The LSU Ice Hockey Club saw an empty bench when it looked over at the Vanderbilt Commodores’ side. Only six of the Commodores’ 18 players made the trip to Baton Rouge for the Tigers’ season opener.The LSU Ice Hockey Club finished 4-14 in their inaugural season, but with new optimism  — and new uniforms — the Tigers swept a weekend series with Vanderbilt.The lack of substitutes for the Commodores proved to be too much as they fell 7-6 and 7-5.”They could have easily said ‘We don’t have three lines, we are not going to have a chance to win, we are just going to blow it off,'” said LSU coach Leonard Alsfeld. “They showed up, and they played their asses off. We were fortunate they didn’t have three more guys to give them a rest.”Commodore Anderson Funk said his team was surprised by how closely they played the Tigers.”I’ve never played 60 minutes of hockey two days in a row before,” Funk said. “It was pretty rough. I didn’t think I’d be able it do it. We can’t get down on ourselves for losing with only five guys on the ice.”The Tigers opened Friday’s game slowly, falling behind 4-2 in the first and second periods of Friday’s contest. But LSU had an offensive explosion and scored five goals in the third period, including a tie-breaking goal with less than 10 seconds to play. The Tigers took the offensive pace they established Friday into Saturday’s contest, scoring five goals in the first period.LSU tacked on two goals in the second and third periods to ensure a victory.    LSU freshman forward Greg Douglas finished Saturday’s contest with two goals and one assist, including a goal with 35 seconds left in regulation to put the Tigers up 7-5. Alsfeld said the Tigers played with more discipline compared to last season.”Last year you saw us kind of running around individually not thinking about the other five players,” Alsfeld said.The Tigers host Mississippi State on Friday at 10:15 p.m. and Saturday at 3:30 p.m.  —-Contact Amos Morale  at [email protected]