New York Rangers forward Matt Rempe recently had a little sparring session with former NHL enforcer Georges Laraque. To be more specific, Laraque gave Rempe a fighting lesson where he showed the 21-year-old some of his techniques he used against his opponents back in the day that made him one of the top enforcers in the NHL. How did these two connect? It was pretty simple actually. Laraque watched one of Rempe’s fights and while he saw his potential, the 47-year-old believed that there was still some work the young forward needed to do in order to reach his ultimate potential as an enforcer. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, he’s getting hit way too much because he has no technique,’ ” Laraque said via The New York Post’s Mollie Walker. [https://nypost.com/2024/07/18/sports/matt-rempe-a-different-fighter-after-georges-laraque-fight-camp/] “And then after a few fights, his face, he had black eyes and everything. After [the] Olivier [fight], when it kind of went a bit bad, I was like, ‘OK, I have to reach out to him.’ Because he was so good for the league.” Laraque extended Rempe an invite to train together and he gladly accepted. “So what I told him, I said, ‘Listen, when the season is over, if you want, we can meet up and we’ll do this on the ice,’” Laraque said. [https://nypost.com/2024/07/18/sports/matt-rempe-a-different-fighter-after-georges-laraque-fight-camp/] “It’s way better on the ice than by text. So a couple weeks ago, he texted me and he said, ‘Can I take you up on your offer?’ ” The two didn’t just scrap for a short period of time. According to Walker, Rempe and Laraque worked 90 minutes each day specifically on fighting techniques that would avoid Rempe from getting hurt and ensure the longevity of his career. There is a lot that goes into fighting that many people are unaware of. When watching a hockey fight it just looks like players violently throwing their fists at each other, but there is strategy and specific technique that goes into it, which was Laraque’s main lesson to Rempe. While Rempe may have been a fierce fighter last year, Laraque is confident that with his new techniques he has learned, The Remper will be a force to be reckoned with. Sean Avery Illustrates Rangers Perfect Shift “Wait til you see,” Laraque said. [https://nypost.com/2024/07/18/sports/matt-rempe-a-different-fighter-after-georges-laraque-fight-camp/] “I gave him so much information, so much technique, we practiced so much. I can’t wait for you to see it. I can’t wait. You know, the other thing too is, they know. The whole league knows what he just did. They know he’s not going to be the same.”
