Francois St Laurent

Pre-junior league

In 1998 and 1999, St. Laurent worked the Coupe Dodge championship. He also participated in the 2000 Air Canada Cup, held in Montreal, Quebec.

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League

St. Laurent joined the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in 1999, working 30 regular-season games and seven playoff games as a linesman. His first game in the league was on 10 September 1999, when he worked a game between the Val-d'Or Foreurs and Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. In the 2000-2001 season, he transitioned to a referee; the first regular-season game he worked as a referee came on 22 September 2000, as he worked the game between the Shawinigan Cataractes and Drummondville Voltigeurs. It would be the first of 115 regular-season games he worked between the 00-01 and 02-03 seasons. St. Laurent would also work in 24 playoff games. He worked the President's Cup finals in both 2002 and 2003.

He worked the 2002 Memorial Cup, including the final game between the Victoriaville Tigres of the QMJHL and the Kootenay Ice of the Western Hockey League.

American Hockey League

St. Laurent's first regular-season American Hockey League game came on 11 October 2003, in a game between the Providence Bruins and Worcester Ice Cats. During his stint in the AHL, St. Laurent worked the Calder Cup finals in 2008 and 2009. He also worked the AHL All-Star Classic in 2009, held in Worcester, Massachusetts.

During the 2015-16 AHL season, St. Laurent worked two games in the month of January, marking his first games in the league since the summer of 2009. The games were part of what appeared to be a rehab assignment. He had missed two and a half months for an unknown reason, and returned to the NHL in February 2016.

National Hockey League

St. Laurent was hired by the National Hockey League in the fall of 2003, as one of six officials signed that year. His first regular-season National Hockey League game came on 10 November 2005, in a game between the Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins. He worked in ten other games that season, bouncing back and forth between the NHL and the American Hockey League. He would make the jump to the NHL officiating roster full-time at the start of the 2009-10 NHL season, with his first game coming on 2 October 2009, in a game between the New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins.

In October 2011, then-Director of Officiating Terry Gregson was asked to briefly assess St. Laurent, among other officials in the NHL at the time. Gregson said that St. Laurent was one of the "very good young referees" at the time of the evaluation.

Stanley Cup playoffs

He was named to the Stanley Cup playoffs roster in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017. His best performance in the playoffs was in 2017, when he was named to work the second round.

Coyotes/Canadiens, 05-06 season

At the end of the 13 December 2005 game between the Phoenix Coyotes and Montreal Canadiens, Phoenix's Shane Doan received a gross misconduct for his comments towards St. Laurent and the other officials who worked the game. After the game, a report was sent to the league, stating that Doan had called the officials "fucking Frenchmen". Doan denied the comments. The NHL, after going over the allegations, found no evidence that he had used slurs to describe the officials; all of four of which were French Canadian. It was the last time a gross misconduct was given out in the National Hockey League, as the rule was removed from the book after the 2006-07 season.

Sharks/Bruins, 05-06 season

In a game between the San Jose Sharks and Boston Bruins, played on 10 January 2006, San Jose's Joe Thornton received a major penalty for checking Boston's Hal Gill and a game misconduct. The game was Thornton's first game back in Boston after a trade between the two teams earlier in the 2005-06 season. St. Laurent and partner referee Chris Rooney issued the penalties five minutes into the first period. Rooney commented on the hit after the game, saying that Gill was defenseless at the time of the hit.

Predators/Sharks, 06-07 season

Early in the third period of a game between the Nashville Predators and San Jose Sharks, played on 9 December 2006, St. Laurent sustained an injury to his knee. The injury was later revealed to be a torn knee ligament.

Capitals/Flyers line brawl, 13-14 season

St. Laurent worked a game between the Washington Capitals and the Philadelphia Flyers on 1 November 2013. After a third period goal scored by Washington's Joel Ward, a fight broke out between Capitals player Tom Wilson and Flyers player Wayne Simmonds. As the fight was taking place, Flyers goaltender Ray Emery skated down the ice to challenge Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby, which Holtby declined. When Emery said "just protect yourself", St. Laurent attempted to stop the fight, but couldn't when Emery began to punch Holtby. St. Laurent stopped various Capitals players from jumping in to stop Emery and did not stop the fight when Holtby fell to the ice. Emery was assessed penalties for leaving the crease (2 minutes), instigating (2 minutes), fighting (5 minutes), a ten-minute misconduct, and a game misconduct for his actions.

Through the week after the fight, the opinions about St. Laurent's actions were varied from different members of the media. Yahoo's Greg Wyshynski called St. Laurent a "joke" on the Monday afterwards, saying that he thought St. Laurent was "controlling the game". Calmer opinions came from Elliotte Friedman (then of CBC), who said that St. Laurent "tried to stop" the two combatants, yet "backed out" when the fight happened; and Darren Dreger of TSN, who said that St. Laurent "couldn't rely on the linesmen" because of the multiple fights.

