By Justin Pelletier,Staff Writer

PORTLAND – Dustin Penner, we hardly knew ye.

Maine hockey fans felt a sense of loss after the 2003-04 season when Penner, a big, strong power forward who blossomed late in the campaign for the Black Bears in Orono, left after one year for the professional ranks.

Signed as a free agent by the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in May 2004, Penner was torn between leaving Maine and staying. He ultimately chose the professional route.

“I enjoyed my time at Maine,” said Penner. “So the fact that I missed out on another year of college and having fun with my friends, that’s a little bit at the back of my mind, but I don’t regret the decision at all.”

In an unforeseen twist of fate, Penner was back in Maine as a member of the Portland Pirates, a move precipitated by the Ducks’ new affiliation with Portland’s AHL franchise.

“It’s kind of special being able to come back to Maine and to be able to play in front of the same fans,” said Penner.

Long road

Opportunity, or lack thereof, is something Penner knows. Growing up in Manitoba, Penner was never recruited to play on AAA teams or for any of the Western Hockey League’s Major Junior teams.

“I didn’t have the opportunity to do that,” said Penner. “I only played high school hockey in Canada. I never got picked up by any WHL team or Tier II Junior A team, so I really didn’t have that option.”

Maine assistant coach Grant Standbrook, a legend among college hockey scouts, discovered Penner and offered him a chance to play at Maine.

“Grant found me in the middle of nowhere pretty much at a discovery camp in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan,” said Penner. “I lucked out getting found by him.”

In 43 games at Maine, including the 2004 National Championship game against Denver, Penner scored 11 goals and had 12 assists, while racking up 52 penalty minutes.

Big step

With the recent NHL lockout looming, Penner looked toward turning pro quickly, knowing that the more time he could get in before the influx of players from the NHL, the better.

“(The lockout) helped my decision to leave school,” said Penner. “I knew that if I would have left after last year, it would have seriously decreased the value for the type of player that I was. My first year in the AHL, I don’t think I would have been ready to play in the NHL. This year, I made the team originally and got sent down now, but the path I’m on, it is what it is, and I’m happy to be here.”

But Penner wasn’t always a force for his AHL team. In Cincinnati, where the Ducks’ farm team played last season, Penner took nearly half the year to make an impact.

“The first three or four games I was a healthy scratch,” said Penner. “I was still finding my way on the ice. We had a couple of injuries on the team last year that helped me get some ice time, and I started playing well after Christmas, just like I did my first year at Maine. But about Game 50 or 60, that’s where the fatigue set in. I wasn’t used to playing that many games, but after that it got better and better, and in the playoffs I was fine again.”

The change from college to the AHL, Penner said, was drastic.

“College is a lot of, I don’t want to say scrambling, because that’s not the right word, but at this level it’s a lot more controlled,” said Penner. “Even at the NHL, playing in those preseason games, you can see how controlled it is. It’s never chipping off the boards or anything. There’s always a purpose behind each pass.”

One more hurdle

Armed with confidence after a rigorous off-season, Penner arrived at Anaheim’s preseason camp with the goal of making the NHL roster.

He almost did.

“He is a guy that got only 10 goals last year, and he’s got a lot more upside than that,” said Portland Pirates’ coach Kevin Dineen. “I played with John LeClair for four years in Philadelphia and he reminds me a lot of John in the way he uses his size. He has that ability to finish. He has a great shot, he’s aggressive, he thinks the game very well, and I think he’s getting more comfortable with his size and his game now.”

The comparison to LeClair, and some others he has received to former Boston great Cam Neely still makes Penner pause.

“It’s an honor to be compared to a great player like Cam Neely, who’s now a hall-of-famer with his number retired,” said Penner. “I just try to practice and improve on every facet of my game and just make my own mark on the game.

“I’m more of a power forward than I am a play-making forward. I open up the ice and get the puck to the net, so I guess if there was a role for me to fill, I would be a power forward.”

His power has evolved into goal-scoring prowess. In 17 games through Tuesday night, Penner had scored 11 goals and added nine assists while spending just 21 minutes in the penalty box. Recently, one game after scoring the only goal in a 1-0 victory over Providence, Penner dropped four into the net in a 7-4 win over Hartford.

“He’s playing so well and he’s really been a dominating guy,” said Dineen. “He’s got good chemistry with his linemates. What he’s doing, he’s a big guy and he’s a very physical presence, not where he’s getting into fights or anything like that, but he’s using his size to create things offensively and he’s doing a good job of going out there and banging bodies and getting the puck and holding onto it.”

And Dineen believes that Penner’s chance to prove himself with the Ducks will come sooner rather than later.

“He needs to go out there and make a statement offensively and I think he’s the kind of guy that can do that,” Dineen said. “He can play the game he’s playing right now at the NHL level. He’s done it in college, he’s done it in the AHL, and he certainly has the ability to do it in the NHL, too.”

Penner, meanwhile, is just soaking it all in. Back in Maine and loving it, Penner is doing what he is asked. The rest, he says, will come on its own.

“I think it’s finally starting to come together,” said Penner. “I think I’m finally growing into my body and just seeing the ice really well, and I have great teammates that have been helping me a lot. I enjoy every day of my life right now.”