New Goalie, RH playing full right?

[jpeaslee 30]

Our local roller league went under a few years ago but we're getting it started again. We don't have any goalies so I've been considering taking it up. I played a little bit (VERY LITTLE) when I was maybe 12 (25 now) so I don't have much retention and I wasn't ever any good. However after skating for years I'm toying with the possibility of playing full right. I fell like stick handling would be much better and I never played baseball/softball to be preference on catching right or left handed.

Anyone else do this or have any thoughts, comments or suggestions?

[Law Goalie 147]

No reason you can't try it: you could become the Rafael Nadal of goaltending!

The only issue with a right-hander playing full-right (for those confused, full-right refers to goalies who catch with their right hand and hold the stick in their left, like Nikolai Puchkov, Grant Fuhr, Thomas Vokoun, etc.) is that you're holding your goalie stick with your weaker arm in your stance. That, however, is just a matter of strength and adaptation; do it long enough and it'll feel totally natural. And if you're used to shooting right already, you'll be a much more natural puckhandler in goal. I would strongly suggest that you pick your catching glove carefully, since moving from a player glove to a trapper on your bottom hand is like moving from a ballet slipper to a pair of construction boots.

I can tell you that full-right gloves and sticks are, on average, DRAMATICALLY cheaper than regular gloves and sticks. FR stuff tends to end up on deep clearance more often, and tends not to sell well second-hand or through team gear sales. In fact, if you check Goaliemonkey right now, you'll find that most of their clearance pro-level gloves are only available in FR, and there are some insane deals there. Having said that, not all stores stock FR gear in all brands and models, so it is a little harder to get what you want at retail. Even so, if it feels good in the regular hand, it'll probably be just fine in FR.

[goaliemanshark 6]

I played goal on and off, roller and ice, for 15 years catching with my left hand. I decided that this time when I strap on the pads I would go full right. Im still getting used to it, and I'm sure I'll let a couple more softies in, but so far it's been a tremendous success. I was never any good at catching with my left hand, when I played goal my glove was always my weekness. Now its my strength! And I can still use the blocker just fine.

Do it.

[Axxion89 32]

The only thing I will add is that as a RH player who plays goalie, the stick handling may not come as easy as playing FR may imply. If you are naturally left handed then yes FR is probably the way to go. However if you are a RH player and naturally RH (like me) then the benefits may not be so easy. From my experience playing the puck in net, I use my top hand (RH) to do most of the controlling and my left hand (catcher) to kind of grab the stick and use it to keep the stick stable.

I would go to a store and throw on a catcher and pick up and Goal stick and see which feels better for you, FR or Regular.

[jpeaslee 30]

I would definitely go into a store and give it a try except Atlanta would probably be the closest thing to me here and thats about 4 hours away.

All this is just a thought process I'm going through. I think we've got one goalie on the books. We also have one guy that used to play, but I think got bored with it. If we can get two regular full time goalies then all this becomes a moot point.

[Law Goalie 147]

Axx, that's a very good point -- kind of what I was getting at with my shoe metaphor, but I think you made the difficulties more apparent. JP should definitely play around in a shop, preferably one with a shooting pad, but that may not be an option for him.

Traditionally, goalies did tend to be top-hand dominant when handling the puck, largely because (as you rightly point out) it was much easier to grip with the blocker hand that with the catching glove, and this has been true pretty much since goalies stopped wearing five-fingered leather gloves on their catching hand. That said, goalies should use their bottom hands to generate leverage on their stick and power and precision on their shots, and there are ways to do it. The most common way is the 'Turco' overhand (thumb pointing up) grip - for those who don't know, it's kind of like taking a backhand grip for a faceoff draw - but this has its own learning curve and inherent issues, though it does offer huge advantages in pure stick-handling. For what it's worth, I have seen some of the most skillful puckhandling goalies - namely Price and Toskala - using a normal, underhand/thumb-down grip in exactly the same way as skaters do. This is partly why Price is able to saucer-pass to specific landing points so effectively on both forehand and backhand (the Turco grip tends to put too much downward force on the stick, making it better for flat passes and long, hard saucers) and what allowed Toskala to take one-timers in full goalie gear after Leafs' practices -- and I mean convincing ones in the 70mph range, with pretty good placement. The way that both Toskala and Price got this extra leverage was to move smoothly from gripping the shaft to gripping the paddle with their glove-hands. In fact, Price is (to my mind) unique in his ability to move between normal and Turco grips depending on where his hand is on the stick and what kind of play he wants to make.

