CANTON, N.Y--A lie to the Vermont State District Attorney sent the Harvard men's hockey team plummeting from first place all the way to seventh on Monday.

After getting routed in the North Country by Clarkson and St. Lawrence, the Crimson still shared first place with the Saints at 13 points. It was a sham of a claim that surely would've dissipated over the exam break as the rest of the ECAC played the up to four games in hand each team had on Harvard.

The league, however, removed the suspense in adjudicating the cancellation of the University of Vermont's season after allegations of hazing and subsequent perjury. For this year, winning percentage, not points will rank teams, and Harvard stands at .500--good for a seventh-place tie with Cornell.

The accusations have festered all semester since the story broke in the fall.

The details of what actually occurred at a Catamount "initiation party" last September are a little sketchy. The freshmen were reportedly made to eat seafood pie until they puked, forced to consume large quantities of alcohol and perform the old "elephant walk."

For those unfamiliar with hazing practices, that's where the players line up naked and parade around the room holding the genitals of the person in front of them.

After robbing the frosh of their dignity, the captain of the team, Kevin Karlander, allegedly outright robbed them. He ordered one wannabee to hand over his credit card and made about $900 in purchases. This freshman blew the whistle on all of the criminal behavior when he sued to get his money back--after he was cut from the team.

Yet, the Catamounts would probably be preparing for this weekend's games if the players, once caught, would've fessed up. But they followed the example of Richard Nixon and tried to cover their tracks. They lied to everyone from the university president to the NCAA to the District Attorney.