Vote Stevens for Senior CLASS Award | Official Release

BOSTON – Northeastern men's hockey captain John Stevens signed a two-year, entry-level contract with the New York Islanders organization on Monday, and will report to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the American Hockey League this week.

"I'm very excited for this opportunity," Stevens said. "I'd like to thank everyone at Northeastern for preparing me to take the next step in my hockey career, especially Coach Madigan, Keefe, Smith and McLaughlin. I'm proud to say that I was part of the team that brought the Hockey East championship back to Northeastern last year, and I look forward to following the program as an alumnus in the future. A foundation of success has been established here, and I'm confident that the returning players will continue to take our program to new heights." 

A two-year captain, Stevens (Sea Isle City, New Jersey) recently completed a successful four-year career at Northeastern where he appeared in 138 career games, and was on pace to break the program record for career games played before an injury early this season. Known for his playmaking abilities, he's tallied 106 career points on 26 goals and 80 assists, and Northeastern was 69-53-16 when he plays, 49-19-7 when he records a point and 41-12-4 when he tallies an assist over four seasons.

"I'm very happy for the opportunity that John has," said head coach Jim Madigan. "John has been the epitome of leadership and what a captain is all about here at Northeastern. He has done all the right things on and off the ice for four years, and has been recognized in many ways from academic success to community and athletic success. We're going to miss John Stevens, but we're all excited to watch his success in the future and know that he'll continue to be that fine young man and hockey player throughout his hockey career."
 
As the team's top-line center for the bulk of his time on Huntington Avenue, Stevens has averaged 18-20 minutes of ice time per game through his career, thanks to his ability to play in all game situations (even strength, power play and penalty kill). He is also the team's top face-off man, taking more than 2,400 face-offs in four seasons.

The hard work of Stevens reaped benefits for the team at the tail end of the 2015-16 season. After beginning the season with one win in the first 14 games, the Huskies responded with a 21-3-3 record over their final 27 games, culminating in the program's first Hockey East championship since 1988 and first NCAA Tournament berth since 2009. Stevens played the best hockey of his career during Northeastern's torrid stretch, which included the longest winning streak in team history (13 games), setting career longs for both assist streaks (eight games) and point streaks (eight games). From Dec. 19, 2015, through Mar. 25, 2016, Stevens recorded 26 points (six goals, 20 assists) in 24 games.
 
Stevens' hard work also carried into the classroom, where he was one of the program's top students throughout his career. Majoring in business administration with a concentration in finance, he has maintained a 3.263 grade-point average as part of the D'Amore-McKim School of Business, which is ranked 22nd in the nation in undergraduate business programs according to Bloomberg Businessweek.

Stevens has been named to the Hockey East All-Academic Team twice in his career (2014 and 2016), which requires student-athletes to maintain a GPA of 3.00 or better during each of the two academic periods in which he was actively competing.

He also was named one of Northeastern's Huntington 100 recipients in 2016, which recognizes outstanding undergraduate and graduate students for their achievements in the classroom and in the community. The honored students were nominated based on criteria that are commensurate with the university's mission, ideals, values and academic plan. The selection committee considered students for their impact on the campus community, record of service, global engagement, demonstrated leadership, entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to the ideals and values of Northeastern.