DANBURY, Conn. — As a seventh grader, Pete Maro would be teased by other youngsters while sitting in the stands at his brother’s varsity basketball games. Maro’s new braces required round-the-clock complementary headgear.

One day his father, Peter Maro Sr., spoke up. “Peter, why don’t you go get me a Coke?” he said.

It was code for, “Go out in the parking lot and take care of business.” That was the start of weekly scuffles that helped him develop the mentality to be a hockey player who, relatives and teammates say, merely doubles as an orthodontist.

Maro now runs Blue Wave Orthodontics in Rye, N.Y., and Darien, Conn. And it seems appropriate that the Federal Hockey League’s Danbury Whalers still call on him for spot-start duty in anticipation of a testy game.

Maro, 46, has been living his dream since spending long afternoons on Magee’s Pond in Oradell, N.J. He spent time in college as a Devils workout goaltender and had stints in the Devils’ and Rangers’ systems. Now he is the oldest person — by seven years — to play in the two-year-old F.H.L., a circuit full of castoffs, faded stars and young dreamers looking for a break.