Colton Fretter would have been a perfect son a few generations ago because he tends not to speak unless spoken to.

The freshman right wing's quiet demeanor is in stark contrast to most MSU hockey players - generally a vociferous bunch.

Ironically, one of the most boisterous Spartans is freshman left wing David Booth, Fretter's roommate. Booth is a jokester who almost always seems like he's kidding when he talks. Fretter is a straight-shooter who speaks so softly that you sometimes have to strain to hear him.

As roommates, Booth and Fretter are pretty much "The Odd Couple" of the hockey team.

"Me and him get along, but the only not good thing about him is that he's Canadian and has a weird accent," Booth said. "He always says 'pardon' instead of 'what' or 'excuse me.' All the Americans always give him a little crap about that.

"But Colton's just a good guy - he's not really outgoing. He minds himself. He's just a calm individual and well-behaved."

Fretter is from the tiny, 3,000-person town of Harrow, Ontario, and he credits his small-town upbringing for his modesty with words.

"That's just the way I am," Fretter said. "I don't really say anything unless I feel it's needed."

But Booth said there's at least one person to whom Fretter always gives an earful.

"He likes to chat on the Internet with his girlfriend in Windsor," Booth said. "He does that a lot, and I always tease him about it."

Away from the computer, Fretter can be an offensive force on the ice. He torched the Western Ontario Junior "B" Hockey League for 104 points in 52 games as a member of the Chatham Maroons last season. He could pretty much dominate games because there weren't many other highly skilled players in the league, which isn't the case in the NCAA.

"Now he's in a much higher level of hockey, and he's got to learn to do things faster," MSU head coach Rick Comley said. "He still has a ways to go speedwise, and I'm not sure he'll ever be a burner because he's got kind of a wide base.

"But you could see at Wisconsin (Saturday) that he wanted the puck. He kept yelling for the puck, and he shot the puck. He added an element to our team."

Comley had been patiently waiting for that element to arrive. Before the season, the coach planned for Fretter to be the team's top right-handed threat on the power play. But Fretter came down with mononucleosis in early September and missed training camp, the exhibition season and MSU's first four games of the season.

While sitting out, Fretter couldn't even exercise to stay in shape, so he lost a lot of his strength and endurance.

"I had mono a couple years ago, and it's almost worse than having a broken arm," freshman goaltender Justin Tobe said. "At least with a broken arm, you can skate and stuff and get workouts. But with mono, you can't do anything - you just sit there for six or seven weeks."

Once healthy, Fretter had to get back in shape, rehone his hand-eye coordination and learn Comley's system, all while MSU's season was in progress.

The quick transition from idling to playing resulted in a slow start. He went pointless in his first six games and then Comley decided to leave him in East Lansing for a game at Bowling Green on Nov. 22.

Unfazed, Fretter returned to the lineup for this weekend's College Hockey Showcase where he finally got his first point of the season with an assist Friday at Minnesota.

Now he wants to get faster.

Fretter does cardiovascular workouts every weekday morning with strength and conditioning coach Mike Vorkapich, and then goes through the team's normal training regimen in the afternoon.

It seems like the extra work is paying off.

"I feel like I'm starting to do a bit more on the ice," Fretter said. "I'm getting my speed back to where it should be, and I felt more confident this weekend.

"The hardest part of the whole thing was feeling that I could come back (in mid-October), but I couldn't because my spleen was too big. But now it's starting to come."

Fretter was drafted by the Atlanta Thrashers in the eighth round of the NHL Entry Draft this summer. And now that he's played a little bit, several of his teammates can see why the Thrashers nabbed him.

"I think he's going to be a real good player for us," Tobe said. "When we do rebound drills in practice, a lot of times there's no rebound with him - and it's not because we goalies stopped it. He's got a good scoring touch."