Preview: Mayor's Cup

The season series is on the line as the Rt. 7 rivals clash at MVP

Photo: Times Union

RPI. Union. Mayor’s Cup. For the season series. First of the Lang era. Does it get any better than this?

It was before COVID when RPI won their last Mayor’s Cup. This series has been all Union for the better part of the last decade, but the outlook finally looks bright for both of these programs. Josh Hauge has his program humming in year 4 with the Garnet Chargers, as they roll into the Mayor’s Cup at 14-8-2. Things are looking up for Eric Lang’s Engineers in the 2^nd half, even if the results haven’t quite come yet. RPI got the better of Union on the first night of their season series but came out completely flat on Saturday leading to the split. Tonight’s Mayor’s Cup game will be the tiebreaker in the season series and will hold all the bragging rights until next season.

There were two very different tones in these interviews, the latter being amongst the most frustrated Coach Lang has been with his team all season. I would note that statistically Union was the better team in the game that RPI won, but RPI benefitted from good goaltending and opportunistic scoring that night. It will need more of the same tonight in what will certainly be the biggest moment of Nate Krawchuk’s young career.

The Garnet Chargers can hurt you from all angles, and it has two goalies who have chipped in a lot this year. Brandon Buhr leads the team with 15 goals and Colorado College transfer Tyler Dunbar has held down the back end. Union is a possession dominant team, they have a 58% Corsi and a NxG of 1.2, meaning their underlying metrics suggest they should win a game by 1.2 goals on average. RPI is going to have to play with smart hockey sense, get good goaltending, and not shoot themselves in the foot with mistakes.

This new era of RPI hockey needs a culture and that starts with winning big games. Before you can be relevant nationally, you have to be relevant on your campus, in your community, and in your conference. Lang’s first Mayor’s Cup is a big chance to set the tone in all 3 of those departments. The Engineers need to play with a high sense of urgency and make nothing easy for Union in this one. Let’s Go Red!!