Why Do Most Canadians Shoot Lefty?

[Sanderson]

Dominant hand on top seems like the most logical choice, though obviously if someone got used to doing it differently that's perfectly fine as well.

You stickhandle with your top-hand, as you have a far bigger reach that way. If you use the bottom hand to control the movements, you have a much more limited reach and can't pick up any puck that is more than maybe two foot away from you. If you have your strong hand at the bottom, and try to extend your reach by letting go with one hand, you suddenly control everything with your weaker hand while your strong hand becomes useless.

Seeing how you control the puck far longer than you shoot, it seems to make much more sense to me to opt for control over a bit more power.

While shooting with your strong hand at the bottom does give you more power, it's really not the deciding factor. A proper weight shift, swing and stick-flex will be much more helpful than the tiny bit more power your strong arm has. Now, if you have perfected all that and use your strong hand at the bottom, your shot will be even stronger, but overall, a perfected stance will lead to a stronger shot than just using your stronger hand without the correct stance. Beyond that, the accuracy of a shot depends on your top hand, especially for wristshots and backhands, as you roll your top hand while making the shot.

In short, your stronger hand at top should give you more control of the puck and a better accuracy while shooting, while the stronger hand at the bottom should give you a harder shot. With the word should being important, as changing what a person has gotten used to will probably just screw up everything and make things worse, not better.

 

[Terry Yake]

dominant hand on top makes more sense

when you're skating fast with the puck you hold your stick with your top hand and it would obviously be more comfortable to most if that was your dominant hand

 

[muddywaters]

I played baseball before hockey.. I am right handed and bat right, shoot right, golf right ... my younger brother never played baseball and is right handed but shoots left and is a left handed golfer....

 

[NikF]

Because the dominant hand is more responsive, having it atop the stick will provide a player with better control. With their dominant eye away from the puck, these players will also gain better up-ice vision.

Righties who play with right-handed sticks will have better power and accuracy on their shots and passes as well as better vision in tight situations. The power comes from having their strong arm lower on the stick, as well as being able to push off their more powerful leg. The vision arrives by having the dominant eye directly over the puck.

http://capitals.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=63419

Don't forget the eye. Although not as common, it's also possible to be right handed and have your left eye be dominant, and vice-versa.

 

[Leafidelity]

Dominant hand on top. Because you skate around one handed a lot, people generally hold the stick in the dominant hand without thinking about it.

I shoot left, but I'll probably force my kids to start off shooting right though, it gives you better shooting options on goalies.

 

[Brooklanders*]

Most Canadians play with their dominant hand at the top of the stick, which is better for stickhandling, while most Americans play with the dominant hand on the bottom, like how you would hold a baseball bat.

This is why most of the best shooters in general shoot righty and most of the best stickhandlers shoot lefty.

I never thought this.

Wow. Blows my mind.

 

[Sauce12]

http://capitals.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=63419

Don't forget the eye. Although not as common, it's also possible to be right handed and have your left eye be dominant, and vice-versa.

Same with ears, at least in my case. But I seem to be pretty strange with these left and right things. I'm a righty that shoots right, catches left, throws right, jumps left, kicks right, eats left, smokes (mostly) left. But when throwing a ball with my left hand, I look like the biggest idiot on earth.

Interesting discussion btw.

 

[member 147413]

Right for writing

Left for hockey

Right for golf

Right for baseball

 

[Mischa]

(have played a total of one league game of hockey ) i accidentally switch grips all the time. its sorta weird when i receive the puck and suddenly realize i can't really make shots and passes unless i do it backhand. though now that i think about it, i try to stick handle with my left hand even if its on the bottom so maybe i'm actually supposed to be left hand dominant though i got taught right handed for everything else?

for goalie i would feel more comfortable with stick in left hand and glove in right but i never have right handed gloves lying around.

i bat, golf and throw right tho and can't do left (learned them at a young age).

pool would be the other one that i can switch up which is nice since i never have to sit on the table to make a shot

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

The correct way is your dominant hand on the handling portion of the stick. Which is the top hand.

That's the reason there are a majority of lefties in the NHL.

There is no correct way.

 

[RoofIt5hole]

Im right handed,

I shoot left in hockey, in golf, i shoot right.

I dont get it. Never have. Ive always done what feels natural.

I'm right handed and shoot left in hockey and right in golf too. My main issue is that I play soccer predominantly right footed, so my footwork for a slapshot tends to get a little screwy when the seasons overlap. anyone else have that problem?

 

[GAT0R]

it all has to do when you first hold the stick at a young age and what comes natural. I don't think there's any real science to it.

I'm right handed and i shoot right. Though it doesn't feel too weird if i hold the stick left handed either.

 

[amnesiac]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/sports/olympics/16lefty.html?_r=0

What is the difference between a Canadian and an American? The old question is coming up again here at the Olympics, with answers involving eagerness for war, ketchup, the pronunciation of toque or the ability to identify poutine and the Tragically Hip.

