KITCHENER, Ontario -- Brad Thiessen was the Penguins' mystery goalie for much of this spring.

The one who showed up in videotape from practice sessions occasionally, and who was on the ice during their Stanley Cup celebration at Joe Louis Arena, but who never got into a game and who few people outside the organization seemed to recognize.

For good reason.

Thiessen was not a draft choice or a prospect who had worked his way up the depth chart. He was a free agent from Northeastern University who signed with them in early April, then spent a few weeks with their minor league team in Wilkes-Barre before getting an up-close look at the Penguins' surge to the Stanley Cup.

"I still can't believe it happened," Thiessen said. "To go from sitting in class to raising the Stanley Cup a couple of months later was something pretty special, and something I'll never forget.

"The way the guys took me in and I was able to be part of the team for those couple of months was pretty cool, and to see how they handled themselves -- what it means to be a professional athlete and what it means to win in the NHL -- was an experience you wouldn't trade for anything."

The experience he is getting this week is decidedly different. There are no standing-room crowds, no championships at stake.

Which is too bad, really, considering that Thiessen turned aside 24 of 25 shots during the Penguins' 4-1 victory against Toronto last night in a prospects tournament at Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.

That performance came 48 hours after he allowed three goals on 28 shots in a 4-1loss to Ottawa in the Penguins' tournament-opener.

His work that night will not be mistaken for Thiessen's best, but assistant general manager Jason Botterill found a positive in his sub-par showing, because Thiessen did not unravel after allowing a few soft goals.

"He found a way to rebound, to keep his focus and battle through it and be sharp and keep his team in the game," Botterill said.

Thiessen did that a lot last winter, compiling a 25-12-4 record, 2.12 goals-against average and .931 save percentage in 41 appearances with the Huskies.

"He played a lot of games," general manager Ray Shero said. "Proved he could win."

In the process, Thiessen became a first-team All-American and finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, which goes to college hockey's top player.

"My time at Northeastern enabled me to put myself in a position to get those offers [from NHL clubs]," he said. "I felt that I was ready for the next challenge in my hockey career. I think it was just time for me to move on and get the next challenge."

He decided to do that with the Penguins, even though Marc-Andre Fleury figures to be their No. 1 goalie for years to come.

"Coming out after the college season, the Penguins came after me right away and showed a lot of interest," Thiessen said. "I thought it was a good opportunity for me, in that organization, to grow as a goalie."

There certainly appear to be skills with which goaltending coach Gilles Meloche should be able to work. The book on Thiessen from college is that he is athletic, mobile and aggressive, although still very much a work-in-progress.

Where he'll refine his game this season remains to be seen. With Fleury and Brent Johnson in the NHL, Thiessen will have to battle Adam Berkhoel for the job as John Curry's partner with the Baby Penguins -- assuming the Penguins don't send him to their ECHL affiliate in Wheeling to maximize his workload.

"He's a young guy who needs to play games," said Shero.

Not matter how much Thiessen got out of the ones he watched a few months ago.

NOTES -- Justin Dowling, Nathan Moon, Robert Bortuzzo and Dustin Jeffrey scored for the Penguins. ... Single-game tickets for the 2009-10 regular season will go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday. They can be purchased online at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling 800-745-3000. They also will be available at Ticketmaster outlets and at the Mellon Arena Gate 1 box office. An average of 1,500 to 2,000 tickets will be available for each game. ... While the Penguins' prospects and most of their scouts remain in Kitchener for the final game of the tournament, today against Boston, coaches, players and front-office members will fly to Washington, D.C. this afternoon to be honored by President Obama at the White House.