RPI - Union is an interesting rivalry.  I can't speak for the students of
today, but back when I was in school and for a while thereafter, Union was a
Division 3 hockey school.  When they went D-1,  they were very bad for a
good number of years.  Only recently have Union and RPI developed a hockey
rivalry, some due to Union's improvement and some due to RPI's slide into
mediocrity.  RPI- Union was always a fierce rivalry in football as they have
been in the same division 3 league forever.  But while Union may consider
RPI its biggest hockey rival,  old-time RPI hockey fans consider our biggest
rival to be Clarkson, due to a long history of hockey and academic rivalry
(not to mention a large number of Clarkson alumni living in and around
Troy).  So Union thinks their biggest rival is RPI, RPI thinks their biggest
rival is Clarkson and Clarkson thinks their biggest rival is St. Lawrence.
(And, in the ECAC, everyone hates Cornell!!!!)

On 12/7/06, Erik Biever <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> The Minnesota - Wisconsin rivalry does not lack for tradition and
> intensity.
> It goes back to the 1920's, when both programs were established.  At one
> point
> brothers Emil and Kay Iverson were the coaches of the Gophers and Badgers
> respectively.  Here's an excerpt from an article in the Feb. 1926
> Wisconsin
> Engineer, which I pulled up via Google:
>
> "Far from being ... considered an uninteresting, poorly attended, and
> losing
> sport, hockey has risen from this position to that of a top-notch game. In
> other years, Wisconsin has finished near the bottom of the heap, but this
> year
> shows a marked change. Some excellent material is reporting for the team,
> much
> of it from  the College of Engineering, and under the excellent guidance
> of Kay
> Iverson, coach of outdoor winter sports, it has been developed into a high
> speed conference team, able to make a good showing with the best of teams.
>     ...
> "On the following weekend, a real hockey match took place with Minnesota,
> whose
> team usually walks off with the conference honors in hockey. Coach Kay
> Iverson's team proved fully the equal of his brother's Gophers for the two
> fast games ended in ties, the first 0-0, and the second 1-1.
>     ...
> "These ties, considering the rating of the opponents, and the fact that
> this
> year's team is one of the best, are almost as good as victories for
> Wisconsin.
> Coach Emil Iverson of Minnesota was certain of victory and could scarcely
> believe his eyes-every place he looked he said he could see a redcoat, and
> he
> counted them to make sure that his brother was not playing too many men."
>
> <<end of excerpt>>
>
> The rivalry went dormant when Wisconsin dropped varsity hockey in the
> 1930's,
> but it came back with renewed vigor in the 1960's. There's been plenty of
> hatred to go around -- consider the rancor between Herb Brooks and Badger
> Bob.
>   There have also been comic events, like the time in the 1970's when Paul
> Holmgren took out a row of Wisconsin trombones that were hanging over the
> glass.  And then there's that little matter of the Back-Door Badgers
> beating
> the Gophers for the 1981 NCAA championship in Duluth.
>
> This rivalry takes a back seat to none.
>
> -- Erik
>
> > Erik,
> >
> > Thanks for opening that can or worms, and for not letting sleeping dogs
> lie.
> >
> > There is more to same-state location (all but UM vs. UW) or same
> conference
> > membership (all but UAA vs UAF, yes UAF not UA) to make a rivalry. There
> is
> > history and tradition. Maybe Clarkson stole St. Lawrence's cow (leaving
> them
> > only with the bell) or maybe St. Lawrence reprogrammed the Clarkston
> arena
> > scoreboard to read "Clarkson Good Night". You need these stories,
> silliness,
> > and hatred to make a good rivalry. BU vs BC and MSU vs UM seem to have
> that
> > extra edge that make a real rivalry. I have not seen that edge in UW vs
> UM
> > but I do not know enough about CC vs DU.
> >
> > But it is the stories that make the rivalry, the history and the
> tradition.
> > A good brawl -- on the ice or in the stands -- always helps.
>