If Mario Lemieux or Eric Lindros is penalized for a minor infraction, it means time in the penalty box. But if Sheila Gilmartin or Kevin Becker get called, it means time out of the pool.

Gilmartin and Becker are members of the Penn State Underwater Hockey Team, a club sport offered by the Nittany Divers. Although the sport itself has been around since the 1950s, Penn State's club has only been in existence for the past two years.

"This is a very young team," Gilmartin, the team captain said. "I'm so proud of how well they've done."

The team competed most recently at the East Coast Championships in North Carolina, March 5-7, taking second place out of the five teams. The finish is impressive, considering the team only took seven players with it, instead of the usual 10.

Mainly a breath-holding sport, the game is played six-on-six, usually with four substitutes. All of the hockey action takes place on the bottom of the pool, with each side using foot-long sticks to push and pass a three-pound brass-weighted puck into the opposing goal.

It's a technique that is rather easy to learn, Gilmartin said.

"What I find amazing is how quickly people get better at it," she added. "We have first-time players . . . and usually by the end of the night they're twice as good as when they first got in."

The only problem Gilmartin usually faces is trying to convince people to play.

"I thought it was a joke," sophomore center Alex Dence said. "I showed up and it wasn't . . . so I decided to hang around and play, and I liked it."

Gilmartin is quick to point out that jumping right in and playing is really the best way for people, who want to get a feel for the game, to watch all of the action.

"Sometimes they'll have a free lane next to the pool, and if the fan is really gung-ho they can get in and watch with masks," she added.

Depending on the facilities, fans might also be able to watch from underwater viewing windows, or, such as at national or world competition, there are underwater cameras and on-deck video monitors for the few hundred fans.

Although interest and curiosity generates a total membership of about 40 people, mostly students, the club has increased its membership over the past two years. The core group consists of about 10 regulars who travel.

Presently, the team is planning a trip to the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, for the National Championships.

Gilmartin, who captained the underwater hockey team at the University of Hawaii, believes the current Penn State team could beat her former club.

"The Hawaii team is so isolated," Gilmartin said. "They don't get to travel to other tournaments and play other players, and that's how you get better."

But Gilmartin also said that what she would really like to see is a regional tournament sponsored by Penn State.

"(The Natatorium) is a great pool. It's a perfect underwater hockey pool," Gilmartin said. "And it has viewing windows."

The team has use of the Natatorium for four hours every week, and that is usually all the time the team spends practicing hockey.

"We don't take it real seriously in that we train real hard," Becker said. "It's more just for fun."