The Aberdeen Cougars made the most of their scoring chances Saturday night, the problem was Sioux Falls West had way more opportunities.

The visitors erased a 4-1 deficit with five straight goals to grab a 6-4 win over the Cougars in boys’ hockey action at the Odde Ice Center. Sioux Falls outshot Aberdeen by a 37-15 margin and it was only a matter of time before some of those attempts found the back of the net. Cougars goalie Colton Townsend had 31 saves on the night, but it wasn’t quite enough.

“They’re a really good team,” said Aberdeen coach Jeremey Backous. “Colton played outstanding in net tonight. He gave us an opportunity to win.”

The contest was tied at 1-1 after the first period, despite Sioux Falls owning a 13-2 advantage in shots when Aberdeen’s Lleyton Kleffman leveled the score. The Cougars then came to life offensively scoring three straight goals to open a 4-1 lead early in the second period. Micah Kranzler and Talan Dutenhoeffer each scored goals, before Jaxon Danielson found the back of the net on a rocket blast off a faceoff for his first goal of the season.

“It was off of a faceoff and I saw the puck pop out,” Danielson said. “I just saw an opening and I took it, far leg pad, low and it just magically went in.”

While Aberdeen had the momentum, it was short lived as Sioux Falls exploded for three goals in the final four and a half minutes of the second period to tie the game, including a pair of goals within 31 seconds.

“They’re a hard team to play against. They’re great competition for us,” Danielson said. “We just kind of fell apart in the second.”

From there, Sioux Falls kept the pressure on and added two more goals in the third for the final margin of difference. West consistently worked the puck around in front of the Aberdeen goal to find high-percentage shots.

“They move the puck really clean and really well, and it’s hard to defend,” Backous said. “We had a couple of good kills tonight, but a team like that, you just cannot give them the opportunity to go on the man advantage and unfortunately we had too many penalties tonight.”

Not only did Townsend stop more than 30 shots in goal, Danielson estimated that he blocked another 20 or so with his body.

“I just close my eyes, pray for it to not hit me and if it hits me, just get up and keep going,” Danielson said.

At one stage, the defenseman was hit multiple times on one possession and was doubled over on the ice. While Danielson said the shots are painful, he also knows that it fires up his teammates.

“I just do whatever I can for the team. I’m just trying to set momentum for all of us,” Danielson said. “Blocking shots gets the bench pretty rowdy and it’s a good feeling when I can get things started on the bench.”

Danielson will have a little time to recover as the Cougars host Sioux Falls East at 2 p.m. today.

“I’m going to do all I can to prepare for (Sunday),” Danielson said. “I have all my massage things, ice bath. I’m going to do whatever I can to get my body back to normal.”

Despite the setback, there were some positives that Aberdeen was able to take away from the contest against of the top teams in the state.

“As good as they are, we put ourselves in a position to win, even getting outshot,” Backous said. “We showed many moments where we can play with them and that type of hockey. We have to clean things up a little bit.”

Sioux Falls West 1 3 2 – 6

Aberdeen Cougars 1 3 0 – 4

First Period: 1, SFW, Nathan Renken (Mason Schramm, Alex Heibult), 15:00; 2, AC, Lleyton Kleffman (Devon Fischbach, Brady Huff), 6:46.

Second Period: 3, AC, Micah Kranzler (Quincy Madsen), 15:26; 4, AC, Talan Dutenhoeffer (Jaxon Danielson, Jack Podoll), 11:46; 5, AC, Danielson (Podoll) 11:02; 6, SFW, Jackson Henry (Schramm, Renken), 4:29; 7, SFW, Beckett Halde (Keegan Clancy), 3:58; 8, SFW, Clancy (Heibult), :58.

Third Period: 9, SFW, Clancy (Halde), 11:55; 10, SFW, Alex Chan (Schramm, Heibult), 7:41.

Shots on Goal: Sioux Falls West 37; Aberdeen Cougars 14.

Goalies: Sioux Falls West, Easton Mescher (10 saves); Aberdeen Cougars, Colton Townsend (31 saves).