Welcome to the newest weekly segment from NYI Hockey Now: Coaches Corner with Long Island University head coach Brett Riley.
Every week Joshua Linsenberg will catch up with Brett Riley for an in-depth conversation on the state of the Sharks.
Last weekend, the Sharks were swept in a two-game series in their home opener against Omaha-Nebraska.
Q: Thoughts and takeaways from the Omaha series?
“90 really good minutes of hockey and then we ran out of steam and the wheels fell off. But again, there are more positives than negatives despite the score and we were right there for a lot of the way, the power play looked good, the penalty kill looked good and then kind of the wheels fell off, but there’s still a lot of really good stuff. We have to take a step back and look at the big picture and evaluate but obviously, we need to be better but there are some positives in there.”
Q: Omaha struck in the first five minutes in both games, would you say that the final straw of this team’s identity is still missing?
“Yeah, that is not good…And needs to be fixed. It starts with starting practice better: coaches, myself, and the team. But that’s unacceptable. I thought we responded really well though. We did a lot of good things and battled back and that’s a sign of resiliency and that was the identity and that is the culture so there are still way more positives. Like I said last night we were right there. We have to get over the hump but we’re playing a lot of really good teams that are going to make us better here if we stick with it.”
Q: Things started to get a little heated towards the end of the third in game two, was that the first time this season you had to tell your guys to pipe it down a bit?
“No, we’re just kind of evaluating and figuring out what our character was, how guys would fight back or respond, and who wants to make a statement for the next series at Wisconsin so we’re always evaluating and measuring and I’m proud of the way some guys stepped up and battled especially Brandon Perrone going in there and doing a phenomenal job. I’m very happy for him despite the circumstances and again, there’s a lot to unpack here.”
Q: With the week off game-wise, where do you go from here?
“I think we have to look at every crevice of it from our first five-minute sectors to our last five minutes to every stat to time on ice, who has been productive, who hasn’t? Where are we good, where are we not good, and really do a deep dive into it. But we’ve played one of the hardest schedules in college hockey, it’s gonna make us better if we stick with it and there’s a lot of guys in there that believe that and that was a better series this year with them than it was last year and that’s progress. It’s not a win by any means. But it’s a step in the right direction.”
Coach Riley did not provide a update on Vinnie Purpura
Up next: The Sharks head to the University of Wisconsin for a two-game series on November 11th and 12th.
