Your handedness and how you shoot

[SillyMe]

You mean that you have your left hand in front ? If that's what you meant, it's normal, all righties do that.

No, right hand in front.
Only thing I do lefty.

 

[KuralySnipes]

I am a righty that shoots left.

 

[Psyfer]

I am righty that can shoot both which is unusual or at least I haven't run into anyone else yet who does that.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

I am righty that can shoot both which is unusual or at least I haven't run into anyone else yet who does that.

I can shoot with my left hand too. My wrist shot with my left hand has the power of a saucer pass.
Don't ask me to crank a 80 mph slapshot though.

 

[Fongule]

I'm lefty and I shoot lefty and when I'm goalie I catch righty(what lefties usually do.)

 

[Sean Garrity]

Right handed, shoot right. I equate it to the US thing, as well as the top hand being similar to the bottom hand in baseball. I bat right handed, and am used to quickly moving that right hand on the bat similar to that on the hockey stick. Just my opinion though.

My brother on the other hand is awkward. Shoots pool, and shoots a gun like a lefty. Completely right handed in baseball, soccer, and hockey though. I always tell him he should play hockey left handed because his shot is equivalent to that of an eight year old.

 

[TheeNorthStar]

RH/RH

When I first picked up a hockey stick.. That's what immediately felt natural and stuck with it.

 

[ciscomorales]

Right handed shooting right. Does anyone else have a stronger left leg? I had a knee injury 20 or so years ago on my right knee and I can't get solid stops or tight turns on the right side.

 

[soireeculturelle]

RH/RH

my shot had been the strongest part of my game since I started playing. found that the more active my left hand became, the better I shot the puck. when I shoot the puck the best I feel like Im leaning down on my right arm and pulling the puck with my upper hand. it gets more torque onto the stick and I can pick my spots better too.

 

[Primary Assist]

righty that shoots right, but when I play in net I use a lefty goalie stick (like just about everyone.) Because of this I have a pretty decent lefty wrister, but couldn't take a slapper to save my life.

 

[Noel92]

Lefty that shoots left. It feels more natural, so I stuck with it.

 

[iFishyHD]

I write LH.

I play Baseball RH.

I shoot RH but prefer LW.

 

[Jarick]

If it's true that 1 of 10 people are left handed, I'd guess 1 in 20 or fewer are left handed shooting left.

Wow pretty good guess, 5% vs 6%

Also, this was a great poll. Hope it keeps getting responses.

 

[ThisisBen]

Left handed, shoot right.

basically, anything to do with swinging something with my arms, I do it righty.

I kick left though, and shoot a basketball left.

 

[damack]

all lefty, all the time
shoot, throw, kick

although when I was a little kid and played goal (basically a shooting target for my brother) my left was my glove hand.

 

[Trl3789]

all lefty, all the time
shoot, throw, kick

although when I was a little kid and played goal (basically a shooting target for my brother) my left was my glove hand.

Brings up an interesting question. I grew up playing baseball (right handed) so my left hand has always been my glove hand, but I also shoot right handed. If I was to transition to goalie, should I keep my glove consistent but have the stick the wrong handedness. Or should I keep the stick consistent and put the glove on my dominant, but less familiar to glove hand?

 

[silkyjohnson50]

Brings up an interesting question. I grew up playing baseball (right handed) so my left hand has always been my glove hand, but I also shoot right handed. If I was to transition to goalie, should I keep my glove consistent but have the stick the wrong handedness. Or should I keep the stick consistent and put the glove on my dominant, but less familiar to glove hand?

Hmm that's a good question. I actually never realized that goalies glove hand and shooting is usually not the same..

Playing baseball growing up I threw right handed (thus the glove on my left hand), but batted from the left side. I also shoot hockey lefty. When I played some roller hockey goalie growing up, it was just natural to have the glove on my left hand and shoot lefty as well. I never realized that most of the other goalies were shooting their opposite than what they typically shot when playing out.

 

[Kale Makar]

I'm a righty that shoots left. I don't actually have the worst shot shooting right, but I can't aim and, although it may seem weird, I don't feel like I'm actually doing something. I may be the only one, but when I shoot off handed, the shot comes off, but I don't feel like I shot it right...

