TROY -- In what is an absolute must-win for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, tonight's game vs. last-place Harvard just got a little tougher.
    Second-leader scorer Jacob Laliberte became ill just before warmups and was pulled from the lineup. He was replaced by freshman center Andrew Commers, who has just two games of college experience.
   Senior winger Marty O'Grady, two took an elbow in the head last week, is also sidelined.
   The Engineers won their two previous ECAC Hockey games to move to 3-6-3 in the league, and to have a legitimate shot at moving up three slots in the league standings, will almost certainly need to win tonight against a Harvard team that has won just one game since its 4-0 victory over RPI on Nov. 11 and is 3-11-0 in league games, 5-13-1 overall.
    Surprisingly, freshman center Kyle Criscuolo returns from an injury for the Crimson after missing the past 10 games.
    Laliberte (7 goals-10 assists-17 points) was to have centered a line with C.J. Lee at left wing and leading scorer Ryan Haggerty (10-8-18) on the right.
   Laliberte will be replaced on that line by Brock Higgs or Mark McGowan.
   Higgs was slated to center for LW Mike Zalewski and RW Milos Bubela, McGowan was set to be between assists leader Matt Neal (4-12-16) on the left and Matt Tinordi.
   The fourth line was Johnny Rogic at left wing, Mark Miller at center and Greg Burgdoerfer on the right. Miller could be re-united with Zalewski and Bubela, as the trio enjoyed some success when skating together six-eight weeks ago.