The Aberdeen Cougars girls’ hockey season got off to a slower start, historically speaking. The defending state champions dropped a 5-1 decision to Jamestown Saturday afternoon in the season opener at the Odde Ice Center.

“(Jamestown) is a fast team,” said Cougars coach David Sandvig. “We took some penalties they capitalized on, and we made some shift change mistakes.”

Sandvig attributed those mental miscues to some early-season rust, but said the team started to settle in as the game wore on.

“We started adjusting to the pressure and got some nice looks,” he said.

Aberdeen’s lone goal came off the stick of Addy Keller, but it wasn’t quite enough to break through the Jamestown lead.

“We’ll learn a few things from this, as always, and move forward,” Sandvig said.

Aberdeen will head to Watertown today before hosting Mitchell for a pair of weekend matchups after the Thanksgiving holiday.