It started early and ended late.

The Aberdeen Cougars scored in the first 40 seconds and put in their final goal with three seconds left Sunday afternoon at the Odde Ice Center. In between the action was much the same as the local squad found the back of the net with regularity in an 11-0 boys’ hockey win over Sioux Center.

“It’s something we’ve been working on a lot in practice,” said Cougars coach Dana Myhre, “getting them to play a little more unselfishly and move the puck around, and it seems to be working.”

The Cougars scored five times in the opening period, twice in the second, and finished up with four more goals in the third.

While it was not a perfect performance, it definitely was productive.

“They played a complete game today,” Myhre said. “I think we still need to play a little quicker, a little faster, moving the puck and that sort of thing, forechecking, but it was a good game for us to see where we’re at.”

Carter Vilhauer buried the puck throughout the contest, finishing with six goals. He scored Aberdeen’s first and last goals, with four others in between.

He talked about the opening goal 40 seconds into the game.

“It’s very important to get the first,” Vilhauer said, “because then the momentum just keeps going for your team.”

The Cougars, who defeated Sioux Center 8-2 on Saturday, continued their strong effort from the opening puck drop on Sunday.

“We definitely wanted to be the aggressor,” Vilhauer said, “and just put on the pressure the whole time.”

One of Vilhauer’s goals came on a pin-point pass as he waited patiently on the other side of the ice to rip a shot past the goalie.

“We practice that in practice a lot,” Vilhauer said. “It feels good to have that happen in a game finally.”

Nearly all of Vilhauer’s goals came off assists from Trayke Roehrich, who finished with seven assists total in the contest.

The chemistry between the teammates is evident.

“We’ve been playing together for a very long time,” Vilhauer said. “We’re really good friends off the ice, too, so we just work really good together.”

Roehrich, who also had a goal of his own, said he prefers helping others score rather than looking for his own shot.

“I’m more of an assist kind of guy,” Roehrich said. “I like dishing to people and watching them bury.”

Roehrich said the Cougars need to continue to pass the puck and search for high-percentage shots instead of settling for the first one that comes along.

“We just need to work on moving the puck around,” Roehrich said, “and just getting better opportunities on the shots we have … instead of shooting bad-angle shots and stuff.”

Aberdeen outshot the Storm by a 36-8 margin and played the majority of the game in front of the Sioux Center goal. The Cougars outraced their foes to obtain possession of the puck.

When asked about that effort, Roehrich responded, “Just a lot of forechecking. We need to be hard on our forecheck against every team.”

Aberdeen also received a pair of goals and an assist from Paxton Dallmann, and single goals from Derek Holland, and Briggs Medill.

The Cougars have games at Sioux Falls West on Saturday and at Brookings on Sunday.

Roehrich talked about the keys heading into the second half of the season.

“We just need to play calm like we were today,” Roehrich said, “and making those simple plays, simple passes and just burying.”

The squad should have momentum from its high-level performance on Sunday.

“This was definitely a builder for the team,” Vilhauer said. “We got a lot of points off it, and it just makes you want to play harder next time.”

While there is still work to be done, Myhre said the squad can see the payoff of playing like they did against the Storm.

“I think it’s going to be a good confidence builder for them,” Myhre said, “the way we’ve been trying to get them to play and figuring out that it really does work.”

Sioux Center Storm 0 0 0 – 0

Aberdeen Cougars 5 2 4 – 11

First Period: 1, AC, Carter Vilhauer (Trayke Roehrich), 16:20; 2, AC, Paxton Dallmann (Roehrich), 13:24; 3, AC, Vilhauer (Briggs Medill), 10:21; 4, Medill (Jace Byram, Roehrich), 2:55; 5, AC, Dallmann (Roehrich), 1:10;

Second Period: 6, AC, Vilhauer (Austin Schmit, Jaxon Danielson), 12:23; 7, AC, Derek Holland (Medill, Wheeler Malsam), 11:44.

Third Period: 8, AC, Vilhauer (Roehrich), 6:42; 9, AC, Vilhauer (Roehrich), 5:18; 10, AC, Roehrich (Vilhauer); 11, AC, Vilhauer (Dallmann, Roehrich), :03.

Shots on Goal: Sioux Center Storm 8; Aberdeen Cougars 36.

Goalies: Sioux Center Storm, Isaac Beller (19 saves), Bohdan Vinichenko (6 saves); Aberdeen Cougars, Ben Bradley (8 saves).