Riley was born and raised in Saskatchewan Canada. He started skating at a young age with help from his parents. He credits his stride to his mom, who is a figure skating and power skating coach in Saskatoon. He credits his dad for his hockey mind. When he was young, he was active in many sports, soccer, baseball, figure skating, hockey and various school sports. He figure skated competitively until the 10th Grade before switching full time to Hockey. He moved away from home at the age of 15 to play AAA midget hockey in Saskatchewan. From there he made the jump to the Western Hockey League where he played for the Kootenay Ice and the Everett Silvertips.

At the age of 19 he signed as a free agent with the San Jose Sharks. He was with the organization for five years playing mostly in the AHL with the Cleveland Barons and Worcester Sharks and earned his NHL debut with San Jose. When he retired from playing, he transitioned into coaching with the Seacoast Spartans program before moving to the ECHL as an assistant coach with the Wheeling Nailers. In February of 2018 he was hired as the inagural Head Coach for the Maine Mariners where he remained until joining the Lehigh Valley Phantoms as their assistant coach in 2021. Curently Riley is the Director of Player Development for the Philadelphia Flyers.

• Total Professional Games Played: 610

• Total Professional Points: 336

• Total Professional Games Coached: 497