The Hockey East Association is always one of the toughest conferences in college hockey, representing four of the last five national champions.

This season is expected to be no different, as four teams from the conference cracked the Top 20 in the preseason poll, with defending national champion Boston College claiming the top spot.

Here is a look at the champion Eagles as well as the other teams the Massachusetts hockey team will be up against this season.

Boston College

For most teams, replacing a three-year starter like Chris Kreider to the National Hockey League following last season’s national title run would be a tough task, but not for the Eagles.

BC has a strong freshman class coming in and also has the comfort of having arguably the nation’s top goalie returning in senior Parker Milner.

Milner ended last season with a 29-5 record in 34 appearances and will be the backbone for an Eagles team that is predicted to repeat as national champions.

The Minutemen will see the Eagles for the first time this year Oct. 19 at home.

Boston University

The Terriers are coming off a year in which they went 23-13-1 overall and finished tied for second in the HEA with UMass Lowell.

BU is returning 16 players from last year’s team, but has some uncertainties in goal, having to replace four-year starter Kieran Millan. All signs point to junior Anthony Moccia becoming the new No. 1 with the other two goalies only being freshman.

The Terriers were predicted to finish third in the HEA this year and certainly have the talent to compete for first. But after facing a very serious scandal surrounding its program, it will be interesting to see how that affects the team’s season.

UMass will see BU for the first time on Oct. 26 for a home-and-home series that weekend.

Maine

The Black Bears seemed to surprise a lot of teams last season by finishing fourth in the HEA and ranked No. 11 in the final poll, but that experience should help Maine this season as it enters the year ranked No. 5 in the preseason poll.

The Black Bears are blessed with experience, as 18 players are returning from last year.

Maine may also be one of the deepest teams in the country in goal, with both Dan Sullivan and Martin Ouellette returning for their junior seasons.

Maine and UMass square off for the first time this season on Nov. 16 at Alfond Arena in Maine.

UMass Lowell

If the Black Bears were a surprise last year, consider the Riverhawks an even bigger surprise.

UML finished tied for second with BU last season in the HEA and ended the season ranked No. 10.

This upcoming season, UMass-Lowell won’t be sneaking up on anyone as it was predicted to finish second in the conference this year and starts this season ranked No. 7 in the nation.

The Riverhawks have a favorable schedule to start the season, with eight of its first 13 games played at home.

The Minutemen host the Riverhawks in the first meeting of the season on Nov. 18.

Merrimack

Continuing with the trend of surprises last year, Merrimack is right up there, capping its season ranked No. 15 in the nation and finishing fifth in the HEA.

This year, the Warriors were unable to crack the preseason polls, but are receiving votes.

Merrimack’s biggest weakness will be in goal, where the team has three inexperienced goalies. The only goalie of the three that saw any action last season is Sam Marotta, who played in only two games, starting in one of them.

UMass and Merrimack square off for the first time this season on Feb. 9 at Merrimack.

New Hampshire

The Wildcats enter this season trying to build off a 15-19-3 record last year, good enough to finish sixth in the HEA.

New Hampshire always has the potential to be a really good team and this year could be one of those years. The Wildcats return its top two scorers from last season in Nick Sorkin (35 points) and Kevin Goumas (34 points).

UMass and UNH meet for the first time this season on Nov. 2 in Amherst.

Northeastern

The Huskies tied the Minutemen for eighth in Hockey East last season, but missed out on the playoffs due to a tiebreaker. This season, Northeastern was picked to finish sixth in the conference.

The Huskies will lean heavily on senior goalie Chris Rawlings, who is entering his fourth year as the team’s starter. Rawlings has amassed a 42-37-13 record in his first three years, bringing a lot of experience to this year’s team.

The Huskies will travel to UMass on Nov. 30 for the first meeting between the two sides.

Providence

The Friars are one of five Hockey East teams receiving votes in the preseason poll, after finishing seventh in the conference last season.

Despite finishing seventh last year, the Friars enter this season looking to build off the momentum that they gained when they knocked out No. 10 UMass-Lowell in the quarterfinals of the Hockey East tournament.

Providence travels to UMass on Nov. 9 in the first meeting of the season between the teams.

Vermont

In a conference with so much balance, it is hard to find anything positive about the Catamounts.

Vermont finished in last place in Hockey East last season, recording seven points in conference play. That type of season has them projected to finish last once again and it is the only team in Hockey East to not be ranked or receiving votes in the preseason polls.

One positive for Vermont this season is that it returns eight of its top 10 scorers from a team that scored 73 goals in 34 games last season.

Vermont travels to Amherst on Nov. 20 for the first matchup against the Minutemen this season.

Patrick Strohecker can be contacted at [email protected] and followed on Twitter at @MDC_Strohecker.