It wasn’t the way that six senior members of the Aberdeen Cougars girls’ hockey team wanted to exit the Odde Ice Center one last time, but they are hoping lessons learned can benefit them next month.

The Cougars were blanked 3-0 by the state’s top squad Sioux Falls Flyers at on Saturday afternoon. The local squad is hoping for a rematch at the state tournament in Sioux Falls in early March.

“They’re a good team. There’s no doub about that,” said Cougars coach David Sandvig. “I thought our girls hustled well. … We knew that they wanted their undefeated season and they were going to bring their best, matching lines and all that stuff. We just put our girls out on the ice to see how we stacked up, knowing that we gotta hopefully get to play them again in a couple of weeks. So we got to measure some things against it, and that’s good.”

One thing that was evident against the Flyers on Saturday was that the Cougars have to find a way to get off more quality shots. Aberdeen managed just 11 shots on goal, none of which found the back of the net.

“We needed to look around a little more to get it down and deep down in the zone,” said Aberdeen’s Allie Woehl, “not mess with it at the blue line and that’s what we were doing.”

Of course, the Sioux Falls defense had something to do with Aberdeen’s lack of offensive production, possessing the puck and keeping the Cougars from obtaining high-quality looks.

“They’re a well-rounded team and down in their zone they do a pretty good job of just keeping us out,” said Aberdeen’s Raniesa Mattke. “We had few good looks and I think if we just maybe tried to do that the whole game, we would have gotten more shots on goal. I think they’re just good down low and they know how to cover us.”

Despite being outshot by a 3-1 margin, the Cougars were right in the game, trailing just 1-0 midway through the final period. Aberdeen goalie Chloe Vikander, who finished with 28 saves, turned away one shot after another, including a two-person power play for the Flyers in the opening period.

“She had some insane saves for us,” Woehl said. “She really kept us in this game.”

While Sioux Falls eventually took control in the final six minutes of the game, Sandvig felt that his team got a bit sharper on offense as the contest wore on.

“It got a little better as they went on, but they were holding on to the puck too long early, trying to sneak through and get a close-up snipe,” Sandvig said. “They finally started getting, let’s get the puck into the zone and let’s control the zone, and they did that once they got in there.”

The Cougars are now hoping for a rematch against this year’s league champions. Two years ago, Aberdeen won the league title, only to fall in the state final, and last year the Cougars won the state championship despite not being league champions.

“This happened to us last year,” Mattke said, noting the Cougars defeated the Flyers in the title contest a a year ago. “They came out league champs and we came out state champs.”

Time will tell if they two teams will face each other in the state tourney again. Sandvig said it really doesn’t make much different who the Cougars ended up playing.

“I always tell them, it doesn’t really matter that weekend,” Sandvig said. “If you wanna be the best, you gotta beat anybody that you’re on the ice with. That’s what we’ll try to prepare for.”

Saturday was the final home game in the careers of Mattke, Woehl, Kalin Hepper, Aiden Raap, Alyssa Roehrich, and Madeline Sandvig.

“They’ve been a delight to get to coach and be on the bench with, and be on the ice with for practices,” Sandvig said. “I know that I’ll personally really miss them and so will the program.”

The contest proved bittersweet for the seniors, who lost their final game in a facility where they won so many.

“It’s kind of upsetting. Doesn’t feel real,” Woehl said. “I do have a lot of memories in here, most of them are pretty good.”

When asked what she will remember most about those times, Woehl responded, “Just getting to play with these girls throughout these past years. They’ve been there for me and we’ve all been there for each other, and we’ve had these coaches forever. We just kind of grew up together. It’s really cool.”

Sioux Falls Flyers 0 1 2 – 3

Aberdeen Cougars 0 0 0 – 0

First Period: no scoring.

Second Period: 1, SF, Emma Honner (Brianna Marvici, Lucy Nelson), 6:19.

Third Period: 2, SF, Aniston Murray (Ragyn Peska), 6:58; 3, SF, Peska (Honner), 5:02.

Shots on Goal: Sioux Falls Flyers 31; Aberdeen Cougars 11.

Goalies: Sioux Falls Flyers, Moriah Lincoln (11 saves); Aberdeen Cougars, Chloe Vikander (28 saves).