The Aberdeen Wings played uphill hockey Friday night and never quite reached the pinnacle at the Odde Ice Center.

The local squad got off to a slow start and battled back from four different deficits, before finally falling in a shootout to North Iowa 5-4 in NAHL hockey action.

“The effort was there. We got better as the game went on,” said Wings coach Scott Langer. “It was a slow start, but we got better as the game went on, found a way to get it tied up, but obviously it’s about the result. We kind of needed those two points.”

Aberdeen never led in the contest, but was never out of it, either.

The Bulls who led at four different stages in regulation, were never able to open a two-goal advantage. The visitors scored on a pair of breakaways, including one short-handed goal.

“Tactically we gave up some goals,” Langer said. “We had odd-man rush opportunities that we don’t normally do and obviously they capitalized on them. Two breakaway goals is enough to win a hockey game.”

One of the other scores came on a bizarre play where the puck ended up getting batted high into the air, and landed where a North Iowa player could launch a quick shot in front of the net.

“Puck luck I guess for them,” Langer said. “I’d like to see our guys moving guys out of there when that kind of stuff happens. Stuff we need to work on obviously.”

Matthew Martin scored a pair of goals for the Wings, including one off an assist from Zan Spari-Leben in which Martin didn’t even look at the net before he fired a shot.

“I saw Zan Spari getting the puck,” Martin said. “I went in an open area and he had a good pass. I knew I had to shoot, because I was in close.”

The Wings also received a pair of goals from Jibber Kuhl, including the final goal in regulation with 8:51 remaining.

The contest ended up going to overtime, where the Wings killed off a two-minute penalty and then peppered the North Iowa goal, hitting two posts in the closing minutes.

“That’s something that we can’t really control,” Martin said. “It happens and next game if we go into OT, we’re probably going to bury those ones.”

Aberdeen grabbed the early advantage in the shootout when Wings goalie Willum Braun stopped North Iowa’s first attempt and Owen Pitters scored on Aberdeen’s first shot.

Both teams were then denied on their second attempts, before the Bulls scored to tie the shootout. Aberdeen had a chance to win the game on its chance, but came up empty, setting the stage for the fourth shooters where North Iowa converted and Aberdeen failed to score.

“You just try and stop the next one,” Braun said of the mindset in goal. “That’s all you really can do is try and stop as many as you can, give your team a chance.”

Braun has been in shootouts before.

“I’ve been in them multiple times, so it’s not like anything too new,” Braun said. “I think the pressure is on everybody.”

Braun ended up with 28 saves in goal on the night and kept the Wings in the game.

“It’s hard. When you face a bunch, you face a bunch. All I could do is stop as many I can to give my team a chance,” Braun said. “Hopefully (Saturday) we fix some things up and limit those, but they’re going to happen.”

In the end, Aberdeen came within inches multiple times of securing a win, before coming up just short.

“We dug ourselves a little bit of a hole. The good thing is we persevered and came back and tied the game,” Langer said. “We had our chances in overtime. We hit two posts. We dominated them in overtime. It comes down to a shootout and they ended up getting the game.”

The same two teams are back at it tonight with puck drop set for 7:15 at the Odde.

Martin, who also had an assist in the setback, said a key will be getting off to a better start.

“The key for (Saturday) is just starting on time,” Martin said, “because tonight I think that was one of the weakest points of the game.”

The Wings were still able to secure a point despite the setback. Braun said the team’s effort showed the character of the squad.

“I think that shows the resilience of the group though. It wasn’t our night, but we kept ourselves in it the entire time and we were able to get a point,” Braun said. “That says enough if on your bad days you can still battle like that, it says a lot.”

To see a complete box score, click on the following link:

https://www.aberdeenwings.com/game-center/?game_id=2404039&season_id=11108