For several reasons, collegiate ice hockey is a sport unlike any other.

Aside from the brutal violence that comes with every bone crushing check and the lightning-fast pace of the game, most hockey players don't take the conventional route to college after high school.

Many of them take a slight detour unlike football or basketball players who head to campus soon after their high school days end.

Instead, several hockey players wind up playing in Midget or Junior Leagues across North America hoping to be found by a college coach. Others attend prep schools to ready themselves for the college game.

These same situations exist right here at Penn State.

Twenty-seven of the current 29 players on No. 2 Penn State's roster have either played in a Midget or Junior League or have attended a prep school before coming to Happy Valley.

One of those Icers is first-semester freshman Justin DePretis.

DePretis attended Ringgold High School in suburban Pittsburgh until he was a junior and was discovered two years ago by Icer head coach Joe Battista.

"Offensively he had all the tools," Battista said. "He's a classic power forward."

But DePretis, who eventually moved to Chicago, told Battista he wasn't sure about playing at the college level yet.

Instead DePretis opted to play with the Chicago Freeze Junior A club of the North American Hockey League .

Shortly into his career with the Freeze, DePretis reconsidered and notified Battista last September that he did indeed want to come to Penn State.

DePretis began practicing shortly after Thanksgiving and before long he was skating along the side of Alon Eizenman in the Icers top line during the team's trip north of the border.

It didn't take long for the newcomer to make an impression.

In DePretis's first eight games, he has tallied seven goals and four assists.

"Any time you play with players of that level, you have to step it up and playing with them just makes you a better player," DePretis said. "I think any line on this team, no matter who anyone is playing with, is going to be successful."

DePretis's play was so impressive during the Two Nations Cup Tournament in Toronto that he was named the title game's most outstanding player. In addition, DePretis's performance (two goals and one assist) this past Saturday landed him a spot on the Nittany Lion Invitational's All-Tournament Team.

Although DePretis has exploded out of the gates, Battista said there are still some aspects of his game that he must work on.

"He still needs to get himself into playing shape and he has to do a better job on defense," Battista said. "But it's always tough coming in half way through the year. He knows there's still room for improvement."

Even though DePretis has only been with the team for a little more than a month, he already knows the tradition behind the program and is set on helping the team to a second consecutive ACHA title.

"We are ranked second now, but we don't think that is acceptable," he said. "I think the guys on the team know that we should be No. 1 and I think we'll have a good chance to prove it this weekend when we play in Michigan.

"Playing like we are right now, we should definitely walk away with it."