The term “parity” is often used when coaches discuss their leagues at the outset of a season.

But Hockey East’s coaches feel that there is unusual balance this season.

“There’s definitely more parity than we’ve had in the past because of the uncertainty,” said Northeastern coach Bruce Crowder.

“There’s so much young blood in the league,” said Crowder. “Every team lost a lot of pretty important people. If you look across the country, I think Hockey East has been hurt more by graduation or people leaving early than any other league.”

“Outside of BU, everything else is up for grabs,” said UMass-Lowell coach Tim Whitehead. “It’s a very tough year to predict.”

Whitehead said the fact Boston University has standout centers Shawn Bates and Chris Drury gives it the edge to defend its league title.

“They’re dominant players and they have a very solid supporting cast,” said Whitehead.

Boston College coach Jerry York said the league will be “tight as a drum” and agreed with Whitehead’s assessment that Drury and Bates give the Terriers an advantage over the rest of the pack.

New Hampshire is the team given the best shot at dethroning the Terriers with Maine and Providence also in the mix. The Wildcats suffered few graduation losses.

Maine senior center Dan Shermerhorn said the Bears are going to have to copy the script left by the 1994-95 team, which won the league regular season title and lost to BU 6-2 in the NCAA final.

“A lot of people have shot us in the foot [counted the Bears out],” said Shermerhorn, pointing to the defections of Tim Lovell, Brett Clark, Jeff Tory, and Blair Allison. “But we didn’t win games on skill and talent two years ago. We won with hard work. That’s how we’ll have to be this season.”

Maine interim head coach Greg Cronin said his Bears will have to play things tight-to-the-vest now and avoid trying to make “high-risk plays.”

“Highly skilled players have great instincts and can usually make high-risk decisions and come up with the puck,” explained Cronin. “We don’t have that. We can’t try to make those decisions because we wouldn’t come up with the puck.

“We have to play more conservatively and be more concerned about numerical disadvantages [3-on-2s, 2-on-1s]. We don’t want to get involved in high-scoring games.”

Maine opens its Hockey East schedule by hosting Northeastern Friday and Saturday nights.

Hockey East capsules

Boston University

Coach: Jack Parker, 24th year, 526-249-40

Last year’s record: 30-7-3 (overall), 17-5-2 (league, 1st)

Current record: 3-1, 2-0

Lettermen returning/lost: 17/7

Top forwards (last year’s points): Chris Drury (67), Shawn Bates (50), Brendan Walsh (24), Mike Sylvia (24)

Top defensemen (points): Jon Coleman (38), Chris Kelleher (25)

Returning goalie(s): Tom Noble (3.01 goals-against average, .886 save percentage), Michel Larocque (3.43, .884)

Top newcomers: F Dan LaCouture, F Tom Poti, F Chris Heron, F Greg Quebec, F Bobby Hanson

Outlook: The Terriers are loaded. Drury and Bates are legitimate Hobey Baker Award candidates and both are off to good starts. They are prolific scorers and dangerous on the power play. The Terriers aren’t as deep up front as they have been the last two years. The defense corps and goalies are veterans. Parker would like his offense-minded defense corps to tighten up in the defensive zone.

New Hampshire

Coach: Dick Umile, 7th year, 124-83-18

Last year’s record: 12-18-4, 8-12-4 (6th)

Current record: 3-2, 2-0

Lettermen returning/lost: 19/7

Top forwards (points): Eric Boguniecki (52), Mark Mowers (47), Eric Nickulas (38), Derek Bekar (33)

Top defensemen (points): Tim Murray (20), Erik Johnson (7)

Returning goalie: Brian Larochelle (4.02, .867)

Top newcomers: G Sean Matile, F Mike Souza, F John Sadowski, F Jason Shipulski

Outlook: If the 6-foot-4 Matile is as good as advertised, the Wildcats could make a run at BU for the league crown. He must sit out their first 10 games because he had played Major Junior hockey. Current leading scorers Tom Nolan and Jason Krog join Boguniecki, Mowers, Nickulas, and Bekar to give UNH two of the most explosive lines in the league. The defense is a question mark due to inexperience.

Boston College

Coach: Jerry York, 3rd year, 29-42-5

Last year’s record: 16-17-3, 12-10-2 (5th)

Current record: 2-3, 1-1

Lettermen returning/lost: 18/6

Top forwards (points): Marty Reasoner (35), Ryan Mittleman (23), Brian Callahan (22), Jamie O’Leary (17)

Top defensemen (points): Ken Hemenway (24), Peter Masters (18)

Returning goalie: Greg Taylor (3.75, .886)

Top newcomers: F Blake Bellefeuille, F Jeff Farkas, D Mike Mottau, F Kevin Caulfield

Outlook: Reasoner was the league’s Rookie of the Year last season, and Taylor has been one of the league’s premier goalies. Callahan has gotten off to a fast start with eight points in five games, and Bellefeuille and Farkas will help provide needed depth up front. Taylor, who will be spelled by Mike Correia, must have a big year and the team defense has to improve if the Eagles are going to challenge for the league title. BC has allowed five goals per game so far.

Maine

Coaches: Greg Cronin (16-7-4, 2nd year) until Dec. 24; Shawn Walsh, 13th year, 289-171-24

Last year’s record: 26-9-4, 14-6-4 (3rd)

Current record: 4-1, 0-0

Lettermen returning/lost: 13/8

Top forwards (points): Dan Shermerhorn (43), Shawn Wansborough (43), Scott Parmentier (24), Steve Kariya (22)

Top defensemen (points): Jason Mansoff (17), Jeff Libby (9)

Returning goalies: none

Top newcomers: G Alfie Michaud, C Cory Larose, RW Bobby Stewart, D Shawn Mansoff, F Ben Guite

Outlook: The NCAA’s decision to forbid Maine from playing in the NCAA Tournament resulted in the defection of four All-American candidates. Maine will be thin on defense until it adds two blueliners after the first semester. The Bears will need a lot of production from Shermerhorn, Wansborough, and Parmentier. Parmentier had four goals in three games. Stewart, a redshirt after transferring from Alaska-Anchorage a year ago, should help the goal production. Michaud has looked good in the early going.

