ORONO — Alfond Arena has long been among the toughest rinks in college hockey for opponents to come in and win. Barely two months into the season, though, the refurbished building hasn’t been its typical cozy home for the Black Bears.

Maine lost to New Hampshire 1-0 at Alfond Arena on Friday night. The Wildcats improved to 8-7 overall, 4-4 in Hockey East. Maine is now 8-6-1 overall, 5-4 in conference play. The teams will meet again Saturday night at Alfond.

It was Maine’s third loss in nine games at Alfond Arena this season, giving the Black Bears more home losses than in each of the last two full seasons. It was the first time Maine was shutout at home since Feb. 24, 2024, a 4-0 loss to Northeastern.

“We don’t have that next level of push in our team right now. It’s not that we don’t have good players and can’t do some things. We can,” Maine coach Ben Barr said. “Right now, the honest truth is, we don’t have a very good culture in our room, and that starts with me.”

The Wildcats scored the lone goal at 4:14 of the third period when Cam MacDonald recovered a Maine turnover at the New Hampshire blue line, skated untouched down the ice and slipped a shot over the glove of Black Bear goalie Mathis Rousseau.

Maine outshot UNH 21-14, and 9-1 in a dominant first period in which the Black Bears controlled play and did everything but put the puck in the net.

“I think sometimes it’s almost a scary feeling when you come out in that first period playing as well as we did and not coming away with anything. You feel like it’s a missed opportunity,” said Thomas Freel, a Maine captain.

Rousseau made 14 saves. Kyle Chauvette stopped 21 shots to earn the shutout.