It's a long time until Christmas, but the Boston Garden will be decked out in red and green tonight when Cornell and Dartmouth meet for the ECAC hockey championship of 1980.

The Big Green won last night's semi-final match against Clarkson, 6-4, while the Big Red notched four straight third-period goals and came from behind to defeat Providence, 6-5.

The Friars entered the third period leading, 4-2, and quickly upped it to 5-2 when Paul Stasiuk scored in the first minute of play. From then on, however, the game and the crowd belonged to Cornell, as David Chiappini, Jeff Baikie and Dan Miele all tallied to even the score and Roy Kerling deposited the game-winner behind Providence net minder Scott Fiske on a power play bullet at 14:13.

Earlier, the Friars had scored three times in the second period turning a 1-1 deadlock into a 4-1 lead. But Cornell's Brock Tredway, who had demonstrated all night why he is considered one of the best two-way players in the ECAC, took advantage of a four-four situation and circled behind the Providence net, tucking the puck past Fiske's glove side to narrow the margin to 4-2.

Cornell's victory sets up the first all-Ivy final since the Big Red trimmed Harvard, 4-2, in 1969.

In the opening contest, two freak third period goals by Dartmouth's Rich Ryerson broke a 4-4 tie and enabled the Big Green to squeeze past the seemingly superior Clarkson squad, 6-4.

With the score knotted at four midway through the third period. Dartmouth's John Donnelly slid the puck along the boards and Golden Knight netminder Pete Mielzyski left the crease to stop it behind the net.

Nooks and Crannies

The puck hit a cranny in the aging Garden boards and bounded in front of the empty cage where Ryerson picked it up and popped it home to give Dartmouth a 5-4 lead.

Then, at 14:11, Ryerson flipped a quick pass into the slot where it hit defensemen Steve McDougall's skate and bounced in for the final tally.

It's Cool

Clarkson dominated the contest, peppering 37 shots on Big Green net-minder Bob Gaudet, including two by Billy Norton that slipped by the goaltender during the first period to give the Knights a 2-0 lead.

They increased the margin minutes into the second stanza when Bill Audycki pushed the puck past Gaudet at 2:36, and continued to dominate play.

For the Defense

But while the Knights had the opportunities the rest of the way. Dartmouth came up with the goals. At 3:27, Tom Croft boomed a slap shot into the twines from the left point, and moments later Dennis Murphy tallied when he tipped Bill Flanigan's wrist shot home to narrow the deficit to 3-2.

Mark Dedard evened the contest at 16:00 and the rampage didn't stop as Dartmouth tallied its four unanswered goals on a Carey Wilson backhand in the final minute of the period.