HOCKEY OPERATIONS STAFF

The 2023-2024 season is Ryan Cruthers’s first full season with the Marksmen as the Head Coach / Director of Hockey Operations.

Cruthers, 39, from Farmingdale, N.Y., served last season as the assistant coach for the USHL’s Sioux Falls Stampede.

Cruthers’s coaching experience has included multiple stops at the top levels of American junior hockey. He was the head coach and assistant general manager of the USHL’s Chicago Steel during the 2017-18 season and the following year was tabbed as bench boss for the NAHL’s Corpus Christi Ice Rays.

Most recently, Cruthers helped engineer a USPHL-Premier expansion franchise with the Columbia Infantry before undertaking the assistant coach’s post in Sioux Falls.

From 2015-22, Cruthers was one of the architects of the Charlotte (N.C.) Rush championship teams in the USPHL. The Rush won their first of two USPHL-Elite national championships under Cruthers in 2017, just his second season with the organization. In 2021, both the Charlotte Elite and Premier divisions captured national titles while he served as general manager and Premier head coach.

For two games during the 2017-18 season he filled-in as the interim head coach for the Marksmen and earned a record of 1-0-1.

Prior to his coaching career, Cruthers was a force on the wing with eight seasons of ECHL experience. In 429 ECHL games and 32 AHL games, he logged four separate 20-goal seasons and led the 2009-10 Reading Royals in points (71).

Consistently touted as a leader, Cruthers was captain of the Royals from 2010-12 and then donned the “C” for the Orlando Solar Bears in 2012-13. He was the captain and first rostered player in Solar Bears history.

A standout at Robert Morris University, Cruthers was a four-year NCAA Division-I letterwinner. He captained the Colonials in his senior season, a year where he was also a preliminary nominee for the Hobey Baker Award as the NCAA’s top men’s college hockey player. Prior to starring with R.M.U., Cruthers played his first two college seasons as the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Player Inquiries: RCruthers@MarksmenHockey.com

Sharkey, 30, a native of Moore, Okla. – is in his first season with the Fayetteville Marksmen, following the 202-23 season when he served as the assistant coach with NAHL’s Minot (N.D.) Minotauros.

An SPHL veteran, Sharkey logged 150 SPHL games as a player and notched 130 points (50g, 80a) with the Huntsville Havoc. In 2018-19, Sharkey finished third in points for the eventual President’s Cup champion Havoc.

A two-time SPHL champion, Sharkey also contributed for the 2017-18 championship Havoc team, and served as an alternate captain for the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point on the Pointers 2015-16 NCAA division-III championship squad.

Contact Kyle: ksharkey@marksmenhockey.com

Chris Cosentino enters his 1st season as Director of Scouting for the Fayetteville Marksmen. Cosentino, 41,

was born and raised in New York City and currently resides in Waxhaw, NC.

Cosentino spent 10 years as the Head Coach of the New York University hockey team where he led the program to two ACHA National Championship titles and was named ACHA Coach of the Year in 2015 and 2017. Under Cosentino‘s leadership, the program also excelled off the

ice receiving the prestigious NYU President’s Service Award for outstanding community service efforts five times as well as multiple academic awards at both the national and regional levels.

In January of 2013, Cosentino was hired by the New York Rangers to design and lead a three-day on-ice training camp before the start of the lockout-shortened NHL season. Under the guidance of Head Coach John Tortorella and Assistant Coach Mike Sullivan, the experience garnered national media attention.

Before NYU, Cosentino spent six seasons coaching in the prestigious New York Apple Core Junior Program where he guided more than 200 players to top collegiate and professional hockey. Cosentino served his final two seasons at Apple Core as the Head Coach of Apple Core’s Junior ‘A’ team which competed in the Eastern Junior Hockey League (EJHL). In 2010 he was named to the EJHL All-Star team coaching staff and guided nineteen players on to top collegiate hockey. Before coaching Junior ‘A’ hockey, he served three seasons as Head Coach of the Apple Core Junior ‘B’ team of the Empire Junior Hockey League where in 2008 he was selected to the Empire League All-Star team coaching staff. In 2007 and 2006, he served as Head Coach of the Empire League All-Star Selects which competed in Chicago and Minnesota.Throughout his coaching career, Chris has served as a coach and an evaluator at the USA Hockey New York District Festival Camp. In 2004, he served as an assistant coach for Team New York City at the Empire State Games where he helped lead the team to its first shut-out win in team history.His playing career was hindered by several injuries, including two major knee operations. He played his collegiate hockey at both the Division 1 (Iona College) and Division 3 (SUNY-Geneseo) levels. He suited up for Apple Core’s Junior ‘A’ team for four seasons between 1998-2001 and was a member of the St. Mary’s High School New York State Championship team in 2000. He was a two-time member of Team New York at the USA Hockey Festivals and won the Silver Medal at the Select 16 Festival. Chris was selected in all three years of his eligibility to represent Team New York City at the Empire State Games; in his first year, he was a key contributor to the first win in team history and was the team’s leading scorer in his final year.

The 2023-2024 season is Kyle Sherrill’s sixth with the Marksmen as the Head Athletic Trainer. He has been involved in minor league hockey in Fayetteville since 2007.

A native of Red Springs, N.C., Kyle earned his B.S. in athletic training from Methodist University . He also minored in physical education as well as strength and conditioning. He has been a BOC certified athletic trainer since 2008.

He was a member of the medical staff for the Fayetteville FireAntz, SPHL championship season (2006-07), and the FireAntz Regular Season Championship (2012). He was also a member of medical staff for the Fayetteville Guard, NIFL Championship season (2007) and the Cape Fear Heroes AIF Championship Season (2012), SIF Championship Season (2017).

Along with his passion of working with professional athletes, Kyle also enjoys providing athletic training services youth athletes in the Cape Fear region. Kyle has been a member of the NATA since 2005 and enjoys using his knowledge to educate the community in sports medicine.

The 2023-24 season is Ray’s first as Head Equipment Manager for the Fayetteville Marksmen.

The Mississippi native is no stranger to hockey and has had stints with the Odessa Jackalopes(NAHL), Louisiana IceGators(SPHL), Dayton Bombers(ECHL), Tupelo T-Rex(AWHL), Adirondack Thunder(ECHL), and Roanoke Railyard Dawgs(SPHL); all in the same capacity.

He spent four seasons volunteering with the University of Mississippi’s ACHA D3 Club team as equipment manager and director of game operations, and also worked with the Mississippi SeaWolves(ECHL) as their video coach and equipment assistant.

Ray is a 2011 graduate of East Mississippi Community College, where he obtained an Associates of Applied Science degree in Paramedic/EMT Technology. Away from the rink you can find him enjoying the outdoors, at the gun range, or just seeing what the Cape Fear River has to offer