Down 3-1 with less than a minute remaining, the Providence College hockey team rallied to steal a 4-3 decision from top-ranked Clarkson and vault into the ECAC finals last night at the Boston Garden.

The Friars will meet Cornell, who last night defeated Colgate, 4-3, in the other semi-final contest, in tonight's finals.

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With just over a minute remaining in the final period, and the Golden Knights, seeded number-one in the East, holding a two-goal lead. Providence coach Lou Lamoriello yanked goalie Scott Fiske for a sixth skater. Just ten seconds later, at 19:04, a Scot Kleinendorst bullet found its way past Clarkson netminder Don Syivestri to narrow the margin to one.

Fiske had entered the game with 80 seconds remaining, replacing Mario Proulx. Now, with the Friars down 3-2, Proulx returned, but left the ice again for an extra man when the puck left the Providence end.

Somehow, the Friars scored again. Dan Kelley pumped home the tying goal for Providence with just 35 seconds left, sending the game into sudden death overtime.

Five minutes into overtime, Steve Anderson put the Friars in the ECAC finals for the first time since 1978 by batting home a Kurt Kleinendorst shot for the gamewinner.

Providence, seeded seventh in the eight-team tournament, upset Boston College, 5-2, in the first round Tuesday night. The Friars will face the Big Red, fourth-seeded in the ECAC and champions of the Ivy Division.

With the opener tied 3-3 in the third period, Cornell's Brock Tredway picked up the puck in the Red Raider zone, waited, faked and slid it by goalie Guy Lemonde for the eventual gamewinner. The Big Red, defending ECAC Champions, advanced to the finals for the second straight year.

Tredway's goal, his second of the game, capped a three-goal comeback by Cornell, who trailed, 3-1, early in the third period. Two tallies, nine seconds apart, knotted the score (Geoff Dervin scored the equalizer at 10:34) and Tredway's 112th lifetime tally (extending his own Big Red record) won it two minutes later.

"Getting those goals in succession gave us a big lift," Tredway said after the game. "We were really getting lulled to sleep. Lemond was playing a great game at the time and we needed something to pick us up. Having out fourth line score twice was just tremendous."

The Cornell-Providence championship will take place tonight at 8 p.m. at the Garden. Preceding it, starting at 5:30 p.m., Colgate will face Clarkson in the consolation.