Yale's fate in Notre Dame's hands

UMass-Lowell beat Boston University 1-0 to win the Hockey East championship. That keeps the Terriers from bumping Yale out of the NCAA tournament. Now, the Bulldogs must hope Notre Dame can keep Michigan from stealing the final spot on Sunday in the CCHA title game. If Notre Dame wins, Yale is in; if Michigan wins, Yale is out. Simple as that.

Quinnipiac, the No. 1 seed, now knows it will play Atlantic Hockey champ Canisius in the first round on Saturday night at the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence, R.I. (to become official when the selection show airs on Sunday night at 9 on ESPNU.)

One final future scheduling note... looking ahead to next season (and the three after that), the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., officially announced this week that it will host the Liberty Invitational in October, 2013, with Princeton, Dartmouth, Brown and Yale competing in the two-day event. Over the next three years, the Bulldogs and Tigers will stay in the event and be joined by different Hockey East squads