The formation of this Executive Board marks a pivotal moment in the growth of our Northern CT Hockey programs. As we continue to expand and evolve, it is essential to have a focused and organized structure to support the success of our players and coaches. The board will work closely with our coaches and operations teams to oversee all aspects of the hockey programs from talent development and coaching excellence to program growth and community engagement. This team will help guide our strategic direction and ensure the programs remain aligned with our core values of integrity, passion for the game, and a commitment to excellence.

What to Expect from the Executive Board:

Guidance & Oversight: The board will provide strategic oversight to ensure the programs are aligned with the needs of our players, coaches, and families. Their focus will be on long-term growth, player development, and enhancing the overall experience for everyone involved.

Support for Coaches and Players: By offering improved coaching development resources, establishing clear goals for player progression, and fostering a positive,competitive environment, the board will help elevate our hockey programs to new heights. 

Enhanced Communication & Transparency: The board will foster improved communication channels between coaches, team staff, and parents. Expect regular updateson our progress including clearly outlined player, coach, and parent expectations as well as documented tryout policies, operating standards, and bylaws. We believe that an open-door policy for feedback and suggestions is critical for our success.  

Community Engagement: One of the key focuses of the board is to enhance our hockey community, ensuring that we remain a place where players, coaches, and families come together to support one another and celebrate the game.

Brian Riley enters his 21st season at the helm in 2024-25, after being named Army hockey’s 16th head coach of the program in 2004. In August 2024, Riley announced that this upcoming campaign will be his final season at the helm of Army Hockey. Following 14 years as an assistant to his brother Rob and a lifetime of hockey education from his father Jack, Brian knew all about the U.S. Military Academy.

The knowledge, preparation and hard work have all paid off for Brian as he adds to the Riley legacy and Army hockey. Just the third Army hockey coach in the past 74 years, Brian Riley has made his mark on a program coached by his father and brother in his past 20 seasons at the helm.

A four-time Atlantic Hockey Association Coach of the Year, more than any other coach in the conference's history, he has also led the program to its first regular season championship in program history. Read More

Aside from his standard coaching responsibilities, Riley served as the President of the American Hockey Coaches Association from 2014-17. He has also served on the NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Committee from 2013-18, which is responsible for the management of the NCAA Championship.

Riley has coached an AHA Player of the Year, an AHA Goalie of the Year, multiple AHA Rookie of the Years and two AHA Best Defenseman. Nine of his players have been First Team Atlantic Hockey All-Conference, while 12 were named to the second team and two to the third. Riley has also mentored 13 to the All-Rookie Team and five who received the Atlantic Hockey Sportsmanship Award. He’s had five players chosen to participate in the NCAA Frozen Four Skills Competition and 12 named to the AHA Academic All-Star Team. 

In addition to the on-ice success of his players, Riley had the pleasure of coaching 2008 and 2013 Men’s Hockey Senior CLASS Award winners Bryce Hollweg and Cheyne Rocha. Rocha earned first team Academic All-America honors two years in a row. Several other highlights include coaching eight Atlantic Hockey Scholar-Athlete of the Year honorees and 104 on the AHA All-Academic squad.

Riley was named the league coach of the year for the first time in 2005-06 when the team finished fifth in conference play after overcoming an 0-7-1 start.

In his first campaign behind the Black Knights’ bench, Riley earned his first-career win when Army stunned Colgate, 3-2, in Hamilton, N.Y. Riley reached 100 wins at Tate Rink on November 30, 2018 with a 5-4 win over Canisius. 

Riley led his team to 11 wins during that initial season, setting the Academy record for most victories by a rookie head coach. He broke the record established by his brother, Rob, in 1986-87. In addition, the younger Riley also piloted the Black Knights to their first postseason win in more than a quarter century when Army defeated American International College, 5-3, in the first round of the Atlantic Hockey tournament.

Riley’s father, Jack, started it all in 1951 when legendary football coach and athletic director at West Point, Earl “Red” Blaik hired him to head the hockey program. What began as a one-year contract turned into a 36-year Hall of Fame career that culminated in 542 victories.

Riley’s brother, Rob, took the reins from his father in the fall of 1986 and racked up 306 victories of his own over 18 winters.

When Rob officially stepped down in the summer of 2004, he passed the torch (and family tradition) on to his younger brother.

Brian played an integral role in recruiting many of the athletes that helped Army put together back-to-back 20-win seasons and tutored Corey and Ian Winer, former Colorado Avalanche forward Dan Hinote.

