News & notes

 It may not be the same league as two years ago, but the Albany Empire are a game away from another championship.

Albany hosted Carolina in a semi-final game at Times-Union Center on Saturday night, and, as the game progressed, they found out that the Columbus Lions, a team Albany's already beaten twice this season, would be the opponent in next week's title game. Columbus eliminated the Orlando Predators earlier to advance.

Enjoy the video. Joey Haas subs for Tom Goslowski working alongside Andrew Santillo on the call.

With the 55-41 win, Albany will host Columbus in the championship game next Saturday.

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A pair of Section II alumni were part of the US Olympic team this year.

Rudy Winkler (Averill Park) placed seventh in track & field, while Emma White (Duanesburg) took home a bronze medal as part of a track cycle pursuit team. Oh, the stories they'll have when they return home from Tokyo, if they haven't already. Closing ceremonies will be shown on tape delay on NBC tonight, but you can watch it online now.

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As reported in The Land of Whatever on Saturday, Saratoga resident Bobby Fish was released from his NXT contract by WWE on Friday, three days after his last match had aired on television. Fish, 44, has been plagued by injuries since signing with WWE in 2017. 

Seems WWE's doing some shuffling with the financials, leading to rumors of a possible sale of the company, a family owned franchise for decades, and there are also rumors of NXT being revamped with a new format. The latter part doesn't make much in the way of business sense, or any kind of sense, since NXT was revamped in 2013 to veer away from the reality competition it was originally created to be in 2010.

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The Tri-City Valleycats have finally figured out a way to beat the Sussex County Miners, which makes a prospective playoff matchup between the two clubs next month even more appealing.

Tri-City blew out the Miners, 12-2, on Saturday night. Juan Silverio gave the hosts all the runs they really needed with a first inning grand slam, and the 'Cats cruised from there. The teams will wrap their current series today at 5:05, and then will reconvene at the Joe on Friday.