HELENA, Mont. – The University of Providence hockey program defeated the University of Montana 6-3 to advance to the Montana Cup Championship Thursday night.

The Grizzlies (9-12-1) scored the first goal of the contest but a few minutes later senior Jonathan O'Brien won a faceoff in the offensive zone to sophomore Sam Duehlmeier whose wrist shot was tipped past the goaltender by sophomore William Clark to tie the game at one.

The Grizzlies added a power-play goal with two minutes left in the first period but the Argos (12-6-2) answered in the second when senior Colby Friedrich found senior Adam Husli whose wrist shot beat the goaltender to tie the game at two.

The Argos continued their momentum when sophomore Daniel Tainton passed the puck back to junior Chavez Constant and his wrist shot from the blue line found the back of the net to give UP a 3-2 lead.

Just under a minute later the Argos extended the lead to two when junior Jamal Kalaf's pass from behind the net bounced off a stick to senior Nicholas Demchuk and he chipped it past the goaltender to put UP in front 4-2 with four minutes remaining in the second period.

Sophomore Kage Yellowfly scored his first goal of the season to push the Argo lead out to three to begin the third, but the Grizzlies responded with a shorthanded goal midway through the period to make it 5-3 with 10 minutes left.

Constant added his second goal of the game a few minutes later to increase the Argo lead back to three, and despite late pressure from the Grizzlies, UP defeated the University of Montana 6-3.

The Argos will be back in action on Saturday, Jan. 10 when they face the winner of #3 Montana State and Montana Tech in the Montana Cup Championship. Puck-drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. (MST) in Helena, Mont.