How come right handed glove goalies are nearly nonexistent in the NHL?

[Bank Shot]

I've never understood how someone who's right-handed could prefer shooting as a lefty in hockey...

IMO, those people should be rounded up and sterilized.

Its that way because hockey knowledgeable parents in Canada have their kids play with the dominant hand on the top of the stick in the proper style.

American parents just buy a right handed stick for their kids because their kid is right handed.

 

[JoeSakic13]

Man we’re getting into the late-summer topics early this year

 

[nturn06]

Why would anyone do this? How do you control your stick at that point?

like this

Durnan was an ambidextrous goalie, equally adept at using his right or left hand (he wore special gloves that permitted him to catch with either hand while still holding his stick),

 

[Eggtimer]

I have always been curious about this as I never understood how there are so many left handed shot players while most people are right handed. I write left handed , play racket sports left handed ( tennis , ping pong )
throw right , bat right , golf right , catch left and played goal for 25 years catching with my left hand . I could not for the life of me handle the puck like that , and had to do like Cujo did to play the puck , flip shit around and shoot right handed , needless to sayi could backhand like a mofo but could not shoot it forehand worth a shit.

I still dont get how a right handed person would be able to or even want to shoot left in hockey.... feeel sso weird. My right hand is stronger one but no way id want it on the top of the stick . How can guys with a stronger right hand shoot left with the power they do? Seems backwards to me. The hand on the middle of the stick should be your stronger hand?

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

Can you even buy righty gloves? I could never find a righty glove when I wanted to play.

 

[GeNeXt]

I am an odd ball when it comes to this.

Hockey I shoot left handed, and therefore would catch left handed when playing goalie.

However, I throw left handed (except a frisbee I throw right handed), and if I were to play baseball I would obviously catch right handed. But I'd never be able to catch as good with my right hand if I had to play goalie that way, and I wouldn't be able to catch a baseball as well with a left handed glove.

The weirdest thing is I write right handed, but can't write left handed. Always attributed it to having finer control with my right hand, but more power with left to throw, and also golf/bat lefty.

 

[Maplebeasts]

Lots of right handed people outside of hockey shoot right and vice versa. If you catch right as a goalie you are almost certainly left handed. It feels more natural for every goalie i've met to have your blocker on your strong hand. Left handed people are just far less common.

 

[Maplebeasts]

I have always been curious about this as I never understood how there are so many left handed shot players while most people are right handed. I write left handed , play racket sports left handed ( tennis , ping pong )
throw right , bat right , golf right , catch left and played goal for 25 years catching with my left hand . I could not for the life of me handle the puck like that , and had to do like Cujo did to play the puck , flip shit around and shoot right handed , needless to sayi could backhand like a mofo but could not shoot it forehand worth a shit.

I still dont get how a right handed person would be able to or even want to shoot left in hockey.... feeel sso weird. My right hand is stronger one but no way id want it on the top of the stick . How can guys with a stronger right hand shoot left with the power they do? Seems backwards to me. The hand on the middle of the stick should be your stronger hand?

I'm one of those guys who's right handed but shoots left in hockey. Basically what it comes down to is I felt I could control the puck better with my dominant hand on top of the stick. Alot of the power in your shot is about properly shifting your weight and creating flex in the shaft so my weaker hand being in the middle of the stick was no issue. I wasn't a very good player but the one thing I could do was shoot hard lol.

 

[Prsut18]

Me and my brother are both right-handed (writing etc).. he shoots right, I shoot left (and catch left as I played goalie) ..those are two separate things apparently

 

[ISensFanI]

I’m left handed and catch with my left hand

 

[Eggtimer]

I'm one of those guys who's right handed but shoots left in hockey. Basically what it comes down to is I felt I could control the puck better with my dominant hand on top of the stick. Alot of the power in your shot is about properly shifting your weight and creating flex in the shaft so my weaker hand being in the middle of the stick was no issue. I wasn't a very good player but the one thing I could do was shoot hard lol.

