Paul Lorieau

Paul Lorieau
Born	1942 (age 70–71) Legal, Alberta
Known for	Anthem singer for the Edmonton Oilers (1981-2011)

Paul Lorieau (born 1942) is a Canadian optometrist who was the National Anthem singer for the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League from 1981 to 2011. He is of French-Canadian descent.

Lorieau was born the youngest of 7 children in 1942 in Legal, Alberta to Henri and Alexandrine Lorieau. Both of his parents had musical backgrounds, his mother playing the violin, and his father a "natural tenor".

In response to the Canadian National Anthem being booed at the beginning of Game 2 in Anaheim, when playing the next game in Edmonton, the Canadian crowd responded in their own fashion. At the beginning of Game 3 of the 2006 NHL Western Conference Finals between the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and the Oilers, he sang only a few lines of "O Canada" before letting the audience sing the rest of the song without him. This was done at all remaining Oilers home games throughout the rest of the 2006 playoffs, which included the Oilers appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals, and even at the first few Oilers home games at the beginning of the 2006–07 NHL season.

On July 3, 2010 in Edmonton Lorieau sang both the U.S. and Canadian National Anthems to open the "Declaration of Derby" international flat track roller derby match between Edmonton's E-Ville Roller Derby travel team the E-Ville Dead and Seattle's Sockit Wenches. After his performance he was presented with an E-Ville Roller Derby jersey emblazoned with his new name, Paul 'The Punisher' Lorieau.^{[citation needed]} On March 23, 2011, Lorieau announced that he would retire at the end of the season. On April 8, 2011 when the Oilers played their final home game of the regular season, he performed in front of a sold-out Rexall Place one final time. A special pre-game ceremony was held to honour the Oilers longest-standing anthem singer and to give Oil Country a chance to salute Paul for 30 great years.