ticket sales. Another tradition since 1978 has been the "Big Red Freakout!" game held close to the first weekend of February. Fans usually dress in the school's colors red (cherry) and white, and gifts such as T-shirts are distributed en masse. In ice hockey, the RPI's biggest rival has always been the upstate engineering school Clarkson University. In recent years RPI has also developed a spirited rivalry with their conference travel partner Union College, with whom they annually play a nonconference game in Albany for the Mayor's Cup.
=== Ice hockey (women's) ===
The women's ice hockey team moved to the NCAA Division I level in 2005. During the 2008–09 season the team set the record for most wins in one season (19-14-4). On 28 February 2010, Rensselaer made NCAA history. The Engineers beat Quinnipiac, 2–1, but it took five overtimes. It is now the longest game in NCAA Women's Ice Hockey history. Senior defenseman Laura Gersten had the game-winning goal. She registered it at 4:32 of the fifth overtime session …
