Just three weeks ago, Elliott tore the meniscus in his right knee, and missed the following two weeks. Earlier in the week he was given medical clearance to play, and it was not a big surprise that he was in the nets.

"I felt pretty good, and it feels pretty good to win, that's really all I care about," said Elliott. "I knew I was going to play, it was just a matter of getting my knee back."

"We hadn't made a decision until late last night," said Big Red head coach Mike Schafer. "He was cleared and he made some great saves tonight."

"If you're a hockey man, you knew," said Engineer head coach Dan Fridgen about whether or not he thought Elliott was going to start.

After Elliott was announced the attention turned to the offense, and in the first period Doug Stienstra put the only goal on the board when he took a rebound of a Keith Peach shot and put it past Rensselaer goaltender Scott Prekaski.

The Engineers would tie it up in the second when Brad Tapper created a turnover in the right corner and came out towards Elliott. His first shot was saved, but the second shot went over Elliott's shoulder for the tying goal.

The Big Red would score the next two goals, both on the power play. At 4:12, Ryan Moynihan snapped a quick shot over the shoulder of Prekaski from the bottom of the left faceoff circle, and Jeff Oates did much the same 12 minutes later to give Cornell a 3-1 lead.

The Engineers would cut the deficit to one goal before the second period let out. Tapper's second goal of the game came on the power play as the puck trickled its way to Tapper at the left post and he roofed it past Elliott.

In the third period the Engineers tied it up again when Brad's brother Bryan shot the puck from the point and it slipped by Elliott's pads for the goal.

A little over four minutes later Oates was hit with a pass from Jeff Burgoyne that sent him in alone. He rushed Prekaski and as he neared, the puck rolled up Prekaski and into the net, giving Cornell the lead once again.

But with three and half minutes left in the third period, Brad Tapper turned the hat trick, his second of the season against Cornell. Tapper tipped a point shot by Chris Aldous between Elliott's pads to knot the score at four apiece.

But it only took 17 seconds for the Big Red to answer -- on a turnover behind Prekaski that led to a pass to Darren Tymchyshyn, who fired it past him for the game-winning goal.

"We didn't sit back after they scored; we went right back after them, and I think that's why we were successful," said Tymchyshyn. "We dumped it in and they went in and did a good job of digging the puck out. They had three guys down low and I was wide open with the empty net."

"You fall asleep for a couple of seconds and the puck's going to wind up in the net," said Fridgen. "You can't be doing that in playoff hockey, but let's face it, this is a game of mistakes and mistakes are going to be made. You just have to look to recover from that, and unfortunately there wasn't a lot of time to do that."

The hat trick for Tapper gave him seven goals against Cornell this season, more than half of his season total.

"It's a good thing, I guess, but it didn't help," said Brad Tapper about his hat trick. "It's a real shocker, you get a goal and you tie the game, and the emotions are pretty tough."

"Maybe instead of worrying about (Eric) Healey and (Alain) St. Hilaire, I should worry about Brad Tapper. I mean he's had what, 40 goals against us this season?" joked Elliott.

"I thought we did a good job not giving them odd man situations," said Schafer about Healey and St. Hilaire. "Now if we could control Brad Tapper we'd be okay. He's having a career against us."

"The difference was a couple of power-play goals, and a turnover at the end and they put it home," said Fridgen. "There's not much else you can do about that."

"I just didn't make the saves tonight that we needed," said a dejected Prekaski. "The guys were working so hard and they were giving me chances to win the game, and I just couldn't do it."

"We mixed it up all night long," said Schafer. "We tried to contain them tonight, and we got some turnovers and we had some real good chances and we capitalized."

Elliott said he felt a little fatigue and slow reaction time at the beginning of the game, but should be back in the nets once again in game two Saturday evening.

"I definitely noticed it out there," said Elliott of the fatigue. "Tomorrow night, it'll be a lot easier.

"I was telling the guys in the locker room after the game that I felt like Grant Fuhr in the old Edmonton Oiler days in the 10-9 games -- just save the next one and you win," he added. "It was a lot of fun. I definitely missed it."

The two teams will meet once again on Saturday evening. If Cornell ties or wins, the Big Red will advance to Lake Placid. The Engineers need to win in order to force game three on Sunday evening.

"You have to go out and win," said Tapper. "We're behind the eight-ball now; there's not much more you can say."

"It doesn't matter if tomorrow is a shootout," said Elliott. "It's the playoffs, and I'd rather win than lose 2-1."