Joannette to referee 1,000th game close to home

Referee Marc Joannette has come a long way, and will be honored for that journey about three miles from where it began.

Joannette will work the 1,000th game of his NHL career at Bell Centre on Saturday when the Montreal Canadiens host the Detroit Red Wings (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, TVA Sports, FS-D).

Joannette grew up in Verdun in the southwest of Montreal, a block away from his friend and current NHL linesman Pierre Racicot and in the same neighborhood as Pittsburgh Penguins owner Mario Lemieux and Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin.

Joannette would go to Racicot's house to play hockey on his backyard rink, and when they were teenagers they would often ride the city bus together to the…