"Coming into this game, we knew Vermont loved to play a high-tempo chancy kind of game," Mazzoleni said. "For the first two periods, we played the way we wanted to, but in the third we played their style of game, and that was to their advantage."

With the score tied at 3-3, Vermont's Jerry Gernander crept in untouched from the left circle and poked in Ryan Miller's rebound to give the Catamounts the lead with 5:22 to go in third period.

The open style of play in the third period and a couple defensive miscues allowed Vermont to fight its way back into the game after Harvard thought it had put the game in the bag.

"We went into the third with a lead in our own building," Mazzoleni said. "It's just inexcusable to lose."

Things looked better for the Crimson earlier in the game. Down a man with four minutes remaining in the second period, Steve Moore put the Crimson ahead, 3-1, on a feed from his brother, Dominic Moore.

After the puck hit the referee on the Crimson's clearing attempt, Dominic Moore won the foot race to the puck and dished a pass to Steve Moore in the slot who one-timed a shot past Vermont goaltender Andrew Allen.

The Crimson couldn't celebrate for long, however, as the Catamounts struck back to cut the lead to 3-2, 33 seconds later.