The Matt Rempe fighting tour continues. The 6’8” rookie has dropped the gloves in four of the five games he’s played in his career, and on Sunday, it was Blue Jackets forward Mathieu Olivier who dropped the mitts with Rempe on his first shift of the game.
The 21-year-old has already become a huge fan favorite, not just within the Rangers but in the NHL, for his tough playing style and many fights.
So far, he’s already fought the Islanders’ veteran Matt Martin, the Devils’ Jonas Siegenthaler, and the Flyers’ Nicolas Desaluriers. His fight with Deslauriers, which happened early in the Rangers-Flyers game this weekend, was called the best one in a decade by fans and analysts.
And apparently, Blue Jackets’ Mathieu Olivier was a big fan of it as well. Insider Jeff Svoboda said that Olivier complimented Rempe in warmups for his fight in Philadelphia.
They didn’t discuss a fight then, but Rempe asked him in the first shift of the game.
”First shift he came and asked me. There’s a lot of respect there for doing that,” Olivier said.
The fight was great, and they both traded punches before Olivier landed several tough blows that eventually sent Rempe to the ice.
The home crowd absolutely loved the fight, and although Rempe had the size and reach to his advantage, Olivier put up a great fight and turned out to be a really tough opponent.
Rempe went to the locker room after the fight to get looked at. He returned to the game before the first period ended. He finished the game with one assist in 4:48 of ice time in the Rangers’ 4-2 loss.
Postgame, head coach Peter Laviolette said that the Rangers need to talk about how much fighting Rempe participates in, as it could be harmful in the long run.
“There’s conversations all the time,” Laviolette said. “We don’t ever not have conversations about what’s going on. The players are out on the ice and things happen. He came back and gave us some good minutes. His line scored a goal, he went to the net, [Adam Edstrom] popped one in. So he came back and contributed.”
