The Aberdeen Cougars boys’ hockey team experienced the extreme ends of the spectrum within 24 hours.

One night after recording a 12-1 win over Huron, Aberdeen was on the short end of a 7-0 setback to the Sioux Falls Flyers 1 Saturday night at the Odde Ice Center.

The visitors hit the ice humming and grabbed a 3-0 lead less than five minutes in.

“They just come at you with speed and it’s line after line after line,” said Cougars coach Jeremey Backous. “They just do not have a weak link anywhere that I could see.”

The Flyers added three more goals in the second period as they spent the majority of the game on the Cougars’ side of the ice.

“That’s the kind of team that we’re looking to be by the end of the season. Clearly, we’re not there, yet,” Backous said. “They just move the puck so quick and everything is so clean, it’s flat tape-to-tape passes, and when that’s how you play the game, you can play with a lot of speed, and they did.”

Sioux Falls added a late goal in the third period for the final margin of difference.

So far this season, the Cougars have experience a lopsided win and losses, as well as a tie.

“We have to stay together as a team and not give up,” said Cougars player Quincy Madsen. “We can get some of those big games, but then little mistakes can cause scores to be 7-0, 7-1.”

In the end, Saturday’s contest was just one of many on the season.

“This last game is just in the dust,” Madsen said. “It’s a new look on what the next game is going to be.”

While Sioux Falls outshot Aberdeen 44-18, the Cougars did have some scoring chances down the stretch.

“We did have some good chances, especially towards the end of the game which I’m happy with that because the kids didn’t quit,” Backous said. “I thought we battled hard until the end. We just have to get better.”

The Cougars are currently 1-3-1 on the season and face the Sioux Falls Flyers 2 today at 3 p.m. at the Odde Ice Center.

Madsen said the squad is definitely making strides compared to a year ago.

“We’re talking better than we did last year and we’re learning a lot better than we did last year,” Madsen said. “The older kids are learning from what we made mistakes on last year, so just trying to get these new kids up into the pace is just what we need to do.”

Backous knew the front half of the schedule would present some serious challenges for his squad.

“We have a very tough front-loaded schedule,” Backous said. “I think it’s good, especially for some of these young guys, just to experience the type of play we’re going to see when we get to the state tournament. That’s ultimately our goal, and where we need to be at the end of the season.”

Despite Saturday’s setback, Backous has seen signs of improvement from his squad just five games into the young season.

“I don’t think we’re where we would like to be in terms of wins and losses, but there were moments in tonight’s game where I saw us break the puck out of zone under heavy pressure,” he said, “and I’m not sure that we would have been able to execute or make those same decisions even two weeks ago.”

Sioux Falls Flyers 3 3 1 – 7

Aberdeen Cougars 0 0 0 – 0

First Period: 1, SFF, Mason Schramm (Cory Pardaems), 14:52; 2, SFF, Schramm (Marvin Tryg Smoot), 13:16; 3, SFF, Pardaems (Schramm), 12:47.

Second Period: 4, SFF, Nicholas Lohr, 15:12; 5, SFF, Lohr (Carter Hanson), 9:38; 6, SFF, Maxwell Mohr (Pardaems, Schramm), 2:20.

Third Period: 7, SFF, Tristan Lake, 2:15.

Shots on Goal: Sioux Falls Flyers 44; Aberdeen Cougars 18.

Goalies: Sioux Falls Flyers, Ian Pattison (18 saves); Aberdeen Cougars, Colton Townsend (37 saves).