Spitfire Spotlight with George Kotsopolous: Part 1
George Kotsopolous played for the Windsor Spitfires during one of the most colourful times in franchise history – when sellouts at the venerable Windsor Arena were the norm and visiting teams were intimidated before stepping out on the ice for the pre-game warm-up. The Toronto native played 162 career games for the Spitfires from 1976 to 1979 and averaged more than a point a game by notching 77 goals and adding 108 assists while picking up 206 minutes in penalties.
The affable Kotsopolous, who has lived in Fort Wayne, Indiana for decades and is the owner and operator of Jungle George’s, a kids’ ad family total entertainment centre, still follows his beloved Spitfires after all these years. In the first of a two-part feature, Kotsoplous talks with In Play Magazine’s OHL editor, John Humphrey, about the greatest times of his hockey career – his days and nights as a Windsor Spitfire.
In Play! Magazine: How did you end up with the Spitfires?
George Kotsopolous: I was drafted in the 30th round of the 1975 Ontario Major Junior Hockey League (now Ontario Hockey League) Midget Draft. Gene Popiel was my midget coach and also my Junior B coach in Toronto and he scouted for the Spitfires.
Editor’s note: The Spitfires joined the then, OMJHL during the 1975-76 season, becoming the 12th team in the league and were awarded an additional 15 draft picks before entering the league. The Spitfires had the last selection of every round – a stark difference from every expansion team that has entered the OHL since. All expansion teams since the Spitfires have enjoyed having the first overall pick in every draft and in every round. Some teams have also had the benefit of an expansion draft in which they selected players from existing OHL teams. In seasons were there were two expansion teams entering the league, the expansion teams had the first and second overall picks in the draft
In Play! Magazine: Did you consider going to play college hockey in the United States instead of playing major junior (OMJHL) hockey?
George Kotsopolous: No. I always wanted to go to the OHL.
In Play! Magazine: Almost 50 years after playing your last game with the Spitfires, what are some of your more vivid memories of playing in Windsor?
George Kotsopolous: During my second season with the Spitfires (1977-78) we played the London Knights 24 times, including exhibition, regular season and the play-offs.
In the play-offs we played an eight-point (as opposed to a best of seven) series that both teams ended up protesting and we both ended up in a round-robin series against Niagara Falls, who won the series.
Editor’s note: Thirteen-year-old Spits superfan, John Humphrey, was in the stands at all Knights-Spitfires games at the London Gardens and Windsor Arena that season.
In Play! Magazine: Is there anything from those games against the Knights that still stand out for you after all these years?
George Kotsopolous: LOL lots of things! We had a tough guy named Brian Gustafson, who was only about five-foot-eight. One game in London he fought Brad Marsh, a big defenceman who was also tough, twice. Gustafson lost both fights pretty badly but when they stepped out of the box after the second fight, Gustafson was there waiting for Marsh LOL
And the games were packed in both rinks for all games. London fans took busses to Windsor and Spitfire fans took buses to London. It was just crazy!
In Play! Magazine: What was your style of play during your times as a Spitfire?
George Kotsopolous: I was good at forechecking and playmaking. I could pass the puck and place it onto he stick of my teammates so they could score. And it was so easy to forecheck during games at The Barn because the ice was small and you could close off areas for the opposition pretty quickly.
But I was also able to put up 20-35 goals a season in Windsor, so I did have the ability to score too.
In Play! Magazine: Who were some of your linemates in Windsor?
George Kotsopolous: I played with Friesty (#20 LW Ron Friest) and Smitty (#14 RW Brad Smith) and we had an unbelievable line because we could play anyway you wanted to. Not only could we score, but we were great at forechecking and killing penalties too. We were buzz-saws out there.
Editor’s note – Ron Friest and Brad Smith are Windsor natives who both went on to play in the National Hockey League. Friest, who played with the Minnesota North Stars, has been a successful real estate agent in Windsor for decades and lives in Riverside today. Brad Smith – known as Motor City Smitty during his NHL playing days with Vancouver, Atlanta, Calgary, Detroit and Toronto, coached the Spitfires after retiring from the NHL and lives in Gig Harbor, Washington and currently serves as the Director of Player Personnel for the Coloradoo Avalanche.
Part two this interview can be found HERE.