I get that but then isn’t your accuracy all buggered up then ? When I try to shoot left , I just cannot do it . I can throw a baseball decent with both hands but no way I could ever shoot left with a hickey stick . It’s weird

 

[VivaLasVegas]

It is a Northern Hemisphere thing, because of the way the puck tends to spin clockwise this side of the equator. Most goalies in the Southern Hemisphere are right-handed, because there the puck tends to spin counterclockwise.

 

[JianYang]

When I started out as a little kid, it felt natural to me to catch right handed but the equipment available to me was always left handed glove.

I just got used to it.

 

[DJB]

My 7 y/o son is right handed catching. Currently plays in the top level for his age group.

Draft 2034 or so lol

 

[Maplebeasts]

I get that but then isn’t your accuracy all buggered up then ? When I try to shoot left , I just cannot do it . I can throw a baseball decent with both hands but no way I could ever shoot left with a hickey stick . It’s weird

I never felt that way. Shooting right is IMPOSSIBLE for me so I get the feeling.

 

[Mr Positive]

I heard a radio lab podcast on left handedness. For sports it might be that left handed people have a different brain but maybe not. The theory is that left handers stand out more at the lowest levels because they are so few compared to right handers, and it translates as an advantage. So for a goalie it would be that shooters are more used to shooting at right handed goalies, and so lefties come along and its slightly different and more unwieldy to score on them.

But this means that a disproportionate amount of top end athletes are lefties because they are more likely to stand out and so more likely to choose a sports career. I'd wonder if right handed players should stand out more at the higher levels.

Also there are only so few goalie jobs so it's more likely to carry statistical anomalies

 

[Tripledeke333]

It is because most people are right handed. Right handed people typically shoot left, and catch left. Most goalies who catch left also shoot left.

That is it. That is the answer.

 

[PK Cronin]

I never felt that way. Shooting right is IMPOSSIBLE for me so I get the feeling.

That's because it's all based off of repeating the same movements and the shifting of weight isn't the same when you try to shoot with the opposite hand. Even skating when trying to play the opposite way causes me a lot of soreness I wouldn't generally have because of the way I'm leaning.

A wrist shot with the opposite handedness is about as good as an 11 year old. A slap shot is just unimaginable because I don't know how to move my feet.

 

[MarkusKetterer]

That's because it's all based off of repeating the same movements and the shifting of weight isn't the same when you try to shoot with the opposite hand. Even skating when trying to play the opposite way causes me a lot of soreness I wouldn't generally have because of the way I'm leaning.

A wrist shot with the opposite handedness is about as good as an 11 year old. A slap shot is just unimaginable because I don't know how to move my feet.

It’s why you when you get someone to try to throw a ball as hard as they can, they usually A: try to step and throw it like they normally would or B: they generally throw it anywhere but straight in front of them.

 

[Arthur Morgan]

Im right handed and play with a left stick
not sure if this is normal or not lol

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

Can you even buy righty gloves? I could never find a righty glove when I wanted to play.

If you don't live in a big city you won't. You have to order online, or go into a city and their big equipment store to find it.

 

[johnnybbadd]

Goalies are different than shooters because they are holding their stick with one hand the majority of the time and that in turn makes them more likely to hold a goalie stick with their dominant hand. It definitely is harder for a goalie that shoots right to move the puck because the glove hand would be the top hand for a righty with a left glove hand. Cujo would move the puck back handed because of that.

 

[SheldonJPlankton]

Left-handed people live in a right-handed world...and especially historically, often were/are forced to adapt to using right-handed designed equipment, tools, vehicles, etc. The sporting world is little different.

Lots of left-handers simply adapt to using what's available...and often that's stuff for right-handers.

 

[BlueBaron]

Being right handed the scarcity in right handed shots has always puzzled me. I know I was lucky to get a right handed stick if it wasn't mine' in a random public setting. I always felt my right handed shot was more solid despite ample opportunity to use a left handed stick.

I do catch with my left but only because I need my right to throw.

 

[Mattb124]

Catching is much more dictated by handedness than shooting. Americans tends toward shooting with the weak hand on top (right handed shooting right) which is not the case through most of the rest of the hockey world.