Rempemania feels like it happened a lifetime ago now.
The Rangers added Matt Rempe to their lineup just under two years ago, when the 6-foot-9 wing became the first player to make his NHL debut in an outdoor game at the Stadium Series against the Islanders in front of 79,690 fans at MetLife Stadium. He engaged in his first NHL fight with Matt Martin less than a minute and a half after the puck dropped.
It was almost like foreshadowing the early days of Rempe’s NHL career: all eyes on him, gloves on the ice and a tangible excitement that he was wearing red, white and blue.
The Calgary kid was a shot in the arm for a Blueshirts team that was enjoying its best season in a decade at the time. What he brought to the ice complemented their game and injected a new element to the Rangers’ established style of play.
