WILKES-BARRE - It was the obvious question that popped into the minds of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins fans as soon as Andrew Orpik signed an AHL deal with the club earlier this month.

How does he compare with his older brother Brooks?

Frankly, though, that question is not something the younger Orpik spends much time pondering these days.

Oh, he used to. In the past, he'd worry about measuring up to the standard Brooks set as a standout defenseman at Boston College, a first-round NHL draft pick and a cornerstone of a championship team with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

But now that he's a 24-year-old, second-year pro, Andrew Orpik takes a more mature approach.

"As you get older, Olympics, Stanley Cup, it's like, 'You know what? Not too many people have had the success that he's had,'" Orpik said. "I used to get pretty frustrated trying to compare myself, but the older I get, I'm just proud of him. To see how hard he's worked to achieve everything he's got, it's certainly well deserved."

Even though he no longer worries about how he compares to Brooks, Orpik would certainly like to follow his older brother's path to the NHL.

That's what he was thinking when his agent told him earlier this summer that the Penguins were interested in his services.

"It was exciting to me not only to have a job - a lot of guys are still looking - but to be in the same organization with Brooks where he worked his way up," Orpik said. "Hopefully I'm looking to do the same."

A 6-foot-3, 200-pound winger, Orpik was Buffalo's seventh-round pick in the 2005 NHL draft, but he never signed with a Sabres. After wrapping up a decorated career at Boston College, winning a national championship in 2008 and making the Frozen Four two other times, Orpik turned pro last season in the Phoenix Coyotes organization.

He played 22 games with the AHL's San Antonio Rampage and 35 more with the ECHL's Las Vegas Wrangers, taking the first steps on what he knows will probably be a long and difficult journey to the top.

"I played close to 25 games in the AHL last year. My goal is play more than that this year," Orpik said. "It's a process. My brother was a first-round draft pick and he played two full years in the AHL."

If Orpik does stick in the AHL to start the season, it won't likely be because of his offensive stats. He might play a different position than his older brother, but the style of play is the same.

"I'm a third-, fourth-line guy," he said. "I'm going to finish all my hits and play a hard-nosed game. I want guys on the other team to be conscious of me on the ice, like, 'He's going to come hard every shift.'"

When Orpik does make his Mohegan Sun Arena debut, he'll have the rare privilege of playing in the same building where he sat in the stands as a teenager, watching his older brother play for the Penguins from 2001-03.

"I grew up in Buffalo. My father and I would take the four-hour ride down all the time," Orpik said. "I'm sure I missed a few days of school. I remember getting home at 2 in the morning and up at 7 for school. But something I was always impressed with was the passion of the fans here. I've never seen a group of fans wear more jerseys. There's excitement. There's really something special here in Wilkes-Barre."