RPI Women’s Hockey Eyes ‘Three-Peat’ in 2024 Capital Region Mayor’s Cup [INTERVIEW]

It's Mayor's Cup week here in the Capital Region!

One of the area's premier hockey events is set to take place this Saturday, January 27th, at MVP Arena in downtown Albany. The RPI Engineers and Union Garnet Chargers will square off in a pair of games, with the women's teams playing at 3PM, and the men's teams playing at 6PM. Each game will have a trophy --- the Mayor's Cup --- that is awarded to the victor, and bragging rights are also on the line.

Ahead of the Mayor's Cup, we welcomed four members of the RPI women's hockey team --- center Marah Wagner, right wing Ellie Kaiser, defender Taylor Larsen and goaltender Amanda Rampado --- into our studio to talk hockey on 'The Drive'.

Here's what they had to say.

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RPI Women's Hockey Prepares for Battle With Union in 2024 Mayor's Cup Clash

On Saturday, RPI and Union's women's hockey programs will face-off in the 6th edition of the Mayor's Cup. The Engineers have had the upper-hand in the all-time matchup, with RPI holding a 4-1 advantage in the Mayor's Cup.

They're also coming off of two straight wins in downtown Albany, and will be going for the three-peat this weekend against the Garnet Chargers.

The quartet of players who we spoke to are motivated to continue their winning ways. Rampado told us how exciting it is to be able to play for a trophy at this point in the season, while Wagner stated that the Engineers have to eat pucks and get pucks deep, two of my favorite hockey terms, in order to control the pace of play and win the game.

Both Kaiser and Larsen acknowledged that this Garnet Chargers team is a tough opponent, featuring strong goaltending and an evenly-balanced scoring attack. Clearly, the path to a three-peat will not be an easy one.

Outside of the Mayor's Cup, we also talked about each player's journey to Troy. Marah Wagner was originally a member of the Robert Morris women's hockey team, which suspended operations after the 2021 season. She spoke to us about the difficulty of that situation, but also, how grateful she was that she landed at RPI for the 2021-22 season.

Amanda Rampado's college decision came down to two universities, and she told us how she visited both schools unannounced with her family, and when doing that, she fell in love with RPI. Ellie Kaiser, meanwhile, won two national championships as a member of the Chicago Mission before coming to campus in Troy, and she told us about how rewarding that experience was for her as a player.

In speaking with Taylor Larsen, she told us about her style of play, pressuring opposing players in all areas of the ice. She also spoke glowingly about the core of defenders that RPI has this year, and how well they've played together so far this year.

It was a true pleasure to talk to these members of the RPI program this week. Click below to hear both parts of our interview from Thursday's show: