The streak is over.

For the first time in eight years, the Aberdeen Cougars will not be playing in the state championship game of the Girls’ State Hockey Tournament.

The Mitchell Marlins scored two goals in less than two minutes to start Saturday’s semifinal contest and skated to an 8-2 victory over Aberdeen at the Odde Ice Center.

“Part of our problem was a little mental toughness,” said Cougars coach Rob Weinmeister. “Yes, we made a mistake early on and they capitalized and for some reason, some of our girls were like it’s the end of the world. And it’s not. You have a whole game left. And then it compounded and compounded, and they’re a good team and they’ll capitalize on mistakes, and that’s what they did.”

Brooke Jarman scored just 25 seconds into the game for the Marlins, before Tiffany Hatwan added another goal about a minute later.

Brynlee Sabers then added another goal to give the second-seeded Marlins a 3-0 advantage by the end of the period.

Jarman and Sabers each added another goal before the Cougars got on the scoreboard on a goal by Morgan Jones with an assist by Alyssa Roehrich. However, whatever momentum the Cougars received from that goal was quickly erased when the Marlins added another goal just 29 seconds later when Kelsey Amick scored to make the margin 6-1. Jarman then recorded a hat trick before the period ended to push the advantage to six heading into the final period.

The teams traded goals in the third period. Madalynn Witte found the back of the net for the Cougars on an assist by Kailyn Poppen, before Sabers got her hat trick for the final margin of difference.

The Marlins, who will face Sioux Falls for the state title at 2 this afternoon, only had eight more shots on goal, but their attempts seemed to come with more force and power than Aberdeen’s shots.

“That’s one thing we talked about between one of the periods,” Weinmeister said. “They’ve got good hard shots as a team. They take hard shots and because of that, it leaves a lot of big rebounds sometimes and we weren’t clearing those out, either.”

It marked the third time this season that Mitchell has defeated the Cougars. Despite the setback, Weinmeister was proud of the way his girls battled the older and more experienced Marlins.

“The big thing for us was we needed to play our game and the other thing that I wanted the girls to do was continue to battle. Make them earn it,” Weinmeister said. “Yes, we got down big, but still make them earn it and battle, and I think a lot of the girls did that.”

Weinmeister said there was plenty to take away from the semifinal setback, things that the squad can benefit from in the years to come.

“We weren’t there mentally and part of that is being young and learning that mental toughness,” Weinmeister said.

And now, for the first time in nearly a decade, the Cougars will be playing in a game other than the title contest today. Aberdeen, which has won six of the past seven state championships, will meet Brookings for third place at 11:30 this morning to conclude the season.

“It’s a perfect learning lesson,” Weinmeister said. “Sometimes things don’t always go the way you want, but you get a new day the next day and you have to bounce back and bring it back to like you were. Play to your capabilities and that’s what we need to do (today).”

Aberdeen Cougars 0 1 1 – 2

Mitchell Marlins 3 4 1 – 8

First Period: 1, MM, Brooke Jarman (Brynlee Sabers), 16:35; 2, MM, Tiffany Hatwan (Reese Amick), 15:21; 3, MM, Sabers (Jarman, Kelsey Amick), 4:51.

Second Period: 4, MM, Jarman (unassisted), 15:44; 5, MM, Sabers (Jarman, K. Amick), 13:00; 6, AC, Morgan Jones (Alyssa Roehrich), 9:40; 7, MM, Amick (Kate Nash), 9:11; 8, MM, Jarman (unassisted).

Third Period: 9, AC, Madalynn Witte (Kailyn Poppen), 12:09; 10, MM, Sabers (R. Amick), 9:51.

Shots on Goal: Aberdeen Cougars 23; Mitchell Marlins 31.

Goalies: Aberdeen Cougars, Ellen Orr (23 saves); Mitchell Marlins, Sadie Kludt (21 saves).