Preview: Mayor's Cup

The Engineers look to take back the trophy for the first time since 2020

Photo: Union Athletics

RPI will take a break from ECAC play this week to play their final non-conference game of the season when they take on Union in the annual Mayor’s Cup game. After a tough weekend at home against Harvard and Dartmouth, they could use a momentum boost, so a big win against the rival would be a nice shot of adrenaline for the team as it enters the home stretch.

I have to be honest though: this year I’m having a tough time caring about this game. Maybe it’s because I’m now a few years removed from school, I’m not flying out to the game this year, it’s not going to count for the ECAC standings, or it’s not televised. Likely, it is some combination of the four.

I do feel the need to speak up though that I think it’s difficult to take this seriously as a big rivalry game when it is not even televised ANYWHERE. Year after year, this has been the case, and every time, it is an absolute joke. The reason that I was always told while I was a student was “we want to promote in person attendance” for the game.

There is ZERO empirical evidence to support that televising it would hurt attendance, and I certainly think it is inaccurate. From my point of view, if you are planning to attend the game, you are going to watch a great rivalry with a fun atmosphere. The viewing experience on television is not, and never will be, nearly as good as going to a game in person. If you’re going to the game, I think you’re going regardless of options on TV (or streaming). The only exception is if there’s really bad weather, but if there’s bad weather, people might not go anyways.

In the process of this unsupported theory, people outside of the region are being alienated. How do you expect to grow the brand and profile of the game to get more people to come in future years if you’re not showing it on television? How do you expect a kid who loves hockey or could love hockey to actually discover the game? Their choice is actively preventing the game from growing. Then there’s the fact that the vast majority of alumni don’t live in the Capital Region. Many are not in driving distance and require a flight, and even for the ones who could drive 2-3 hours to see the game, they shouldn’t be locked out from seeing it if they choose not to. This will be the first year I miss out on watching the Mayor’s Cup because if I want to see it, I have to hop on 5 hours worth of flights since you can’t get a direct flight to Albany from basically anywhere. As much as I love the team and the program, I’m not going to do that every year.

The Beanpot is televised every year on NESN and draws huge ratings. Sometimes the Beanpot even outdraws the Frozen Four in TV ratings. It’s definitely a huge success from a TV standpoint. Guess what doesn’t suffer as a result? In person attendance! They sellout the TD Garden with all 17k seats every year. I don’t expect the Mayor’s Cup to become the Beanpot, but it’s seriously embarrassing to not televise a game in 2025.

We can switch gears to the actual hockey now that I have that rant out of the way.

Union profiles pretty similarly to RPI but is just slightly better overall.

On offense, they are a little better at puck possession and controlling scoring chances. RPI makes up for that gap, and then some, with excellent finishing ability, which also probably in part comes from prioritizing quality instead of quantity of chances. The power plays are both pretty prolific, with both sitting in the top 20 of goals per 60 minutes.

Both penalty kills are also weak and towards the bottom of the country. With how good both power plays are, staying out of the box will likely be a big factor for both teams. You don’t want to give the other team a lot of opportunities if the penalty kill is weak, and that’s even more true with both teams being strong on the power play.

Defensively, there’s a big gap between Union and RPI. Union is pretty good at preventing scoring chances, but they’ve had bad goaltending. They’re a little below average overall because of the weak goaltending. RPI obviously has struggled defensively, so this is still an advantage for Union.

Overall, it shapes up to be a good game with the edge to Union, but it’s not a huge gap. This is a winnable game for the Engineers if they stay out of the box, play well defensively, and capitalize on their chances. I hope everyone who attends has a great time. Let’s Go Red!