LH/RH Debate & Dominance of Nations

[beaucoup_fish 0]

I was doing a little number crunching on THN's 50 Top Players feature in the '05-06 yearbook, and to add a little fuel to the LH/RH debate, here's what I came up with (keeping in mind that yes, the entire list itself is open to some serious debate):

Out of the top 50:

Lefties - 34 (68%)

Righties - 10 (20%)

Goalies - 6 (12%)

CAN: 27 (54%)

USA: 2 (4%)

CZE: 5 (10%)

SLO: 5 (10%)

RUS: 5 (10%)

SWE: 5 (10%)

FIN: 1 (2%)

Out of the top 15/Half:

LH: 12

RH: 2

G: 1

CAN: 10

RUS: 1

SWE: 3

CZE: 1

Out of the top 10:

LH: 7

RH: 2

G: 1

CAN: 7

RUS: 1

SWE: 2

Most interesting I find are the LH to RH stats...

[zrez 0]

i think left handers get it better because their forhand shot is on the stick side. its easier to rip one past a blocker than it is to rip one past a glove, IMO.

[Kovy_Ribs_Fedo 3]

i think left handers get it better because their forhand shot is on the stick side. its easier to rip one past a blocker than it is to rip one past a glove, IMO.

Yes it is for us(LH), but for RH, it's easier to shot glove-side than blocker-side, from what my brother just told me.

[Eazy_b97 1]

I'd prefer to be RH, I have more success with goalies who match up fore-hand --> glovehand, than I do with blocker.

[Fletch 219]

I'd prefer to be RH, I have more success with goalies who match up fore-hand --> glovehand, than I do with blocker.

lol...I'd prefer to be LH. But, I write left-handed so I guess it is "proper" for me to be a RH player.

[prenny207 1]

its not so much that lefties are better then righties... if you look at stick sales in the US vs CAN... you will see that more left handed sticks are sold in canada. canadian players are predominantly left handed. for most people, that are right handed in writing, throwing, and eatin and such... should theoretically be left handed at shooting... this is what i have been told in the past.

so from looking at your stats... canadians made up the majority of the top 50 list, as does lefties... so it seems that the info that i have been told is true.

[Kovy_Ribs_Fedo 3]

its not so much that lefties are better then righties... if you look at stick sales in the US vs CAN... you will see that more left handed sticks are sold in canada. canadian players are predominantly left handed. for most people, that are right handed in writing, throwing, and eatin and such... should theoretically be left handed at shooting... this is what i have been told in the past.

so from looking at your stats... canadians made up the majority of the top 50 list, as does lefties... so it seems that the info that i have been told is true.

right on, but in the USA is it Right hand writer that are RH shooter or there is a majority of LH writer and they are RH writer.

[hockechamp14 0]

its not so much that lefties are better then righties... if you look at stick sales in the US vs CAN... you will see that more left handed sticks are sold in canada.  canadian players are predominantly left handed.  for most people, that are right handed in writing, throwing, and eatin and such... should theoretically be left handed at shooting... this is what i have been told in the past.

so from looking at your stats... canadians made up the majority of the top 50 list, as does lefties... so it seems that the info that i have been told is true.

right on, but in the USA is it Right hand writer that are RH shooter or there is a majority of LH writer and they are RH writer.

Pretty much everyone is righty. Either the kid doens't play hockey first, so he ends up figuring how to hold a baseball bat or whatever else first, then holds the stick the same order.

I'm left handed in writing, and play hockey right handed. I do every thing else right handed too because I played hockey first.

My dad is right handed in writing, shoots left handed. I think he does everything else right handed though, and I know for a fact he golfs right handed.

[beaucoup_fish 0]

its not so much that lefties are better then righties... if you look at stick sales in the US vs CAN... you will see that more left handed sticks are sold in canada.  canadian players are predominantly left handed.  for most people, that are right handed in writing, throwing, and eatin and such... should theoretically be left handed at shooting... this is what i have been told in the past.

so from looking at your stats... canadians made up the majority of the top 50 list, as does lefties... so it seems that the info that i have been told is true.

right on, but in the USA is it Right hand writer that are RH shooter or there is a majority of LH writer and they are RH writer.

Pretty much everyone is righty. Either the kid doens't play hockey first, so he ends up figuring how to hold a baseball bat or whatever else first, then holds the stick the same order.

I'm left handed in writing, and play hockey right handed. I do every thing else right handed too because I played hockey first.

My dad is right handed in writing, shoots left handed. I think he does everything else right handed though, and I know for a fact he golfs right handed.

I actually think I learned to pick up a bat before a stick, and I live in Canada...weird. In any event, I once tried following which of my favourite players were left handed and right handed writers (from watching them sign) and with which hand they shot correspondingly...it didn't go very far...

[hockeyblood 11]

If you have a dominant left hand, means you are creative.

If you have a dominant right, means you are logical.

It's all in the left and right hemisphere brain function I believe.

[Sid 3]

I am right handed and I shoot RH. This is very hard to compare as most people who shoot right are left hand and vise versa. There are much more right handed people in the world than left.

[lee92 2]

I am right handed and I shoot RH. This is very hard to compare as most people who shoot right are left hand and vise versa. There are much more right handed people in the world than left.

i'm right handed...shoot right handed...just the way it happened. dads right handed, shoots left...brothers left hand, shoots right. guess i'm the odd ball.

[Cage 0]

I'm right handed. I play right handed. However, I feel comfortable playing left handed as well. But then again, I can write left-handed. A little ambidextrous I think.

I can't throw, bat or golf left handed though.

[kin1013 0]

I live in Hong Kong, learn Hockey last.. that is in Canada, but I am a RH player, when I was a kid, I was left handed, since it so different from others, my parents forced me to use right hand for everything! But when I started hockey in Canada, it's so much easier to borrow a LH stick, so I tried, but it just seems not working well, until I find the RH stick... o! it's just feel great!! haha!!

[twistoffate19 0]

I am a righty too. I bat right, throw right, write right, shoot right. I've just never been able to pick up left handed stuff. I have no ambidextorous abilities at sports. My league is probably 85% left handed players, which is easy for me because I play D, because I'd rather defend a lefty coming in on me, then a righty. I've always felt it easier for me to force them outside on me, so I can throw a hip check. I love the on the boards hip check.

[EndBoards 0]

Weird.. I've never heard that most righty's shoot LH...

My RH is dominant and I shoot RH... I can't even begin to imagine trying to play with a LH stick.. It makes my brain hurt..

I can see a little bit of advantage if you're one-handing the puck, plus I can see that having your dominant hand up top would enable you to have some more leverage on a shot, but I can't see how you'd actually use that leverage..

[Kovy_Ribs_Fedo 3]

There are much more right handed people in the world than left.

in hockey or to write...

[CardinalHcky19 0]

RH can put it low glove side really well though

[prenny207 1]

RH can put it low glove side really well though

and lefties can't???? its not about what hand you are, its about knowing how to aim when you shoot!!!

[beaucoup_fish 0]

RH can put it low glove side really well though

and lefties can't???? its not about what hand you are, its about knowing how to aim when you shoot!!!

*POW-ZING*

[Sassmasta 0]

has anyone tried re-learning their shooting side? Like I started out playing leftie when I was 8 and then switched to righty at age 12 but I kinda want to go back to playing leftie. Has anyone done this with any sort of success.

[beaucoup_fish 0]

has anyone tried re-learning their shooting side? Like I started out playing leftie when I was 8 and then switched to righty at age 12 but I kinda want to go back to playing leftie. Has anyone done this with any sort of success.

Just, curious, why would you want to do that in the first place?

Although, I have to admit, I did try playing righty when I was about 12 b/c Brett Hull was rightly and I was big on Hull during his STL days...of course, I've since learned not to care...

[technophile 0]

Weird.. I've never heard that most righty's shoot LH...

My RH is dominant and I shoot RH... I can't even begin to imagine trying to play with a LH stick.. It makes my brain hurt..

I can see a little bit of advantage if you're one-handing the puck, plus I can see that having your dominant hand up top would enable you to have some more leverage on a shot, but I can't see how you'd actually use that leverage..

My wife writes RH and plays LH. It always made my brain hurt too. :D

To be honest, I think it's just more complicated than "RH" or "LH", though. For some reason some people find it more natural to do any given activity with one hand over the other, and it can vary from activity to activity. I've heard of people who write RH and catch (baseball, goalie, etc) LH, or vice versa. Maybe I'll ask my sister in law (she's working on a doctorate in biomechanical or biomedical (I can never remember) engineering) if there's any scientific work on the subject. :D

[Patrick67 1]

Here in scandinavia most ppl are lefties, like most other sports where you can have a preference (e.g. soccer) there's a "side" that's dominant.

Just look at golf...

But here it some intresting info: In Britain they play hockey in elementary school (field hockey) and as far as I know, there are only righthanded sticks so all the children learn to shoot that way.

And if a child later on starts playing ice/inlinehockey he'll continue to shoot that way, it's crazy every time we play british teams they are all righties... (execpt the occasional oddball)

And if you ever play a team from Brazil, they are all righties.... because that's the only sticks the distrubitor imports...

[Eazy_b97 1]

RH can put it low glove side really well though

and lefties can't???? its not about what hand you are, its about knowing how to aim when you shoot!!!

shooting angles are different. Goalies will rarely line up true to the puck, so it makes it different from each side.