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BUFFALO, N.Y. -- After a reprieve when replay disallowed a goal against him, Mike Ayers and the New Hampshire Wildcats finally woke up.

	Tim Horst (r) celebrates scoring UNH's first goal against Cornell.

Ayers stopped 19 shots, including one off his mask in the waning seconds, as New Hampshire advanced to the NCAA championship game with a 3-2 upset of the top-seeded Cornell on Thursday. Steve Saviano had two goals and Tim Horst also scored, as New Hampshire (28-7-6) advance to Saturday's final.

The Wildcats, 10-0-3 in its last 13 games, will face the winner of the semifinal between defending champion Minnesota and Michigan.

Ryan Vesce and Chris Abbott scored for Cornell (30-5-1), which had gone 14-0-1 in its last 15 games. The Big Red, eliminated in last year's NCAA tournament quarterfinals by New Hampshire, were trying to win their first title since 1970, when they finished 29-0.

The Wildcats finished strong after a slow start, when they were outshot 7-1 in the first 12 minutes.

The turning point came when referee Don Adam, following a video review, disallowed a goal scored by Cornell's Shane Palahicky. Adam ruled Palahicky used a high stick to deflect in Jeremy Downs' point shot.

"I just kind of relaxed and had a good feeling," Ayers said.

"We needed a momentum shift," added Patrick Foley. "We built off it and that's when I think we took control of the game and didn't look back."

The Wildcats responded by outshooting Cornell 13-4 in building a 3-0 lead on Saviano's power-play goal 7:10 into the second period.

Cornell eventually closed to within 3-2 on Chris Abbott's goal midway through the third period. But the Big Red's chances of forcing overtime ended when Stephen Baby, set up to the left of the net, had his shot go off Ayers' mask and off the post with 22 seconds remaining.

Baby acknowledged that the disallowed goal had an impact.

"It was a little bit of a letdown," Baby said. "We thought it might have been a goal. There's nothing you can do but continue to go hard to the net."

Big Red goaltender David LeNeveu called it "a blow to our sails."

It was an unlikely performance from a Cornell team that led the nation in every major defensive category this season. And it was a discouraging finish for LeNeveu, who led the nation with a 1.14 goals-against average, and is one of three finalists for the Hobey Baker award, given to college hockey's most valuable player.

The three goals matched the most allowed by LeNeveu this season.

"It's very disappointing, coming this far and losing such a close game," LeNeveu said. "There's nothing you can do when the pucks don't bounce your way. We came close, but close is not enough."

Horst, set up by Tyler Scott, opened the scoring one-timing a shot from the slot 14 minutes into the game.

Saviano then scored goals six minutes apart in the second period, his second beating LeNeveu on the short side from a bad angle.

It was the first multiple-goal came of Saviano's career, and it came at the right time as the Wildcats were minus leading scorer, Lanny Gare who has a separated shoulder. Gare, who practiced gingerly with the team on Wednesday, hasn't ruled out playing in Saturday's final.

"Lanny Gare's a great player and we knew we needed some more balanced offense. We put that on our shoulders and went out and did it," Saviano said. "I don't get many goals often, and I get two in a big game. But us getting up 3-0 was definitely a great feeling for our team."

Game notes
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, a Cornell graduate, attended the game, sitting in suite with former Buffalo Sabres president Larry Quinn. Quinn is expected to return as a Sabres executive after spearheading B. Thomas Golisano's bid to purchase the team. New Hampshire advanced to the championship game for the second time. The Wildcats lost to Maine 3-2 in overtime in 1999. ... Cornell's last loss came on Jan. 30 in a 2-1 overtime decision to Colgate.