Besides the leather helmet, the man skating around the ice pavilion looked like the rest of the hockey players on the ice for the Icers' alumni game last Saturday.

But he is different from the typical Icer -- he's 73 years old. John Dufford's age may have slowed him down a bit on Saturday, but he still plays in alumni games on a line with his son Jim, 40, and grandson, Aaron, 12.

"It's not that I play good anymore," Dufford said. "I just play."

Dufford returns each year to play in the annual matchup of former Icers.

"It really makes you appreciate the tradition," Icer Coach Joe Battista said, "just what hockey means to you as an individual when you see a guy out there in his 70s lacing it up against us young pups -- and I'm not that young."

Dufford was chosen as a member of the Icers' inaugural Hall of Fame class in 1991 for his illustrious career at Penn State. He was the team's leading scorer, most valuable player and team captain in 1942.

Dufford joined the Penn State varsity hockey team in 1939, leaving after his junior year in 1942 to join the Marines. The team was dropped the next year because of World War II and a decrease in University enrollment. Dufford returned in 1955 and graduated with an industrial engineering degree.

The varsity team played against local eastern schools like Pennsylvania, Lehigh, Lafayette and Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon). The Icers also played against some semipro teams in West Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Hockey was played a little differently in the '40s. Passing was not allowed into the center zone, so stick handling was more important, Dufford said. The slap shot had not been invented, and the stick blades were straight instead of curved.

In addition, checking in the offensive zone was not allowed by the offensive team, but the action in front of the goal was fairly rough.

"It was physical alright," Dufford said.

Dufford got his start on the ponds of Connecticut before he came to Penn State, playing on a town team and competing against other town teams.

"We didn't have any rinks," he said. "It was all natural ice."

At Penn State, the ice conditions were poor at times. The team practiced on frozen flooded tennis courts. The team even played one game on the court. But that did not stop the fans from showing up.

"There weren't any boards. It was like playing on a pond," Dufford said. "There was a mob there at the tennis court."

The home ice for Penn State was at Hershey during Dufford's first year. Johnstown served as the home site for the next two years. Now, the ice pavilion is home to the Icers, and Dufford is sure to keep coming back.

"This group," he said, "has been wonderful for me."