The Aberdeen Cougars boys’ hockey team put in a little overtime during the first official day on the job.

The Cougars, who never trailed, skated to a 2-2 overtime tie with the Mitchell Marlins Friday night at the Odde Ice Center.

“I thought we played well for the first game,” said Cougars coach Jeremey Backous. “We battled. We made some mistakes, but it’s early.”

Aberdeen dominated play to start the game and led 1-0 after the first period on a goal by Micah Kranzler, assisted by Jacob Scheel and Brady Huff. The Cougars outshot the visitors 14-3 in the opening period, but were unable to produce a bigger margin of difference.

Soon the Marlins got into the flow of the game and briefly tied the score in the second period before the Cougars regained the lead about a minute later on a goal by Devon Fischbach, with assists to Quincy Madsen and Lleyton Kleffman.

However, Mitchell proved it was in it for the long haul, eventually knotting the score back up early in the third period.

“It seemed like we played well early and as the game progressed, I feel like keeping it close Mitchell gained confidence,” Backous said. “They played tough. I felt our boys battled to the very end. We asked a lot out of our top couple lines. They logged a lot of minutes, especially for this early in the season. I thought it was a good effort to start.”

The Cougars undoubtedly found themselves on the ice a lot longer than they would have imagined as the two teams battled through a scoreless 10-minute overtime period during the season opener.

“We had a pretty good effort,” said Cougars senior Jadon Jones, “we just need to put a little bit more things together on the ice, make it flow a little better in the game.”

Aberdeen outshot Mitchell 41-22 in the contest and had several golden opportunities slip away, including one shot that hit the post and another centering pass that rolled across the crease inches in front of the Mitchell goal while the Marlins’ goalie was out of position.

“It’s just one of those things,” Backous said. “If we could have popped a couple of those in early – we had some really good looks, I think we hit a post – it might have changed the outcome of the game.”

Both teams had chances in overtime with Cougars’ goalie Samuel Casper producing a clutch save in the final two minutes of action.

While the game ended in a tie, it provided some quality moments for the Cougars in their first official contest.

“The defense definitely had a pretty good night,” Jones said. “The offense was helping us out quite a bit by back checking and making sure they were back to help us out so we could make a play early. The goalie was standing up when he needed to stand up to help us out.”

Jorgenson said the squad definitely has a few things to work on, but liked what he saw from the team in its season debut.

“We’re in the right direction right now,” Jones said. “We definitely need to push ourselves a little harder in practice, and make sure that we’re making the right passes and making sure they’re crisp and tape to tape. That’s the main difference in tonight’s tie instead of winning.”

The Cougars will not get any time to rest and recover, hosting Rushmore this afternoon and Sunday afternoon at the Odde Ice Center. Puck drop is set for 3 p.m. today and 4 p.m. Sunday.

“It will be difficult, but I think me and the team will be able to get through it,” Jones said. “We’ll definitely have to push as hard as we can. It will definitely test how durable we are and how much we can do on the weekend.”

Mitchell Marlins 0 1 1 0 – 2

Aberdeen Cougars 1 1 0 0 – 2

First Period: 1, AC, Micah Kranzler (Jacob Scheel, Brady Huff), 4:20.

Second Period: 2, MM, Mick Dailey (unassisted), 7:31; 3, AC, Devon Fischbach (Quincy Madsen, Lleyton Kleffman), 6:29.

Third Period: 4, MM, Parker Denne (unassisted), 15:58.

Overtime: No scoring.

Shots on Goal: Mitchell Marlins 22; Aberdeen Cougars 41.

Goalies: Mitchell Marlins, Drake Jerke (39 saves); Aberdeen Cougars, Samuel Casper (20 saves).