The Aberdeen Cougars used aggressiveness to their advantage on Saturday afternoon as they raced past the Brandon Valley Ice Cats 7-0 for a high school hockey win at the Odde Ice Center.

The Cougars, 3-0 on the season, began the game controlling the puck and putting several shots on goal, but failed to put a shot into the net, something the team has struggled with in early stages of games so far this season.

“I don’t know if we came out and started with the intensity that we wanted to,” Cougars coach Jeremey Backous said. “I felt like we were a little slow to start again.”

Aberdeen hit pay dirt just shy of 10 minutes into the game as Brady Huff smacked in the opening goal on a power play. Huff, who finished with two goals and two assists, described what he saw during the play.

“Back door pass, got a great pass right to me, open net, goalie wasn’t there. Easy goal,” Huff said.

The Cougars poured in two more goals in the opening period, the first by Lleyton Kleffman and the second by Devon Fischbach, to take a commanding 3-0 lead after one period. Backous was pleased with how the team got out of the slow start.

“I thought we moved the puck a lot better,” Backous said. “We just weren’t very sharp in that first period. I thought we had a lot of pucks hitting sticks and bouncing and we didn’t control them very well. After we got a few goals in the back of the net I think we probably settled down a little bit and then started to make some plays.”

The second period began much like the first, with both teams struggling to gain momentum and control. Once the Cougars finally grabbed the momentum, they made sure to use it to their advantage. Aberdeen scored two goals in a one minute and 10 second span, one by Talan Dutenhoeffer and the other by Huff, to extend the Cougars lead to 5-0.

The Cougars used an aggressive attack throughout the game to pull away from Brandon Valley. Huff described the aggressiveness the team plays with in each game.

“That’s something we’ve definitely stepped up this year,” Huff said. “Guys are completely fired up going after them as hard as we can, so that’s definitely something that we’ve picked up this year and we’re doing great at.”

It was not just the Cougars offense that was making plays; the defense was effective in keeping the Ice Cats offense away from the net, limiting their opportunities to take shots on goal.

Brandon Valley finished with just 10 shots on goal, and Backous was pleased with defensive pressure the Cougars played with.

“We did a good job of holding pucks to the outside and not giving up any real good opportunities,” Backous said. “We did have a couple at the end where Colton made some nice saves, but we had good back pressure today, too; guys coming back hard to support and the defensemen just making good plays on the puck and limiting shot opportunities.”

Fischbach and Dutenhoeffer each added another goal in the third period to round out the scoring, solidifying a Cougars win. The Cougars have now scored a combined 23 goals in their first three games.

Despite the win, Huff knows the team will need to start the game better when they take the ice today against Brandon Valley at 1:30 p.m. at the Odde Ice Center.

“(Today) we’re definitely going to come in a lot harder off the start, shooting pucks right away,” Huff said.

Backous stressed playing cleaner in today’s game.

“We just have to be better,” Backous said. “I didn’t think it was bad today, but I thought we can be a lot sharper, and we just have to play cleaner hockey.”

Brandon Valley 0 0 0 – 0

Aberdeen Cougars 3 2 2 – 7

First Period: 1, AC, Brady Huff (Aiden Posthumus), 9:46; 2, AC, Lleyton Kleffman (Huff), 12:09; 3, AC, Devon Fischbach (Huff, Kleffman), 15:17.

Second Period: 4, AC, Talan Dutenhoeffer (Jaxon Danielson), 11:50; 5, AC, Huff (Kleffman), 13:00.

Third Period: 6, AC, Fischbach (Kleffman), 3:36; 7, AC, Dutenhoeffer (Fischbach, Karsten Jeschke), 8:14.

Shots on Goal: Brandon Valley 10; Aberdeen Cougars 47.

Goalies: Brandon Valley, Brecken Kasse (40 saves); Aberdeen Cougars, Colton Townsend (10 saves).