Staff Directory
- Title:
- Men's Ice Hockey Associate Head Coach
- Email:
- Phone:
- (203) 582-3435
Bill Riga enters his seventh season as the Bobcats' Associate Head Coach, and his 13th year at Quinnipiac in 2020-21. The Bobcats’ recruiting coordinator, Riga has played an instrumental part in Quinnipiac’s last five NCAA Tournament appearances, highlighted by a pair of appearances in the NCAA Frozen Four and National Championship Game in 2013 and 2016.
Since arriving at Quinnipiac in 2008, the Bobcats have accumulated 269 wins and .623 winning percentage, the fourth-most wins in the nation and fifth-best winning percentage in that span. His 269 wins are the most for an assistant or associate head coach in program history.
In the past eight seasons, Quinnipiac has won four Cleary Cups for the ECAC Hockey Regular Season Championship as well as the program's first Whitelaw Cup for the ECAC Hockey Tournament Championship in 2015-16.
In the 2019-20 season, Riga concluded a four-year stint as a member of the NCAA Men's and Women's Ice Hockey Rules Committee, with the last two serving as vice-chair for men's ice hockey.
Riga’s squads have consisted of 12 National Hockey League (NHL) draft picks, as well as eight Quinnipiac players that have dressed in a NHL game: Eric Hartzell, Bryce Van Brabant, Michael Garteig, Matthew Peca, Connor Jones, Connor Clifton, Devon Toews and Brogan Rafferty. Quinnipiac has also had a Hobey Baker Memorial Award Hat Trick Finalist (Hartzell) and three All-Americans (Hartzell, Sam Anas and Andrew Shortridge), in addition to the Tim Taylor National Rookie of the Year and ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Year (Anas) and multiple All-ECAC Hockey league selections.
Academically, Quinnipiac has registered a 3.30 grade-point-average over Riga’s 24 semesters in Mt. Carmel. 2013-14 saw Quinnipiac post its highest GPA in program history, as 27 of the 28 Bobcats’ posted a 3.00 GPA or higher on their way to carrying a 3.44 team-wide cumulative GPA.
In 2012-13, the first class in which Riga served as the primary recruiter, reached unprecedented highs as the Bobcats were ranked No. 1 nationally over the final three months of the regular season, while also winning the Cleary Cup for the ECAC Hockey Regular-Season Championship by the largest margin in league history. As a result, the Bobcats were the top-ranked team in the NCAA Tournament, as they made their first appearance in over a decade in the national competition. Quinnipiac not only won the first game in Quinnipiac University’s Division I history, but also went on to win the regional and advancing to the coveted NCAA Frozen Four. The Bobcats defeated St. Cloud State in the national semifinal game, before losing in the National Championship Game to finish as National Runner-ups.
Riga’s college hockey recruiting prowess became evident in his first sting prior to joining Quinnipiac at Union College. While at Union from 2003 through 2008, Riga also served as the Dutchmen’s primary recruiter. As a result, Union won two ECAC Hockey championships and also advanced to the NCAA Frozen Four.
Before joining the Union coaching staff, Riga was the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator of the Eastern Junior Hockey League’s Boston Junior Bruins from 1996 through 2003. In eight seasons as the Bruins’ associate head coach and recruiting coordinator, Riga placed 33 athletes on NCAA Division I rosters, while two played in the NHL. In addition, Riga served as the EJHL Director of Media Relations from 2000 through 2003.
In addition to his coaching experience, Riga has also served as an instructor at USA Hockey’s Select 16’s and 17’s Festival in Rochester, N.Y. from 2009 to the present. He has also served as an ownership partner of the Rand Pecknold Power Skating Camp, from 2012 to the present, as well as the Junior Bruins Power Skating Camp, from 2002 to the present.
Riga graduated from the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, where he was a four-year letter winner on the Chiefs (now River Hawks) hockey team, with a bachelor’s degree in exercise physiology. He completed his master’s degree in organizational leadership from Quinnipiac University’s School of Business in 2015.
He currently resides in Hamden, Conn. with his wife, Kim, daughter, London, and son, Bryce, and their dog, Bauer.
