Tom Kostopoulos

Infobox Ice Hockey Player
team= Montreal Canadiens
former_teams= Los Angeles Kings
Pittsburgh Penguins
league = NHL
position = Right Wing
shoots = Right
height_ft = 6
height_in = 0
weight_lb = 204
nickname = TK, Kosto, T-Dog
nationality = CAN
birth_date = birth date and age|1979|24|1
birth_place = Mississauga, ON, CAN
draft = 204th overall
draft_year = 1999
draft_team = Pittsburgh Penguins
career_start = 2001


image_size = 150px

Thomas Kostopoulos (born January 24, 1979 in Mississauga, Ontario) is a Canadian ice hockey player. Kostopoulos is of Greek descent.

Kostopoulos was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the seventh Round of the 1999 NHL draft. Before that he played junior hockey with the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League. He made his professional minor-league hockey debut with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League. Kostopoulos made his National Hockey League debut with the Penguins in the 2001–2002 season and enjoyed his best season so far with Pittsburgh in 2003–2004. During the 2005 off season, he played with the Manchester Monarchs, having signed a free-agent contract with the Los Angeles Kings. On July 3rd 2007 he signed a free-agent contract with the Montreal Canadiens.

Kostopoulos is known as the team joker in the dressing room. He once sewed someone's keys inside their pocket. [ Brian Cazenuve, "Streaking Ducks, sinking Sens and other notes", 'Inside Hockey', November 8, 2006. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/brian_cazeneuve/11/08/news.notes.color/index.html ] The joker stories from the team are not limited to this; in fact there are numerous other stories that have surfaced around the team.

Kostopoulos was featured on a January 2007 episode of "MADtv" with several of his teammates, including Sean Avery.

Kostopoulos's nickname during his tenure for the London Knights was "Tommy Non-stopoulos" due to his extrodinary on-ice work ethic.

On January 22, 2008, he recorded a Gordie Howe hat trick in a 8-2 victory against the Boston Bruins. His fight victim was Shane Hnidy­.

On February 11, 2008, Kostopoulos and teammate Ryan O'Byrne were arrested outside a Tampa Bay, Florida nightclub following a purse-snatching incident. While O'Byrne was charged with theft, Kostopoulos was charged with resisting the officers. Both were released on bail shortly after. [http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=229398&hubname=] On February 22, Tampa police dropped the charges against Kostopoulos following a letter of apology written by him and that he also promised to perform community service. [http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=230326&hubname=]

On March 30, 2008, Kostopoulos was chosen to be the Grand Marshal of the Hellenic Community of Montreal/Montreal Greek community [http://www.hcm-chm.org] . [cite web
url=http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=dc1393b3-3d8d-47c5-9ebd-918793ee9b1c
title=Greek community honours past and celebrates its future
publisher= The Gazette, Montreal Newspaper
accessdate=2008
last=
first=] [cite web
url=http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/sports/story.html?id=24589709-5164-456e-ab9b-ab0a47bf7276
title=The Flower hasn't lost his poise
publisher= The Gazette, Montreal Newspaper
accessdate=2008
last=
first=] [cite web
url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/minas_photos/2374289287/
title=Greek Independence Day Parade in Montreal
publisher=Flicker
accessdate=2008
last=
first=] [cite web
url=http://www.hcm-chm.org/
title=Hellenic Community of Montreal Official Web site
publisher=Hellenic Community of Montreal Official Web site
accessdate=2008
last=
first=]

References

Persondata
NAME = Kostopoulos,Tom
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = ice hockey player
DATE OF BIRTH = January 24, 1979
PLACE OF BIRTH = Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
DATE OF DEATH =
PLACE OF DEATH =