But none may be so simple as how one holds a hockey stick. According to sales figures from stick manufacturers, a majority of Canadian hockey players shoot left-handed, and a majority of American players shoot right-handed. No reason is known for this disparity, which cuts across all age groups and has persisted for decades.

Most Canadians, like most Americans, are naturally right-handed, so the discrepancy has nothing to do with national brain-wiring. And how you hold a pencil, say, has little or no bearing on how you hold a stick. A left-handed shooter puts his right hand on top; a right-hander puts the left hand there.

For years, how a hockey player picked up his stick was of little importance. The blades were straight and a player could swing the sticks from either side. Two Hockey Hall of Famers from the mid-20th century — wing Gordie Howe and goalie Bill Durnan — actually played ambidextrously.

...

bottom line is it come down to how your brain is wired, and how you initially chose to hold a stick/bat/club early on.

I write/throw/tennis R
stick/bat/club L

I think thats what the majority of Canadians are

 

[amnesiac]

try explaining Michael Vick who writes R but throws L

 

[Sureves]

The amount of contradictory posts in this thread - all by people who claim to know what they are talking about - is staggering.

 

[getzforfighting*]

Right handed Canadian who shoots right. I feel it may be because I probably started baseball (t-ball) the summer before I started hockey.

 

[Love]

Most people in general shoot lefty because most people are right-handed. Dominant hand on top.

You care to explain this? All I know is when I'm stickhandling or shooting, my bottom hand is doing most of the work.

Therefore, my dominant hand is on the bottom.


Again, It's about what's comfortable from the start.

 

[Avelanche]

Crazy to hear in Canada lefties are more common. In America being left handed at anything is abnormal. Always a pain getting left handed sticks. Golf Clubs you have to special order.

 

[Skobel24]

Dominant hand on the top of the stick generally results in better stick handling.
Dominant hand on the bottom will give more power.

Honestly, it just comes down to what feels natural. I'm right handed and chose a right handed stick because it felt right.

 

[Sanderson]

You care to explain this? All I know is when I'm stickhandling or shooting, my bottom hand is doing most of the work.

Therefore, my dominant hand is on the bottom.


Again, It's about what's comfortable from the start.

The bottom hand shouldn't do most of the work while stickhandling though, as it limits your range. It's fine when you just want to move the puck back and forth a bit. Try catching a puck that is quite a bit to your side though (same if you make a wide move), it's impossible to do while having both hands on the stick. You cannot remove the top-hand, because that's what is giving you the reach, not to mention that holding the stick with just one hand in the middle leaves you with no control whatsoever. That means you can only let go with your bottom hand and now are left with the weak hand to do any moves.

In other words, you pretty much would have to switch the way you stickhandle depending on where the puck is. If you let the bottom hand make most of the moves, you will have to switch to the top hand doing the job when the puck is further out, or let the stick glide through your hands until your bottom hand ends at the top. With the hand on top doing the moves, you can stickhandle close to your body or far away from it while always using the same hand to control the puck.

Not that you cannot get used to making the switch all the time. Once you have mastered that it probably makes little sense to change it, but if you have your stronger hand at the bottom it does mean that your weaker hand will be on the stick all the time, while your stronger hand won't be. Might not be relevant to everybody, as a player should always do what works best for him, but that should be the theory behind it.

 

[The Rage Kage]

I'd say hockey culture in Canada has an effect on it. Many little kids in Canada are given mini sticks when they are young, and only hold them in one hand (to whack people) which is usually their dominant hand. It becomes comfortable and when they are older and play hockey they still feel natural holding the top of the stick with their dominant hand.

 

[Theodore450]

I'm canadien and I'm a righty
We where taught to use are dominante hand on the top, but I felt more natural with my dominant hand on the bottom.
I came a righty while everyone else became a lefty.

 

[JayKing]

I'm right handed but can shoot both sides. I prefer playing with a left stick because of stickhandling and easier pokechecking.

try explaining Michael Vick who writes R but throws L

It's pretty easy. He's trash. That's why he runs more than he throws.

 

[Hoser]

This "dominant hand on top" hypothesis is hokum. I'm right-handed and I'm useless if I shoot left. It was always more natural for me to use my left hand at the top.

There is no great disparity in strength between my left and right hands and wrists. They were always about the same. What my right hand has that my left lacks is fine motor control. I don't need fine motor control to poke check or reach out to corral a pass, or stick handle at the limit of my reach. I need fine motor control to stickhandle nearer my body, and I need that fine motor control on the lower hand to do so. I need fine control on the lower hand to control shot aim. My left hand and wrist can twist at the top of the stick shaft for a wrist shot just fine; I need my right to provide finer control over my aim.

I also played goal, and I'm terrible catching with my left. No matter how much time spent practicing and playing while catching left my skills never came close to how well I could catch right.

 

[Butch 19]

And given a lot of Americans play baseball first they end up shooting right.

link? What would baseball have to do with hockey? You figured this out from the UK? awesome.

I am right handed, shoot left, but golf right.

And I have tried to golf left and shoot right, but it is just not possible.