Pierre Groulx has worked with the NHL's Ottawa Senators, Florida Panthers, and Montreal Canadiens, and is now the goaltending coach for PWHL Ottawa, where he hopes his goalies can backstop the team to a title.
Pierre Groulx has worked with the NHL's Ottawa Senators, Florida Panthers, and Montreal Canadiens, and is now the goaltending coach for PWHL Ottawa, where he hopes his goalies can backstop the team to a title.
For many Ottawa natives there was jubilation when they found out the PWHL was coming to Ottawa; for Pierre Groulx a former NHL and Ottawa Senators goalie coach he had a different thought.
“Who do I call? Who do I have to reach out to, to be a part of this?” said Pierre Groulx. “When I heard the news that a team was coming here. I told my wife, I need to do this. I need to be part of his team.
Groulx, an Ottawa native, was working in Real Estate in Carleton Place, a town just outside Ottawa. After coaching in the NHL and Europe as a goalie coach for 20 years, most notably coaching Carey Price in Montreal and then Craig Anderson with the Senators from 2016 to 2021, Groulx wanted to get back into coaching if he could. Groulx wanted to be part of something special such as the PWHL.
Groulx decided to reach out to the General Manager of PWHL Ottawa Mike Hirshfeld, who he knew a bit through Hirshfeld's role as the head of the NHL Coaches Association prior to becoming the General Manager of PWHL Ottawa. It was a simple message from Groulx to Hirshfeld and head coach Carla MacLeod.
“I want to be here,” Groulx told Hirshfeld and MacLeod.
Groulx had to first gain the trust of his star netminder Emerance Maschmeyer to get the job. Groulx met with MacLeod, Hirshfeld and Maschmeyer to see if there was a fit.
“What I said to Carla right off the bat, trust is the most important thing,” said Groulx. "I could be the most knowledgeable goalie coach in the world, but if I don't have their trust, you have hard conversations. But if the trust factor is there, then they know that we're working together.”
Groulx was able to immediately hit it off with Maschmeyer.
“We get along really well and are able to collaborate quite easily,” said Emerance Maschmeyer. "We spend a lot of time analyzing video. He's been a great presence for me. To have him here full time has honestly been a blessing.”
Groulx was ecstatic to find out he would be coaching his second professional hockey team in his hometown.
“Coaching the Senators was a great thrill and it was very rewarding,” said Groulx. “But when I got the call from Mike Hirshfeld to coach here, who gets the chance to coach two professional teams in their own city and in their hometown? That’s pretty amazing.”
Since getting the job Groulx has worked with Maschmeyer alongside backup Sandra Abstreiter and Rachel McQuigge. Groulx has been able in his almost six months on the job to bring little, yet important tweaks to all of the goalies’ games. None of PWHL Ottawa's goalies have ever had a full-time goalie coach work with. The changes include tweaking Maschmeyer’s stance in relation to using her post, to adjusting Abstreiter’s glove hand.
Groulx, within the first practice, knew how good his goalies were.
“I remember the first time I went on the ice with Maschmeyer back in November,” said Groulx. "Ashton Bell came out and I was just like, wow...they're good. They're really good athletes. And then when you see them on the ice, they're just eager to learn every day and there are no days off.”
Groulx credits the organization for making his work fun and it has been translating on the ice with his goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer earning two shutouts in her last five games.
“Everyday I leave home and I'm eager to go to work because it's fun. It's just a great atmosphere,” said Groulx.
Groulx appreciates hard work and talent when he sees it, and with all his years of experience, sometimes he sees similarities between the goalies he coaches. For Groulx, Emerance Maschmeyer reminds him of another iconic Ottawa netminder.
“Masch is obviously not the biggest goalie in the world, but the way she reads the game, and the way she can read where the players go,” said Groulx. “She reminds me a lot of Craig Anderson because Craig at his peak was so good at reading the game. Craig was probably the best reader of the game in the NHL. Masch, she has that and has that ability to read the play exceptionally well.”
Groulx continues to lean on his days with the Senators and more specifically with Jacques Martin who brought him into the league as a video coach in 2000 with the Senators. Groulx, who still coaches with Martin at his summer camps, relies on Martin to help him improve as a coach. Groulx speaks to the Senators' coach, who won two Stanley Cups in his career, bi-weekly about everything from hockey to life.
“I owe my career to him,” said Groulx.
For Groulx it is simple what he’s learned from Martin over the years.
“How structured he was, how disciplined he was, how detailed he was in his work,” said Groulx. “That's how he coached and that's to me...every day I come in, I have to have structure in my work, discipline in my work and I have to have details in my work.”
Groulx in a similar vein to his mentor believes Ottawa deserves a winner and is a hockey town.
“Ottawa is a sports town no matter what people say. They support what they feel is a good product,” said Groulx.
Groulx is not surprised that the Ottawa fanbase that gets so much grief for supporting the Senators has been supporting PWHL Ottawa in droves selling out almost every game.
“I think just the fact that people didn't know about women's hockey and I was one of them, I didn't know what to expect,” said Groulx. “The people of Ottawa will support something that is fun to go and it's just they feel part of the family. This is a great building (TD Place) because it's tight and everybody's on top. But even when we win games here, the interaction with the fans. The fans feel that and the players feel the love. It's both sides.”
The one thing that Jacques Martin could never do was win in his hometown. Groulx is hoping to one-up his mentor.
“To win the inaugural trophy would be exceptional. This building would be crazy in the playoffs. It would be such a great atmosphere.”