News & notes

 The commercials will soon hit the air during WWE programming, but be prepared to pay through the nose for tickets to see Smackdown at MVP Arena on Friday, April 22, three weeks after Wrestlemania.

The lowest available ticket price as of press time is $50, as opposed to a more consumer-friendly $15-25. The factors in the increase likely include renovations to the 32 year old arena, though we should be well past that by now. It all goes to show once again how little WWE CEO-Chairman Vince McMahon, 76, actually cares about his audience.

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It was Senior Day at RPI for the women's hockey team. Unfortunately, Dartmouth decided to crash the party, posting a 3-1 win over the Lady Engineers in the season finale for RPI.

The RPI men didn't fare much better, falling to Yale, 5-2. The Bulldogs will come to Troy next Saturday for the season finale, with Dartmouth coming in on Friday.

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College baseball season has started, albeit quietly, with everything else going on. UAlbany & Siena are on the road this weekend, but the results aren't so good so far.

UAlbany opens with SEC power Georgia, and has lost the first two games, the latest a 7-6 walkoff on Saturday. Siena is wrapping up their series vs. Central Florida today, hoping to put some offense together after being outscored, 28-2, in two losses. Ben Seiler (Albany Academy) started and took the loss for Siena on Saturday, knocked out in the 3rd inning.

Meanwhile, the College of St. Rose was swept by West Chester, 8-0 and 18-4, continuing a miserable trend for the 518 in the first weekend of the season.

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The Albany FireWolves may want to call National Grid for some help with their 4th quarter offense.

After blowing an 8-5 lead at Buffalo on Friday in a 12-8 loss, the 'Wolves returned home to MVP Arena, and, despite a first half hat trick from Andrew Kew, fell to Toronto, 13-9, to drop to 4-6 on the season. The top 4 teams advance to the playoffs, and time is running out on Albany.

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After it'd been reported that Bishop Maginn was closing its doors in June after 45 seasons, you have to wonder if this had an adverse effect on the school's basketball teams.

On Friday, the men were eliminated by Voorheesville, 59-56, in a very competitive game.

24 hours later, the Lady Griffins were blown out by Schalmont, 91-25. Karissa Antoine led all scorers with 24 points, one of four Lady Sabres in double figures.

Maginn's closure leaves the Central Hudson Valley League scrambling again to find another team, since Maginn had, in effect, replaced Emma Willard when the latter school went independent 3 years ago (and have since joined another league).

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It was also Senior Day for UAlbany's men's basketball team, and the Great Danes celebrated by beating New Hampshire, 70-65. Jamel Horton led the way for Albany with 24 points. The women made it a clean sweep, beating the Wildcats on the road, 55-46. Helene Haegerstrand led Albany with 18 points. Kayla Cooper & Grace Heeps added 10 points each.

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The rest of Saturday's sectional action:

Class B:

Ichabod Crane 69, Voorheesville 34. This one was over by halftime. Ashley Ames, the coach's daughter, led all scorers with 16 points.

Albany Academy 57, Glens Falls 56. 

Broadalbin-Perth 39, Ravena 28.

Fonda-Fultonville 50, Schuylerville 40.

Catskill 54, Cohoes 28. Janay Brantley had 23 points to lead the Cats.

Mechanicville 81, Greenville 51.

Tamarac 61, Johnstown 50.

Wednesday's quarterfinal pairings:

Albany Academy @ Ichabod Crane.

Broadalbin-Perth @ Mechanicville.

Tamarac @ Schalmont.

Fonda-Fultonville @ Catskill.

Class C:

Cambridge 53, Mayfield 42.

Berne-Knox-Westerlo 52, Rensselaer 38.

Schoharie 48, Whitehall 40.

Maple Hill 54, Hoosick Falls 47.

Corinth 43, Hoosic Valley 27.

Chatham 48, Warrensburg 36.

Greenwich 89, Galway 24.

Duanesburg 72, Hadley-Luzerne 29.

Wednesday's quarterfinal pairings:

Schoharie @ Berne-Knox-Westerlo.

Chatham @ Greenwich.

Cambridge @ Duanesburg.

Corinth @ Maple Hill.

While the basketball tournament takes a break today & tomorrow, that allows the hockey sectionals to begin with play-in games today & tomorrow. LaSalle will look to play spoiler as they will meet Saratoga this afternoon.