NHL 2023-2024 Out of Town: Regular Season III
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ODAAT
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piece of crap
I was going to pile on but am declining, not like our boys are dominating right now
Bruinfanatic
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MarchysNoseKnows
Big Hat No Cattle
- Feb 14, 2018
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The Gigantic Rookie Bringing Fighting Back to Hockey
Matt Rempe is a throwback to a more violent era of the sport. He has gotten in three fights in his first five NHL games—and he’s loving it.
The Rangers’ Matt Rempe, left, fights with the Flyers’ Nicolas Deslauriers. DERIK HAMILTON/ASSOCIATED PRESS
By Jared Diamond
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and Robert O’Connell
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Feb. 28, 2024 5:30 am ET
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The New York Rangers are a first-place team with cerebral passers, ace shooters and a pair of experienced goalies. But that’s not what’s made them the buzz of the hockey world this week.
That would be a 21-year-old rookie who loves serving knuckle sandwiches.
Matt Rempe joined the Rangers from the minors on Feb. 18. The puck hadn’t even dropped on his first shift before he started firing a barrage of punches at New York Islanders tough guy Matt Martin. In Rempe’s first five games, he spent a total of 20 minutes actually playing on the ice—and racked up 32 penalty minutes after participating in three separate fights.
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Rempe’s propensity for launching haymakers at anybody who dares look at him the wrong way has brought a taste of the sport’s bruising, brawling history into its tamer present day—and immediately turned him into a folk hero.
“I was at a Cheesecake Factory last night, and I was getting some photos with people and rocking the black eye,” Rempe said after practice on Tuesday, proudly displaying a massive shiner over his left cheekbone. “So it’s pretty cool.”
Rempe, a 6-foot-7 native of Calgary—he’s about 7 feet in skates—is far from the biggest star on a Rangers squad that entered Wednesday having won 10 of its last 11 contests. New York selected him in the sixth round of the 2020 draft, and he spent the next couple of years knocking around the lower levels of the game.
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But less than two weeks into his rookie season, Rempe has emerged as an unlikely sensation by challenging several of the league’s most ferocious enforcers to fights. By the time the Rangers faced the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday, his reputation was already preceding him. Nicolas Deslauriers, who has never shied away from a tussle, asked the new kid during warm-ups if they could go a round.
See more...
Only three minutes had passed before they threw down their gloves and put up their fists, circling each other like a pair of heavyweight boxers before exchanging a hailstorm of blows. Referees let them battle for a full 40 seconds before intervening. Before both combatants wound up on the floor, Rempe left a bruise on Deslauriers’s forehead.
Among fans, the skirmish was an instant classic. Commenters on HockeyFights.com, a website that has chronicled years of on-ice fisticuffs, declared Rempe-Deslauriers a candidate for the best hockey fight of the decade.
“This might be not correct to say anymore,” Rangers left winger Jimmy Vesey said, “but I think people like violence.”
Hockey doesn’t feature nearly as much as violence as it used to, making Rempe a rare representative of a dying breed. In 1990, there was nearly one fight per game in the NHL, and it wasn’t uncommon to see a contest devolve into a series of retaliatory throw-downs. This season, there has been roughly one fight every four games.
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In previous decades, players like Rempe could forge entire NHL careers on the basis of their willingness to frequently thump opponents on the head. Not anymore.
“Gone are the days of the players who used to fight their way up,” said John Scott, an NHL enforcer from 2008 through 2016. “You have to actually be a decent hockey player these days.”
Players like Scott once played a crucial role on a roster. Their job was to threaten opponents with the prospect of a beatdown to stop them from roughing up their speedier and more skilled teammates. Scott doesn’t think he’d have made the NHL at all, if not for his reputation as a courageous and powerful fighter.
“There is an honor in fighting, believe it or not,” said Riley Cote, a Flyers enforcer from 2006 through 2010. “Most people don’t see it or see it as barbaric, but there is a peace in it.”
Over the last two decades, the culture surrounding fighting in hockey has changed. The NHL instituted a number of rule changes designed to emphasize the finesse aspects of the game, making it harder for big galoots to survive on the strength of their right hooks alone. Concerns over brain trauma have further discouraged the practice, as have stiff penalties for fighting in the NHL’s feeder leagues.
The result is a game that revolves much more around speed than power, but Rempe is a throwback. He’s so big and strong that he can make his NHL name—for a short time, at least—on the strength of his ability to intimidate. When he’s not fighting, he mostly mucks around the front of the opponent’s net, less a skillful pair of hands than a solid slab for pucks, and bodies, to bounce off of.
