Tuesday, April 4th, 2023
Tonight in Montreal, NHL referee Marc Joannette will be working his last game before calling it quit after 25 years of service with the National Hockey League. Joannette who made his NHL debut on October 1st, 1999 in Buffalo at the old Marine Midland Arena (Lightning vs Sabres) will leave the ice with a total of 1,520 NHL Regular Season games worked along with 170 NHL Playoffs games.
During his time with the NHL, Joannette was assigned to several important assignments including the 2004 World Cup of Hockey, the 2008 “original” Winter Classic at Ralph Stadium in Buffalo (Pittsburgh vs Buffalo), the 2009 NHL All-Star Game held in Montreal, the 2010 Winter Olympics (Vancouver, Canada), the 2014 Stadium Series at Soldier Field in Chicago (Pittsburgh vs Chicago), the 2017 Centennial Classic at TD Place Stadium in Ottawa (Montreal vs Ottawa) and had the honor of being selected three times to work the prestigious Stanley Cup Finals (2008 – Pittsburgh vs Detroit, 2009 – Detroit vs Pittsburgh & 2018 – Washington vs Vegas).
Referee Francis Charron with linesmen Jonny Murray and Michel Cormier will have the honor of working Joannette’s last game tonight.
The NHLOA would like to congratulate NHL referee Marc Joannette on his incredible career. Well done “Jojo”.