 

[Summer Rose]

Brings up an interesting question. I grew up playing baseball (right handed) so my left hand has always been my glove hand, but I also shoot right handed. If I was to transition to goalie, should I keep my glove consistent but have the stick the wrong handedness. Or should I keep the stick consistent and put the glove on my dominant, but less familiar to glove hand?

It is an interesting question indeed. Since I throw right handed despite being a lefty, this meant that a baseball/softball glove went on my left hand, but when I play in goal, I play glove right. It's awkward to stickhandle that way, though I finally resisted the temptation to hold the stick with my glove hand on top (since I shoot left when I skate out) and have gotten okay at at least making passes. Can't lift the puck off the ice though, forehand or backhand.

I tried it both ways at first basically, and stuck with playing glove right. Tried glove left at first, and whilst I was comfortable catching with my left hand, when I put the blocker on my right hand and tried to hold the goal stick that way, my head exploded. Ordered some used goalie gloves off eBay, liked playing that way, and never played glove left again.

I'm actually curious enough to start a goalie handedness poll, though I don't think it'll be as active, and it'll be more dominant in responses.

 

[Jisatsu]

Left handed, shoot righty. I like my dominate hand on top. I can somewhat stick handle shooting lefty, but I'm way more comfortable playing righty.

 

[cujoflutie]

Brings up an interesting question. I grew up playing baseball (right handed) so my left hand has always been my glove hand, but I also shoot right handed. If I was to transition to goalie, should I keep my glove consistent but have the stick the wrong handedness. Or should I keep the stick consistent and put the glove on my dominant, but less familiar to glove hand?

Hmm that's a good question. I actually never realized that goalies glove hand and shooting is usually not the same..

Playing baseball growing up I threw right handed (thus the glove on my left hand), but batted from the left side. I also shoot hockey lefty. When I played some roller hockey goalie growing up, it was just natural to have the glove on my left hand and shoot lefty as well. I never realized that most of the other goalies were shooting their opposite than what they typically shot when playing out.

I'm a goalie and have had arguments with people who pretend to be experts on the subject but wind up giving terrible advice (not saying either of you are, you're both asking good questions).


In baseball, you want your glove hand to be your less dominant one so you have your stronger one to throw. Hockey goaltending is the same thing as the stick requires the precision. Some people think the dominant hand should be the glove hand because glove saves are more flashy but the stick hand is FAR more important. There's a reason why right-catching goalies at the NHL level is around proportional to the amount of left-handed people; Hiller, Harding, and Vokoun are the only 3 whom are first or second on a teams depth chart.


You really just have to think how goaltending equipment evolved; at one time goalies used the same stick and gloves that skaters wore. Those goalies didn't strategize as far as which hand to hold their stick in, they held it with their stronger hand. Eventually the idea came about to wear a baseball glove on the free hand and later the blocker evolved for the stick hand.


Now one exception to the above is that a goalie who is ambidextrous may be better suited with the glove on the shooting side to make puckhandling easier.

Also not that anyone's done this in this thread but if you don't play hockey, don't assume you shoot the same way you'd golf or bat, it's not uncommon to be the opposite.

 

[flomarilius]

Grew up playing golf because there is no hockey in South Fla, so I'm RH/RH. I feel that if I shot LH though I would probably get a lot more power but I'm not going to mess with my golf swing and muscle memory for pick up hockey =D

 

[GeNeXt]

Not going to answer to this poll, because I vary when it comes to handedness.

I shoot left, throw left, bat left, but I write and bowl right .

Because I throw lefty, I often catch righty in baseball, but if I was to play goalie I prefer left glove and right blocker. I am odd I guess.

I guess I am lefty at both because I do most things left handed, other than write.

 

[JaeTM]

Right handed, righty shot. Wish I was left handed though. Everyone is a right handed shot by me. Wish I was different.

As far as the rake thing goes, both sides feel comfortable for me. Too bad it isn't like that in hockey

 

[Clarkington III]

I write left, shoot pool left, use scissors right, bat either, throw right, golf right, and shoot write.

My left I hand is generally more precise and my right hand usually has more power.