JP, I'd do it even if you do end up with enough goalies: one may get sick, or injured, and I suspect from your post that you'd probably find it a ton of fun.

[retroXvertigo 4]

I'm kind of in the same boat. The Baltimore City FD has two teams. We're losing one of our goalies to the military. So I've decided to take up the second goalie spot.

I'm a righty that plays right handed as a defenseman. When I got my goalie gear I got the traditional lefty set up. I was having a bit of a tough time playing the puck so I grabbed a full right blocker and glove (for dirt cheap as Law pointed out) and tried that. For me, I like full right better, but as I learn the position more, I'm going to switch back and forth and test the waters.

FYI: With clearance deals I got a decent full right glove, blocker and two foam core wood sticks for about $130.

[phonak 0]

I'm left handed and play "righty" when I skate out. When I started out as a goalie I played regular because it was the only thing that was available to me at first. I never played very long as a regular(about a year of rec league) but when I bought my own gloves, I decided to switch. Took me a couple of games to get used to it, and while my glove hand is not as good now it is more than good enough and the other benefits, like I'm now able to stickhandle, makes up for it. Just like the poster above I've also noticed that you can get some good deals on full right gloves and stick.

[greyraven8 9]

If as you have said in your opening post you aren't that good in goal, I think you should be concentrating more on what feels better when you are holding the stick to stop the puck as to worrying about what stick would give you a better shot.

I am a right handed player who shoots rights playing out and catches left in goal. I have straight blades for goal (finding replacements when they are gone may be a pain in the ass).

[Harv 86]

Whatever hand you throw with (your body will naturally tell you when you try both) catch with that opposite hand. That's usually the same hand you don't write with.

Your body is dominate on one side for a reason, don't try to confuse it. (Unless you are truly 100% ambidextrous.)

So how will you handle the puck and shoot if your curve is opposite of what you usually use? You'll learn. Believe me. It might look like a baby deer trying to walk for the first time when you first try it, but you have to keep practicing. I grew up as a right handed shooter. Started playing goalie in Squirts and caught with my left hand so that means I'm playing goalie regular with a left handed curved stick. I was bad at it at first, but over time I got better. It got to the point where in college I could stand at the blue line and rip pucks off the crossbar.

So the rule I always go by is catch with whatever hand your better at, then worry about working on stick handling later. It'll come.

[Race4LastPlace 31]

I was curious about this as well as i plan on eventually playing goalie some. I talked to JR about it. Being that i would naturally catch left handed because of baseball, but being a RH player, I was going to try and play regular with glove on left hand, but with a Full Right stick, and just rotating it to play the puck as if i was playing out. I believe JR mentioned an NHL goalie that played this style at one point.

[jimmy 194]

Whatever hand you throw with (your body will naturally tell you when you try both) catch with that opposite hand. That's usually the same hand you don't write with.

Your body is dominate on one side for a reason, don't try to confuse it. (Unless you are truly 100% ambidextrous.)

So how will you handle the puck and shoot if your curve is opposite of what you usually use? You'll learn. Believe me. It might look like a baby deer trying to walk for the first time when you first try it, but you have to keep practicing. I grew up as a right handed shooter. Started playing goalie in Squirts and caught with my left hand so that means I'm playing goalie regular with a left handed curved stick. I was bad at it at first, but over time I got better. It got to the point where in college I could stand at the blue line and rip pucks off the crossbar.

So the rule I always go by is catch with whatever hand your better at, then worry about working on stick handling later. It'll come.

I agree with you on this one. Once I left my FR gloves at home on the glove dryer, game was starting in 5 mins so I borrowed a set of regular gloves off the goalie who played before us. More important than that my catching was horrible, it threw my whole game off, balance, reation, etc. It was ugly.