Referees: Handedness and whistle hand
- Thread starter Summer Rose
- Start date
Double
Registered User
- Feb 14, 2008
- 103
- 36
I am right-handed, and completely right-hand dominant. Everything I do on the ice is right-handed, with the exception of putting my whistle up to my mouth.
I think the key to this is which hand is used for faceoffs. Dropping a puck with the same hand your whistle is feels like asking for trouble. Again, being so right-hand dominant, it would be an utter disaster for me to even attempt a left-handed drop.
I think the key to this is which hand is used for faceoffs. Dropping a puck with the same hand your whistle is feels like asking for trouble. Again, being so right-hand dominant, it would be an utter disaster for me to even attempt a left-handed drop.
35 years with whistle on first and second fingers of my left hand. Signaling and dropping the puck with my right hand.
Back in the 1960's there was an NHL Linesman who wore his whistle on his right hand and also dropped the puck with his right hand. One of the referees I knew commented to me that he couldn't believe it.
Back in the 1960's there was an NHL Linesman who wore his whistle on his right hand and also dropped the puck with his right hand. One of the referees I knew commented to me that he couldn't believe it.
I've had to drop left handed for a game but still wear the whistle on my left hand once because of a wrist injury and having a nice big bandage all over my right hand/wrist. To me being an actual lefty it wasn't bad at all dropping the puck left handed (had a few extra "bouncers" that didn't land flat but it wasn't going everywhere every time), but it was definitely concerning and alarming to be dropping the puck with the hand my whistle was on. I've definitely taken my fair share of whacks on the hand from centers as they try to win a draw and was nervous about giving them an extra thing to hit with their stick, but it was C-level adult league so it wasn't too bad. Those are the kinds of guys who apologize to you for an accidental tap on the shins. I'm like hey man, I wear shin guards for a reason, I barely even felt it.
On a random note, I know this one guy who uses the same hand to whistle and signal. It's weird. He might as well not even have his other hand unless he has to make two-handed signals.
Alexander the Gr8
Registered User
So I don't freeze to death in slower-paced games where I don't have to skate very hard.
You should have reffed in some of those rinks that I did in rural Manitoba and even some of the outdoor rinks in Winnipeg. You would still be trying to thaw out.
FLYLine27*
BUCH
Well im a righty, so obviously i'm using my right hand to drop the puck. Whistle goes on left.
Being a lefty, wouldn't you feel more comfortable dropping the puck with your left hand?
Being a lefty, wouldn't you feel more comfortable dropping the puck with your left hand?
My handedness is an abomination since I broke my left arm when I was 6 years old and learned to throw right handed (I call myself a lefty because I write left handed). It actually "feels" better to drop the puck with my right hand because my left elbow healed out of place and the puck drop motion I use has a bit of a snap to the elbow (NHL style drops are all wrist action or something, I believe, I've tried that but my hand's uncomfortably close to the center's sticks). That said, while dropping it with my left hand feels more awkward/foreign, I can get it to land flat on the dot pretty often still. Maybe with a few more bouncers, say 6 out of 10 landing flat with the left, and 7 out of 10 landing flat with the right. I'd say that's a pretty good percentage considering I'm not doing pro leagues or anything. The thing is though that the higher level you go, the more often one of the centers will sweep the puck as soon as it hits the ice so if it's not flat it doesn't make much of a difference. So, I notice more "bouncers" at lower levels or when the centers both play the body off the draw.
cujoflutie
Registered User
You'd actually be considered cross dominant than; use one hand for writing and the other for sports. So that being the case you're probably better suited to wear the whistle on your left hand and drop the puck with your right since you throw right-handed.
I'm a lefty for sports so I wore the whistle on my right hand; not only do most guys drop the puck with their non-whistle hands but you're supposed to do most signals with your non-whistle hand.
I've never seen anyone drop the puck with their whistle hand on a regular basis, it would get in the way dropping the puck and there is the risk of it dislodging or even coming off. I did suffer hand injuries the odd time to my left hand/wrist. I tried reversing things and moving the whistle to my left hand but felt it messed up my signals (get so used to throwing my left arm in the air, it was hard to reverse) so instead I kept the whistle on my right hand and would remove it when dropping the puck.
MeHateHe
Registered User
- Dec 24, 2006
- 2,470
- 2,795
I have had to warn guys not to drop with their whistle hand for safety reasons. Early in my career, I saw someone get a stick caught in the whistle as he was dropping. He was lucky that the whistle broke at the weld between the grip and the barrel - he could have lost his fingers.
To the OP, I broke my right hand in the middle of the first period of a playoff game. I finished the period, but couldn't grip the puck at all, so my line partner had to drop all the face offs for the rest of the period. Of course, then there was the matter of driving myself to the hospital with a stick shift...
