Joe Gladziszewski

  (2:32 PM)

Good afternoon and welcome to another college hockey chat with the staff of Inside College Hockey. Today we're focusing on Hockey East, and Senior Writer Jeff Howe will be taking your questions about the league. And don't forget to catch college hockey on ESPNU Sunday afternoon at 3, when Boston College visits Maine.

Joe Gladziszewski

  (2:32 PM)

Take it away Jeff ...

Mike: (Marblehead, MA)

with the upcoming of UVM, the steady play of BU, MAINE, UMASS amherst, and powerhouse BC, is it a fact that the toughest conference in the United states is the Hockey East? Also with Schneider leading the way in netminding whose are early predictions for Hobey Baker canidacy.

Jeff Howe

  (2:34 PM)

Hockey East fans have long been trying to believe their conference is the strongest nationally, and that may be true top to bottom at least. But until someone in Hockey East wins the national championship and can take the hardware from the WCHA, let the king wear its crown. And right now, Michel Leveille looks like a strong Hobey candidate.

Jon (Boston, MA)

after blowing a lead to the friars and losing in OT, Northeastern's head coach skated the team right after they got off the bus back from Providence. Can we expect this to light a fire in the team and upset the BC eagles at historic matthew's arena friday night?

Jeff Howe

  (2:36 PM)

Greg Cronin does a lot of things to make sure his team continues working hard, particularly taking them to the gym for boxing last season. The Huskies play tough hockey, maybe as tough as any team in the league, because of that. Predicting an upset of BC is tough, but it's been done this season by others.

Kevin B (Ashland Massachusetts)

What people fail to realize is that B.C. Hockey has a long tradition of loosing important games late into the season. Even though they are ranked very high up in the nation they will not make it to the frozen four. Also, Hockey East is the hardest division in College hockey and it will come down to B.U. and Maine. Jack Parker has done a superb job with the B.U. hockey over the last 30 years and he will find a way to win the Hockey East Championship.

Jeff Howe

  (2:39 PM)

Is this a BU fan chopping BC down? That's unheard of! Anyway, BC made it to the national championship last year so it's tough to count the Eagles out for that this early. BU has the talent but hasn't produced early on this season, and the Terriers don't have a major spark in David Van der Gulik coming back like they did last year. Without question, Maine is the class of Hockey East in the first month.

Mike (Boston, MA)

I've heard a possible BC/BU back to back games being played at Fenway Park this year. How true are these rumors and might there ever be a beanpot at Fenway?

Jeff Howe

  (2:41 PM)

Those talks did indeed begin last season, but nothing has been announced yet. This isn't an event that can be thrown together in just a couple weeks or months so it's tough to imagine anything would take place this season. This should happen though. That would be as fun of a college hockey night as anyone in New England would ever see.

Will (Atlanta)

Harvard beat BC, but are 1-4-0 in their other games. Which reflects the real Crimson team?

Joe Gladziszewski

  (2:44 PM)

I'll jump in and handle this one. We're still learning about the real Harvard team at this point. I am comfortable saying that they're better than their record. They showed it against Boston College, and outplayed Cornell, but came out on the losing end of that one. Even though Colgate is struggling a bit, it's a good win for Harvard and should give them some momentum.

Andrew (New York, NY)

I didnt see the game on Tuesday between BU and UVM. Was Fallon that good or is there a real scoring problem for BU?

Jeff Howe

  (2:46 PM)

Vermont plays tremendous defense in front of Fallon so don't read too much into scoring difficulties when anyone plays against the Catamounts. But, that did mark the third time in five games the Terriers have scored just a single goal. They have the talent. The top two lines are amazing, but something isn't clicking right now.

Brian (Wakefield, MA

I don't seem the same spark out of BU as last year. They will not be able to handle the Eagles in the NCAAs even if they usually get the better of them in the Beanpot. Look out for a BC-Maine apperance in the Frozen Four

Jeff Howe

  (2:49 PM)

For more on BU, the Terriers got their spark last year with the return of Van der Gulik. Jack Parker was worried in the first half that his team thought they could just show up, put on the red and white sweater and simply win on merit alone. They lost a lot of leadership from last year's squad, and that might be the big issue.

victor alexandria, la

Do you think Boston college could make the final four with notre dame this year?

Jeff Howe

  (2:52 PM)

A month ago, I'd say BC was a lock for the Frozen Four. Right now, the Eagles still have some things to tend to. However, all BC needs to do is qualify for the NCAA Tournament and bank on Cory Schneider to win a couple games for them. He is a tremendous X-factor. Notre Dame hasn't qualified for a Frozen Four yet so that's tough. But with ND, the Irish have good goaltending so we'll see.

Frank (Boston, MA)

Who is the best player in hockey east that no one talks about?

Jeff Howe

  (2:54 PM)

How about Trevor Smith? The UNH sophomore has a league-leading nine goals on top of six assists in a red-hot start. In terms of the league's well known goalies, Jon Quick hasn't fit the bill as a marquee name yet, but he leads the league in goals against and save percentage.

Red (Abington, MA)

Long time listener, first time caller. Anyways, with a one-two goalie punch of Jon Quick and Dan Meyers, does UMass stand a chance of getting a top-4 seed come March and re-living their glory 03-04 season?

Jeff Howe

  (2:57 PM)

The Minutemen are certainly playing well enough right now to think that. I just touched on Quick, but the jury is still out on Meyers. He played well in the opener, but remember Quick struggled a bit at times in his freshman season last year.

CJ (Cincinnati, OH)

Do I start DeShawn Foster,CAR od Warrick Dunn, ATL week 10?

Jeff Howe

  (2:58 PM)

Dunn

Dan (Boston)

I was at Harvard/BC game. BC played very flat. My friends whose brother-in-law plays for BC(Motherwell) seems to think they play to the level of their competition. What do you think?

Jeff Howe

  (3:00 PM)

That certainly happened last season when BC lost at UMass in February, and it appears that has been the case this year. BC has been an early-season disappointment so far. We'll see if things get right on Comm. Ave.

Jeff Howe

  (3:01 PM)

Well, that's all the time we have right now. Thanks for stopping by and posting your questions. Once again, we couldn't get to them all. Have a good weekend at the rink.