M. Hockey Blows Early Lead

BURLINGTON, Vt.--For nearly fifty minutes, it looked like the Harvard men's hockey team had finally established itself as a team to beat in the ECAC and one of the better squads in the country.

In the next ten minutes, it all fell apart.

Vermont handed Harvard its most bitter defeat of the season, rallying from a 3-1 deficit with just over ten minutes left to beat the No. 13 Crimson 5-3 Saturday night, in front of a sellout crowd at Gutterson Fieldhouse.

"They came at us in the third period and we didn't withstand it," Harvard Coach Mark Mazzoleni said. "We should have been able to without them."

With the victory, Vermont, which forfeited its entire season last year due to a hazing scandal, took command of the ECAC. While the Crimson technically remains in first place by a point, the Catamounts have four games in hand. The defeat will probably drop Harvard (6-4-1, 5-3-1 ECAC) out of the national rankings this week.

It was the second time this year Vermont (7-4-0, 5-0-0) rallied from a late 3-1 deficit to beat the Crimson. It was also the first time the Crimson has lost this season when scoring first.

Harvard, sitting on a two-goal lead, looked to be in control going into final minutes. The Crimson contained the Catamount up-tempo attacking style by keeping the puck in the neutral zone, limiting the Catamounts' scoring opportunities.

"For two periods, we played the type of game that we wanted to play," Mazzoleni said.

The Crimson had a golden opportunity to put the game away on the power play with 13:48 left in the contest. Instead, it was the Catamount--with some help from the officials--who turned the game around.

Late in the power play, sophomore defenseman Aaron Kim failed to contain the puck in the Catamount zone. Kim then did not scramble back fast enough on defense, allowing UVM center John Longo to race up-ice unimpeded.

Crimson senior goalie Oli Jonas stopped Longo's shot, and in the fight for the rebound, the net appeared to become dislodged when a Catamount skater crashed into it.

But that's not what the officials saw.

Trailing the play, Catamount left-winger Bryson Busniuk slapped the rebound out of the air into the net. Referee Joel Dupree allowed the short-handed goal, much to the shock of the Harvard players and even to the pleasant surprise of the Vermont crowd.

"I've got to see the tape on that second goal," Mazzoleni said. "I think the net was off, and that started their momentum."

For a while, it looked like Harvard would withstand the pressure and hold on to its one-goal lead. But with under three minutes left to play, Vermont finally broke through, as Harvard got burned trying to steal time by playing its fourth line late.

Catamount center Ryan Miller took the puck at the top of Harvard's zone and skated right through two defenders, breaking clear right in front of Jonas. Miller beat Jonas high to the left side, and the game was tied.

And before the Crimson realized what had happened, it was losing.

Just forty-two seconds later, Catamount center Patrick sharp slipped behind a confused Harvard defense. Jonas was left on an island again, and Sharp slipped the puck by him to give Vermont its first lead of the game.

Winger J.F. Caudron sealed the game with an empty-net goal at 19:32.

The Crimson was done in by its season-long Achilles heel--defensive mistakes from an ineffective, inexperienced blueline.

"We're very, very vulnerable back there," Mazzoleni said. "At times, we collapsed back there."

The game had the makings of a shootout from the opening faceoff. And the first period featured non-stop, end-to-end hockey with numerous scoring chances for both sides.

Harvard struck first. After a Catamount attack, freshman winger Tyler Kolarik took the puck near the left boards, shed the defender on him and raced-up ice alone. Allen stopped Kolarik's first shot, but not the second at 4:09.

Harvard added a shorthanded goal at 7:55 to take a 2-0 lead. The rest of the period featured furious up-and-down action. Vermont put heavy pressure on Jonas by counterattacking with long passes to streaking forwards at center ice.

"The first period overall was not that bad," Vermont Coach Mike Gilligan said. "We could've had a couple of goals in that period."

Time and time again in the first period Jonas found himself all alone with a Catamount player in front of him. And each time the Crimson goalie came up huge, making stops which ranged from incredibly lucky to just plain incredible.

Although Jonas, who stopped 25 of 29 shots, could not come up with the same type of plays late in the game, Mazzoleni said he turned in another

strong performance overall.

"I can't fault him at all," he said. "We can't expect him to bail us out all the time."

Harvard did a much better job containing Vermont's up-tempo game in the second. The Crimson made the game a more physical conest and kept the puck out of the middle of the ice as much as possible.

"Harvard had a great second period," Gilligan said. "They won all the battles on the boards."

The Crimson was rewarded for its efforts with a soft goal by freshman left-winger Dennis Packard at 7:01 in the second period. It was Packard's first goal of his collegiate career. Rookie defenseman Dave McCulloch got the primary assist on the tally, the second point of his career--the first came on Kolarik's strike.

The goal gave the Crimson a 3-0 lead and momentarily stunned the crowd. But Vermont would climb back into the game four minutes later with a neat two-on-one goal which Jonas had no chance to stop.

Harvard actually had several opportunities to score a fourth time.

"We're up 3-1 and [assistant captain] Chris [Bala] goes in three times by himself during that time," Mazzoleni said. "We make one, the game's over."

Instead, Vermont took the game away.

Harvard next plays Thursday night, facing a tough road test against No 4. New Hampshire.