Lightning/Canadiens, 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs

On 22 April 2014, St. Laurent worked Game Four of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series between the Montreal Canadiens and the Tampa Bay Lightning. During the second intermission, CBC's Ron MacLean spoke up about St. Laurent's participation in the game, saying that he "would not have been a popular choice for the Tampa Bay Lightning". MacLean's comment stemmed from an incident in Game Three, where a goal for Tampa Bay was waved off by another French-Canadian referee. He had also said that due to Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper's comments about the call, St. Laurent was thrown into Game Four "to send a message", when he had been assigned to the game before the playoffs began. MacLean apologized for his comments later that night, also saying that he wouldn't have minded if St. Laurent had worked in a later game of the series.

Blackhawks/Capitals, 2015 Winter Classic

St. Laurent worked the 2015 NHL Winter Classic, a game between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Washington Capitals held at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. It was his first assignment to the Winter Classic.

Late in the third period, he called a hooking penalty on Chicago's Jonathan Toews. Toews didn't appreciate the call, saying "that's the worst [expletive] call I've ever seen". Washington's Troy Brouwer would score on the power play, giving the Capitals the win. Epix's mini-series Road to the NHL Winter Classic showed the penalty call to Toews, with St. Laurent giving an explanation to the Blackhawks captain as to what he saw.

Jets/Lightning, 15-16 season

Late in the second period of a game between the Winnipeg Jets and Tampa Bay Lightning, played on 18 February 2016, Anton Stralman delivered a questionable hit to Bryan Little. St. Laurent and partner Dan O'Rourke did not issue penalties on the hit. (Blake Wheeler and Stralman would get penalties for roughing, while Stralman would not be suspended. Little ended up missing the rest of the regular season because of a T6 vertebrae fracture.) Upon hearing that there would be no further penalties towards Stralman, Jets coach Paul Maurice took exception to what he had heard from the referees. Based on his comments, the Jets would receive a bench minor.

Upon coming back to the bench for the start of the third period, Maurice would be sent back to the locker room, as he was ejected by St. Laurent. TSN, the network covering the game from the Jets, showed St. Laurent looking at the bench. Another shot showed what appeared to be him laughing about something; this gave the commentators the impression that the laughter stemmed from him ejecting Maurice. Said Maurice after the game: "I would say that would then have been consistent with their overall demeanor regarding the incident."

Aftermath

A few days after the incident, Maurice was fined $5,000 for what he said about the referees. In September 2016, St. Laurent revealed that his laughter was unrelated to Maurice; Winnipeg's Dustin Byfuglien cracked a joke shortly after the ejection.

Blues/Blackhawks, 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs

During the 19 April 2016 playoff game between the St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks, Chicago's Andrew Shaw received an interference penalty late in the third period. Prior to the next faceoff, as Shaw was in the penalty box, he directed a homophobic slur towards the on-ice officials. Shaw was suspended one game, was fined $5,000, and underwent sensitivity training. While talking to the media after the game, Shaw said that he could not remember what he had said; it was after he watched the incident afterwards that he apologized for his actions. He said that he was "sincerely sorry for the insensitive remarks that [he] made".

Oilers/Jets, 2016 Heritage Classic

On 23 October 2016, St. Laurent was announced as one of the referees who would be working the 2016 Heritage Classic, a game between the Edmonton Oilers and Winnipeg Jets, held at Investors Group Field in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

International tournaments

During the 2002-2003 ice hockey season, St. Laurent was assigned to work the 2003 IIHF World Championship Division 1A tournament, held in Budapest, Hungary. He worked each day of the tournament, with five games in the five days of play.

Television appearances

Before the 2005-06 NHL season, TVA's LCN en Bref interviewed St. Laurent. During the interview, he said that he was on a five-year contract, as he gained experience between the American Hockey League and the National Hockey League.

In a 2010 episode of HBO's 24/7 series involving the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals, St. Laurent was seen talking to Bruce Boudreau about penalties that were issued early in the first period of a preview of the teams' Winter Classic. The next year, during the 24/7 series involving the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers, a quick camera shot showed him giving Ryan Callahan a cross-checking penalty.

A segment during an October 2015 episode of NESN's Behind the B followed St. Laurent through the course of the Boston Bruins' home opener against the Winnipeg Jets.

Off-ice contributions

As part of the 40th anniversary of the National Hockey League Officials Association, a logo was created by St. Laurent to help commemorate it.

Between 2013 and 2015, St. Laurent ran a summer development camp for referees. Camps were held in Saint-Constant, Quebec in 2014 and Brossard, Quebec in 2015. During the summer of 2014, he was a speaker in Hockey Quebec's Provincial Elite Officials Program.

Personal life

St. Laurent was a goaltender growing up, while spending the late stages of his playing career on the bench as the backup. His half-brother, Karel, is a goaltender who is currently playing in the Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey.