Lefties?

[SNIPER91 2]

Hey Boys..I was wondering why in the show most players are lefties,when the majority of the population is right handed? Do they teach the game in Canada to use the right hand on top? Just curious..

[Apes44 7]

from my understanding because your top hand is what provides the most control of the stick, therefore your dominate hand goes on top.

[stick&puck 1]

I was thinking the same thing last year when i was searching around the net i found this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/sports/olympics/16lefty.html

But it makes sense what Apes44 said having the domante hand on-top being for control

[SNIPER91 2]

That makes sense but the bottom hand really is what puts the zip in your shot. I prefer having my stronger arm to put that whip in the stick. Very interesting topic i believe! Great article Stick, sheds light on the situation..

[chippa13 1844]

This has been covered numerous times but it has to do with not only your dominant hand but also with the age at which you start using a hockey stick. The general rule is that the younger you start with a stick in your hand then the more likely your dominant hand will be at the top of the stick.

[goblue9280 33]

I grew up being taught dominant hand on top... I'm right handed so I shoot left. That's the way my dad plays... and since my first sticks were old ones of his cut down, that's the way I started.

With my son (who is left-handed) I bought him a straight blade stick and figured he would hold it whichever way was most comfortable. He quickly settled into playing with his dominant hand on top... so he shoots right.

[AfftonDad 88]

I did the math this year using stats from NHL.com. Approximately 66% of NHLers shoot left. When I was a kid, everyone knew that righties (generally) shot left and lefties (generally) shot right. I know this because I am left handed and it was always difficult to find a right shooting stick in the barrel when playing street hockey as a kid. Somewhere between then and now though this common knowledge has been lost (at least in St. Louis). I coach a bunch of 10 year olds and there are only a few kids on the team (4 or 5 out of 15) that shoot left. I have seen teams that don't have any left shooters on them.

[chippa13 1844]

I'd be willing to bet that most of those kids you are seeing nowadays probably haven't been playing very long as the older you start with a stick the more likely your dominant hand will be the lower hand on the stick.

[JR Boucicaut 3802]

That makes sense but the bottom hand really is what puts the zip in your shot. I prefer having my stronger arm to put that whip in the stick. Very interesting topic i believe! Great article Stick, sheds light on the situation..

The bottom hand is just a lever. When you shoot correctly, you use your body weight to get the stick to bend, and your stronger arm (top) stabilizes the stick while it's bending.

[Chappie 0]

I'm a lefty who shoots righty. I golf righty and hit a baseball righty as well. I started young and my dominant hand went to the top, which gave me better control. I used to actually be able to play with both sides though, and would only play goal lefty because I felt I was quicker and more technically sound with my left hand in the catcher. As JR said, you really don't shoot with your hands, so your dominant hand is best at being in control of the stick (in my opinion).

In the end, you get used to whatever side you develop on, but from a "natural" perspective, I always found it to be dominant hand goes topside as well.

[AfftonDad 88]

FYI (NHL 2011-12)...

USA 51.51% Shoot Left

CAN 61.17% Shoot Left

CZE 66.67% Shoot Left

RUS 77.27% Shoot Left

SWE 79.66% Shoot Left

FIN 80.95% Shoot Left

SVK 90.00% Shoot Left

Percentage of population that is left handed is approximately 10%

[DarkStar50 679]

Write lefty, throw righty, shoot lefty. Started hockey at age 12. In the shop, right outsells left 2-1. That ratio has been dominant in over 30 years of selling sticks in northern NJ.

[Chadd 916]

I'd be willing to bet that most of those kids you are seeing nowadays probably haven't been playing very long as the older you start with a stick the more likely your dominant hand will be the lower hand on the stick.

Or their parents didn't play.

The bottom hand is just a lever. When you shoot correctly, you use your body weight to get the stick to bend, and your stronger arm (top) stabilizes the stick while it's bending.

That's becoming less and less true thanks to composites and the increasing pace of the game. You don't need to put your full weight into a shot to produce velocity and you rarely have time to do that in more competitive levels.

