On Saturday night the Union Men’s Hockey team completed their 4th straight Mayor’s Cup victory in an OT thriller. What an incredible game matched by an incredible atmosphere. The packed MVP arena was loud from the first puck drop to the final buzzer.
One of the best rivalries in the nation certainly lived up to the hype as both teams came out flying and neither seemed to have a clear edge. RPI put the offensive pressure on early, scoring the first goal.
Josh Nixon ’25 got Union on the board a few minutes later off the assist from Caden Villegas ’25. Union took that momentum into the scoreless second period where they generated a lot of good opportunities. The third period began and the Union faithful got to celebrate early as Nixon scored his second of the day on a nice tip-in goal.
RPI tied the game back up off a goal from the top of the circle and kept them in it. Union would get some more quality shots throughout the third, but 60 minutes was not enough to decide this game and we went to overtime.
Union dominated possession of the puck for the majority of OT and it finally paid off when the team’s leader in points, Nate Hanley ’26, got a step on his defender and ripped it past the Engineers netminder.
The bench cleared as the team swarmed Hanley and prepared to keep the Mayor’s Cup in Schenectady. Cullen Ferguson ’25, in his 4th and final Mayor’s Cup win, had the assist on Hanley’s overtime winner.
Goaltender Kyle Chauvette ’26 had another outstanding game with a .909 save percentage. Union dominated the face-off circle winning 35 of 59 and outshot the Engineers 28- 22.
This is the 6th time since 2000 that the Men’s team has swept RPI in a season and the first time ever that both the men’s and women’s teams completely swept RPI going 6-0 this season.
This win both solidifies Union’s place among the top teams in the ECAC and provides momentum heading into the final stretch of the season. This huge victory keeps Union in a prime position to get one of the first-round byes with a top 4 seed in the ECAC tournament.
