ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The University of Providence hockey team had their season come to an end on Wednesday as the team fell to Bentley University 3-2 in overtime in the team's final game of pool play at the ACHA National Tournament.  

The Falcons got on the board first, when Robert McNeice found the back of the net with 35 seconds left in the first period. Leo Felt evened the score just a minute into the second period, scoring a goal off an assist from Gabe Kwiatowski.

Jakob Stevenson gave the Argos a 2-1 lead with 12:23 to go in the third period, finding the back of the net off the assist from Erik Gatson. However the Falcons responded four minutes to even the score. Neither team scored in the remainder of the period, forcing an overtime period. McNeice scored the game-deciding goal three minutes into the overtime period, solidifying the game for the Falcons.

"We played well," head coach Jeff Heimel said. "We were right there. We laid it all out there. We had a chance. We did everything we were supposed to do. We had a good game plan, we stuck to it and we just didn't come out on top."

The loss puts the Argos at 1-2 in pool play in the tournament. The team fell to Iowa State in a close 3-2 game on Monday, before responding with a massive 2-1 win against Florida Gulf Coast on Tuesday to keep their hopes of advancing out of pool play alive.

"I'm proud of our guys," Heimel said. "They played great. They deserved a better fate in this tournament. They held it high and competed well. It would be one thing if we didn't play good hockey but we played the best hockey that we could have at the end of the year. We controlled the opportunity to win today. The guys need to recognize that we played well. They did everything that we asked them to do this tournament. I'm proud of them for that."

The loss marks the end of the season for the seniors who founded this program four years ago. Since the team's inception in the 2018-19 season, the Argos have qualified for the ACHA National Tournament three straight seasons.

"The seniors built this program," Heimel said. "Long after they are gone and other teams are competing here at the University of Providence, they'll be the ones that are primarily responsible for building this program. You can't ever take that away from them. They were extremely instrumental. They built something from the ground up that didn't exist. Now it's someone else's turn to grab the torch and run from it but you can't ever take that away from them. I'm proud of them for that."