[AfftonDad 88]

Also FYI (NHL 1997-1998... that's as far back as NHL.com goes)

USA 59.20% Shoot Left

CAN 64.76% Shoot Left

CZE 78.38% Shoot Left

RUS 68.75% Shoot Left

SWE 81.60% Shoot Left

FIN 76.50% Shoot Left

SVK 84.62% Shoot Left

[AfftonDad 88]

I'd be willing to bet that most of those kids you are seeing nowadays probably haven't been playing very long as the older you start with a stick the more likely your dominant hand will be the lower hand on the stick.

Most of them started at four. I believe it is because their parents didn't play. They are shocked when I tell them about the dominant hand on top thing. When I tell them that they always say, "why does the stick say right on it then?". I am convinced that they go to the shop and pick the stick that says "right" on it because the kid is "right handed". If I hadn't grown up playing hockey, I would have made the same mistake. In the OLD OLD days (even before my day) kids would get handed sticks without curves and figure it out themselves.

[BarDownGinos 3]

I'm right handed, I shoot right and throw right. Swinging a baseball bat or Lacrosse I can go either way. I'm fairly ambidextrous (sp?) other than writing and throwing with my left hand. My dad tried to get me to switch to a left stick when I was about 11, spent a whole summer doing it, couldn't shoot to save my life but I could get by playing lefty if I had to. Every one in a while I'll grab someones Lefty and take a shift or two with it for kicks. I started playing at 7 in the DC area. My dad didn't really know anything about the game untill later but he did the unsure parent thing and bought me a straight blade stick and told me to figure it out.

[Stoop 1]

I am convinced that they go to the shop and pick the stick that says "right" on it because the kid is "right handed".

It's hard to blame them. Anyway, my boy writes with his right, and I just gave him a no curve stick without instruction. He's settled into holding as a right-handed stick. I'm not going to "correct" him.

[BarDownGinos 3]

FYI (NHL 2011-12)...

USA 51.51% Shoot Left

CAN 61.17% Shoot Left

CZE 66.67% Shoot Left

RUS 77.27% Shoot Left

SWE 79.66% Shoot Left

FIN 80.95% Shoot Left

SVK 90.00% Shoot Left

Percentage of population that is left handed is approximately 10%

I was watching either the Chicago/Colorado game or the Bruins/Sabres game the other night and at one point 3 of the 5 guys on the ice for one of the teams was right handed. I remember thinking "Huh, that's really weird" When I was in HS the local college team (Nebraska-Omaha) had only lefty players.

[ArrogantOwl 7]

Interesting story, my father was talking to Brian Propp and he said something along the lines that your dominant hand goes on the bottom for a stronger shot. I couldn't stick handle to save my life with that advice, but my shot was definitely better.

[DigDug 5]

Wait a second, if the dominant hand is on top, does that mean you guys use your top hand as the primary control of your stick? I'm a lefty, and I can't imagine puck handling with my right as the lower one.

[shooter27 116]

I'm a righty and shoot right. When I first got set up with gear for my 5th bday, they handed me a straight stick in the shop and watched how I held it, 25 years later I'm still shooting righty. My brother is a righty who shoots lefty, so I actually developed the ability to play lefty somewhat by using his sticks when we were screwing around as kids. I can handle the puck pretty well lefty, but can't shoot at all.

[AfftonDad 88]

If you watch USA Hockey's videos on stick handling drills and a couple of toe drag instructional videos that I have seen, they recommend putting the cardboard from a toilet paper roll or a piece of pvc pipe over your stick where your lower hand goes (when doing dryland stickhandling practice) to develop the "loose" feeling that you should have with your lower hand (because all of the control comes from the upper hand). I have heard it conceded that the strong hand lower could give you a harder shot but at the expesnse of stick handling ability. The source (which I can't remember where it was) went on to point out that you spend way more time stick handling, poke/sweep checking, skating backwards with one hand on the stick, etc. than you do shooting, so it would not be a good tradeoff.

[hockeymass 11]

Holding a stick with my right hand on top just always felt wrong. I guess maybe it's because I started late in life.

[adam14 182]

I write and hold a fork left handed, throw shoot golf and swing right handed. One of my best friends, who is a great hockey player (currently D1) is 100% left handed. writes, throws, shoots, golfs etc. it's weird

[jazz4all 9]

i started late in hockey too. write left, shoot left. but already tried both LH and RH.