They hit the ice on a mission and were not going to be denied Saturday night.

The Aberdeen Cougars boys’ hockey team played with unlimited energy, set the tone early and rolled to a season opening 8-2 win over Sioux Center at the Odde Ice Center.

“It was a great start to the season. The boys were ready to go. They were ready to come out of the locker room 10 minutes before warmups even started,” said Cougars coach Jeremey Backous. “That was one of the things that we wanted to do coming out is set the tone with an aggressive floor check and I thought we did that.”

The Cougars also showed a sign of things to come with a goal barely a minute into the action when Quincy Madsen scored off an assist from Lance Siefken.

The early goal gave the Cougars momentum and sent a messsage to the visitors from Iowa.

“It was really important,” Siefken said of the first goal. “It was part of our game plan to get ahead early and just keep going, and just bury them.”

The Cougars added three more goals in the opening period for what looked to be a commanding 4-1 advantage. However, the squads battled to even terms in the second period with each squad accounting for one goal.

“We had a time frame in there where we had a 5-on-3 we killed off and I was really proud of the boys for that,” Backous said. “That was a critical time in the game where if Sioux Center would have popped one in, it could have changed the outcome.”

Instead it was Siefken who produced the next goal early in the third period and the scoring barrage continued for the Cougars who added two more goals for the final margin of difference.

The Cougars won nearly all the 50-50 pucks on the night with fresher legs on the ice.

“I think a lot of that speaks to the depth we have on the team,” Backous said. “We were able to run four lines tonight and every one of them contributed. It’s nice that we have that depth and that we can do that.”

Siefken finished the evening with a pair of goals to go along with two assists. The Cougars also received goals from Brady Huff, Drake Witte, Devon Fischbach, Lleyton Kleffman, and Michael Weisenburger.

“We had four good lines and everybody was playing well,” Siefken said. “They got a little tired and we just took advantage of it.”

Siefken was awarded the team’s Player of the Game chain following the contest. The large gold chain-link necklace signifies the ability to pull your own weight.

“Everybody played really well,” Siefken said. “I think anybody could have got this chain. It just ended up on my neck.”

The Cougars finished with a whopping 50 shots on goal in the contest, 34 more than the Storm.

“That was one of the things that we walked about, too, was just shoot the puck,” Backous said. “Good things happen when we shoot the puck and drive to the net.”

The same two teams are back in action at 4 this afternoon at the Odde Ice Center. Backous noted that the game will start 0-0 and that his team needs to continue to put in the work.

“We have a good team. We have good depth, good skill, but it just comes down to effort,” Backous said, “and I thought tonight we had a good effort from the start and we’ll see what we can do (Sunday).”

Sioux Center 1 1 0 – 2

Aberdeen Cougars 4 1 3 – 8

First Period: AC, Quincy Madsen (Lance Siefken), 15:55; 2, AC, Brady Huff (Michael Weisenburger), 6:04; 3, SC, Tatum Van Den Berg (Hunter Doyle), 4:34; 4, AC, Siefken (Micah Kranzler), 2:26; 5, AC, Drake Witte (Siefken, Madsen), :42.7.

Second Period: 6, AC, Devon Fischbach (Lleyton Kleffman, Huff), 4:10; 7, SC, Van Den Berg (Noam Groeneweg), :1.5.

Third Period: 8, AC, Siefken (Austyn Brunson, Kranzler), 11:36; 9, AC, Kleffman (Fischbach, Jaxon Danielson), 10:46; 10, AC, Weisenburger (Witte), 4:37.

Shots on Goal: Sioux Center 16; Aberdeen Cougars 50.

Goalies: Sioux Center, Christian Richards (42 saves); Aberdeen Cougars, Colton Townsend (14 saves).