The Aberdeen Cougars erased one deficit after another after another, but could never get over the hump at the Odde Ice Center Saturday night.

Brylee Kafka had a night for the ages to lift the Oahe Capitals to a 6-5 win in overtime in girls’ hockey action. Kaftka scored five goals, including her 100th career goal, assisted on another, and produced the game-winner with 5:09 left in OT.

Meanwhile, the Cougars, who outshot Oahe 43-25, walked off the ice frustrated at coming up just short on Senior Night.

“It was a good game,” said Cougars coach David Sandvig. “We’ve been struggling to get the puck in the net, so far us beating them that badly on shots on goal and finally getting some pucks in the back of the net, that all feels really well.”

However, the hosts were unable to convert on many of those chances.

“I believe we outplayed them most of the game,” Sandvig said, “just didn’t come away with it again.”

Oahe jumped out to a 2-0 lead, before Olivia Sandvig scored Aberdeen’s first goal. The Capitals concluded the opening period with a 3-1 advantage.

The Cougars scored twice in the second period to knot the score at 3-3. Alyssa Roehrich found the back of the net as Aberdeen began gaining momentum.

“It was just an open net, I guess. A great opportunity,” Roehrich said. “My teammates were also jabbing at it, too and I just got lucky.”

Rachel Siefken added the other goal as the teams ended the second period tied at 3-3.

The third period saw an exchange of two goals each by Kafka and Aiden Raap. Kafka gave the Capitals a 4-3 lead, Raap matched it. Kafka put Oahe up 5-4 before Raap scored with 25 seconds remaining to tie the score at 5-5 and force overtime.

“It was pretty crazy,” Raap said of the equalizing goal. “I know I had teammates coming from the bench, yelling and yelling for me to pass the puck, but they just weren’t open, so I just wrapped it around, five-hole and it went in.”

Once in overtime, the Cougars owned a two-minute power play, but that quickly evaporated before Kafka produced the game-winner.

“I definitely think that we had the momentum going in (to overtime),” Roehrich said, “just because we scored that goal with only a couple of seconds left, but sometimes things don’t go your way, I guess.”

The Cougars continue to play without regular goalie Chloe Vikander, out with an injury. Addyson Keller stopped 19 shots on the night despite facing point-blank attempts.

“We’ve left the slot open too many times in the last couple games. We’ve been on the girls about that,” Sandvig said. “You just can’t leave your goalie out to dry like that. When your goalie’s getting banged on point-blank range, that’s frustrating. You don’t want to ever see that and getting beat around the outside, that’s just taking bad angles. We’ve got to get better at that.”

Still, there were a lot of positives to take away from the game, like the team’s resolve and ability to put pucks on the net.

“There was good stuff there,” Sandvig said. “We’ve still got Addy Keller in net. She’s learning her new role, and not having her up at forward, we’re having to kind of shuffle lines around and stuff, so people are adjusting.”

Not having Vikander in goal has altered a lot of things, but it hasn’t shaken the team’s resolve or character.

“It’s definitely a rough patch since we lost our goalie, but we hope that she comes back soon,” Raap said. “It just changed our mindset when she got hurt. It definitely made us play more powerful and more fierce that what we’ve played all season.”

The Cougars, who compete in a tournament in Watford City, N.D. this coming weekend, will continued to play their style of hockey and bring maximum effort regardless of the situation on the ice.

“I think our team has faced a lot of adversity,” Roehrich said. “I think we’re pretty good at just keeping our game and playing our game, instead of focusing on the scoreboard and how many goals they have and how many shots on goal they have. Our team is just really good at playing our game and working hard no matter what.”

Oahe Capitals 3 0 2 1 – 6

Aberdeen Cougars 1 2 2 0 – 5

First Period: 1, OC, Ava Lavinger (Brylee Kafka), 8:22; 2, OC, Kafka (Mallory Lehrkamp, Lavinger), 5:42; 3, AC, Olivia Sandvig (Rachel Siefken), 2:27; 4, OC, Kafka (Lavinger), :15.

Second Period: 5, AC, Alyssa Roehrich (Madeline Sandvig, Aiden Raap), 15:46; 6, AC, Rachel Siefken (Raap), 4:13.

Third Period: 7, OC, Kafka (Lavinger), 11:44; 8, AC, Raap (Siefken, Kylie Herman), 7:27; 9, OC, Kafka (unassisted), 4:23; 10, AC, Raap (unassisted), :25.

Overtime: 11, OC, Kafka (unassisted), 5:09.

Shots on Goal: Oahe Capitals 25; Aberdeen Cougars 43.

Goalies: Oahe Capitals, Sophia Peschong (38 saves); Aberdeen Cougars, Addyson Keller (19 saves).