Coach: Paul Pooley, 3rd year, 38-34-9

Last year’s record: 21-15-3, 12-9-3 (4th)

Current record: 3-2, 2-0

Lettermen returning/lost: 19/9

Top forwards (points): Russ Guzior (37), David Green (35), Stefan Brannare (29), Travis Dillabough (23)

Top defensemen (points): Hal Gill (17), Mike Mader (9)

Returning goalie: Dan Dennis (3.33, .898)

Top newcomers: F Doug Sheppard, D Jason Ialongo, D Josh MacNevin, F Fernando Pisani

Outlook: Dennis was a preseason All-Hockey East selection. Gill and Mader are the only returning defensemen who played in more than 22 games last season. The Friars have good balance up front, but they have been snakebitten offensively in the early going. Dennis will have to play extremely well early while Pooley breaks in some inexperienced defensemen.

Merrimack

Coach: Ron Anderson, 14th year, 230-207-21

Last year’s record: 10-19-5, 4-18-2 (9th)

Current record: 1-3, 0-2

Lettermen returning/lost: 19/5

Top forwards (points): Rob Beck (35), Martin Laroche (32), John Jakopin (25), Casey Kesselring (16)

Top defensemen (points): Darrel Scoville (25), Karl Infanger (8)

Returning goalies: Martin Legault (2.92, .900), Eric Thibeault (5.33, .861)

Top newcomers: D Drew Hale, D Andrew Fox, F Jayson Philbin, F Sandy Cohen

Outlook: Legault is one of the top goalies in the league and Thibeault is pretty good. The defense is relatively inexperienced with only three returnees with significant playing time under their belts. Anderson has been pleased with the play of his defense corps, but his veteran forwards are off to slow starts as evidenced by Merrimack’s eight goals in their first four games. That could be a major concern if they don’t snap out of it soon.

Massachusetts

Coach: Joe Mallen, 4th year, 37-59-8

Last year’s record: 10-19-6, 4-14-6 (8th)

Current record: 1-3, 1-3

Lettermen returning/lost: 18/7

Top forwards (points): Rob Bonneau (46), Warren Norris (40), Tom Perry (29), Dean Campanale (16)

Top defensemen (points): Brad Norton (16), Tom O’Connor (6)

Returning goalies: Brian Regan (4.50, .869), Rich Moriarty (4.04, .870 in 3 games)

Top newcomers: D Dean Stork, F Nathan Sell, F Jeff Blanchard, F Ryan Furness

Outlook: Mallen feels his Minutemen are bigger and faster than they were a year ago. The Minutemen could receive a big lift offensively if Maine transfer Tim Lovell becomes academically eligible and decides to play the second half of the season. He may wait until next fall. Regan can be very good at times and the defense corps has size and experience. Center Dan Juden had four career points entering the season, but has six points already this season. They should be improved, but by how much remains to be seen.

Northeastern

Coach: Bruce Crowder, 1st year

Last year’s record: 10-21-5, 6-13-5 (7th)

Current record: 1-3, 0-2

Lettermen returning/lost: 16/7

Top forwards (points): Scott Campbell (32), Justin Kearns (16), Jonathan Calla (13), Erik Kaminski (13)

Top defensemen (points): Arttu Kayhko (22), Rick Schuhwerk (14)

Returning goalies: Kevin Noke (5.98, .813 in 1 game)

Top newcomers: F Brad Mahoney, F Roger Holeczy, F Todd Barclay, G Marc Robitaille

Outlook: This is a rebuilding campaign for 1996 Spencer Penrose Award (nation’s best coach) winner Crowder, who comes to Northeastern after spending five years at UMass-Lowell. The Huskies were hit hard everywhere by graduation. Crowder will have as many 13 freshmen and sophomores in his lineup. Due to the influx of youth, the Huskies should be one of the league’s most improved teams over the second half of the season. Crowder has been pleased with Robitaille, who has to fill the skates left by Todd Reynolds and Mike Veisor.

UMass-Lowell

Coach: Tim Whitehead, 1st year

Last year’s record: 26-10-4, 16-6-2 (2nd)

Current record: 2-2, 2-2

Lettermen returning/lost: 15/9

Top forwards (points): Neil Donovan (43), Marc Salsman (34), Ryan Sandholm (27), Shannon Basaraba (22)

Top defensemen (points): Mike Nicholishen (25), Chris Libett (15)

Returning goalie(s): Martin Fillion (3.79, .877), Craig Lindsay (4.24, .866)

Top newcomers: F Greg Koehler, F John Campbell, F Mario LeBlanc, D Kevin Bertram

Outlook: The River Hawks were hard hit by graduation and standout junior defenseman Ed Campbell’s decision to sign with the New York Rangers. Five of the top six scorers have left. Goaltending will be a strength with All-Hockey East preseason pick Fillion returning this weekend after serving a four-game suspension for violating team rules. G Scott Fankhouser has returned to UML after a year in Canada and will supply depth. Koehler has six points so far and freshmen have accounted for 36 percent of the scoring. This will be another youthful team that should improve significantly over the course of the season. Whitehead is hoping to get some point production from his defense corps.