Union is Mayor’s Cup Champion

Dutchmen Beat RPI Engineers in Decisive 6-0 Victory

Union+Men%E2%80%99s+Hockey+Team+with+the+Mayor%E2%80%99s+Cup+Trophy.+

Josh Kent

Union Men’s Hockey Team with the Mayor’s Cup Trophy.

Josh Kent, Staff Writer

The Union Dutchmen defeated the rival Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute ice hockey team 6-0 on Saturday in the tenth annual Capital District Mayor’s Cup in MVP Arena. This is the Dutchmen’s second win in as many years in the rivalry game and was the largest margin of victory by either team in the history of the Mayor’s Cup. The Dutchwomen also played their RPI counterparts at MVP but lost their game 1-3. 

For the Men’s game, the Dutchmen played their most consistent game of the year, outplaying RPI for all three periods, scoring two goals for each period. Union began the game with a burst of energy,  outshooting the Engineers 5-2 in the opening minutes. Then in the first potential turning point in the game, the Dutchmen killed off a penalty that was taken only 40 seconds after their first score. The Dutchmen then built off of the momentum of their penalty kill, with Ben Tupker ’24 tipping in a shot taken from the top of the circles by Nic Petruolo ’24 to take a two-goal lead. 

The Dutchmen did not relent in the second period scoring two more goals. The first goal was scored just 2:09 into the second by Ville Immonen ’24 on a shot from the slot with their unrelenting forecheck and strong defensive play. Then, as the period began to wind down, RPI forward Altti Nykanen ’24 got tangled up with a Union player and lashed out, delivering a crosscheck to the Union player’s head. Nykanen was given a five-minute penalty for misconduct and after ejected from the game. The Dutchmen then continued to dictate play for the majority of the period. With only 40 seconds remaining in the period Union went on the powerplay and Tyler Watkins ’24 made RPI pay with a well-placed one-timer right under the crossbar. 

The Dutchmen did not hold back in the third, scoring two more goals on the RPI backup goaltender. As the five-minute power play continued at the start of the third period, Josh Nixon ’25 scored with another tip in front of the net. Carter Korpi ’26 then capped off the scoring with a breakaway goal on his way out of the penalty box halfway through the third. Connor Murphy ’23 made 28 saves on the Dutchmen’s second shutout against RPI this year. 

The Dutchmen look to build on this win and finish out the rest of their ECAC season strong. They will travel to Colgate and Cornell this upcoming weekend, before playing their six remaining games. The Dutchmen currently sit in tenth place in the ECAC rankings, but with eight more games left, they have every opportunity to ride this momentum into a deep playoff run. 

The Union women’s hockey team also played in the Mayor’s Cup. Once the puck dropped for the women’s game, the Dutchwomen played a hard-fought game against RPI. The players enthusiastically skated after Riley Walsh ‘26 scored and Sophie Matsoukas ‘25 stopped 33 goals in the net. In the end, the Dutchwomen fell to the RPI Engineers by 1-3.  The Dutchwomen look forward to returning to Messa Rink to play Yale this Friday, February 3.

Reporting was contributed to by News Editor Allyson Bennett.