Having passed last season’s meager win total, the Liverpool ice hockey team still faced some upheaval in the early days of 2012.
Citing personal reasons, head coach Mark Benedetto stepped down on Thursday, and his two assistants, Mike Tamilia and Chris Mathes, will lead the team the rest of the season.
This marks the second Liverpool mid-season coaching change in less than a month, after the departure of boys basketball coach Jerry Wilcox in late December.
As co-coaches, Tamilia and Mathes debuted Saturday afternoon, when the Warriors went to Ithaca and hung in all the way against the Little Red before taking a 3-2 defeat.
Dalton Horton and Jordan Iannolo both had one goal and one assist, helping Liverpool stay even, 2-2, through two periods. Still, Ithaca inched ahead in the third period and held on, overcoming Daniel Wu’s 22 saves.
The Warriors hosted Ontario Bay last Tuesday at Greater Baldwinsville Ice Arena and did enough to earn a 3-2 victory over the Storm.
Both sides traded goals in the first two periods, but Liverpool blanked Onatrio Bay in the third period and put in the go-ahead tally, backing it up with strong work from Wu, who turned away 25 of the 27 shots he faced.
Horton and Dakota Gaulke both finished with one goal and one assist. Nate Bittel also had a goal, while Nick Bittel managed an assist.
At 5-9 following the Ithaca loss, Liverpool met Cortland-Homer on Tuesday and gets a shot at Baldwinsville, the team with which it shares the Lysander facility with, on Friday night.
