How did you decide left or right stick handed?

[PensBandwagonerNo272*]

I've always found it interesting that people are right handed but shoot left and vice-versa. I'm right handed and shoot right, and it feels just natural to me to have my right hand nearer the middle of the stick/blade to get more power on a shot.

 

[Blueland89]

how you sweep is how you should hold a stick, grab a broom you will grab it the most natural way.

 

[jablesgonnajabe]

I just started to get into learning to play hockey, and being right handed, instinctively chose a right hand curve. It felt really natural and my shot was pretty strong.

The problem was that I began to notice whenever I would poke check, or reach for an errant puck, I would transfer to the right hand and slide to the knob. It was too strange to keep the stick on my left hand and reach with it.

So being fairly new, I figured the transition to left hand wouldn't be too much of a pain. Man, I'm so glad I switched over to dominant hand on top, shooting lefty. It took me about a week to be comfortable stick handling, and another week to get the same shooting form and power as a righty.

I know I'm a noob, but to other fellow noobs starting out, commit to dominant hand on top, I know I'm glad I did!

 

[Stud Muffin]

I throw right and baseball I bat switch which I played way before hockey I held my first hockey stick at grade 5 and just chose to shoot left. My dad is lefthanded and shoots right and my cousin is lefthanded and shoots right. Also find that the better hockey players shoot with there good hand on the top. The best 6 players at my school
4 are righthanded and shoot left handed 1lefthanded and shoots right and 1shoots right and is righthanded.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

I throw right and baseball I bat switch which I played way before hockey I held my first hockey stick at grade 5 and just chose to shoot left. My dad is lefthanded and shoots right and my cousin is lefthanded and shoots right. Also find that the better hockey players shoot with there good hand on the top. The best 6 players at my school
4 are righthanded and shoot left handed 1lefthanded and shoots right and 1shoots right and is righthanded.

Stamkos, Ovechkin, Semin, Kovalchuk, Kessel and many more are pure righties. Your argument is invalid. Actually, I'd say that most of the snipers have their dominant hand down the shaft.

 

[howeaboutthat]

I just started to get into learning to play hockey, and being right handed, instinctively chose a right hand curve. It felt really natural and my shot was pretty strong.

The problem was that I began to notice whenever I would poke check, or reach for an errant puck, I would transfer to the right hand and slide to the knob. It was too strange to keep the stick on my left hand and reach with it.

So being fairly new, I figured the transition to left hand wouldn't be too much of a pain. Man, I'm so glad I switched over to dominant hand on top, shooting lefty. It took me about a week to be comfortable stick handling, and another week to get the same shooting form and power as a righty.

I know I'm a noob, but to other fellow noobs starting out, commit to dominant hand on top, I know I'm glad I did!

I only started playing a few years back (very late starter!!) but having other hockey players in my family I asked them for advice on 'handedness'. To a person everyone of them plays with their dominant hand on the top of the stick, which makes the majority left shooters.

Interestingly I was having a chat with a Canadian hockey coach over here a while back and he is pretty firm in his belief that one of the reasons the Brits don't produce many (comparably any) good players is that the majority play with the wrong stick for their handedness. He elaborated, mentioning that complete lack of 'generational hockey knowledge' means that many parents walk into their LHS to buy their kids equipment and when asked "left or right handed stick" they simply think "right hand kid=right hand stick", not realising the differing chains of thought on stick selection.

Obviously "dominant hand goes top" is not a constant but potentially there are a great deal of players out there whose playing ability is compromised purely due to a lack of knowledge at an early age/accepting what their parents brought them unquestioningly.

I guess the true worth of good coaching from the get go is the ability to correct such potential issues before they become established.

 

[Sureshot]

Being right in everything else, I always thought I should shoot right in hockey. When we played dek hockey and whatever as kids I'd shoot right.

Fast-forward to starting to actually play hockey last year, and it definitely put me in a bit of a dilemma. Eventually I went for dominant hand on top and it's worked out really well for me. Stickhandling is great, and getting used to shooting on the 'wrong' side wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. It also means I have a pretty strong backhand.

As I always seem to say during stick discussions, see if there's somewhere nearby where you can try out a bunch of sticks. Otherwise, pick up some beater sticks for each side and see how they feel. Avoid sticking with something 'just because' - try things out and you might be surprised.