2020–21 LIU Sharks men's ice hockey season

2020–21 LIU Sharks
men's ice hockey season
2020–21 LIU Sharks; men's ice hockey season
Conference	Independent
Home ice	Islanders Iceworks
Rankings
USCHO	NR
USA Today	NR
Record
Overall	3–10–0
Road	3–10–0
Coaches and captains
Head coach	Brett Riley
Assistant coaches	Will Messa; Joe Gilhooly; Bobby Goepfert
	LIU Sharks men's ice hockey seasons; 2021–22 »

The 2020–21 LIU Sharks men's ice hockey season was the inaugural season of play for the program at the Division I level. The Sharks represented Long Island University and were coached by Brett Riley, in his 1st season.

Season

Prior to the season, LIU entered into a scheduling partnership with Atlantic Hockey. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, LIU would schedule games against members of Atlantic Hockey but would not be eligible for the conference tournament.^[1] In August, the NCAA granted a blanket waiver for all winter sports, not counting the 2020–21 season against eligibility.^[2] This gave all LIU players an additional year of college hockey.

Recruiting

Due to LIU not possessing a club team the previous season, the entire varsity roster was assembled from scratch. Eleven transfers from other college programs were used as the framework for the inaugural team roster while 15 freshman were part of LIU's first recruiting class. At first, it was expected that the six non-graduate transfer players would not play for LIU in its first season.^[3] However, in December the NCAA changed its transfer rules, dropping the requirement that students had to sit out a year when changing schools.^[4]

Roster

As of October 8, 2020.^[5]

No.	Player	Class	Pos	Height	Weight	DoB	Hometown	Previous team	NHL rights
1	Garrett Metcalf	Graduate	G	6' 4" (1.93 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	1996-03-05	Salt Lake City, Utah	Mercyhurst (AHA)	ANA, 179th overall 2015
2	Nolan McElhaney	Sophomore	D	6' 3" (1.91 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1999-04-22	Natick, Massachusetts	New Hampshire (HEA)	—
3	Mat Harris	Graduate	D	6' 1" (1.85 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	1996-07-14	Sudbury, Massachusetts	RPI (ECAC)	—
5	Garrett Worth	Freshman	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	1999-08-03	Duluth, Minnesota	Minnesota Wilderness (NAHL)	—
6	Tanner Hopps	Freshman	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	2000-01-02	Delta, British Columbia	Drayton Valley (AJHL)	—
7	Jordan DiCicco	Freshman	D	5' 9" (1.75 m)	183 lb (83 kg)	1999-03-17	London, Ontario	Brooks (AJHL)	—
8	Zack Bross	Senior	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	1996-03-11	St. Louis, Missouri	UMass Boston (NEHC)	—
9	Christian Rajic	Senior	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	1997-02-06	Oakville, Ontario	Alabama Huntsville (WCHA)	—
10	Mitchell Meek	Graduate	D	6' 0" (1.83 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1996-08-21	Victoria, British Columbia	Michigan Tech (WCHA)	—
11	Max Balinson	Junior	D	6' 0" (1.83 m)	192 lb (87 kg)	1996-10-05	Ancaster, Ontario	Arizona State (NCAA)	—
12	Brett Humberstone	Freshman	D	6' 0" (1.83 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	2000-03-17	Napanee, Ontario	Wellington (OJHL)	—
13	Jacob Franczak	Freshman	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	2000-06-13	Edmonton, Alberta	Sherwood Park (AJHL)	—
14	Aaron White	Freshman	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	174 lb (79 kg)	1999-06-03	Toledo, Ohio	Amarillo (NAHL)	—
15	Carter Ekberg	Junior	D	6' 2" (1.88 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1997-05-14	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Air Force (AHA)	—
16	Marty Westhaver	Freshman	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1999-03-15	Victoria, British Columbia	Victoria (BCHL)	—
17	Nolan Welsh	Freshman	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	161 lb (73 kg)	1999-06-23	Burnaby, British Columbia	Prince George (BCHL)	—
18	Derek Osik	Graduate	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	1998-03-30	Shrewsbury, Massachusetts	UMass Lowell (HEA)	—
19	Jack Quinn	Freshman	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	181 lb (82 kg)	1999-12-28	Lancaster, Massachusetts	Kenai River (NAHL)	—
20	Gustav Müller	Freshman	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	192 lb (87 kg)	1999-04-23	Hudiksvall, Sweden	Madison (USHL)	—
21	Connor Szmul	Freshman	F	5' 8" (1.73 m)	155 lb (70 kg)	1999-09-08	Castle Rock, Colorado	Chippewa (NAHL)	—
22	Rob McCollum	Freshman	D	6' 2" (1.88 m)	181 lb (82 kg)	1999-11-04	Thunder Bay, Ontario	Muskegon (USHL)	—
23	Arseni Smekhnov	Freshman	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	194 lb (88 kg)	2001-01-28	Kirov, Russia	Janesville (NAHL)	—
24	Tanner Schachle	Junior	F	6' 4" (1.93 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	1997-06-20	Wasilla, Alaska	Alaska Anchorage (WCHA)	—
25	Preston Brodziak	Freshman	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1999-06-29	Estevan, Saskatchewan	Prince George (BCHL)	—
26	Daine Dubois	Freshman	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1999-09-11	Williams Lake, British Columbia	Bonnyville (AJHL)	—
27	Madoka Suzuki	Freshman	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	154 lb (70 kg)	2000-01-14	Kanagawa, Japan	Kemptville (CCHL)	—
29	Vincent Purpura	Junior	G	6' 6" (1.98 m)	194 lb (88 kg)	1998-10-29	Lemont, Illinois	Boston University (HEA)	—
33	Stephen Mundinger	Graduate	G	6' 8" (2.03 m)	260 lb (118 kg)	1995-04-26	Smithtown, New York	Maine (HEA)	—
	Brandon Perrone	Sophomore	G	5' 9" (1.75 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	1998-10-26	Hauppauge, New York	Alaska Anchorage (WCHA)	—

