The Aberdeen Cougars were efficient early and dominating late on the way to a win over the Watertown Lakers on Saturday afternoon.

The Cougars scored a pair of early goals, then got stronger as the game went on in a 5-1 boys’ hockey victory at the Odde Ice Center.

“This week was a tough week, dealing with a few things outside of the rink. We had between 6 and 8 guys sick all week, so practice was pretty slow, just no energy, everybody was pretty gassed,” said Cougars coach Chris Medill. “So I was worried we were going to have this slow start. Came together in third, and totally different period. We actually played our game, strong on the forecheck, created opportunities and just dominated that third period.”

Aberdeen received first-period goals from Wheeler Malsam and Micah Kranzler, and the two teams traded goals in the second period, the Cougars getting a goal from Briggs Medill. That’s when a key sequence took place.

The Lakers had two-man power play, but failed to find the back of the net, giving all the momentum to the Cougars.

“We stayed tight in the middle. We didn’t chase in the corners,” Coach Medill said. “They did almost turn the puck over a couple of times. We were there, but we just couldn’t get the break out. I was really impressed with that 5-on-3 kill, and it was for a solid two minutes. It was not a good situation, but we survived.”

From there, the Cougars blitzed Watertown, scoring a pair of third-period goals to take total control.

“We talked about that in the locker room and coach said we’ve got to score fast,” said Aberdeen’s Devon Fischbach, who scored one of those goals. “That’s what we went out there and we did, I think we scored in the first three minutes, and that really helped momentum swing to our side.”

Jaxon Danielson had Aberdeen’s fourth goal to start the third, before Fischbach capped the effort with the Cougars’ final goal.

Fischbach said the Cougars got stronger as the game went on.

“Getting pucks deep and going to work, we didn’t do that the first two periods,” Fischbach said, “and then finally we came out of our shell in the third and we finally started putting shots on goal, and ended up capitalizing.”

Oddly enough, shots on goal were 18-18 at one stage when the score was 5-1. Those shots ended up 26-19 by the end of the contest as Aberdeen kept the puck out of its zone in the final period.

“Just working hard, keeping them out of the zone,” Briggs Medill said. “You just put in that effort, they’ll stay back in their own net.”

It was a fitting finish for the Cougars, who overcame a slow start to grab a big win.

“I think we just came out slow,” Briggs Medill said, “but after we found our edge we just picked it up.”

The Cougars, 7-6 in league play, now have a well-deserved break for nearly two weeks after playing weekly from the start of the season.

“It’s huge for our morale going into Sioux Center in two weeks,” Fischbach said, “so this was huge for us.”

Watertown Lakers 0 1 0 – 1

Aberdeen Cougars 2 1 2 – 5

First Period: 1, Wheeler Malsam (unassisted), 9:46; 2, AC, Micah Kranzler (Jack Podoll), 7:07.

Second Period: 3, AC, Briggs Medill (Logan Fischbach), 13:13; 4, WL, Kowynn Muhl (Mylan Evans), 3:53.

Third Period: 5, AC, Jaxon Danielson (Trayke Roehrich), 13:49; 6, AC, Devon Fishbach (Aiden Posthumus, Drake Witte), 10:05.

Shots on Goal: Watertown Lakers 19; Aberdeen Cougars 26.

Goalies: Watertown Lakers, Kohl Nygaard (21 saves); Aberdeen Cougars, Carson Hundstad (18 saves).