It may not even snow tomorrow. But even if we don't have to shovel and I can save from paying for my plow guy's summer home, the Maine Principals' Association still made the right move when it postponed the high school basketball and hockey games scheduled for Saturday.

Those high schools lucky enough to have a band can ignore this. As we saw in the regional tournaments last week, those bands do a great job cranking the music during the pregame warm-ups.

You schools that don't have bands, you need a good warm-up CD. Something to drown out the white noise of a crowd shuffling into the arena. Proper warm-up music should be loud, and should work pump up athletes and fans alike.

As one who has been to many a game and has heard many a warm-up mix, I'd like to offer up the following suggestions for pre-game tunes. I know, many of these songs are old. But they still work.

These are in no particular order:

Lewiston is headed to the Eastern A semifinals after it blanks Messalonskee. Jon Roy scores two goals to lead the Blue Devils. Messalonskee finishes the season 12-9-0. Zach Parent made 32 saves in a solid effort for the Eagles.

Lewiston and Lawrence are on a collision course to meet in the Eastern A semifinals. Keep an eye on that game as the Blue Devils are still steaming over comments Lawrence coach Yvon Boudreau made regarding the team’s regular season game, which Lewiston won 12-2.

Here are three things to keep in mind as Valley and Richmond meet for the Western Class D boys basketball title this afternoon at the Augusta Civic Center:

1. Can the post players from either team stay out of foul trouble? If either Richmond's Marc Zaharchuk or Valley's Trevor Miller picks up two quick fouls, it could change the game. Richmond has a little more depth, and could withstand a prolonged Zaharchuk withdrawl better than the Cavaliers could make out without Miller for an extended time, but both are vital to their team's success.

Messalonskee's Matt DelGiudice and Waterville's John Massey were among the eight semifinalists announced Wednesday for the Travis Roy Award. The award is given to the top senior Class A player in the state.

There's a full slate of games Thursday in Augusta, and I see them as three good games and one not-so-good one.

At halftime from Bangor Auditorium, Waterville leads Erskine 31-8. The Purple Panthers are doing it with defense. Waterville has forced 16 turnovers and has held Erskine to 3 for 15 shooting from the floor.

At Tuesday's Western C girls quarterfinals in Augusta, I was able to see a great display of sportsmanship, and also a case where a young woman was out of line.

Semifinalst for Mr. and Miss Maine Basketball were announced Tuesday at the Augusta Civic Center.

Every year around high school basketball tournament time, the issue of the private schools playing in the Maine Principals' Association tournament is brought up. There are some who feel the private schools should have their own tournament, arguing that since they're able to recruit, these schools have an unfair advantage.

Once again, that argument doesn't hold up.

I went to the Class D girls matchup between Richmond and Forest Hills on Tuesday morning half awake. Sportswriters, as a rule, like to sleep in.

Eastern A and B almost entirely held form in the first round, as the top three seeds advanced in both brackets. The only "upset" was No. 5 Oxford Hills beating No. 4 Bangor in Eastern A. Here's a look at the semifinal matchups, all of which will be played Wednesday:

In one of the most exciting games I’ve seen all year, Lewiston edged Waterville 4-3 at Colby College’s Alfond Rink on Monday.

This is the space where I give my predictions on the Western C girls quarterfinals. Before we get to that, it's worth talking about why the Heal points system doesn't work, and why the Maine Principals' Association needs to fix it.

Maine Central Institute senior Cinjin Goewey capped his high school wrestling career with a Class B state title in the 135-pound class.

Here are my predictions for the first round of the Western D girls basketball tournament. Quarterfinal games will be played Monday and Tuesday at the Augusta Civic Center:

Messalonskee senior Matt DelGiudice will attend Bridgton Academy next fall.

Amid the hoop hoopla, there stands the Winslow boys hockey team.

Gardiner Area High School's Matt DelGallo continue the impressive start to his high school career and Mt. Blue High School's Sam Webber put an impressive end to his.

Waterville wins easily, 63-37. Morgan Frame leads the way with 24 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots. Ten different players end up scoring for Waterville, which moves on to play Erskine Wednesday night.

