OT: Left Handed Shooters

[MJF]

I can’t cut a bagel without scaring my wife. She thinks I’m going to slice a finger off

 

[doublechili]

I've though about this more than someone should. IMO someone playing "opposite" handed in hockey has an advantage in both control and power. For control, you have the strong hand on top of the stick (think of a poke check or carrying the puck out wide when going round someone).

For power, just think of a lever. The real power of a shot comes not from the swing of the lower hand but the snap of the upper hand. The lower hand on the stick is the fulcrum. The upper hand provides the real power by providing the whip action. The whole idea of RH and LH for skaters in hockey is backwards.

 

[BTrotts19]

Canadian players are usually taught to play with their non-dominant hand because it is easier to stick handle. So most of the lefties are actually right handed.

This I believe is correct. I am left handed, play golf left handed, but the the little bit of hockey I played I played as a right handed shot, because of the stick handling

 

[boredmale]

For power, just think of a lever. The real power of a shot comes not from the swing of the lower hand but the snap of the upper hand. The lower hand on the stick is the fulcrum. The upper hand provides the real power by providing the whip action. The whole idea of RH and LH for skaters in hockey is backwards.

If you are thinking of it as a lever, you want to stretch your "stronger arm" out as much as possible so you can really push the stick from high up in the air to the ice to hit the puck. In that case a right handed/armed person would want the right arm moving as much as possible for power in which case you get that when you shoot right

 

[Doshell Propivo]

If you are thinking of it as a lever, you want to stretch your "stronger arm" out as much as possible so you can really push the stick from high up in the air to the ice to hit the puck. In that case a right handed/armed person would want the right arm moving as much as possible for power in which case you get that when you shoot right

I agree with this. But if your dominant hand is on the top of the stick, you can still generate plenty of power with a swinging motion. Think of a backhand in tennis. Or using a machete...

 

[redbull]

I agree with this. But if your dominant hand is on the top of the stick, you can still generate plenty of power with a swinging motion. Think of a backhand in tennis. Or using a machete...

tennis backhand to machete - interesting doshell.

 

[Doshell Propivo]

tennis backhand to machete - interesting doshell.

If you'd like, I can give you another example where it's beneficial to have your dominant hand on the top of the shaft.

 

[redbull]

If you'd like, I can give you another example where it's beneficial to have your dominant hand on the top of the shaft.

baseball and golf.....of course. how dumb.

 

[doublechili]

If you are thinking of it as a lever, you want to stretch your "stronger arm" out as much as possible so you can really push the stick from high up in the air to the ice to hit the puck. In that case a right handed/armed person would want the right arm moving as much as possible for power in which case you get that when you shoot right

IDK. I was really wondering about this topic a few years ago and went into my basement and took some shots. And then I did the shot in "slow motion". I realized that the power of a shot comes not as much from the swing but rather from the snapping action (even on a slapshot). If the stick is a lever during the shot, the puck is at one (blade) end, and the top hand is at the other (knob) end . That makes the hand in the middle the fulcrum. With a lever, the power does not come from the fulcrum (in the middle) - it comes from the end. The power seems like it comes from the swinging hand (the one in the middle of the stick), but trust me that it comes from the top hand's subtle pull back. Otherwise the blade end's speed (and therefore the puck's speed) would be limited to the speed that you can swing your arm. But it's way faster, and that's because of the lever.

Baseball swings have been analyzed out the wazoo. If you swing a baseball bat and don't snap your wrists, the power is minimal. It's been determined that the power comes from the snap. Same with golf. Levers increase power exponentially. BTW, if you want to increase the power of your shot (and speed of release), hold your hands closer together when you shoot. Watch videos of Bossy and Ovechkin taking snapshots. Their hands are relatively close together compared with most players, and their motion is very economical relative to the power of their shot. And if you think of a lever, that makes sense since it extends the length of the puck end of the lever versus the top end, with the fulcrum closer to the power generator. Those guys have karate-like concentration of power in their movements as opposed to wild swings. But that's all you need.

Like I said before - I've thought about this way too much. I always kind of knew it intuitively (especially from watching Bossy a lot), but I've kind of confirmed it in recent years.

