EAST MEADOW, N.Y. — Head coach Brett Riley and the LIU men's hockey team are back on the road this weekend.

The Sharks play against Stonehill on Saturday, followed by a Sunday afternoon matchup with seventh-ranked Quinnipiac.

"It's exciting, especially for a lot of the new guys on our team," said Jordan Di Cicco said, who was selected an alternate captain this season. "It's good to get out and see knew rinks. And it's also an exciting time of the year because we don't know much about the other teams."

Riley, in his third season behind the Sharks' bench, is embracing the team's road-heavy schedule.

"We're exciting to play the newest Division I program in Stonehill, then to play a storied program like Quinnipiac," Riley said before taking the ice for Thursday's practice. "The focus right now is still just on ourselves and becoming more competitive."

LIU's schedule is loaded up Frozen Four contenders. And the Sharks would not want it any other way, especially this early in the season.

"Obviously we are not going to take these games lightly," starting goaltender Vinnie Purpura said. "They're excited to play us, and we're excited to play them."

The Sharks are coming off an overtime thriller against No.9 Northeastern last weekend. And the team is pulling out the positives from that game after almost knocking off the Huskies.

"It's always fun to play high competition," sophomore forward Isaiah Fox said. "Everyone wants to play against the best of the best."

The Sharks head into the doubleheader weekend with one goal in mind, and it's certainly achievable.

"The goal here is to pick up two wins. You always want to come out with two wins on back-to-backs," said Di Cicco, a London, Ont., native. "We're just going to play our game and stick to our values."