Jonas played an excellent game, making several spectacular saves in the first period to keep Vermont off the scoreboard. Throughout the game, as the Catamount offense picked up steam, Jonas continued to make the saves, keeping Harvard ahead.

It was only in the third period that he was foiled, but only because he faced an onslaught of breakaways. Some of them were stopped, others weren't. The hardest thing for a goalie is to block is a breakaway, and Jonas denied his share of them.

No, the fault for this collapse lies with the defense. The last time Harvard faced Vermont, the same thing happened. The Crimson had a 3-1 lead and surrendered it in the last 24 minutes of play.

This time, Harvard surrendered five unanswered goals in a little under 30 minutes, crushing its first place status in the ECAC and almost certainly knocking it out of the national rankings.

If only for a moment of sentimental reflection, what would be the Crimson's record if it had not blown the two games against Vermont? Harvard would be 8-2-1 overall and 7-1-1 in the ECAC. The team could realistically be considering a conference title and a NCAA berth.

Instead, it now has 11 points in nine conference games, while Vermont has 10 in five. Basically, the Crimson could find itself trailing Vermont, Cornell, Rensselaer, Union and St. Lawrence.

What is the reason for seizing two games from the jaws of victory and taking them to those of defeat?

"Our defensive inexperience showed," Mazzoleni said. "We are very vulnerable back there and at times we collapsed on the blue line."