 

[Glory Days]

When my youngest son was 3 he picked up his older brother's righty stick and turned it around and wanted to play lefty. My older son and I were watching and knew he wrote and threw righty. So we tried turning it around for him. Didn't work he kept trying to play lefty. My point is I doubt this is a decision that a 3 year old makes. No one taught him to play lefty. Some people are just born with the ability to use both hands equally and for them it feels natural to swing lefty and throw righty. It is something people with dominant sides myself included will never understand.

 

[doublechili]

When my youngest son was 3 he picked up his older brother's righty stick and turned it around and wanted to play lefty. My older son and I were watching and knew he wrote and threw righty. So we tried turning it around for him. Didn't work he kept trying to play lefty. My point is I doubt this is a decision that a 3 year old makes. No one taught him to play lefty. Some people are just born with the ability to use both hands equally and for them it feels natural to swing lefty and throw righty. It is something people with dominant sides myself included will never understand.

The thing is that in hockey there are more LH players than RH players. IMO, it brings into question how to define RH and LH in hockey (since there are many more RH than LH people in general). Maybe the labels are reversed.

BTW, I do everything RH, except I play hockey LH. I am definitely RH, no doubt, but like your son I picked up someone's RH stick and started playing lefty. Both of my sons are natural lefties (write and eat lefty), but my youngest son does everything else righty. My older son throws and kicks lefty but does everything else righty. So, they both play hockey RH (or is that lefty?).

 

[PK Cronin]

The thing is that in hockey there are more LH players than RH players. IMO, it brings into question how to define RH and LH in hockey (since there are many more RH than LH people in general). Maybe the labels are reversed.

BTW, I do everything RH, except I play hockey LH. I am definitely RH, no doubt, but like your son I picked up someone's RH stick and started playing lefty. Both of my sons are natural lefties (write and eat lefty), but my youngest son does everything else righty. My older son throws and kicks lefty but does everything else righty. So, they both play hockey RH (or is that lefty?).

Just think of the designation as defining the side of the body the blade is on, not righty vs lefty in the traditional sense.

 

[Hagstrom]

I write Right handed, but shoot left, bat left, golf left, catch left in baseball (and playing goalie). Sometimes I wonder how I wound up right handed lol

 

[Mr Misunderstood]

Interesting correlation to Lacrosse is that a lot of the Canadian players who have made a large impact on the American college game have been majority left-handed and play with their stick towards the ground a bunch.

In recent years they've made the "toe-drag" a popular dodge around the crease and cradling with one hand inverted towards the ground as well. From experience the toe-drag is definitely easier to pull off lefty as my strong hand (right) is controlling the butt end of the stick. Cool thing to think about.

 

[doublechili]

Interesting correlation to Lacrosse is that a lot of the Canadian players who have made a large impact on the American college game have been majority left-handed and play with their stick towards the ground a bunch.

In recent years they've made the "toe-drag" a popular dodge around the crease and cradling with one hand inverted towards the ground as well. From experience the toe-drag is definitely easier to pull off lefty as my strong hand (right) is controlling the butt end of the stick. Cool thing to think about.

My "lever dissertation" applies to lacrosse as well as hockey since the sticks are held with the hands apart in both. And in both sports, the power comes from the snap and is generated in large part by the hand on the end of the stick pulling back to accelerate the blade/head of the stick.

 

[eoin92]

I write Right handed, but shoot left, bat left, golf left, catch left in baseball (and playing goalie). Sometimes I wonder how I wound up right handed lol

Catching with your left hand and throwing with your right would mean your doing that as a righty.

 

[Hagstrom]

Interesting/confusing

 

[Hunn]

Right/left in daily life is very different from right/left in sports. I’m completely absolutely right-handed, never played ice hockey, but in limited experience with roller hockey I played left-handed (right hand on top of the stick) and always played C/RW. It was so natural.

 

[ThreeLeftSkates]

I write Right handed, but shoot left, bat left, golf left, catch left in baseball (and playing goalie). Sometimes I wonder how I wound up right handed lol

Write righty, hockey stick righty, golf and baseball lefty, throw lefty, bowl(better strike ball lefty, better spare ball righty)righty and horseshoes righty. I have not lost any fingers, but have learned to work mainly righty. My left eye was 20/5 growing up(61 and do not need glasses to read magazines) versus 20/20 right eye.

 

[warrior60]

With all the hockey experts on this board I’m shocked no one knows that when you shoot left handed that you actually control your stick with right hand so all the stick handling is do with your right hand, left hand is just to hold on to the stick.