EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — New York Rangers rookie forward Matt Rempe made history on Sunday, becoming the first NHL player to make his debut in a regular-season outdoor game.
On his first NHL shift at MetLife Stadium, Rempe tried to make an impression on the New York Islanders too, with a fight against winger Matt Martin.
Rempe was called up from the AHL Hartford Wolf Pack after the Rangers lost veteran winger Blake Wheeler to a leg injury on Thursday night. Wheeler will miss the rest of the regular season at a minimum.
Rempe, a 21-year-old center who is listed a 6-foot-7, played the last two seasons with the Wolf Pack. The Calgary native was drafted in the sixth round of the 2020 NHL Draft by the Rangers.
Rempe took the traditional “rookie lap” alone before the rest of the Rangers came out for their warmup skate at the home of the NFL’s New York Giants and New York Jets.
Just 1:29 into the first period, Rempe lined up across from Martin and the two dropped the gloves off the faceoff. Rempe used his reach to land a few punches on Martin. Neither player went down to the ice as the linesmen eventually intervened to end the tussle.
It was the first fight in an NHL outdoor game since Washington’s Anthony Mantha and Carolina’s Jordan Martinook fought last season at their Stadium Series game in Raleigh, NC. It was also the first fight in a regular-season Rangers vs. Islanders game since Nov. 2021.
Rempe is only the second player in NHL history to make his debut with a new team in an outdoor game, following Ron Hainsey with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2017 Stadium Series game against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Rempe said his mother and two sisters flew in for his NHL debut. On Friday after the Rangers’ skate, he said he was looking forward to debuting against the Islanders in an outdoor game.
“I think I play a hard physical game that runs on adrenaline, so I’m going be juiced up to the max. I think I’d be buzzing out there. How can you not be going, with all the fans and playing outdoors? Like, this is pure hockey. It’s unreal,” he said.
His Rangers teammate Jimmy Vesey said a player making their first appearance in an outdoor game is one to remember.
“I’d probably just say that it was the coolest NHL debut I’ve seen so far,” Vesey said.
