The latest on the men's hockey team after a disappointing opening weekend.

Youth Movement

 In his postgame press conference, head coach Mike Schafer ’86 admitted that neither freshman Andy Iles nor junior Mike Garman distinguished themselves as the team’s starting goaltender over the weekend. After Garman was pulled on Friday night in favor of the freshman, Iles was awarded the start on Saturday night.

However, it seems as though the two netminders will continue to split time until a winner can be declared. Garman’s struggles on Friday against New Hampshire resulted in several “we want Iles” chants from the crowd, and it seems as though the Ithaca native has already garnered full support from the Lynah Faithful.

Younger players like Iles, Greg Miller, Rodger Craig, Armand de Swardt and Dustin Mowrey have won over the fans and Schafer early on, as a result of their hard play and knowledge of the system. Craig is good to go after a scary collision halted play in Saturday night’s loss to R.I.T.

Battle of the Bands

 The dynamic on Saturday night in the stands was something very unique to Lynah Rink. R.I.T. brought its band to the game, and the Tigers made sure they were heard throughout the contest. The team’s pep band arrived with a repertoire that included some of Cornell’s most famous chants, playing the tunes to mock the Lynah Faithful on penalties and goals.

The crowd did not take kindly to the insults, frequently sparring back and forth with the Tiger fans that filled Section O to the brim. “Good band, bad band” and “Rochester Community College” were a few of the more clever retorts to the R.I.T. invasion.

Three Stars

Despite starting the season 0-2, the Red received a few impressive performances on the weekend. Here are the team’s three stars:

1. Dustin Mowrey (two goals, no assists)

2. Greg Miller (one goal, one assist)

3. Andy Iles (.870 save percentage)

 Men's hockey notebook will appear on the Sun's Sports Blog every Monday