Luke Prokop/Matt Rempe - a rivals with benefits primer
Sometimes the rpf writes itself folks! TL;dr: Two Alberta boys who have played against each other since U15s. All throughout their youth career, Luke was always the one who got the recognition, went to the invitational tournaments and dev camps. He was the one who won the cups. After they big rivalry game in the WHL Cup Finals, Luke wins. It's been all Matt ever since.
Juniors
It's full Battle of Alberta with these two! Matt is from Calgary, Luke is from Edmonton. They have legit been in each other's orbit since 2016, when they both in the Canadian Sport School League (CCSHL) at U15. Luke eventually made it U18, while Matt took another year to crack the U18 B team. Luke is a U15 and U18 champion. Matt never made it to the quarter finals.
WHL
Halfway through the 17/18 season, Luke leaves the CCSHL to join the WHL. To add insult to injury he joined the Calgary Hitmen (Matt's hometown team). When to the WHL playoffs in 18/19 while Matt was in the AJHL. By 19/20, going into their draft year, they both played in the WHL, Matt in Seattle. They were in different divisions to only played each other once and Seattle won. The season was covid cancelled, but the scoring race was hot! Luke has 23 points in 59 games played against Matt's 31P in 47GP. (Luke is a defensive defenseman! No one expects him to score much)
Draft (2020)
Luke went 10th in the 3rd round (#73 overall)
Matt was picked 9th in the 6th round (#165)
Post-Draft WHL
20/21 is a shortened season. Matt gets the A in Seattle and Luke in gets the A Calgary. They don't play against each other.
Luke comes out the summer of 2021. He becomes a recognisable name immediately. The news start calling him "gay hockey player Luke Prokop".
In 21/22, they didn't play against each other all season. Luke loses the A, eventually leaves Calgary for his hometown team of Edmonton, and kills it again on the score board (35P in 58GP). Matt gets 23P in 56GP in his second year as an assistant captain.
21/22 WHL Championship final
It's Edmonton Oil Kings vs. Seattle Thunderbirds! Going into the finals, Luke has 10 points and Matt has 13.
In Game 1 in Edmonton, Calgary Boy Matt Rempe scores the first goal of the series.
Hometown ground breaking player Luke Prokop sets up the only Edmonton goal in the game towards the end of the 3rd period. [1] [2]
The Rivalry Match (Game 2) [highlights]
They were legit around each other all game [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
Luke has a 4 point (2G2A) night, with his first at the start of 2nd period [3]
Matt answers back with a goal of his own 2 minutes later. (Luke is on the ice and Matt looks back at him during his celly.)
30 seconds later, Luke scores again (it's a beauty).
Later in the period, both Matt and Luke get primary assists on PP goals. (Matt is on the ice for Luke's assist. Again, it seems like there's an exchanged glance during the celly)
Luke has another assist on the game winner. Matt tries to block his shot but it gets tipped anyway. Edmonton wins.
The next day, Luke is named WHL Player of the Week. He also won the CHL Humanitarian award earlier that week. [10]
In Game 5, Matt scores the game winner to push the series to game 6. Edmonton win the series in 6 games to win the WHL Cup, but the series leaves them beaten and bruised. They lost all but 1 game in the 2022 Memorial Cup.
Post Rivalry Match
In 22/23, Matt plays 53 games in the AHL and Luke joins the Seattle Thunderbirds (yes, Matt's old team). Wins the WHL Cup a second time but Seattle eventually loses 5-0 in the Memorial Cup final.
In 23/24, Matt plays mostly in the AHL, with 17 NHL games. His NHL debut is massive: first debut at an outdoor game, fight in his first shift, immediately becomes the talk of the town. He also plays in 11 playoff games for the Rangers. Luke plays mostly in the ECHL with a few call ups to the AHL.
In 24/25, Luke is in the AHL full-time but is regularly a healthy scratch (31GP) and is not rostered for Milwaukee's playoff games. Matt is up and down between the AHL (18GP 5P) and the NHL (42GP 8P 67PIM)
The 2025 offseason followed a similar pattern. Matt is re-signed to a 2 year contract with the Rangers and has become a certified hockey blorbo. Luke was not signed by the team that drafted him and ends up signing a 1-year 2-way (AHL/ECHL) contract with Bakersfield. The articles written about this still refer to him as "gay hockey player Luke Prokop" (but at least he has Elton John's number, I guess.)
The Rivalry has shifted
Until Matt left the WHL, Luke was always on top. Always one step ahead, playing in better teams, more recognition, better results. But since then it's been all Matt. He has more NHL games than Luke even has in the AHL. He's a certified NHLer even if he gets into hot waters constantly (literally one suspension away). He has a team and the fandom in his corner.
They haven't played against each other since Luke's team beat his and took the WHL cup. I wonder how long it'll be before they're facing off against each other on the ice again.
In the meantime, though, they seem to be in some form of contact. Following and liking each other's stuff on IG occasionally. (When they like each other's stuff, it's always in bursts. Almost like they met up or stalked each other's social media?? 👀👀)
