The 2022–23 LIU Sharks men's ice hockey season was the 3rd season of play for the program. The Sharks represented Long Island University and were coached by Brett Riley, in his 3rd season.

Season LIU entered the season hoping to continue its upward trend, however, they would first have to contend with a major obstacle. More than half of the roster changed in the offseason, including most of the leading scorers. 18 new players were brought in to fill in the gaps with about a third transferring from other programs. The lack of familiarity showed early in the year when the offense had trouble getting on track. In its first 10 games, the Sharks scored just 23 goals and lost 8 of those contests. Excluding the game against Stonehill, who were playing their first game as an equal Division I member, Long Island could barely generate any offense and well out of it just a month into the season. Evan a surprise tie with Quinnipiac didn't do much to improve the team's outlook.

The situation in goal was better, but not by much. Starter Vinnie Purpura was inconsistent during the year but did provide some highlight for the team. His brightest performance came against Ohio State by making 32 saves in the program's first win over a ranked team. That victory came during a 5–2 run, however, because the Sharks were still having to schedule Division II opponents to fill out their schedule, only two of those wins were counted for the national rankings.

The lack of stability on the back end caused LIU to miss several more chances at wins. It got to the point where coach Riley turned to backup Brandon Perrone for help in goal. After changing to goaltender rotation, the Sharks started winning more, however they also began playing some of the worst teams in college hockey. A 5-game winning streak that the team put together in January and February came with four of those games being played against the two newest Division I teams, Stonehill and Lindenwood. The Sharks were able to post a win over tournament hopeful Alaska, but the team ended up stumbling to the finish with a 2–7 skid.

Departures Max Balinson Defenseman Graduation (signed with Cincinnati Cyclones) Zack Bross Forward Graduation (signed with Worcester Railers) Kristofer Carlson Goaltender Graduation (retired) Daine Dubois Forward Left program (retired) Carter Ekberg Defenseman Graduation (retired) Jacob Franczak Forward Transferred to Skidmore Tanner Hopps Forward Left program (retired) Billy Jerry Forward Graduation (signed with Adirondack Thunder) P. J. Marrocco Forward Graduation (retired) Robert McCollum Defenseman Transferred to UNLV Nolan McElhaney Defenseman Left program (retired) Carson Musser Defenseman Graduation (signed with Norfolk Admirals) Derek Osik Forward Graduation (signed with Evansville Thunderbolts) Jake Stevens Defenseman Graduation (signed with Iowa Heartlanders) Justin Thompson Forward Left program (retired) Jordan Timmons Forward Graduation (signed with Idaho Steelheads) Tyler Welsh Forward Graduation (signed with Newfoundland Growlers) Marty Westhaver Forward Left program (retired) Aaron White Forward Left program (retired)

Recruiting Daniel Baldassarra Forward 20 Vaughan, ON Austin Brimmer Forward 20 Markham, ON A. J. Casperson Defenseman 21 Flower Mound, TX Adam Goodsir Forward 24 Okemos, MI; graduate transfer from Michigan State Xan Gurney Defenseman 22 Grosse Ile, MI; transfer from Western Michigan Santeri Hartikainen Forward 23 Edmonton, AB; transfer from American International Noah Kane Forward 22 Buffalo, NY; transfer from Mercyhurst Tyler Kostelecky Forward 21 Maple Grove, MN Patriks Marcinkēvičs Forward 21 Riga, LAT Cade Mason Defenseman 21 Red Deer, AB Chris Pappas Forward 21 Etobicoke, ON; transfer from St. Lawrence Valtteri Piironen Defenseman 21 Pyhäselkä, FIN Austin Rook Defenseman 25 Shrewsbury, MA; graduate transfer from Skidmore Jan Škorpík Goaltender 21 Brandys nad Labem, CZE Anthony Vincent Forward 25 Wilton, CT; graduate transfer from Holy Cross Riley Wallack Forward 21 South Surrey, BC Josh Zary Forward 20 Nanaimo, BC

Roster

Standings

Schedule and results

!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season

Scoring statistics F 36 17 20 37 78 F 35 15 19 34 64 D 26 7 25 32 8 LW 24 6 21 27 23 F 35 11 9 20 20 F 28 12 5 17 0 C 34 8 9 17 14 RW 32 6 11 17 27 D 34 6 11 17 10 F 32 5 12 17 12 F 36 6 8 14 6 C/D 34 1 12 13 10 F 24 9 1 10 26 D 32 1 9 10 26 F 28 1 8 9 12 C 23 3 3 6 8 D 33 2 4 6 10 D 36 1 5 6 30 LW 17 1 4 5 6 C 17 1 2 3 2 C/RW 22 0 3 3 4 F 11 1 1 2 2 C 16 1 1 2 10 D 8 0 2 2 10 G 14 0 2 2 0 F 4 0 1 1 0 D 14 0 1 1 8 G 1 0 0 0 0 D 11 0 0 0 21 G 26 0 0 0 0 Bench - - - - - 0 Total 121 209 330 435

Goaltending statistics 14 675:02 7 3 0 32 255 0 .889 2.84 1 20:00 0 0 0 1 7 0 .875 3.00 26 1464:47 6 19 1 83 690 0 .893 3.40 Empty Net - 21:12 - - - 7 - - - - Total 36 2181:01 13 22 1 123 952 0 .886 3.38

Rankings

PollWeekPre12345678910111213141516171819202122232425 26 27 (Final) USCHO.comNR-NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR-NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR-NR USA TodayNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR Note: USCHO did not release a poll in weeks 1, 13, or 26.

References