They were just exhibition games, but against the University of Windsor and the U.S. Under-18 National Team, the men’s hockey team got a glimpse of its future as well as a blast from the past. Among the six rookies making their Lynah Rink debuts on Friday night in Cornell’s 7-0 rout of Windsor was forward Chris Moulson, brother of Matt Moulson ’06, a former team captain and current left winger for the New York Islanders. Seeing Moulson on the back of a Red sweater might have given die-hard fans flashbacks to the Red’s last ECAC Hockey championship (in 2005), but another rookie, defenseman Nick D’Agostino, scored two goals against Windsor and took steps towards helping the Red back to the top of the league. D’Agostino notched his first career goal after the puck glanced off junior Patrick Kennedy’s stick and into the air. D’Agostino swung his stick around and knocked the puck out of the air past Windsor goalie Jim Watt to put the Red up, 6-0.

“Took a lucky swing at it and made good contact,” D’Agostino said. “I don’t know how it ended up in the net but I’ll take it.”

Junior forward Tyler Roeszler scored Cornell’s first goal of the season with about 40 seconds left in the first period. Roeszler intercepted a pass in Windsor’s zone and beat Watt to wake up a crowd that was generally lethargic until the scoring started. Moments later, the crowd got another reason to cheer when Dave Nulle, also known as “Zamboni Dave,” made his customary entrance despite reports that he retired.Keep a weather eye out: Junior forward Tyler Roeszler (9) surveys the ice in Cornell’s exhibition game against the Under-18 National Team at Lynah Rink on Saturday. The Red dropped the contest, 3-2.

Forwards John Esposito and Moulson were the only other rookies to notch points in the team’s opening weekend — Esposito registered an assist on Roeszler’s second goal of the night, 8:22 into the second period, and Moulson assisted senior forward Blake Gallagher later in the period.

“You want to make a good impression on everybody, especially the coaching staff,” D’Agostino said of the rookies’ first game. “It’s good to play in front of the fans too, it was pretty intimidating at first. It was good to get in there and get your feet wet.”

The Red’s third goal featured a trio of names that were slightly more familiar to Cornell fans — forwards Riley Nash and senior captain Colin Greening assisted junior forward Patrick Kennedy for the score.

Another potential part of the Red’s future was on display Saturday, but in the wrong uniform. Team USA’s goalie, Ithaca native Andy Iles, made 39 saves and outplayed senior goalie Ben Scrivens to lead his team to a 3-2 upset. Iles has verbally committed to Cornell for next season, but on Saturday, he stymied the Red’s scorers all night. Sophomore defenseman Sean Whitney and Riley Nash scored the two Cornell goals, but Iles held the Red off the board in the third period, stopping 21 shots in the stanza. Justin Faulk, Matt Nieto and Bryan Rust scored for the national team.

“I saw some good things from our hockey team,” said head coach Mike Schafer ’86.