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See more...
In a recent game against the New Jersey Devils, Rempe was given a match penalty—an ejection—for delivering a high-speed check to the head of a Devils player. Rempe wasn’t even fully aware when he scored his first NHL goal against Philadelphia, after a fired puck simply bounced off of his shin pad and trickled in.
“Probably the ugliest first goal in NHL history,” he said. “But I’ll take it.”
Now that Rempe has reached the big club, the challenge is to stick. The NHL trade deadline approaches on March 8, and the top teams will look to shore up their deficiencies and buttress their strengths. It remains to be seen whether Rempe’s muscle will be enough for him to keep a spot.
When you fight, Rempe said, “you get a reputation and create space for yourself on the ice and help my teammates, create more space for them.”
To the casual hockey fans tuning into Rempe’s hit reel, there’s a less subtle payoff.
“It’s a style of play that probably brings a lot of people back to different decades of hockey,” Vesey said, “and nostalgia is significant in the human brain.”
Write to Jared Diamond at [email protected] and Robert O’Connell at [email protected]
BruinDust
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- Aug 2, 2005
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Cousins learned that move from watching Claude Lemieux highlights on those old Rock'Em Sock'Em VHS tapes.
TobanWest
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BruinDust
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- Aug 2, 2005
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I thought about him as well.
No coincidence all three (C.Lemieux, Ribeiro and Cousins) previously wore the bleu, blanc, et rouge. Embellishment is part of the culture there.
TCB
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TCB
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I really fear for this kid. I think he should choose his battles more wisely. One can only take so many blows to the head.The Gigantic Rookie Bringing Fighting Back to Hockey
Matt Rempe is a throwback to a more violent era of the sport. He has gotten in three fights in his first five NHL games—and he’s loving it.
The Rangers’ Matt Rempe, left, fights with the Flyers’ Nicolas Deslauriers. DERIK HAMILTON/ASSOCIATED PRESS
By Jared Diamond
Follow
and Robert O’Connell
Follow
Feb. 28, 2024 5:30 am ET
SHARE
TEXT
174 RESPONSES
Listen to article
Length(6 minutes)
Explore Audio Center
The New York Rangers are a first-place team with cerebral passers, ace shooters and a pair of experienced goalies. But that’s not what’s made them the buzz of the hockey world this week.
That would be a 21-year-old rookie who loves serving knuckle sandwiches.
Matt Rempe joined the Rangers from the minors on Feb. 18. The puck hadn’t even dropped on his first shift before he started firing a barrage of punches at New York Islanders tough guy Matt Martin. In Rempe’s first five games, he spent a total of 20 minutes actually playing on the ice—and racked up 32 penalty minutes after participating in three separate fights.
See more...
Rempe’s propensity for launching haymakers at anybody who dares look at him the wrong way has brought a taste of the sport’s bruising, brawling history into its tamer present day—and immediately turned him into a folk hero.
“I was at a Cheesecake Factory last night, and I was getting some photos with people and rocking the black eye,” Rempe said after practice on Tuesday, proudly displaying a massive shiner over his left cheekbone. “So it’s pretty cool.”
Rempe, a 6-foot-7 native of Calgary—he’s about 7 feet in skates—is far from the biggest star on a Rangers squad that entered Wednesday having won 10 of its last 11 contests. New York selected him in the sixth round of the 2020 draft, and he spent the next couple of years knocking around the lower levels of the game.
ADVERTISEMENT
Matt Rempe, playing in his first career NHL game, fights with Matt Martin of the New York Islanders. PHOTO: BRUCE BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES
But less than two weeks into his rookie season, Rempe has emerged as an unlikely sensation by challenging several of the league’s most ferocious enforcers to fights. By the time the Rangers faced the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday, his reputation was already preceding him. Nicolas Deslauriers, who has never shied away from a tussle, asked the new kid during warm-ups if they could go a round.
See more...
Only three minutes had passed before they threw down their gloves and put up their fists, circling each other like a pair of heavyweight boxers before exchanging a hailstorm of blows. Referees let them battle for a full 40 seconds before intervening. Before both combatants wound up on the floor, Rempe left a bruise on Deslauriers’s forehead.
Among fans, the skirmish was an instant classic. Commenters on HockeyFights.com, a website that has chronicled years of on-ice fisticuffs, declared Rempe-Deslauriers a candidate for the best hockey fight of the decade.
“This might be not correct to say anymore,” Rangers left winger Jimmy Vesey said, “but I think people like violence.”
