Matt Rempe: The Fist Fortnight

Not “fortnite”, like the popular game where your kid demolishes Mom’s credit cards in order to get a gun in a slightly different shade of green. We mean the British “fort-night“, meaning “two weeks”. And “fist” was meant to be “first”. Just a tragic intro, is the point.

Because, faaaaak, bud. This is the story of a rookie whose NHL antics over 13 days may be able to consistently keep me up past 10pm and reboot the importance of the enforcer role in general.

Fairweather Fruitcakes

As much as it pains me to love a Canadien, I’m still a massive Xhekaj fan, and he had a scrap over the weekend that was as one-sided as they come. It’s also good to see him doing his thing in the NHL again after a demotion to the AHL earlier in the year.

For those of you who have been following Goonblog for a while, you’ll remember we were this close to becoming a Geocities Arber Xhekaj fan site after “WiFi” began running amok in the NHL last year.

But the belle of the ball has been bumped, best-buddy. After the last couple weeks – we may now be in danger of becoming a Matt Rempe fan site. And that’s OK.

Fifteen Days of Matt Rempe

To say Matt has been “busy” since earning his callup just 15 days ago… is the understatement of the year. Since his debut, the little dickens has:

• Fought Nick Deslauriers in what some people have called the “fight of the decade”.
• Lost to Mathieu Olivier in a slug fest that gave him a couple of black eyes.
• Had a Toronto Saturday-night-center-ice-showdown with the legend, Ryan Reaves.

Is Matt fighting against The Ring death clock and that creepy little girl? Or maybe getting an early start on his Nicholson/Freeman bucket list? He is clearly relishing his role as the new tough trousers in New York, and it’s great to see established guys giving the kid a shot. It’s an old school way to operate in the NHL, and I love it.

So, yeah – the hockey world is abuzz as a result of this fascinating new edition. Love or hate the Blueshirts, they play in the biggest media market in the world, and the kind of buzz Rempe generates is great for the fight game. Give yourselves a shake and think “big picture”.

Du-Laurier: Special Mild

The fun got started last Saturday when the Rangers visited the Flyers for an afternoon game on ESPN. Something about afternoon games, man. I remember PJ Stock fighting Stephen Peat on a Saturday afternoon, and while this wasn’t as violent, it certainly had an old school flair to it.

The fight itself gets going early in the first period, but like a lot of these things, it was definitely planned during warm ups.

Deslauriers was seen, leaning over the red line, telling Rempe the Younger they were going to have a fuckin’ go. Matt, with a giant smile on his face, didn’t seem to have an issue with that. Totally off topic, but does anyone else get a Richard Kiel vibe from Rempe?

At the 3-minute mark of the first, it’s on. Simply because Deslauriers and Rempe found themselves on the ice at the same time. Deslauriers gets the Rempire State Building’s attention, and it’s go time.

The gloves come off and they size each other up a bit at center ice. After some posturing, Rempe gets in close, and Deslauriers throws a few rights. From there, each throws hard right hands at one another and both helmets fly off. Both guys employ the jersey over the head tactic a bit. Aside from a little tying each others arms up chicanery, it’s mostly hard rights from each guy after the aggressive fucking shirtings.

Tale of the Tape

Rempe’s size is a disadvantage more often than not, and something Ryan Reaves exploits later in the week. We’ll get there.

When Matt throws a punch, however, he gets inside of the other guy’s reach. And when he misses, he often lands a nice right hand for his troubles. So he’s almost always doing serious damage – because he’s just big and strong. In spite of that size advantage which will undoubtedly to haunt him at some point. And, as we continue, already has.

I score the fight a draw, with a gun to my head advantage to Rempe. Deslauriers is cut, and I think Rempe got a few more punches to land. So far, it’s my fight of the year, and if you wanted to make a fight of the decade argument, like PK Subban did, I’m all ears.

The next night the Rangers were in Columbus to play the Bluejackets and stop me if you heard this one before.

Two Guys Walk Into Warm Ups…

Mathieu Olivier and Matt Rempe were seen stretching it out at the red line, talking it over. “It” being when and where they’d throw down.

At about the 3-minute mark of the first period, it was time to stop talking and start fighting. Rempe used his size at the beginning of the tilt landing two hard right hands. He goes over and under, landing another right, and then delivers a quick uppercut to Olivier. That’s when the tide turns, and Olivier finally gets into the fight. He nails Rempe with four successive right hands, with that fourth being a bell-ringer.

Rempe looks a little stunned and is trying to hang on as Olivier lands a couple of more punches before taking Rempe down, much to the delight of the home crowd. They are certainly entertained and appreciative of Olivier’s work. Despite the cut, and early Rempe lead in the fight, I score it a decisive win for Mathieu Olivier.

You can’t win them all in your first 1.5 weeks, kid.

The Main Event.

This was one of those fights that everyone knew was going to happen. It’s been a while since a Saturday night fight was a topic of discussion in pre-game analysis, but PK Subban was sure to let everyone know he had the inside track on the likely Rempe-related shenanigans. The die was cast.

Once again, it didn’t take long for Matt Rempe to find his opponent in Toronto’s Ryan Reaves. They first met by the Ranger’s bench early in the first, and Rempe looked first to his coach for approval – to just fuggin’ get it on. Which some missed, and counted as a denial. After getting the nod though, the boys took it out to center ice.

Matt Rempe vs. Ryan Reaves: First Fisticuffs

First, but not last in the grand scheme of things, to be sure. Anyway, Reaves did a nice job of keeping the taller Rempe at bay. Rempe gave Reavo a facefull of left jabs while they were sorta locked up.

As expected, Rempe throws a punch and Reaves takes the opportunity to throw one of his own while Rempe is actually inside of his reach. You can tell Ryan watched some tape on the kid, as the dance he’s doing with Rempe is well choreographed. The crowd is going totally ape shit – and, as they tire each other out, they also give each other “the good fight. I’m friggin’ spent” nod.

Online. this fight online is about as divided as can be. It’s a 41% advantage for Rempe, 39% for Reaves, and 20% draw. I gave a slight advantage to Reavo in this one. I liked his technical ability, and I think he landed more. As always, kudos to him for giving the kid a shot!

Bond Villain Early Identification

Matt “Jaws” Rempe (back to the Richard Kiel reference) had himself a hell of a first week or so in the National Hockey League. Absolutely a jot to watch. He’s fought 4 really tough customers without a flinch, and has about a .500 record.

For me, it’s never been about wins and losses. I love the kid because he’s willing to be the guy that does this job. I love that the veteran guys are giving him a shot, and they’re all still fighting for the sake of fighting.

It encourages me that this sort of thing is still going on in my beloved game. Ryan Reaves said the kid is going to be a menace in the league, and I can’t think of higher praise. If Rempe keeps slugging it out, we’ll keep covering it! You GO, buddy!