Standings

2020–21 NCAA Division I Independent ice hockey standings v t e
	Overall record
	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
Arizona State	26	7	16	3	68	106
Long Island	13	3	10	0	23	55
Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll

Schedule and results

Date	Time	Opponent^#	Site	Decision	Result	Attendance	Record
Regular Season
November 19	10:37 AM	at Holy Cross*	Hart Center • Worcester, Massachusetts	Metcalf	W 3–2 ^OT	0	1–0–0
November 22	4:00 PM	at Holy Cross*	Hart Center • Worcester, Massachusetts	Metcalf	L 2–5	0	1–1–0
December 11	5:00 PM	at RIT*	MassMutual Center • Springfield, Massachusetts	Metcalf	W 4–3	0	2–1–0
December 12	5:00 PM	at RIT*	MassMutual Center • Springfield, Massachusetts	Mundinger	L 1–5	0	2–2–0
January 2	2:05 PM	at #20 American International*	MassMutual Center • Springfield, Massachusetts	Metcalf	L 1–2	0	2–3–0
January 13	2:05 PM	at #20 American International*	MassMutual Center • Springfield, Massachusetts	Metcalf	L 2–5	0	2–4–0
January 15	5:00 PM	at Army*	Tate Rink • West Point, New York	Metcalf	L 2–5	0	2–5–0
January 16	7:00 PM	at Army*	Tate Rink • West Point, New York	Purpura	W 3–2 ^OT	0	3–5–0
January 22	7:00 PM	at Liberty*	Lahaye Ice Center • Lynchburg, Virginia (Exhibition)		L 1–2
January 23	3:30 PM	at Liberty*	Lahaye Ice Center • Lynchburg, Virginia (Exhibition)		W 4–0
February 4	7:00 PM	at #19 Robert Morris*	Colonials Arena • Neville Township, Pennsylvania	Purpura	L 1–4	0	3–6–0
February 5	3:00 PM	at #19 Robert Morris*	Colonials Arena • Neville Township, Pennsylvania	Purpura	L 0–4	0	3–7–0
February 22	6:00 PM	at #12 Quinnipiac*	People's United Center • Hamden, Connecticut	Metcalf	L 1–7	0	3–8–0
February 26	5:00 PM	at Army*	Tate Rink • West Point, New York	Metcalf	L 0–5	24	3–9–0
February 27	7:00 PM	at Army*	Tate Rink • West Point, New York	Metcalf	L 3–6	86	3–10–0
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from USCHO.com Poll. All times are in Eastern Time.

