The Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins don’t usually play on Tuesday nights, so the players find something else to do. Last Tuesday, forwards Tom Kostopoulos and Reid Gardiner went to the library.

It was part of what has become an annual tradition at the Back Mountain Memorial Library to invite a couple hockey players to drop in and read stories to the crowd. More than two dozen youngsters, along with their assorted adult relatives, came to listen to the stories and then get autographs.

“We try to do this every year,” said children’s librarian Janet Bauman, decked out in her own Penguins’ jersey.

The team’s play-by-play radio commentator, Nick Hart, acted as master of ceremonies, introducing the players, but nothing really got started until the real entertainment arrived in the form of the team’s mascot, Tux.

And he didn’t disappoint.

Kostopoulos showed he’d had practice reading to kids, smoothly presenting the rhyming “Talent Night.” He also knows a lot of the kids in the room, since he and his family live in the Dallas area and his own youngsters attend the same schools as most of the kids in attendance.

To help, Tux acted out the story with the assistance of a bag of props and his lovely and talented assistant, library staffer Cindy Kaytl. Kaytl graciously allowed Tux to do all the physical work, including handstands and flips in the small room at the back of the children’s section of the library.

“I wasn’t about to get down on the floor,” she said. “I’d need a lot of help to get back up.”

Probably more comfortable on skates and fighting off opposing defensemen while shooting a puck, Gardiner worked his way through “Little Santa,” a fable about the Claus family unhappy living in isolation at the North Pole and planning to move to Florida until a blizzard hit. It provided the backstory for Santa’s flying reindeer, sled and elves as well as his penchant for sliding up and down chimneys. And, spoiler alert, Mrs. Claus and the seven Claus children moved to Florida anyway, leaving the bearded one at the Pole to create Christmas magic on his own.

“I did do some things like this when I was in juniors, but I never had a group like this,” said Gardiner, who, at 21, is still a few years away from reading to his own youngsters.

After the stories, the players opened the floor to questions.

“What’s your favorite thing about hockey?” asked 7-almost 8-year-old Ashtun Pimm, from Lehman.

“I like being part of the team,” Gardiner said. “And I like that when something doesn’t go your way, there’s always people with you.”

Kostopoulos told the crowd about Gardiner’s having to do his homework on team buses when he played junior hockey in Canada, riding for up to seven hours to play an away game. And he encouraged the youngsters in the room to read, even if they think they don’t like reading.

“I didn’t like to read, but my mom said I had to read about something,” he said. “So I picked books about hockey because I liked hockey. And then I learned that my favorite thing about reading is that you can always learn something from it. Come to the library and find something. Somewhere in here there’s a book you’ll read and be interested in and learn something. It’s important that everyone reads.”

When young Luke Waskevich asked Kostopoulos about his favorite book, the player admitted he enjoys biographies, learning about what other people have done to overcome problems to get to their goals.

To help in that cause, the library staff set out a table with books and each child was allowed to take one home. That was after everybody took part in a drawing and each youngster got an item of Penguins swag, as well.

Then came the autographs and pictures. The players – and Tux –patiently signed the odd puck or magnetized schedule or picture and posed for camera phones that parents brought to the event.

To end the night, both players posed with the display of bobbleheads and other Penguin memorabilia Pimm loaned to the library’s display case for the event. Then they headed home to pack for the five-hour bus ride to Toronto for the next game.

“This is one event that lots of people look forward to each year,” Bauman said. “Kids of all ages love it. And I think the players have a good time as well.”

Young Lincoln Brunn, of Dallas, was not sure how he felt about being so close to Tux when the Wilkes-Barr/Scranton Penguins mascot came to encourage reading at the Back Mountain Memorial Library.
https://www.mydallaspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_Pens1.CMYK_.jpg.optimal.jpgYoung Lincoln Brunn, of Dallas, was not sure how he felt about being so close to Tux when the Wilkes-Barr/Scranton Penguins mascot came to encourage reading at the Back Mountain Memorial Library.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Reid Gardiner, left, and Tom Kostopoulo enjoy time with children at the Back Mountain Memorial Library, encouraging them to read.
https://www.mydallaspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_Pens2.CMYK_.jpg.optimal.jpgWilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Reid Gardiner, left, and Tom Kostopoulo enjoy time with children at the Back Mountain Memorial Library, encouraging them to read.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguin Reid Gardiner reads to children at the Back Mountain Memorial Library.
https://www.mydallaspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_Pens3.CMYK_.jpg.optimal.jpgWilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguin Reid Gardiner reads to children at the Back Mountain Memorial Library.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins hockey team members and their mascot Tux were on hand at the Back Mountain Memorial Library to encourage children to read. Jeffrey Huntzinger had a special fondness for the bird.
https://www.mydallaspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_Pens4.CMYK_.jpg.optimal.jpgWilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins hockey team members and their mascot Tux were on hand at the Back Mountain Memorial Library to encourage children to read. Jeffrey Huntzinger had a special fondness for the bird.

Shane Hummer, Shavertown, won a prize from Tux at the Back Mountain Memorial Library.
https://www.mydallaspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_Pens5.CMYUK_.jpg.optimal.jpgShane Hummer, Shavertown, won a prize from Tux at the Back Mountain Memorial Library.

Young Lincoln Brunn, of Dallas, was not sure how he felt about being so close to Tux when the Wilkes-Barr/Scranton Penguins mascot came to encourage reading at the Back Mountain Memorial Library.
https://www.mydallaspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_DP-12042016-Tux-at-BMT-library-2.jpg.optimal.jpgYoung Lincoln Brunn, of Dallas, was not sure how he felt about being so close to Tux when the Wilkes-Barr/Scranton Penguins mascot came to encourage reading at the Back Mountain Memorial Library. Charlotte Bartizek | For Dallas Post

Shane Hummer, Shavertown, won a prize from Tux at the Back Mountain Memorial Library.
https://www.mydallaspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_DP-12042016-Tux-at-BMT-library-3.jpg.optimal.jpgShane Hummer, Shavertown, won a prize from Tux at the Back Mountain Memorial Library. Charlotte Bartizek | For Dallas Post

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Reid Gardiner, left, and Tom Kostopoulo enjoy time with children at the Back Mountain Memorial Library, encouraging them to read.
https://www.mydallaspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_DP-12042016-Tux-at-BMT-library-4.jpg.optimal.jpgWilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Reid Gardiner, left, and Tom Kostopoulo enjoy time with children at the Back Mountain Memorial Library, encouraging them to read. Charlotte Bartizek | For Dallas Post

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguin Reid Gardiner reads to children at the Back Mountain Memorial Library.
https://www.mydallaspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_DP-12042016-Tux-at-BMT-library-7.jpg.optimal.jpgWilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguin Reid Gardiner reads to children at the Back Mountain Memorial Library. Charlotte Bartizek | For Dallas Post

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins hockey team members and their mascot Tux were on hand at the Back Mountain Memorial Library to encourage children to read. Jeffrey Huntzinger had a special fondness for the bird.
https://www.mydallaspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_DP-12042016-Tux-at-BMT-library-5.jpg.optimal.jpgWilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins hockey team members and their mascot Tux were on hand at the Back Mountain Memorial Library to encourage children to read. Jeffrey Huntzinger had a special fondness for the bird. Charlotte Bartizek | For Dallas Post
Hockey players stress importance of reading to youngster

By Gina Thackara

For Dallas Post

Reach the Dallas Post newsroom at 570-704-3982.