Matt Rempe has been a bad boy… again.
In a game against the Dallas Stars on Friday, New York Rangers forward Matt Rempe hit Stars defenceman Miro Heiskanen from behind, getting an elbow in there at the same time. Rempe was given a game misconduct and an option for an in-person hearing.
That in-person hearing ended up being an eight-game suspension, the longest suspension handed down to a player for an on-ice incident since Nazem Kadri’s suspension in May 2021 during the playoffs.
In just 22 National Hockey League games, the 22-year-old has been ejected for four games, has compiled 95 penalty minutes, and has a goal and an assist. The 6’9” forward hadn’t played since Nov. 25, and played just 5:32 minutes on the ice before being kicked out of the game.
It’s fine to play with an edge in hockey, but in his short career, Rempe has gone well over the line on several occasions. Last season, Rempe received a four-game suspension for an elbow on New Jersey Devils defenceman Jonas Siegenthaler. It seems he hasn’t learned.

The Sabres lose 13 in a row

It’s been a rough month for the Buffalo Sabres, as their losing streak has now hit 13 games with a 3-1 loss to the Boston Bruins on Saturday.
Coming into Nov. 27’s game against the Minnesota Wild, they were 7-2-0 in their last nine games. However, they fell 1-0 to the Wild, followed by an overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks, and it’s just spiralled from there.
It looked as if the Sabres had a chance to get Saturday’s game to overtime, as the score was tied at 1-1 with just under two minutes left. A late penalty put the Bruins on the power play, and Morgan Geekie capitalized with a minute and 45 seconds left in regulation to give the Sabres their 13th consecutive loss.
Since the salary cap era was introduced for the 2005-06 season, the Sabres are the only team with 13 (or more) straight losses three different time, with no other team doing it more than once. They’ll have one more chance to end the streak before Christmas, as they head to Long Island to face the New York Islanders on Monday.

Some CHL News

There are two separate news pieces concerning the Canadian Hockey League – one with the Ontario Hockey League, and the other with the Québec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. Let’s start with the former.
On Saturday during Hockey Night in Canada, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Freidman reported that the OHL has accepted the United States Hockey League’s Muskegon Lumberjacks and Youngstown Phantoms into the league. However, USA Hockey has not approved the transfer as of yet.
This news comes on the heels of players in the Canadian Hockey League now being eligible to play college hockey in the NCAA. As noted in a recent Sportsnet article, several players have already departed the USHL for CHL teams.
The league hasn’t expanded since 1998, where it has remained at 20 teams, but it’s had numerous relocations since then. Most recently, the Mississauga Steelheads moved to Brampton, Ontario to begin the 2024-25 season. Other recent moves saw the Brampton Battalion move to North Bay, the Plymouth Whalers moved to Flint, Michigan, and the Belleville Bulls moved to Hamilton, Ontario, with that team now playing in Brantford, Ontario, for the meantime.
Speaking of relocation, the QMJHL’s Acadie-Bathurst Titan will be no more to begin the 2025-26 season, as they’re set to move to St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.
The franchise has played in the QMJHL since 1969, set in the Montréal area, mainly Laval from 1971 until 1998. That season, they moved to New Brunswick in the city of Bathurst. In just their first season after relocating, they won the Gilles-Courteau Trophy, falling in the final of the Memorial Cup. They also won the 2018 championship, this time winning the Memorial Cup.
There have been two notable players who have played for the Titan since 1998-99 – Roberto Luongo and Patrice Bergeron. Moreover, current Flame Daniil Miromanov played with the team in 2015-16 and 2016-17, while Noah Dobson was the team’s only first-round selection in the National Hockey League draft.
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