GREAT FALLS, Mont. – The #3 University of Providence hockey team looked like they hadn't missed a beat after a three week hiatus, defeating #8 Montana State 3-0 Friday night at the Great Falls Ice Plex.

Cooper Page got things started early for the Argos (6-2), finding the back of the net in the first period off the assist from Levi Anderson. Hanging onto a one-goal lead after the first break, the Argos survived some sloppy play in the second, with goalie Jacob Fry coming up with several clutch saves to preserve the Argo lead.

Ty Alger gave the Argos a two-goal cushion, putting it past Bobcat goalie Josh Hubert eight minutes into the third period. Alger struck again with three minutes remaining in the game to solidify the victory for the Argos.

"We hung in there and kept our lead," head coach Jeff Heimel said. "We refocused in the third. We popped two goals there in the third and didn't look back."

Alger recorded an assist on top of the two goals he scored for the squad. Cooper Page led the team with two assists on the night. Anderson, Leo Felt, Gabe Kwiatkowski and Jakob Stevenson all recorded an assist for the team. Fry got the shutout for the Argos, recording 41 saves on the game.

"Fry was by far our best player," Heimel said. "He was by far the star of the game. We scored early and kind of clung to a one-score lead. We had some spurts of poor play, in the second period especially, where Fry just came out and bailed us out of some situations. He did a great job."

The team will play one last game before Christmas break; the squad will travel to Bozeman on Sunday, Dec. 5 for a rematch against the Bobcats. The puck will drop at 7:00 p.m.

"I'd like to see us handle the puck a little bit better," Heimel said. "Some of the reasons that Fry came up with big saves was because we turned the puck over a few times. We gave them some scoring chances from our errors. If we can clean that up a little bit, possess the puck a little bit more and clean up some minor things, I think that'll give us a good chance."