The New Jersey Devils defenseman Kurtis MacDermid didn’t hold back after Monday’s loss against the Rangers.
The Rangers’ rookie sensation Matt Rempe had another busy night, adding to his wild first year in the league.
Rempe was tossed from Monday’s gave after being given a misconduct for elbowing Jonas Siegenthaler late in the second period. Siegenthaler dumped the puck from the neutral zone, and Rempe came across the ice and hit the Devils’ D-man’s head with his elbow.
It looked intentional, as Rempe’s elbow moved up high just before the collision, and Siegenthaler was slow to get up. He didn’t return to the game.
Kurtis MacDermid tried to fight Rempe in the first period already, but Rempe wouldn’t drop the gloves. MacDermid also received a 10-minute misconduct after Rempe’s elbow, and as Rempe left the ice, he mocked his opponent by waving at him.
Postgame, MacDermid slammed Rempe for how he acted after getting tossed.
”There’s a right way to go about things and a wrong way,” MacDermid said. ”I kind of lost a lot of respect for him tonight.”
MacDermid also added that Rempe has ’a lot to learn.’
”He’s a young kid in this league, he has a lot to learn still. You don’t do things like that in your first year in the league, especially. Like I said, I lost quite a bit of respect for him tonight.”
This was Rempe’s second ejection against the Devils. On Feb. 22, he was tossed after he hit Devils forward Nate Bastian in the head. MacDermid wasn’t with the Devils at the time, but he still had it in mind when he challenged Rempe in the first period of Monday’s game.
”First shift I asked him, there’s a bit of a code and I thought he would have answered that, but I don’t know what he was told but he said no,” MacDermid said. ”After a hit like that, it kind of goes without saying you should answer the bell in some way and be a man about it.”
MacDermid never got to Rempe after his hit on Siegenthaler. Officials quickly separated them before anything happened.
”I wish I could have gotten to [Rempe] quicker and taught him a lesson,” he said.
