Francois St Laurent

AGE: 46
NHLOA Member since 2003


Birthplace: Greenfield Park, QC
Regular Season: 803 Games (Referee)
Playoffs: 61 Games

* Game numbers updated as of September 29, 2020



The Greenfield Park, QC native grew up in the suburbs of Montreal. He started skating at 3 years old and fell in love with the big leather pads in his first year of playing the game. St.Laurent goaltending's career had him reaching the Junior levels before he hanged his pads. During his playing time, he also started at age 12 to work at the local rink as a timekeeper for the youth hockey games making some extra money and because he loved to be around the rink. When he reached the age of 15, one of the local influent referee asked him if he ever considered becoming an on-ice official rather than working the clock due to his high playing level experience at the time and also due to his knowledge and passion for the game. He signed up for the following official clinic and became an on-ice official in the fall of 1992. His game management and rapport with the different hockey participants got him moving the level of officiating at a furious pace. St.Laurent was named the “Top Prospect” official of the Province of Quebec in the spring of 1997. He reached the QHJML and the AHL in the summer of 1999 as a linesman while still working the lower provincial leagues as a referee. The following year he was promoted in the QHJML as a referee and continued working the lines in the AHL. In his second year as a referee in the QHJML, he was selected to work the prestigious Memorial Cup Tournament in Guelph, Ontario. This was the first year that the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) was selecting one referee from each of its three junior leagues to work the spring competition, unofficially naming his the best referee from the QHJML that year. He went on to work the last two games of the tournament (Semi-Final and Championship Game) back when the game was still using the one referee system. He worked another full season in the QHJML the following year while still working the lines in the AHL before he was offered in the summer of 2003 a minor league referee contract from the National Hockey League. He went on to work six years has a minor leagues member, working the 2009 AHL All-Star Game in Worcester, MA and working the 2008 & 2009 AHL Calder Cup Finals. He was promoted to a full time NHL referee status in the summer of 2009.



Milestones


First NHL Game

November 10, 2005

First Playoff Game

April 13, 2011



All-Star Games


2020 -- St. Louis, MO Enterprise Center January 25, 2020


Outdoor Games


2016 Heritage Classic

October 23, 2016
Investors Group Field
Winnipeg, MB

2015 Winter Classic

January 1, 2015
Nationals Park
Washington, DC


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The NHLOA (National Hockey League Officials' Association), was born in 1969 out of a need to improve working conditions, salaries and other benefits for officials of the National Hockey League.
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