The Aberdeen Cougars used two of their strengths to help grab a girls’ hockey victory Saturday morning at the Odde Ice Center.

The squad used its speed and depth to fuel a season-opening 6-0 win over Rushmore.

“We talked about hustling and bringing some energy,” said Cougars coach Rob Weinmeister. “Our three goals of the game were bring some energy, challenge every shot – those were two of them, so I that think we did a good job of that – the third goal, shots on net, which we accomplished.”

Aberdeen outshot the visitors 32-12. Alyssa Roehrich led the assault with three goals, one in each period.

“My teammates gave me good opportunities to hit it in and really passed it to me nicely,” Roehrich said. “I think we all work pretty good as a line, so it just kind of clicks and goes well together.”

Roehrich got the scoring started in the opening period on a goal assisted by Ema Rehder and Raniesa Mattke.

After Kailyn Poppen scored to open the second period, Roehrich added her second goal before Rehder found the back of the net for a 4-0 lead.

The Cougars were quicker to the puck the entire game. Rushmore was unable to put shots on goal even during a two-person power play.

“My philosophy is we have three lines and we’ve got good speed,” Weinmeister said. “So if we go 30-40 seconds and we go fast, we increase the level of the game, but we also wear the other team out because of our three lines. You can tell, when our kids are out there for longer than a minute, they start to slow down, too.”

That depth continued to wear on Rushmore as the Cougars added two more goals in the final period, another from Roehrich and the final one by Alli Stoltenburg.

“I think we just work really well as a team this year and our lines, we don’t really have a good line or a bad line, we’re all pretty even, I think,” Roehrich said. “We just all come here to have fun. We don’t really care about the scoreboard as much and who’s on the ice.”

Chloe Vikander recorded a shutout in goal for the Cougars, stopping a dozen shots.

Aberdeen had five more penalties than Rushmore in the contest, but still had a productive performance in its season opener.

“We’re being energetic. We’re being aggressive,” Weinmeister said of the penalties. “There’s some things we have to clean up and staying out of the box is one of them.”

The same two teams are back at it again this morning at 10 a.m. at the Odde Ice Center.

The Cougars will be looking to continue to build on the momentum they established during their season opener.

“I think it was good for us to just kind of come out here and play our own game and not really worry about anything,” Roehrich said, “except for just having fun and playing the game.”

Rapid City Rushmore 0 0 0 – 0

Aberdeen Cougars 1 3 2 – 6

First Period: 1, AC, Alyssa Roehrich (Ema Rehder, Raniesa Mattke), 1:29.

Second Period: 2, AC, Kailyn Poppen (Morgan Jones), 15:29; 3, AC, Roehrich (Kalin Hepper), 9:10; 4, AC, Rehder (Aiden Rapp, Madalynn Witte), 1:04.

Third Period: 5, AC, Roehrich (Mattke), 2:31; 6, Alli Stoltenburg (Allison Woehl), 1:28.

Shots on Goal: Rapid City Rushmore 12; Aberdeen Cougars 32.

Goalies: Rapid City Rushmore, Claire Larson (26 saves); Aberdeen Cougars, Chloe Vikander (12 saves).