NHL referee Eric Furlatt will take the ice for his 1,500th regular season NHL game tonight in Montreal as the Canadiens host the Vancouver Canucks.

Furlatt, #27, will skate alongside a hand-picked crew including referee Frederick L’Ecuyer. #17, and linesmen Ryan Daisy, #81, and Jonny Murray, #95. 

“I didn’t even realize it was 1,500, but I can tell you every morning I get up, I know it’s 1,500,” Furlatt told NHL.com, laughing. “To me, that’s a big number. I never expected to be up to 1,500. Maybe 1,000, I would have been more than happy with that. Fifteen hundred, that’s the cherry on top of the cake.”

The veteran official, 53, was given a commemorative jersey by Montreal Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis in recognition of this achievement.

 


 

Furlatt made his NHL debut on October 8, 2001, officiating a game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Philadelphia Flyers alongside referee Mark Faucette and linesmen Mike Cvik and Steve Miller. He reached the 1000-game mark in 2017. 

“You can’t take nights off. You have to give 100%,” Furlatt told Le Nouvelliste. “It’s a job where no one thanks you, but it’s important. We’re constantly under the microscope. Yes, we make mistakes, but we try to minimize them as much as possible. … Hockey has so many cameras, which means you can’t make mistakes anymore. Everything is there today. It’s evolved enormously and made our job a little more difficult!”

The native of Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, has also gone on to officiate 180 Stanley Cup Playoff games, including the 2021 Stanley Cup Final between the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning.  He also worked the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.  He’s not done yet. 

“I think I’ll do two more years, but I don’t have a pre-established number,” said Furlatt. “This is certainly not my last year though. I want to come back next year. We’ll see after that. As the players say, one year at a time.”

 

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Furlatt becomes the 12th referee to hit the 1,500 game mark; he’s the third among active officials, after Kelly Sutherland and Chris Rooney, the latter of whom worked his milestone game last week and will be honored in Boston on Saturday.

Congrats to Eric Furlatt on 1,500 National Hockey League games.