Hockey doesn’t feature nearly as much as violence as it used to, making Rempe a rare representative of a dying breed. In 1990, there was nearly one fight per game in the NHL, and it wasn’t uncommon to see a contest devolve into a series of retaliatory throw-downs. This season, there has been roughly one fight every four games.
ADVERTISEMENT
In previous decades, players like Rempe could forge entire NHL careers on the basis of their willingness to frequently thump opponents on the head. Not anymore.
“Gone are the days of the players who used to fight their way up,” said John Scott, an NHL enforcer from 2008 through 2016. “You have to actually be a decent hockey player these days.”
Matt Rempe looks to deflect the puck against Flyers goalie Samuel Ersson. PHOTO: KYLE ROSS/REUTERS
Players like Scott once played a crucial role on a roster. Their job was to threaten opponents with the prospect of a beatdown to stop them from roughing up their speedier and more skilled teammates. Scott doesn’t think he’d have made the NHL at all, if not for his reputation as a courageous and powerful fighter.
“There is an honor in fighting, believe it or not,” said Riley Cote, a Flyers enforcer from 2006 through 2010. “Most people don’t see it or see it as barbaric, but there is a peace in it.”
Over the last two decades, the culture surrounding fighting in hockey has changed. The NHL instituted a number of rule changes designed to emphasize the finesse aspects of the game, making it harder for big galoots to survive on the strength of their right hooks alone. Concerns over brain trauma have further discouraged the practice, as have stiff penalties for fighting in the NHL’s feeder leagues.
The result is a game that revolves much more around speed than power, but Rempe is a throwback. He’s so big and strong that he can make his NHL name—for a short time, at least—on the strength of his ability to intimidate. When he’s not fighting, he mostly mucks around the front of the opponent’s net, less a skillful pair of hands than a solid slab for pucks, and bodies, to bounce off of.
ADVERTISEMENT
See more...
In a recent game against the New Jersey Devils, Rempe was given a match penalty—an ejection—for delivering a high-speed check to the head of a Devils player. Rempe wasn’t even fully aware when he scored his first NHL goal against Philadelphia, after a fired puck simply bounced off of his shin pad and trickled in.
“Probably the ugliest first goal in NHL history,” he said. “But I’ll take it.”
Now that Rempe has reached the big club, the challenge is to stick. The NHL trade deadline approaches on March 8, and the top teams will look to shore up their deficiencies and buttress their strengths. It remains to be seen whether Rempe’s muscle will be enough for him to keep a spot.
When you fight, Rempe said, “you get a reputation and create space for yourself on the ice and help my teammates, create more space for them.”
To the casual hockey fans tuning into Rempe’s hit reel, there’s a less subtle payoff.
“It’s a style of play that probably brings a lot of people back to different decades of hockey,” Vesey said, “and nostalgia is significant in the human brain.”
Write to Jared Diamond at [email protected] and Robert O’Connell at [email protected]
Matt Rempe takes on Blue Jackets right wing Mathieu Olivier. PHOTO: RUSSELL LABOUNTY/REUTERS
He keeps this up he will be drooling in a cup by the time he is 40
All 3 of his fights have come within the first 3min of the game.
Seems a little gimmicky to me.....
Number8
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- Oct 31, 2007
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That’s not fair. Real Madrid thinks he could be a very brave player for them.
Well, he's getting challenged, not the other way round, at least from what I hear.
Tell me true: Wouldn't a fair number of grizzled old Bruins fans welcome a fellow like this with open arms? He's one guy, but NYR has Trouba and others.
The Bruins have Trent Frederic. That's it.
It's embarrassing as f*ck. They're a bathetic (look it up) shell of the club many NHL fans still believe them to be.
Yes, they work hard most nights, even if they punch out after 40 minutes.
Wimp Central.
They can't -- or won't -- even clear out their own crease. Let Ullmark and Swayman tend to that.
Whether "Sweenes" adds a smidge of (groan) "snarl and bite," don't expect this team to magically transform into anything other than a reflection of the guy in the head office. One or two physical additions would be great, but one or two guys can't establish team-wide toughness. It doesn't work that way.
Said again: Never the hammer. Ever the nail.
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- Oct 4, 2017
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Sheppy
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Mr. Make-Believe
The happy genius of my household
MarchysNoseKnows
Big Hat No Cattle
- Feb 14, 2018
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Sheppy
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They won’t be, they’re making a run for sure.
EP looks like he’s resigning in Vancouver too.
- Jan 29, 2003
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