Another slow start led to another league loss for the Aberdeen Cougars on Sunday afternoon.
Mitchell scored in the first three minutes to set the tone and claimed a 2-0 girls’ hockey victory at the Odde Ice Center.
“That was their third game this weekend and there was just not awesome communication out there,” said Cougars coach Amy Munsterman-Wills, “not great with some passes and stuff, too, or looking for it.”
The sluggish starts have been the norm in Aberdeen’s four league games this season as the Cougars have been forced to play from behind in each contest.
“That’s not just this year, even the few years that I’ve coached, if you look, we’ve always kind of struggled coming out and setting the tone right away in the game,” Munsterman-Wills said. “It’s always kind of been a slow start for us. Kind of trying to figure that out a little bit.”
To be sure, the Cougars had their chances against Mitchell, outshooting the Marlins by one in the game. However, the hosts were unable to get a puck into the Mitchell goal.
“If I see an open shot, I just go for it. That’s a lot of what this season’s going to be,” said senior leader Rachel Siefken. “I gotta take the puck up. I gotta move the puck, make plays, be open for other plays, but also taking shots when they’re there, because we’re going to get a select few shots.”
While Aberdeen has struggled to score, goalie Chloe Vikander has been keeping the Cougars in games stopping one shot after another. However, the senior has been forced to stop multiple shots on single possessions, because the Cougars have had difficulty clearing the puck.
“This weekend too, we’ve kind of struggled a little bit in our slot clearing that out,” Munsterman-Wills said, “and so she got pummeled a little bit on some of that, but she’s been holding her own.”
Vikander said there is a noticeable difference this year compared to previous teams that featured veteran players.
“We’re really young this year, where my freshman and sophomore year we had a lot of older girls who had been on the team since they were in eighth grade and they were all juniors and seniors, so they really stepped up and helped with that,” Vikander said. “Where here some of these girls, it’s their third year of playing hockey, so they don’t know where to be. They’re just still learning that.”
Vikander recorded 21 saves against Mitchell, but was under heavy pressure because the Cougars had a hard time getting the puck out of their own zone.
“We’re just young. We don’t know to clear the puck,” Vikander said. “You get those 3-4 shots, you block ’em, and it’s just that fifth one that they just happen to be there, where in past years we would have cleared the puck, sent it out of the zone.”
Mitchell’s final goal came late in the game when the Marlins took advantage of an Aberdeen turnover that resulted in a breakaway opportunity.
Vikander said the key in those situations is to wait for an opponent to commit.
“You just try and stay on angle and don’t make the first move” Vikander said, “stay patient and wait for the shot.”
Interestingly enough, on this occasion the Mitchell player decided to pull up and fire the puck instead of driving toward the net.
“She caught me a little off guard,” Vikander said. “I wasn’t really expecting a slap shot from the top of the circle on a breakaway.”
Siefken, who scored a pair of goals in a win on Saturday, is always a threat to score with her puck-handling skills. She will continue to work to break down defenses and help initiate the offense.
“With a younger team, it’s harder,” Siefken said.
Siefken puts pressure on opposing defenses with her ability to skate past defenders, “because that’s my style of play, just taking the puck, controlling the play,” she said. “I like to be in control, so controlling the zone and then getting a shot off, we’ve just got to work on picking corners and finishing the puck in the net.”
The Cougars, 1-3 on the young campaign, will continue to try to find the right chemistry and balance throughout the course of the season.
“This year has just been a bit of a challenge just being a younger team,” Munsterman-Wills said, “and so having your experienced players and our inexperience players trying to mesh together and trying to work together, it’s early on, too, but that’s something we’re trying to work through.”
Aberdeen will have a couple of weeks to work on a few things as its next action is Dec. 21 in Rapid City.
“This weekend showed a lot of things that we can take from and work on. When you really get into those first games it kind of helps to expose what things you need to work on a little bit more,” Munsterman-Wills said. “So, we’ll have a couple weeks, which is nice to maybe nail some of that stuff down and work on that.”
Mitchell Marlins 1 0 1 – 2
Aberdeen Cougars 0 0 0 – 0
First Period: 1, MM, Livaya Mimmack (Makenna Tronnes, Taylor Sorben), 14:32.
Second Period: No scoring.
Third Period: 2, MM, Hailey Bottolfson (unassisted), 3:35.
Shots on Goal: Mitchell Marlins 23; Aberdeen Cougars 24.
Goalies: Mitchell Marlins, Kaylie O’Connor (24 saves); Aberdeen Cougars, Chloe Vikander (21 saves).
