ORONO — The defending national champions taught Maine a valuable lesson Friday.

Take your eye off the puck for a second, leave your defensive position for an instant, and good teams will make you regret it.

No. 2 Union capitalized on two Black Bear mistakes and was stingy in its zone to skate away with a 3-0 victory before an increasingly quiet crowd of 4,895 at Alfond Arena.

Maine, playing its home opener, dropped to 0-3, and has scored only three goals.

“College hockey is very defensive and I think every team goes through it,” Black Bear center Devin Shore said. “There’s no secret. There’s ups and downs in every season. We’re just unfortunate that we’re experiencing a down right off the bat.”

Union (3-0) got on the scoreboard first, thanks to a misplayed puck by Maine goaltender Matt Morris. Mike Vecchione took a routine shot from center ice as the Dutchmen prepared for a line change. It caromed off Morris’ glove, and the junior couldn’t locate it trickling behind him until it entered the net at 6:26 of the first period.

“I saw it coming. It should have been a routine save, and it just hit and went up I guess,” Morris said. “I took my eyes off it for a split second and that’s a mistake that I want back.” Maine Coach Red Gendron called his sophomore goaltender over to the bench, winked at him and said: “Don’t worry about it and get back in the net.”

Morris was soon faced with a much bigger test. Maine freshman Malcolm Hayes, playing for the first time, was whistled for a 5-minute charging penalty 34 seconds later. Morris stood tall, saving six shots to keep the Black Bears within a goal.

Morris finished with 29 saves in a superb performance.

Maine applied more pressure in the second and third periods, but couldn’t solve Union senior goaltender Colin Stevens, who saved 32 shots.

In the third period, Maine made another crucial mistake, opening up a two-on-one break for the Dutchmen, who capitalized with a perfect feed from Kevin Shier low in the left circle to Matt Wilkins uncovered at the lip of the crease. Wilkins redirected it beneath a helpless Morris for a 2-0 lead 5:31 into the period.

“They’re a veteran team and they play well defensively and they have some patience. They let the game come to them,” Gendron said. “Our team, in the third period, we run out of position and give them a two-on-one and that’s just a lack of patience. That was a nothing play, and if it stays 1-0, who knows what happens?”

Gendron praised the efforts of his defensive corps, but questioned the work habits of some of his forwards.

“There were a couple of guys who didn’t compete hard enough, turned pucks over, lost battles for pucks, and we can’t have that here,” he said, without naming anyone, but hinting at lineup changes for the rematch at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Freshmen Jack Musil, Liam Pecararo and Nolan Vesey seemed rarely involved in the offense and each managed just a lone shot on goal.

Gendron was happier overall with his offense, which generated 32 shots on net. But he said his players need to be smarter about their shots.

“The first thing you’ve got to do is hit the net and you can’t shoot it at the goalie’s hands. You need to shoot it at his pads or right along the ice,” Gendron said. “Every time we shot the puck low, he spit out a nice rebound. It’s not like we weren’t aware of that.”

Spencer Foo added an empty-net goal at 18:49 for Union.

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