Michael Lawrence

In 2001, Michael Lawrence developed Pro Goaltending as Ottawa’s premier goaltending school. Since then, the company has reached exponential growth in its clients and services.

Michael’s focus goes beyond developing technically better goaltenders – the system is design to create better athletes. Pro Goaltending develops its clients knowing that today’s goalies need to be physically and mentally skilled for the increasing demands and rapid changes at the highest levels of hockey.

Michael is currently the goaltending coach and consultant for HC Sibir Novosibirsk in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) and the Owen Sound Attack of the OHL. Previously, Michael enjoyed working for the Sudbury Wolves and Oshawa Generals of the OHL.

Michael’s extensive experiences have enabled him to work with NHL, AHL, ECHL and European professional goaltenders from across the world. To date, Michael has coached 10 professional goaltenders and provided consulting services for the Ontario Hockey League. The numbers will surely rise as the school anticipates many of its students that are draft eligible to be taken in their NHL and Major Junior drafts, respectively.

Style and Performance

As the game of hockey evolves, so too does the way the goaltender plays the position. Pro Goaltending has taken basic, fundamental principles of goaltending and employed them within a more dynamic and systematic style of goaltending called Block Movement. This style is not only suited for the way hockey is played today, but it is also designed to give the players the athletic and mental edge over the competition to be the best.

Adapted from the modern butterfly approach, Pro Goaltending’s Block Movement style emphasizes a more controlled butterfly movement where the goaltender develops greater focus on the puck and controlling rebounds. By using Block Movement, goaltenders are taught to be more patient and aware of their positioning for secondary movements in the net.

From the beginning, the game of hockey has gone through numerous changes. From changes to rules, to the size of nets, to equipment, and even to the size and speed of players, hockey today is arguably the best it has been in recent memory. It is for this reason that now, more than ever, the most demanding position has become the most important position on the ice – that is the position of the goaltender.

It is with this determination Michael works with his players to make them stand out above the rest and be successful both on and off the ice.