The Official Hockey Camp of the LIU Sharks Men's Division I Hockey Team

• Practices Run by LIU Coaches
• High Tempo Practice Drills
• Scoring Techniques
• Game Situation Drills
• Guest Coaches from NCAA Division I and IlI
• Jersey Included

Brett Riley

Brett Riley was named the inaugural head coach of LIU men's ice hockey in May of 2020. Riley, a third-generation collegiate hockey coach, came to Long Island from Colgate, where he spent the 2019-20 campaign as an assistant coach. Riley also has experience with first time programs, as he built the Wilkes University program from the ground up, going 16-8-2 in the team’s first year, earning conference coach of the year honors. Riley spent the previous season working under Colgate head coach Don Vaughan. Prior to that, he spent his first season as a head coach, launching the men’s hockey program at Wilkes. While serving as head coach at Wilkes University, Riley's team ranked 14th in the country in scoring offense and third overall in most shorthanded goals scored. Named the United Collegiate Hockey Conference Coach of the Year, Riley led three players to All-MAC accolades, a Rookie of the Year honoree.

Will Messa

Will Messa has served as an assistant coach with the LIU men’s ice hockey team since the program’s inception for the 2020-21 season.

Messa is immersed in all aspects of the program and leads the defensemen during games. He also is responsible for LIU’s special-teams units.

Under his tutelage, the LIU power play and penalty kill both improved by more than 10 percent from Year 1 to Year 2, aiding the Sharks in solidifying historic program wins and key moments against nationally ranked competition.

Messa serves as the Sharks’ recruiting coordinator, and helped secure LIU’s first captain and the leading scorer in program history, Billy Jerry.

Messa emphasizes student-athlete development. His daily focus is built on relationships — connecting with recruits and communicating with each player, driving the student-athlete development experience, and instilling “Sharks Hockey” standards on and off the ice.

Messa is a passionate teacher, who plays a significant role in building the Sharks’ emerging brand through practice, preparation, tactical philosophies and innovative recruiting strategies.

Messa joined LIU from Union College, where he spent the 2019-20 season as a volunteer assistant coach, aiding in all areas for Rick Bennett’s staff.

With the Dutchmen, Messa was responsible for assisting player development and with the penalty kill.

Messa created innovative strategies to improve pre-scouting of opponents and individual skill development frameworks. He introduced advanced statistics through video software to improve efficiency in personnel and opponent matchup data. Messa also implemented innovative recruiting strategies to improve marketing efforts for the program and university.

In 2018-19, he served as an intern assistant coach at Notre Dame. With the Fighting Irish, he aided Jeff Jackson’s coaching staff in earning a No. 1 national ranking, Big Ten tournament championship and an NCAA Northeast Regional final appearance.

Messa previously spent two seasons at Northeastern as a graduate assistant coach.

He helped the 2017-18 Huskies to a 23-10-5 record, their first Beanpot title in 30 years and an NCAA Tournament appearance. He aided in the development of prominent players, including forward Adam Gaudette. In his junior year, Gaudette led the nation in scoring and earned the Hobey Baker Award as well as CCM/AHCA first-team All-American, Hockey East Player of the Year, Walter Brown Award and Beanpot MVP honors.

As a student-athlete, Messa participated for three seasons (2013-14 to 2015-16) with the Northeastern Huskies. The team won the 2016 Hockey East Championship, which marked the second tournament title in program history.

Messa graduated from Northeastern in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in communication. He minored in business administration. He earned a master’s in sports leadership from Northeastern in 2018.

Gehrig Sarosy

Gehrig Sarosy joined LIU in the fall of 2021 as a video coordinator and is in his second season with the men’s hockey program as the director of hockey operations.

Sarosy serves as the coordinator of all internal and external video efforts, while assisting the coaching staff in all pregame and post game preparation and coordinating team travel plans.

Prior to joining the Sharks, he held the video coach position for men's ice hockey at Ohio University from 2019-21.

Sarosy graduated from Ohio University with a B.S.M. in Sport Management and a B.A. in Data Analytics in May 2021.