Riley recruited Zach McKelvie, a defenseman who was signed by the Boston Bruins organization after his senior season in 2009. He then served two years of active duty as an Infantry Officer before officially starting his professional career in the Calgary Flames organization in 2011. McKelvie now resides as the Associate Head Hockey Coach for the Black Knights and is still one of the most talented defensemen to play Army hockey. More recently, Riley mentored Dominic Franco who received an offer a one-year contract within the Buffalo Sabres organization through American Hockey League affiliate, the Rochester Americans in 2020. 

A 1983 graduate of Brown, Riley began his coaching career in 1984 with a three-year stint as an assistant coach at SUNY Plattsburgh. During that period, the Cardinals advanced to the NCAA Division III Tournament three times, reaching the championship game twice.

In 1988, Riley moved to the Division I ranks at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. There, he teamed with his cousin, Bill Riley, for one season, directing the River Hawks to the NCAA Tournament, giving him his fourth straight postseason appearance.

The following winter, Riley joined his brother’s staff at West Point for the first time where he spent the next seven seasons. In 1996, the West Point native left the comfort and familiarity of the Academy, where he grew up, for the great Midwest and a head coaching position at Shattuck St. Mary’s Prep School in Faribault, Minn.

There, Riley carved out a stellar two-year coaching career in which his teams compiled an impressive 94-19-10 record. In his first season, Riley directed the squad to a 40-9-7 record before improving to 54-10-3 in 1997-98.

In 1999, Riley returned to West Point, where he served at his brother’s side until assuming the head coaching position in 2004.

During his collegiate playing days, Riley co-captained Brown’s hockey squad his senior season, earning honorable mention All-Ivy League. He was presented the Class of ’36 Trophy for his outstanding contributions over his four-year career and the Patrick Jones Trophy for most team spirit.

Prior to starring at Brown, Riley attended New Hampton Prep and led the hockey team to a No. 1 national ranking among prep schools. He was chosen as the school’s most outstanding athlete while captaining both the soccer and hockey teams.

Riley completed course work on his master’s, earning a graduate degree in Education from Boston University, in May 2003.

Riley is married to the former Marybeth Feldman of Highland Falls, N.Y. The couple has three children: Jack, Danielle and Brendan.

Under Eric Lang's leadership, AIC Hockey has experienced unprecedented success. The team won four consecutive AHA Regular Season Titles (2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21, and 2021-22) and three AHA Tournaments (2019, 2021, 2022; 2020 was not held due to the COVID-19 Pandemic) and reached the NCAA Tournament in each of those three seasons. The team has been nationally ranked at the conclusion of each of the most recent four seasons. He coached the program's first two Division I All-American selections in Blake Christensen '20 and Brennan Kapcheck '21 and led AIC in 2019 to an upset of then-No. 1 St. Cloud State University in the NCAA Tournament, the first time a 16-seed making its NCAA. Read More  

Before AIC, he served as an Assistant Coach at West Point. While at Army, Lang was responsible for handling the power-play unit, which ranked fourth in Atlantic Hockey during the 2015-16 season, as well as coordinating video analysis of games and working with student-athletes in on- and off-ice drills.

Lang also served as a key factor in recruiting efforts during his time with the Cadets which saw Army West Point move from a last place finish in 2013-14 (6-28) to a berth in the Atlantic Hockey Championship Weekend in 2015-16 after a 15-15-9 finish. Led by a strong sophomore class, Lang recruited 2014-15 Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Year and All-Rookie team member Tyler Pham as well as the leading scorer for the Black Knights in 2015-16, Conor Andrle (13-20-33).

Lang skated in 80 games for AIC over his four years in the mid-90s, serving as a two-year captain while being honored with the ECAC Merit Medal and the College’s Henry Butova Leadership Award. He scored 25 goals and added 34 assists for 59 points from 1994-1998. After serving as a graduate assistant at AIC for two seasons, Lang was immediately hired as the head coach of the women's program at Manhattanville College, spending three seasons with the team until he took over the duties as bench boss of the men's team in 2011

Lang graduated from AIC in 1998 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology before going on to earn his Master of Arts in Organizational Development in 2008. He has also worked for the National Hockey League as an off-ice official, assisting with in-game scoring and analysis in addition to coaching for four years at Byram Hills High School during his 20 plus years of hockey experience.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:

Years: 2016-present (head coach), 2006-08 (Graduate Assistant)

Career record: 193-132-20 (includes both WIH and MIH records); 135-110-27 (MIH only) and 58-22-3 (WIH only)

AIC record: 122-100-24, 99-58-19-3-4-2 AHA

CCM/AHCA All-Americans: 2 

AHCA All-American Scholars: 86 

AHA Regular Season Titles: 4 (2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22)

AHA Tournament Titles: 3 (2019, 2021, 2022)

