do anything to help them, that&#8217;s great.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins captain Tom Kostopoulos has been the one constant on the Penguins roster and he&#8217;s the man younger players go to for advice on and off the ice. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_pen_am1_faa.jpg</photo0><caption0>Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins captain Tom Kostopoulos has been the one constant on the Penguins roster and he&#8217;s the man younger players go to for advice on and off the ice. </caption0><photoCredit0>Fred Adams | Times Leader file photo </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_Tom-Kosotpoulos-Mug.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Kostopoulos </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_Tom-Kosotpoulos-Mug.jpg</photo1><caption1>Kostopoulos </caption1><photoCredit1>Fred Adams | Times Leader file photo </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Veteran Kostopoulos is heart and soul of Penguins squad</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Ross Turetsky</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>VIDEO</strong></p><p>To see video of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins captain, Tom Kostopoulos, talk about his role on the team, visit the online version of this story on timesleader.com.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @tlsports</p></shirttailMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><p><table class="mceItemTable" style="border:none;width:98%;"><tbody><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoID:</td><td id="videoid" style="width:50em;font-size:90%;"> 7R8Rs5Uv5Bo</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoType:</td><td id="videotype" style="font-size:90%;">YOUTUBE</p><p></td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">URL:</td><td id="url" style="font-size:90%;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R8Rs5Uv5Bo </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Embed String:</td><td id="videoembedstring" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Caption:</td><td id="videocaption" style="font-size:90%;">Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins veteran captain Tom Kostopoulos talks about being a leader to the young players and how Wilkes-Barre has become a second home to him.</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Credit:</td><td id="videocredit" style="font-size:90%;"> Ross Turetsky | For Times Leader</p><p></td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Position:</td><td id="videoposition" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></p><p style="margin-top:10px;font-size:70%;color:#555;">(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</p></videoMeta></div>

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins captain Tom Kostopoulos is heart and soul of squad