Even After a Loss, John Koufis Considers Every Chance to Play in a National Championship Game a Blessing
WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. — John Koufis’ hockey journey has taken him around the world.
The sport has allowed him to represent his native country and make life-long friendships. As a player-owner for the Chicago Sharks, he has been part of teams that have won seven national championships.
On April 6, he hoped he and the shorthanded Sharks would repeat as 50-plus Tier 1 champs in the 2025 USA Hockey Adult Men's National Championships.
However, the deeper Northland Stars from Minnesota prevailed 5-3.
While the loss gnawed at him and his teammates, he called playing in the title game a blessing. He said he has grown more passionate about playing the game because he doesn’t know how many more championship tilts he’ll get a chance to suit up for.
“Tomorrow is promised to nobody,” he said. “Any chance I don’t play is a missed opportunity.”
That doesn’t mean the loss didn’t sting. The Sharks had beaten the Northland Stars earlier in the tournament, and Koufis had hoped his team could defend its 50-plus Tier 1 title.
With only 11 players on their roster due to injuries, the Sharks struggled with the depth of the Stars in the championship game.
While the Sharks have won seven national titles, Koufis said they’ve finished as runners-up 10 different times at nationals, and each loss “sucks.”
Koufis, who’ll be 60 in June, received USA Hockey’s 2024 Adult Player of the Year Award. He joked that the honor was based more on how long he has played as much as how well he has played this past season.
Koufis picked up hockey around 10 years old. While he played in high school, he said he was an ordinary player.
He had to step away from the game for a couple of years to finish his accounting degree from DePaul. The time away helped him realize how much he missed the sport and the competition.
In 1991, Koufis and some buddies talked about putting a team together. Greg Frider, one of the first to sign up, has been a teammate for 33 years.
Others like Mike Vasilevich, Rob Garofolo, Neil Corcoran, Doug Condon, Shaun Sommerville and Mark Olson have been together for 25 years or more.
The players won their first championship in 1998, then won four more titles in the age-40 group before winning their first age-50 group crown last year.
“We’re relentless, we just refuse to quit,” Koufis said. “We know where each other is at this point. While we have players with different skills, we are very hard working.”
In many ways, Koufis is an ambassador of the sport, having played for two international teams while also serving as a team owner, coach and administrator over the years.
A dual Greek and American citizen, Koufis played in five IIHF Division III Men’s World Championships for Greece in his 40s. He joked he would’ve liked to have played for the team when he was younger.
“I played full-check hockey in my 20s,” he said. “That motivated me to stay in shape. I would’ve liked to play for Greece in my heyday. Let me rephrase that. I would’ve liked to play for Greece when I was younger. I don’t think I really had a heyday.”
Recently, Koufis spent time in Slovakia because he was Greece’s general manager for the 2024 IIHF Development Cup. His hockey travels also have taken him to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates; Dunedin, New Zealand; Luxembourg in Western Europe and Cape Town, South Africa, where he was part of a silver-medal winning team in 2010.
“Representing your country and hearing that anthem, it’s special,” Koufis said.
In addition to playing with the Sharks, Koufis recently became majority owner and chief executive officer of the Johnstown (PA) Tomahawks of the North American Hockey League. He sees this as giving back to a sport that has given so much to him.
“It’s been a really neat experience,” he said. “I’m the luckiest amateur beer-leaguer on the planet.
“By accident, I’ve had this wonderful hockey life.”
Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.
Source: usahockey.com