AHA Coach of the Year Awards: 3 (2019, 2020, 2022)

College Hockey News Awards: 2019 Coach of the Year

AHA All-Conference Team Selections: 22 (10 first/seven second/five third)

AHA All-Tournament Team Selections: 13

AHA Academic All-Academic Team Selections: 128

PRIOR STOPS:

Manhattanville College: Head Coach of Women’s (2008-11) and Men’s Ice Hockey (2011-12)

Army West Point: Volunteer Assistant (2012-13), Lead Assistant (2013-16)

Arcibal joins the Nor’Easter from the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack, where he was recently named Video Coach for the 2024–25 season. Prior to that, he spent two seasons on staff at American International College (AIC)—his alma mater—serving as Director of Hockey Operations and later as Assistant Coach. Read More

 A native of San Diego, CA, Arcibal played junior hockey in the NAHL and USHL, winning a league title with the Texas Tornado in 2006. At AIC, he was a four-year impact player, team captain, and graduated as the program’s all-time Division I assists leader, still ranking in the top 10 in career points.

 His professional playing career included stops in Sweden, the ECHL, and SPHL, and he won gold medals with Team USA at the IIHF Inline Hockey World Championships in 2013 and 2017.

 Arcibal’s coaching experience also includes the Springfield Pics (USPHL) and he is the founder and head trainer at ARC Hockey Training, where he focuses on elite hockey development. His well-rounded background and leadership experience make him a strong fit to lead the Nor’Easter into its next chapter.

Scott Schaller, President, joined Northern CT Hockey as Program Director in December 2024. Scott's responsibilities include full oversight of both the Nor'easter Boys and Northern Lights Girls programs. Scott reports directly to the Executive Board. A long-time team manager and scheduler, Scott joined the organization last spring in helping to launch our 13O Tier 1 National Bound team with Eric Lang. Scott quickly got involved with all facets of the Nor'easter full season program from scheduling to equipment to additional programming. Read More Amongst his many projects, Scott helped to launch the Nor’easter Sports Performance programming offering our players high end summer training on and off ice. He also worked to launch the very popular Prep Practice Series, where the area’s top prep coaches visit to run a practice for the team and talk with the players about the prep school process. This gives the coaches exposure to our players and the coaches to our program.  

Lastly, he has been a key member of the team that launched the Pathway to Prep Showcase for the 2011 age group and the ISCC Elite Invite for the 2013 age group, bringing in top programs from the region, a tremendous accomplishment for a first-year program

Scott is leading the effort to develop and implement the 2025-26 program offerings across Northern CT Hockey. He is working to help build, standardize, and implement program best practices across the entire organization for our coaches, team managers, and schedulers. This planning effort will also include exciting new program opportunities with our new rinks and training spaces at ISCC.

Outside the rink, Scott has spent his career in different client facing roles in organizations from family businesses to major corporations. For the last ten years, he has been a sales leader in the cancer diagnostics space. Scott holds a B.A. In Politics and Government from the University of Hartford and an MBA from the Whitman School of Business at Syracuse University. He is married to his wife Tammy, and has two children, Olivia, a senior at Kingswood Oxford, and Bryce, an 8th grader at KO, and a Nor'easter player.

Shannon Turner is a retired professional hockey player and current coach with a distinguished career spanning youth, collegiate, and professional levels. A standout defender, she graduated from Bishop Strachan School in Toronto, Ontario, and was a key member of Team Ontario, winning gold medals in 2009 and 2010 while earning the title of Top Defenseman in Canada in 2010. She represented Canada internationally, securing gold medals with the U18 team at the 2010 World Championships in Chicago and with the U22 team at the 2013 MECCO Cup in Germany. Read More

Turner played collegiate hockey at Colgate University and Boston University. At Colgate, she was named Defender of the Year as a freshman in 2011. She then transferred to Boston University, where she earned All-Star honors in 2013 and 2015, won three consecutive Hockey East championships, and was a finalist for Defenseman of the Year in 2013 and 2015. 

Professionally, Turner played eight seasons with the Connecticut Whale in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), earning three All-Star selections and serving as captain for four seasons. She was also a two-time recipient of the PHF Foundational Award, honoring her dedication to community service and her contributions to the league.

In addition to her playing career, Turner has over a decade of coaching experience. She founded the Girls' Varsity Ice Hockey program at Greenwich Country Day School and served as its head coach for four years. Turner was also the first Director of Stateline Hockey from 2021 to 2023 and co-founded Turner Sports Performance with her husband, Will Turner, to focus on player development. Currently, she is an English teacher and Assistant Coach for the Varsity Girls Ice Hockey team at Taft School.