MIAMI \u2014 Matt Rempe couldn\u2019t help but reminisce.<\/p>\n
Two reporters gathered around his spot in the back left corner of a very cramped quarters for the New York Rangers in the visiting clubhouse of loanDepot Park, site of the 2026 NHL Winter Classic, which was set to be played on Friday night, and the conversation inevitably turned to his NHL debut.<\/p>\n
It was one that occurred under similar circumstances, an outdoor game against the New York Islanders on Feb. 18, 2024 as part of the Stadium Series at MetLife Stadium, a memorable showing for the six-foot-nine, 261-pound winger who quickly gained a cult following before the game had even ended.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember that first time and just how nervous I was,\u201d Rempe said. \u201cThat was my first NHL practice even, and you\u2019re just so nervous about everything for that first kind of taste of the NHL and on a big stage like that. It\u2019s pretty cool to bring back some pretty special memories I\u2019ll remember forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
Likely the most vivid? His fight with Matt Martin off the faceoff on his first shift just 1:29 into the game, a moment he still is very complimentary towards Martin on.<\/p>\n
Just don\u2019t expect a repeat of it on Friday night.<\/p>\n
The 23-year-old revealed to New York reporters several weeks ago that he broke his left thumb in \u201cmany places\u201d in his fight with San Jose Sharks enforcer Ryan Reaves in late October, forcing him to miss 24 straight games.<\/p>\n
As he was working his way back, Rempe says the Winter Classic was a game he had circled on his calendar that he didn\u2019t miss, ultimately making his return on Dec. 15.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a ten-week timeline-type of thing that they gave me, and I really pushed hard because the end of that was right around today, but I was able to come back a bit earlier, which was great,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a game that I really wanted to play in.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, he\u2019s not 100 percent back to normal yet, and has yet to fight since being reinserted into the lineup, which has led to a very palpable frustration in not being able to fulfill one of the biggest parts of the role he plays.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s extremely frustrating,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a big part of my job, and I take a lot of pride in that. It\u2019s what I\u2019ve done since 16, 17 years old. It\u2019s always been a big part of my game. I think I have to take it as a learning thing. You\u2019re going to have those type of things in your career where you\u2019re not able to do that, and you\u2019ve got to find other ways to contribute. Still be physical, hard, skate fast and do that stuff, but it\u2019s eating on me. Especially last game, that type of stuff, not being able to do the job, it was just frustrating. Hopefully soon, I just can\u2019t make that fist yet. But getting that strength, it\u2019s coming.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI \u2014 Matt Rempe couldn\u2019t help but reminisce. Two reporters gathered around his spot in the back left…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5100],"tags":[1107,229,5133,5,4,1108,43,5366],"class_list":{"0":"post-387631","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-buffalo-sabres","8":"tag-buffalo","9":"tag-buffalo-sabres","10":"tag-buffalosabres","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-sabres","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-top-stories-trt"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115828650571079881","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}