With the first month of the season gone, the usual rat race is developing in Eastern hockey. But this year there's a difference--the caliber of hockey being played in the East is far higher than ever before.

For once the winner and runner-up in the Eastern College Athletic Tournament in March could give the Western champions some trouble. The top two teams in the East play the best in the West after the ECAC Tourney to determine the national champion.

The current top six teams in the East will probably wind up in the ECAC's, but there's no telling at this point in what order they'll be seeded. Just about anyone could pull down the other two ECAC Tourney berths.

Half of the present top six comes from the Boston area, but Harvard isn't one of them. The Crimson, which over the past five years has the best record of any team in the East, is only 3-6 this season, and is third-to-last among the teams usually regarded as the East's best 15.

Army is the only undefeated team left, but only two of its seven victories have come against one of the top 15. And these two were over Harvard and Princeton, whose combined 5-12 record is hardly member of their first line already has 22 cause trouble for everyone, though--each impressive. The Cadets are sure to points in just seven games.

Boston University, the pre-season pick of many to emerge as the best in the East, is currently second only to Army. The Terriers tore off ten straight wins at the start of the season before tiring. Two of their losses have been at the hands of tough Western schools, Michigan and Colorado, while the third was to their neighbors, Northeastern.

As usual, Boston College is among the top, but the Eagles have yet to beat a team higher than R.P.I. in the current standings. They have been beaten by Brown, Colorado, and Northeastern.

Clarkson is another perennial champion right back up there this season. The Golden Knights' only two defeats have been heartbreakers--a 5-4 loss to relatively weak Colgate and a 3-2 overtime defeat to Brown in the holiday tournament in New York City.

Brown's best team in years has already overhauled Boston College and Clarkson, and is the only Eastern team that has beaten Colorado. The Bruins have lost twice to Northeastern, once in the finals of the holiday tournament in New York, and once to powerful Boston University.

Northeastern, with potential all-American defenseman Don Turcotte and the East's highest scorer in Bill Seabury, is the most improved team in the East. The Huskies won the Christmas tournament in New York by beating St. Lawrence, Providence, and Brown, and have also toppled B.U. and B.C. Its losses were to R.P.I. and Michigan, and, amazingly, Yale and Harvard.

These six look like pretty good bets to ECAC STANDINGS   Won  Lost  Tied Army  8  0  0 B.U.  11  3  0 Clarkson  7  2  0 Northeastern  11  4  0 Brown  9  3  0 B.C.  8  3  0 Cornell  6  4  0 Dartmouth  3  2  0 R.P.I.  5  5  1 Providence  4  5  1 Colgate  4  5  0 Yale  4  6  0 Harvard  3  6  0 Princeton  2  6  0 St. Lawrence  1  9  0

make the ECAC Tournament in March, but there should be quite a scramble for the other two berths. Any of the remaining teams among the East's top 15 have the potential occasionally to knock off one of the top six, and many have already done so.

Providence, the winner of last season's ECAC Tourney, and St. Lawrence, the runner-up, have surprised the East by getting off to such bad starts, but either could rebound. Cornell and R.P.I. are currently the likeliest candidates for the last two berths