The venue and the energy level were different, but the result was the same for the Aberdeen Cougars Sunday morning.

One week after beating the Mitchell Marlins on their home ice, the Cougars held serve at home in a 3-1 victory at the Odde Ice Center.

Aberdeen, which was coming off a three-game in three-day stretch last weekend, was more fresh for the rematch.

“A lot of it is having home ice advantage, but I’m not going to say it’s all for that,” said Cougars senior Lauren Scheel of the difference between the two games. “Last weekend we were also tired, because we had two games prior, but today the energy in the locker room was just different. We were all pumped up. We were all cheering each other on. And you can tell the difference.”

Cougars coach Rob Weinmeister was hoping that his girls would be well rested and ready to go for the rematch against the Marlins.

“I was hoping that with just the one game this weekend we would have a little more energy and I thought we did, which I think helped because we started to tire them down,” Weinmeister said. “You could see where we were able to maintain possessions of the puck in the zone and create some opportunities by doing that, so it definitely helps.”

The game was a defensive battle with all of the scoring taking place in the second period.

After Mitchell opened the scoring, the Cougars answered back just 24 seconds later when Sydney Hofer found the back of the net on assists from Morgan Jones and Kailyn Poppen.

Scheel then put Aberdeen in front on an assist from Jones, and Allison Woehl provided an insurance goal on an assist from Reece Ermer.

“It was a defensive game on both sides,” Weinmeister said. “They took away a lot of shots, a lot of what we were trying to do, and we were trying to take away what they were doing, which was effective, so it was kind of one of those old (school) hockey games, low scoring.”

Scheel said the games against Mitchell have taken on a bit of a different feel, especially after being swept by the Marlins last season.

“We’re not as nervous as we are with Sioux Falls, just because Sioux Falls has always been our biggest rival, but when we’re playing Mitchell, you can just tell that they want it,” Scheel said, “and if we don’t have that determination to beat them and if it doesn’t feel different, like we’re playing Sioux Falls, we’re not going to play to our level that we need to play.”

The same two squads will play each other for a third straight game after being paired up in the first round of a tournament in Brookings that starts on Friday.

“It makes it a little unique, especially because you start to know each other’s habits and stuff like that and how well do you adjust to that?” Weinmeister said. “Sometimes beings we’re young teenagers, we see things and we don’t always adjust right away to them, and so it’s a good opportunity to learn in that capacity.”

The Cougars, 18-3 on the season, are heading into the home stretch of their season. The team needs to be more consistent in order to reach its full potential, according to Scheel.

“We have to be consistent with how we play,” she said. “One thing about us is that we always play to the level of the other team.”

Regardless of what the outcome of the games are, Weinmeister said it’s the effort level that makes the most difference.

“Win or lose I want to just make sure that we’re playing good hockey,” he said. “If we get beat by a better team, we get beat by a better team, but if we’re playing good hockey and we give our best effort, that’s all I can ask.”

Mitchell Marlins 0 1 0 – 1

Aberdeen Cougars 0 3 0 – 3

First Period: no scoring.

Second Period: 1, MM, Brynlee Sabers (Reece Amick), 12:45; 2, AC, Sydney Hofer (Morgan Jones, Kailyn Poppen), 12:21; 3, AC, Lauren Scheel (Jones), 5:51; 4, AC, Allison Woehl (Reece Ermer), 4:42.

Third Period: no scoring.

Shots on Goal: Mitchell Marlins 10 shots; Aberdeen Cougars 40.

Goalies: Mitchell Marlins, Sadie Kludt (37 saves): Aberdeen Cougars, Chloe Vikander (9 saves).