Most Penn Staters gear up to party on the weekends. Brian Stevenson gets excited to hit the ice.

"You love it (hockey) so much that you never want to do anything but that," he explains. "Hockey is the type of sport that gets in your blood. It grows on you."

After 137 collegiate games in which he scored 80 goals, set up 127 others, and spent well over 200 minutes in the sin bin, Swense, as his teammates call him, went out in style, as the captain of the first Penn State squad ever to win an ICHL championship.

Stevenson, a 23-year-old senior, was born and raised in Pittsburgh with his two brothers, Mark and Jeff. His mom, Carole Stevenson, says he always liked to be around people and had to be where the action was.

"Brian also liked the little girls from the time he was fairly young," she laughed. "When he wasn't on the ice, he always seemed to have a little girl on his arm."

Upon his May graduation, the Business Logistics major hopes to find work in or around the Pittsburgh area so that he may stay close to his parents.

"I love to go home," Stevenson says with a smile. "We're a very close-knit family."

His parents, Tom and Carole, rarely missed any of his home games and attended away games when possible. Older brother Mark even drove all the way from Virginia to see Brian play his last collegiate game.

"I don't know of anyone that enjoys life more than my brother," Mark says. "I could count on one hand the times I have ever seen him upset."

"I've never met people who have as much fun as a family as the Stevensons," Brian's Coach Joe Battista added.

Even Brian's favorite food is family-oriented.

"I like my mom's lasagna a lot."

Ray Cravener, Stevenson's roommate and long-time friend, describes him as the most optimistic person he knows as well as an entertainer. But he is not without his faults.

"He leaves his dirty clothes in the bathroom every day."

This comes as no shock to his mom, who says, "Brian's room was always a catastrophe when he was a kid."

Stevenson attended Baldwin High School and graduated with a 3.0 grade point average. He played baseball and football for two years, ran track for another, and, of course, played hockey all four years. He was named athlete of the year as a freshman, lettering in four sports.

But it soon became evident that he wanted to devote his energies to hockey.

"Every day when I went to hockey practice, I enjoyed it," he explains. "It wasn't like a chore. Hockey gives me this great feeling inside."

Despite the fact that he was recruited by perennial collegiate hockey powerhouse Michigan State, Stevenson chose to attend Penn State.

"I'm really happy I made the decision now," he says. "I have no regrets. I think (Penn State) is a great school and I've had a lot of fun."

"He's going to look back on these years with a lot of pride, and he's going to be able to smile," Battista says.

"College has really helped him become a well-rounded person, and it has taught him a lot of responsibility," Mrs. Stevenson agrees. "I think he's really ready to go out into the world and do the job now."

Stevenson's long-time plans include starting a family of his own a few years down the road.

"I picture myself having three kids, a couple little hockey players," he says, grinning. "But if I have a daughter, that'll be fine, too. I'll be just as interested in anything that she's doing."

"But," he says, smiling devilishly, "I'll keep trying until I have a little hockey player. There's no doubt about that."

Stevenson hopes to show the world that he is a leader off the ice as well on it. He plans to get a job in sales because he enjoys dealing directly with people.

Brian's other dreams for the future include "sitting pretty in an upper-level management position" as well as having a house in the mountains with an Alaskan Huskie roaming around a nice back yard.

And?

"I've always wanted a red corvette to drive around in."

An appropriate car for a guy who has been such a standout on the ice.

"He's got that whatever-it-takes attitude," Battista explained. "He's the kind of guy that's willing to go through a brick wall for you if you ask him to.

"He always knew when it was time to have fun and when it was time to work. And when he went to work, nobody worked harder."

Battista remembers one of those moments. Against rival Buffalo State earlier this season, Stevenson outraced two opponents into the corner, fought his way through two checks and skated around the net before stuffing a shot on goal and punching in his own rebound.

He found this incident symbolic of the type of person Brian is.

"He's never going to give up. He's the kind of guy you'll always get a second effort out of. He finds a way to get things done."

Stevenson's father remarks that Brian has always had a knack to motivate others to play their best.

Case in point: With the Icers trailing by two goals at the second intermission in his final collegiate game, (the ICHL Championship Game), Stevenson delivered a compelling speech to his teammates.

"If we lose this game, I go out a loser," he screamed. "And I'm not going to go out a loser!"

The Icers responded by bashing their foe into submission with six third-period goals, the last of which Stevenson himself scored in the game's waning moments.

And he left a winner.

"He's going to be very successful in whatever he does because he understands that you'll take your lumps and that the answer is to go back and work harder and learn from your mistakes," Battista said.

Mrs. Stevenson knows her son will do just that.

"I can see Brian with his corvette, in a management position, and having it made."

Battista reflected, "Whether he's an executive, or beating the paths as a salesman, he'll be fighting to be the best guy in his territory."

And when the weekend rolls around?

"You won't have to worry about Brian sitting at home and watching TV," Battista explains. "He'll be out enjoying life to its fullest."