Red Deer’s Todd Labranche officiates record 400th NLL game

“It’s a great honour. I wasn’t sure at certain points that I’d make it due to knee surgery and that kind of stuff, but I guess COVID was a bit of a blessing in disguise,” says the 57-year-old. “The pandemic gave me some time off to refocus and get back into the swing of things with my fitness and taking better care of myself. And then I got there.”

Labranche played his minor lacrosse in Port Coquitlam, B.C., and then spent time playing junior in Surrey before wrapping his junior career back in PoCo.

At 12, however, he took up officiating, and turned his focus primarily to that endeavour in his final season of junior.

(Jaclyn McKee/@jaclynmckeephoto on Instagram)

By the time he started in the NLL, however, he was 36.

“At some point, someone will pass me, because guys now are starting with the league at 25, and they ref every weekend. Plus, with the increase in teams and the number of games per season, they’re going to get there quick,” he acknowledges.

“For now, I’m the leader in the clubhouse and it’s something pretty special for me. It’s been a journey.”

That journey, he shares, required a lot of support from family, specifically wife Deanna, and children Megan and Greg, who were little when Labranche made it to the show.

“Deanna never ever in 21 years asked me to take a weekend off or dark out a day. She understood there would be travel and things that I’d miss, but never complained. I remember doing a championship game in Toronto and it was on my son’s birthday, so I had them do a shout-out from me to him on the broadcast, which I figured would be the next best thing.”

Labranche was given a video tribute during his 400^th game’s first intermission, and was the subject of a live interview moments before the game began.

The tribute included a callback to 2018 when Labranche went viral (see below).

But that isn’t his most memorable experience on the field of play.

“To this day, I remember the feeling so vividly… it was 2008 and I was reffing my very first championship game. It was in Buffalo,” he recalls. “There were 18,690 fans in the building, they were loud, screaming, and even during the anthem, I could feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up. There were goosebumps. It was a very intense feeling, but we got three or four minutes in, and it was just another lacrosse game.”

The 400-game mark includes playoff games, of which Labranche has reffed 55, with 11 of those in the final. During his first final in 2008, Labranche was the assistant referee, and then was named crew chief for the final in 2009.

There are three qualities, in Labranche’s opinion – and who better to get an opinion from than the GOAT – that make a successful referee.

“The first is thick skin, and understanding that any call you make, you’re going to be wrong to half the people in the building. Next is a short memory, and understanding that you’re not going to be perfect. You have to take things in stride and move on to the next call or next game,” he shares.

(Jaclyn McKee/@jaclynmckeephoto on Instagram)

“Finally, you need to have a good sense of humour, because that way you can enjoy the game and what you’re doing. That’s what I’d tell a young official or player who’s interested in going far with officiating.”

Despite his uncertainty a couple years ago, the knee surgery, shins that took a beating playing junior, and the COVID layoff, the Red Deerian isn’t using 400 to say goodbye.

“I’ve kind of recalibrated my target and my goal, and as long as I stay healthy, I think, in maybe three to four seasons, I have a shot at getting to 500.”

by Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

Red Deer’s Todd Labranche officiates record 400th NLL game

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