Preview: Mayor's Cup
RPI looks to win the trophy back for the first time since 2020
The long awaited yearly rivalry game is here, and it should be a good one. As I’m sure everyone knows, Union is on a hot streak recently, going unbeaten in their last 4 games (3-0-1). They come into this game riding high with a ton of confidence given their recent play. RPI is in the opposite position with last weekend’s brutal sweep on the road. However, they were playing fairly well before that, so there is some hope that the weekend was an aberration. Lastly, they always say that in rivalry games, you can just throw the records out the window entirely. Anything can happen.
Union Team Breakdown
Union’s strength this year has been its offense. They’re having no issues scoring, and it’s been pretty consistent most of the year. They have not had too many off nights offensively this year and are averaging 3.4 goals per game overall. While Union doesn’t really have much top end talent, they are getting tons of depth scoring, shown by their 9 forwards with 10+ points so far this season.
Surprisingly, Union’s power play is only operating at a very average 18.6%. You would expect the power play to be more potent given their strong offense. However, it’s certainly not bad, and given RPI’s penalty killing troubles this year, it can’t be taken lightly. If anything, Union’s power play shows just how good their offense at even strength has been.
The defense has been where Union has struggled. They’re giving up 3.2 goals per game, but a look under the hood shows some goaltending struggles rather than poor defensive play. Union is allowing 29.8 shots on goal against per game and 2.9 xG against per game. Essentially, Union’s defending has been about average, but their goaltenders are collectively giving up an extra 0.3 goals per game. That may not seem like much, but that adds up really quickly. One area defensively where Union doesn’t struggle is the PK. They are killing off 88.9% of their penalties, which is truly an elite rate (3rd in the country).
Biggest Threats
John Prokop is an elite defenseman who has 24 points in 22 games. He leads the team in points.
Josh Nixon is the leading point scorer at forward with 19 points in 22 games. He’s undersized but speedy and skilled.
Brandon Buhr leads the team with 9 goals and has 17 points in 23 games. Buhr is a big power forward who was a good goal scorer throughout his junior hockey career and is now translating that to the NCAA after a rough freshman year at Clarkson.
Summary
Union is a good team who has been on a roll lately. RPI will need to put last weekend’s play behind them immediately and bring out their best effort for this rivalry game. Let’s Go Red!