Left Handers

[MPast86 0]

Ive just got a question. Ive never played hockey, and am a casual fan. I watch the Wings, but not really much else.

Ive noticed that an incredibly large number of hockey players are left handed. I know a majority of the population is right handed. Is there some advantage to being lefty? Is it something that young players just are taught to pick up or what? Am I totally crazy and there arent that many lefties?

Thanks.

[Carman 387]

Mostly because the stronger hand usually goes on top of the stick. Considering the amount of time you have with one hand on the stick it makes sense to have your stronger hand the one in control.

That said I'm right handed in everything including hockey, not quite sure why haha.

[Crashnburnluder 385]

Thats actully a pretty interesting question and if you watch the USA vs Canada game tom. you might be able to pick it up... but... There is actulyl a reason behind it all.... In a lot of countries (Canada, Russia, European countries) the players are taught to use there strong hand (usually there right) to be the top hand of there stick, which makes them a left shot. In the United States a lot of players get taught to use their strong hand as the bottom hand on there shaft. (If you watch team USA tom. notice a lot of the players are right handed instead of left handed)

I was taught the American way of having my strong hand on the bottom, and when i stick handle I control my stick with my bottom hand and my shot power comes from my bottom hand. Which is not the proper from. Though it can work better for some players... A lot of other countries teach there players to use there top hand to control the puck and get the power of there shot from there top hand. They do this by pulling the butt end of the stick back towards the body. This is supposed to generate more power. This leaves the bottom hand for more of a guide for the stick and lets the top hand have all the control for stick handling....

sorry if thats a really long explanation but I hope it helps....

crash

Edited February 28, 2010 by Crashnburnluder

[soultrain 43]

as a left handed person i look for other leftys because they are usually creeps...just like me. as a kid playing hockey with kids in my neighborhood i noticed a whole bunch of them (who were right handed) just naturally picked up their stick lefty..and that is the answer...kids don't understand and they just hold it that way...always thought it was funny too

[Yellowknife Redwing 57]

Forgive me if I misunderstand you, but I think you may have an incorrect impression about handedness when it comes to shooting. Just because you shoot left does not mean that you are left handed. The vast majority of left hand shots are right handed people, just as the vast majority of people are right handed in general.

The reason most people shoot left or right is because that's what felt most comfortable when they first picked up a hockey stick. It's all about what you feel strongest with. I'm a right handed person and I shoot, golf and bat left.

[titanium2 867]

I hope one of these days a defenseman develops the capacity to shoot from either hand so that the Wings don't have to put guys like Sammy/Willy on the PP point.

[GMRwings1983 8,794]

I hope one of these days a defenseman develops the capacity to shoot from either hand so that the Wings don't have to put guys like Sammy/Willy on the PP point.

Lebda?

[titanium2 867]

Lebda?

Well they have to be competent. Lebda doesn't seem to have much of a knack for competence at the NHL level as he is but only for a few aspects of the game.

[Uncle Danny 155]

Thats actully a pretty interesting question and if you watch the USA vs Canada game tom. you might be able to pick it up... but... There is actulyl a reason behind it all.... In a lot of countries (Canada, Russia, European countries) the players are taught to use there strong hand (usually there right) to be the top hand of there stick, which makes them a left shot. In the United States a lot of players get taught to use their strong hand as the bottom hand on there shaft. (If you watch team USA tom. notice a lot of the players are right handed instead of left handed)

I was taught the American way of having my strong hand on the bottom, and when i stick handle I control my stick with my bottom hand and my shot power comes from my bottom hand. Which is not the proper from. Though it can work better for some players... A lot of other countries teach there players to use there top hand to control the puck and get the power of there shot from there top hand. They do this by pulling the butt end of the stick back towards the body. This is supposed to generate more power. This leaves the bottom hand for more of a guide for the stick and lets the top hand have all the control for stick handling....

sorry if thats a really long explanation but I hope it helps....

crash

Great explanation, actually. But who's tom?

I kid.

If you think about the physics of the situation, this makes perfect sense. The top hand has to move less distance through space to generate the same result at the end of the stick, and pulling is a more explosive and efficient use of power than pushing.

I wasn't aware of an American bias, right or wrong, for the opposite approach. Thanks for pointing that out.

I think the simplest and, possibly, best explanation I've heard for deciding which hand to use at the top of the stick is this (and I think I actually read it on this board -- kudos to whomever posted it): Start shoveling snow with a shovel. That's how you should hold your hockey stick.

[ComradeWasabi 109]

Start shoveling snow with a shovel. That's how you should hold your hockey stick.

I shovel "right"; ie. left hand on top, but I shoot left. The idea of doing either one of those the other way seems totally foreign.

[Guest Crymson]

I hope one of these days a defenseman develops the capacity to shoot from either hand so that the Wings don't have to put guys like Sammy/Willy on the PP point.

Many would run into issues with stick curve.

[titanium2 867]

Many would run into issues with stick curve.

So carry a small minority of the other handed sticks just for the PP.

[cusimano_brothers 1,655]

Toronto Star .

[CupCrazy22 6]

I am left-handed and shot right. My dad is right-handed and shots left. When he first gave me a stick he told me to hold it how it was comfortable. That is what he was told when he was a kid. He is from MN, so maybe there is some Canadian influence there.

[Finnish Wing 110]

If you keep your stronger hand as the bottom hand I believe you get a better shot, but I think most players have stronger hand as the top hand.

[uk_redwing 495]

Im right hand, shoot right. Just the way that felt natural to me.

[Guest Shoreline]

What's weird is I write and kick left handed but I shoot right. (bat left, golf right)

I think there are so many lefties out now to counter how many righties there used to be to bring more variation to a team. My thoughts are if there are really too many lefties now it will eventually balance itself out similarly.

Edited February 28, 2010 by Shoreline

[Krayzie_Bone 58]

Good topic I have always wondered that myself. Im right handed and never played hockey but when I picked up a stick for the first time right handed shot just felt right.

[Tane 17]

LOL, you don't get taught anything. It's like when you pick up a pencil and start writing. you just are what you are. I throw a baseball right handed, I wright left handed, I bat both way, I shoot right handed....It's all just how you're wired.

[BigWillieStyle 662]

#9 shot from the right, ( though he was ambidextrious ) so that's who I tried to emulate. Of the 6 males in my family, only 1 was a lefty which meant that there were more sticks with a right curve to choose from. Actually, I think I played my first few years with a straight stick as they were still pretty popular at the time.

[dicksmack 33]

Most left-handers like me shoot right and I always figured it was because you often carry the puck with your (dominant) left hand if you shoot right and the reverse if you shoot left.