^[6]

Scoring statistics

Name	Position	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	PIM
Nolan Welsh	F	12	3	4	7	4
Zack Bross	F	11	4	2	6	31
Mitch Meek	D	11	3	3	6	4
Christian Rajic	C	10	2	3	5	24
Max Balinson	D	11	1	4	5	8
Gustav Müller	F	12	3	1	4	4
Jordan Di Cicco	D	13	3	1	4	6
Jack Quinn	F	13	1	3	4	2
Jacob Franczak	C	12	2	0	2	4
Preston Brodziak	F	8	1	1	2	4
Arseni Smekhnov	C	10	0	2	2	4
Brett Humberstone	D	11	0	2	2	19
Mat Harris	D	13	0	2	2	6
Garrett Worth	F	8	0	1	1	2
Madoka Suzuki	LW	8	0	1	1	2
Tanner Schachle	LW	9	0	1	1	24
Nolan McElhaney	D	12	0	1	1	8
Derek Osik	F	13	0	1	1	0
Stephen Mundinger	G	1	0	0	0	0
Vincent Purpura	G	4	0	0	0	0
Tanner Hopps	F	6	0	0	0	2
Carter Ekberg	D	7	0	0	0	8
Garrett Metcalf	G	9	0	0	0	0
Aaron White	F	9	0	0	0	0
Connor Szmul	F	9	0	0	0	0
Rob McCollum	D	10	0	0	0	10
Bench	-	-	-	-	-	6
Total			23	33	56	182

^[7]

Goaltending statistics

Name	Games	Minutes	Wins	Losses	Ties	Goals Against	Saves	Shut Outs	SV %	GAA
Vincent Purpura	4	211	1	2	0	12	111	0	.902	3.40
Garrett Metcalf	9	537	2	7	0	36	329	0	.901	4.02
Stephen Mundinger	1	29	0	1	0	3	12	0	.800	6.08
Empty Net	-	7	-	-	-	4	-	-	-	-
Total	13	786	3	10	0	55	452	0	.892	4.20

Rankings

Poll	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21 (Final)
USCHO.com	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	-	NR
USA Today	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR

USCHO did not release a poll in week 20.^[8]

References

^ "Men's Hockey Announced as Atlantic Hockey Scheduling Partner". LIU Sharks. October 15, 2020. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
^ "NCAA approves blanket waiver for 2020 fall sports athletes to retain year of eligibility". CBS Sports. August 21, 2020. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
^ "LIU Adds Two Hockey East Goalies From Transfer Portal". Neutral Zone. June 17, 2020. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
^ "DI Council grants waiver to allow transfer student-athletes to compete immediately". NCAA. December 16, 2020. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
^ "2020-21 Men's Ice Hockey Roster". LIU Sharks. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
^ "Long Island University (Men) 2020-2021 Schedule and Results". College Hockey Stats. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
^ "Long Island Univ. 2020-2021 Skater Stats". Elite Prospects. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
^ "USCHO Division I Men's Poll". USCHO.com. Retrieved November 26, 2019.

[1] "Men's Hockey Announced as Atlantic Hockey Scheduling Partner". LIU Sharks. October 15, 2020. Retrieved January 25, 2021.

[2] "NCAA approves blanket waiver for 2020 fall sports athletes to retain year of eligibility". CBS Sports. August 21, 2020. Retrieved January 25, 2021.

[3] "LIU Adds Two Hockey East Goalies From Transfer Portal". Neutral Zone. June 17, 2020. Retrieved February 19, 2021.

[4] "DI Council grants waiver to allow transfer student-athletes to compete immediately". NCAA. December 16, 2020. Retrieved January 25, 2021.

[5] "2020-21 Men's Ice Hockey Roster". LIU Sharks. Retrieved November 5, 2020.

[6] "Long Island University (Men) 2020-2021 Schedule and Results". College Hockey Stats. Retrieved November 5, 2020.

[7] "Long Island Univ. 2020-2021 Skater Stats". Elite Prospects. Retrieved March 4, 2021.

[8] "USCHO Division I Men's Poll". USCHO.com. Retrieved November 26, 2019.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

v t e LIU Sharks men's ice hockey
Venues	Islanders Iceworks (2020–Present) Northwell Health Ice Center (2020–Present)
Coaches	Brett Riley (2020–Present)
Seasons	2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
All-time leaders	Statistical leaders Cade Mason (62 Points) Josh Zary (32 Goals) Brandon Perrone (16 Wins)
Long Island University Brookville, New York