BURLINGTON, Vt.--In front of a hostile crowd and facing an inspired team, the Harvard men's hockey team only weakness led to its eventual demise.

The No.13 Crimson (6-4-1, 5-3-1 ECAC), sought to establish themselves atop the ECAC rankings, but instead suffered a devastating loss, 5-3, to Vermont (7-4-0, 5-0-0 ECAC) on Saturday at Gutterson Field House.

At one point in the second period, Harvard led 3-0 and was looking to cement its place atop the ECAC standings.

This was when the defense caused everything to come crashing down.

If the definition of a hockey disaster existed in the dictionary, the example given would be of the Harvard-Vermont third period.

The Catamounts had already scored once, narrowing the lead to 3-2. Upon tallying again to tie the game halfway through the third, they received an extra boost from its fans.

The Catamount faithful, surprisingly silent due to the early Harvard lead, exploded, turning Gutterson Field House into the Crimson's worst nightmare.

Multiple cowbells started the Catamount chant, as the sellout crowd responded with its trademark "Go Cats, go!"

The noise was unbearable, the energy could be felt in the air. Something bad was going to happen.

And it did.

Vermont scored 40 seconds later to take the lead for good in the game.

The crowd exploded once again, but this time started chanting "Jonas, Jonas, Jonas," taunting the battered Harvard goalie.

Later on, after the Catamounts finished off the Crimson with an empty-net goal, the chant changed to "Harvard sucks, Harvard sucks!"

Ok, maybe during Vermont's four-goal third period the second chant might have had justification, but definitely not the first one.

"In the third period, we sat back and let them take control and we experienced the agony of defeat," Harvard Coach Mark Mazzoleni said. "Jonas can't keep saving us every time."

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."

Harvard played the crucial third period with only four defensemen, two of whom are freshmen. An injury during the game to junior defenseman Graham Morrell left a big hole in an already weak Crimson defensive corps. And Mazzoleni opted not to send out junior Leif Ericson, the Crimson's sixth blueliner.

That left freshmen Blair Barlow and Dave McCulloch on the ice, along with junior assistant captain Peter Capouch and sophomore Aaron Kim.

This diminished defensive unit was not prepared to handle the Catamount attack, and it showed. Vermont forwards often had a free pass to Jonas.

"This defensive squad is supposed to be a lot stronger," Mazzoleni said. "We had one of our defensemen flunk out on us and we're also missing the presence of [freshman] Kenny Smith."

Mazzoleni was referring to bruising blueliner Liam McCarthy, Class of 2001, as the veteran who was not able to return to the team this year. And the team still awaits the debut of the much heralded Smith, who suffered a stress fracture in preseason workouts and whose return date has been pushed back several times this year.

It is questionable though, how much of an impact either of them would have made on this game. It was a sad sight to see the defense abused by the Catamounts, but the future looks bright.

Certainly it would have helped to have Morrell in there, not only to make his usual contributions, but to simply give the other four some rest. Smith, from all scouting reports, has the tools to be a special player. The two of them combined should give Harvard enough ammunition on the defense to prevent any future collapses.

Especially with the acrobatic Jonas lurking between the pipes.

The Crimson players should not be discouraged by the games against Vermont, and Harvard certainly is in excellent position to claim home ice for the playoffs at the very least.

Hopefully then, the chanting will come from the other side.