Jack Eichel isn’t concerned with being the next great American hockey hope.

He’s not particularly concerned about being the No. 1 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, or Connor McDavid, or anything else he has been associated with of late.

“What can’t get lost in all this is that he just turned 18. It’s like parenting,” said Boston University coach David Quinn of his prized freshman. “He’s still 18 years old, and he’s by no means the perfect player, but he wants to be, and that’s the key.”

Eichel has been in the spotlight as the United States’ answer to McDavid and the probable No. 2 pick in the upcoming selection process. But he’s by no means a polished robot, as seems to happen with players in any sport who have been doing interviews since their mid-teens.

He has thoughts and opinions – on his schoolwork, college hockey vs. junior hockey, and why a Northeasterner would ever want to play hockey for Arizona State. And all the answers don’t seem contrived. Eichel generally feels what he says … or at least that’s how it seems.

We caught Eichel via phone on a Thursday afternoon, in the middle of Finals at Boston University, and a couple of weeks before World Juniors to chat about the aforementioned topics and a few others. Enjoy…

Q: What is your finals schedule and how does that jibe with your world juniors schedule?

EICHEL: I’m not the first guy from BU to be going to the world juniors at this time. I have two finals I did on my own. I had a take-home final and an essay that was due last Friday, and then I had to make a proposal yesterday morning. I’m only missing one final, which is next Wednesday, because I have one early Monday morning. So I'll be able to take that final and finish the class...

It hasn’t really been a problem. The teachers have all been really good.

What was your proposal on?

It’s a rhetoric class, argumentative thinking. My proposal was basically how libraries are becoming outdated and more people are using online resources, and I was just making proposals about what we can do to change the library to make it more of a favorite destination for students, and just get more people using it as it once was.

Argumentative thinking? You couldn’t be like, ‘I should be the top pick in the NHL draft and here is why?’

No, the professor decides the topics.

What is the final after the world juniors?

I have a social science final in January.

Are you going to do any studying at the world juniors?

No, I will not be doing any studying. I will be 100-percent focused on helping our team win. I’ll take care of that final when I come back to Boston.

What is your favorite class?

I take a history of Western Civilization class. I wouldn’t say the class itself is super interesting, but I like the way the teacher teaches it. It’s not too difficult, he’s a pretty good guy. But the social science class isn’t bad either. It’s a lot of useful stuff.

What do you learn in Western Civ?

Renaissance, a lot of religious things. The teacher moves pretty quickly.

You’ve probably seen or heard of a lot of these places because you’re so well-traveled because of hockey, no?

A lot of times we’re talking about Rome and Italy. If you start talking about Finland and Sweden I would know a lot more, but some of the places he talks about I haven’t been to.

Why the NCAA route? What about college enticed you? It had to be more than just taking classes?

I grew up in Boston and watching Hockey East and the Beanpot, so it was always my dream to play at a school like BC or BU. I never dreamed of going to Quebec and playing for a team there, so I guess that’s first and foremost is this is my dream to go here. And then looking at the pros, a lot of people say it’s a disadvantage that I’m not playing as many games.

But I can look at it as an advantage of I’m spending more time in the weight room. There’s a lot more emphasis on each game. Everything is a lot more detailed if you’re playing 40 games in comparison to playing 80 to 100. That’s one thing. And I just thought the college game was better for me. I had played a few years of junior and I didn’t think another year of junior was the best route. I felt I needed to go challenge myself again against older, bigger and stronger competition, where it would challenge me night-in, night-out more than I believe the CHL would. I think on top of all that I was able to get the experience of going to college. Living in Boston. This is everything I’ve wanted, so it was kind of a no-brainer.

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