For most of last night's ate ECAC semifinal game, it looked like Harvard hockey fans who left the Garden early hadn't missed much.

But for the numerous Providence partisans who sat through the doubleheader's lesser half, the only thing that mattered was the Friars' 1-0 victory over St. Lawrence the chance to watch their team challenge Harvard in tonight's championship game.

Spectacular goaltending was the only thing extraordinary about the first 1-0 contest in the ECAC playoffs' 22-year history. The Lorries' Gray Weicker notched 21 saves, many of them great, living up to the reputation that earned him second team All-ECAC honors. But Mario Proulx proved uneatable at the other end of the ice, as 44 St. Lawrence shots found the junior netminder before having the chance to cross the goal line.

The only score of the night came just 26 seconds into the game, when Kurt Kleinendorst flipped the Friars' first shot on goal past Weicker. The shot, off a Steve Anderson centering pass from the corner, gave Proulx the one-goal lead he clung to for the remaining 59:34.

Proulx said the slim edge helped his goaltending. "You can met anything in," he said. "It's so tight you don't let go."

While Proulx held onto his lead, the players couldn't hold to their equipment. At various times during the rough and tumble contest, players lost three helmets, two sticks and two gloves on the ice. Play turned sloppy, bodies swept the wet ice and cheap shots made their marks on both teams. It will be a bruised and bandaged Providence squad that takes the ice against the Crimson tonight.

"I just don't want anybody t see what's going on in there." Providence Coach Lou Lamoriello said to reporters swarmming outside his team's locker room. "There' people getting stitches, there's people getting bandaged up." He wouldn't say who they were.

But despite the effects of the hard-hitting contest. Proulx expressed confidence that his team could down Harvard. "There's two games we didn't get up for [during the season] and that's Harvard and St. Lawrence," he said, explaining why the Friars would avenge the 8-5 setback the Crimson dealt Providence February 9 at Bright Center. "We owe them one," he added.

Asked what his team would do against Harvard. Lamoriello said, "I honetly haven't even given Harvard a thought right now. Harvard's an excellent team."

THE NOTEBOOK: Last night's Providence victory was only the fifth shutout ever in ECAC final four action. The last one came in 1973...The game got so sloppy that even basics like getting off the bench posed problems. One Saint tripped climbing over the boards and fell face-down on the ice.