Pro Drills: getting goalies comfortable in Zone 2

Michael Lawrence has been working with goaltenders right up to the NHL for 15 years, running Pro Goaltending school in Ontario while also working with teams in the Ontario Hockey League for seven years and in Switzerland’s top professional league for the past six.

So, Lawrence knows his way around a crease at every level. Through it all, there continues to be one area that gives goalies fits right up the highest levels: on their post with the puck between the face-off dot and bottom of the face-off circle, an area he designates Zone 2.

“It’s an area a lot of guys just aren’t comfortable,” Lawrence said. “It’s such an uncomfortable spot and opponents are trying to funnel pucks into this area to score, and we see guys getting beat out of this area all the time so we have to get more comfortable defending it.”

Lawrence spent some time last summer working with Los Angeles Kings prospect Jacob Ingham on getting comfortable with these plays, and he’s shared video from those sessions as part an overview of the issues that arise in Zone 2 – and solutions to them – with InGoal members.