Joe DiPenta was born in Barrie, Ontario on February 25th, 1979 but his family moved to the east coast of Canada when he was one year old. At the age of seven, his family settled in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, where he started playing competitive hockey.

After a successful freshman year at Boston University, DiPenta was picked in the NHL draft by the Florida Panthers, their second choice, 61st overall. In 2000, he went home to Nova Scotia where he laced up with the Halifax Mooseheads.  That same year, the Mooseheads made their first Memorial Cup appearance.

After winning a Calder Cup with Chicago Wolves in 2002, DiPenta got the call from the big leagues at the end of the 2003 season. The non-playoff-bound Atlanta Thrashers had three games left to go when DiPenta played his first NHL game in Buffalo, NY. In only his second NHL game two days later, he scored his first career NHL goal. He beat Garth Snow of the New York Islanders, with a wrist shot to the top corner of the net at the end of the first period. He finished the game with a goal, an assist and a plus three rating.
 
During the 2004-2005 NHL lockout, DiPenta spent a season with Manitoba Moose under coach Randy Carlyle. The Moose did well that season, winning two playoff rounds, but lost to DiPenta's former Chicago Wolves team in the Calder Cup semi-finals. When Carlyle was hired by the Anaheim Ducks as head coach in 2005, DiPenta was given a try-out.
 
DiPenta made the Anaheim Ducks team that year. Over the course of three seasons with the Ducks, he amassed 167 NHL games. The biggest moment of his career came on June 6, 2007. It was on this evening when he became a Stanley Cup Champion on home ice at the Honda Center as his Ducks topped the Senators 6-2 to capture the 2007 Stanley Cup.

Joe is the oldest child of Judy and Barry DiPenta. He has two younger sisters who reside in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Joe received his Bachelor of Arts and Communications Studies from Long State Beach University.  He currently works with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society as the Executive Director of the Atlantic Canada Chapter.