Erskine holds on to win 53-49. Ericka Malley scored 25 for the Eagles and Allie Parent had 27 for Camden. Ashley Richardson added 13 points and nine rebounds for Erskine.

Maranacook holds on to defeat Rockland, 59-57. Rockland missed a game-tying 3-pointer in the final seconds and Maranacook's Conrad Gilman made two foul shots with 6.8 seconds left to ice the game. Ryan Martin led Maranacook with 25 points and Teel Ilvonen had 20, including 6-for-6 on 3-pointers, for Rockland.

The Eastern B boys quarterfinal between No. 1 Maranacook and No. 8 Rockland is under way. The winner will play No. 5 Matttanawcook, a 59-43 winner over Caribou in the first game of the morning.

At the end of the third quarter, Rockland leads 49-48. Dylan Meklin and Tyler Patterson combined for all but 3 of Rockland's points in the quarter.

UPDATE: Maranacook leads 55-51 and has the ball with 1:10 left in the fourth quarter.

UPDATE: Rockland's Teel Ilvonen just hit his sixth 3-pointer of the game. Maranacook leads 55-54 and has the ball with 27.2 seconds left. Rockland is over the limit for personal fouls in the half.

UPDATE: Will Bardaglio hit two free throws to give Maranacook a 57-54 lead with 18.9 seconds left. Rockland has the ball out of bounds after a timeout.

Staff writer Travis Lazarczyk called into update the Eastern B quarterfinal between the Mt. View girls and John Bapst.
At the half, John Bapst leads Mt. View 28-12.

The Rangeley boys basketball team suffered a tough loss when junior guard Quinn Philbrick went down for the season with a knee injury in a game recently against Gould Academy. Philbrick averaged seven points and six assists per game for the Lakers.

Still, Rangeley has plenty of scoring options heading into Saturday's Western D quarterfinal game against Seacoast Christian.

Here's the second installment of my first-round predictions, including an upset I can't believe I'm taking.

After four years, Maine Central Institute boys basketball head coach Mike Brown has decided to step down. Brown said the decision was based on his desire to watch his sons, currently in sixth and first grade, play ball.

"When I applied for the job, I told (MCI) I probably had four or five years in me," Brown said. "I want to watch what (his sons) are doing. That's kind of been the plan all along.

This year I'm using this blog to make round-by-round predictions for the brackets which have our local teams involved (Eastern A, Eastern B, Western C and Western D). First, a couple quick disclaimers:

There's not much to complain about if you're a Gardiner girls basketball fan. The Tigers lost a prelim game, 52-51 on a buzzer-beater from Old Town's Rebecca Taylor on Tuesday night, but their effort, particularly in the fourth quarter, was outstanding.

An electrifying crowd came out to see the Messalonskee girls basketball team bury Brewer 53-45 in an Eastern A preliminary game Tuesday night in Oakland.

Madison native and former University of Maine offensive coordinator Bobby Wilder finally has some players for the football program he's building from scratch at Old Dominion University.

Although the Monarchs won't play a game until the 2009 season, Wilder signed 21 players to letters of intent last week. Those players will redshirt in the fall as they practice with walk ons Wilder hopes to bring aboard.

The Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference's Class A division handed out its top honors between the boys and girls championships games Monday night.

The basketball tournaments are here (finally) and the hockey season is entering its final full week of the regular season. It’s a great time of year for all you winter sports fans.

Those who don't care for conference championship games should have watched Maranacook and Camden Hills go at it Saturday night in the Kennbeec Valley Athletic Conference Class B game.

Erskine Academy had no say in the power going out twice Thursday night in its game against Gardiner. But school officials do have power over the atmosphere they create, and as usual it was lively and positive.

The Lawrence hockey team buried Brewer 5-3 Thursday night, a huge victory for the upstart Bulldogs.

Officials are bashed so often at games and on the Internet, it seems only fair to point out when they do a good job. That was the case Monday night at Gardiner when the Tigers hosted unbeaten Maranacook.

Every now and then, a group of can't-miss middle school basketball prospects emerges. That was the case four years ago in the Capital Area Middle School League.