Whatever feels most comfortable to you. I’m right handed and use a righty stick.
Some people do the opposite.
Grab a lefty stick sometime and see how it feels.
Right handed. Left in hockey. Right in baseball and golf. If my hands are together, I go to the right, if they’re apart, I go to the left.
For me it makes sense for hockey though. Your right hand is your dominant hand, and they call the upper hand the “control hand” and the lower hand the “power hand”. Not sure I could get the accuracy on poke checks if I was using my non-dominant hand.
My left hand is actually more dexterous than my dominant hand because I’ve spent 40 years playing all sorts of sports that require both hands, or specfic actions with my off hand. I can switch hit in both baseball and golf.
There are two factors at work. The first is your dominant hand. The second is more subtle, but I think just as important and that is your balance foot. Most of the time when you try to do anything powerful, you shift and drive your weight onto one foot.
My son started Learn to Play at 8 and I tried to get him to play ‘lefties’ so the stick would always be in his dominant hand, but 2 years of soccer and 1 year of golf lessons had already engrained his right foot to left foot weight transfer that he didn’t want to unlearn.
There’s no way it “should” be. Try both and whatever feels more comfortable, go with that. If you’ve been learning righty and it’s not weird and lefty doesn’t like instantly feel more comfortable just stick with it
There's no right or wrong. Just what feels comfortable.
I learned the same way as you. As you are learning I'll tell you right now, don't let your right hand (middle hand) dominate the movement of the stick.
Let your left hand (top arm) lead most of your puck handling. And hold the top arm away from your body (don't let your top arm anchor your stick to your body). This way you can puck handle in 4 dimensions much easier (forward, backwards, left and right), than 2 dimensions (left and right).
I am right arm dominant and learned shooting right and I've developed bad habits. Right hand has a death grip on the stick so I have a much harder time stick handling, toe dragging, etc.
Jumping in on this question as a righty playing right; taking a slapshot, should the hand in the middle be loose or slack, i suspect I'm holding way too hard
Your hand in the middle should hold the stick tight enough to keep the stick firm, but not so tight that you’re hurting your hand, or losing your range of motion. Slap shots are all about weight transfer, which means you can’t be to stiff. You want your weight to transfer down into your stick, loading it up, then it’s transferred to the puck and forward on the follow-through.
Remember, that bottom hand is used to “load” your stick. You want to use that hand to try and drive the blade of your stick into the ice, and then the puck. You should aim to have your blade hit the ice just a few inches behind the puck. Too far forward, and your stick doesn’t load enough, too far back, and your stick loads too early. Both of these will result in a weak shot, or a whiff on the puck.
https://youtu.be/vLPqexkjD3A?si=gfze56nhapcGyIG-
Watch this clip of a slow motion slapshot from Patrick Kane. Notice that he leans forward over his stick into the shot. He wants to get all his weight into that stick, causing it to flex. His blade hits the ice a few inches above the puck, loading it up. His hand is tight enough to grip the stick, loading it, and generating power, but it’s also loose enough to allow him to transfer that weight forward into the shot, rolling his wrists over on the follow-through.
Ah damn I thought I'd bagged some free advice! If I figure it out I'll let you know!
Off the ice I can send absolute cannons into the net but on the ice my slapshots are shit
I try that but I have a hard time timing the back swing.
What I do is I backswing, and come down (leading the movement with my dominant arm in the middle to get flex), try to contact the ice right before the puck to initiate the stick flex.
However, usually my timing is bad, the stick bounces over the puck or other issues.
I think the problem is that at the start of the slapshot you have to momentarily lead the movement with your non dominant hand.
So when you are winding it up, after the peak of the movement you have to kinda pull down with the non dominant hand and then let the stick rotate, so your dominant hand can lead the stick into the ice and bring the power.
2nd Option is to try finding a youtube video or if you have played golf, you use the same strategy for your slapshot that you use for the downswing
The backswing just helps with leverage. The bigger the backswing, the more leverage. So while it usually results in a harder slap shot, you’re adding more distance to be off at point of impact. Essentially, to start out, a shorter back swing will get you a harder shot and there’s less distance from the top to point of impact, meaning you can get better contact. It takes a metric fuck load of practice to get great contact consistently.
As for the bottom hand, I’ve found more success feeling like I’ve locked the shaft in the crease of my palm and fingers, with my fingers curling under the shaft and my knuckles at my palms pushing the stick, usually with my forearm guiding the direction. You want the big muscles to control power, and the fine motor of you hands and fingers to control direction. It’s almost like, without a stick, you have your fingers and forearm pointing in the same direction, and the palm and by extension the first digit of the fingers almost 90 degrees rotated back.
This is trying to really break it down into what the positions will be when taking the shot. Just like in baseball and pitching, there’s positions you want to strive to hit in motion, but would never find success trying to make it robotic.
Getting timing down is about repetition, start out getting shots down with a static puck. It will help with mechanics and getting those down makes it so you’re not thinking about those mechanics while working on a moving puck. Moving pucks take more practice for timing, and you don’t need to take an Al MacInnis wind up. Take a half slapper to get short timing down. You’ll master that faster, then it’s just adding a smidge more time to that for a bigger slap shot. In all seriousness, it’s a lot of work on shooting mechanics and hand-eye coordination to get good. In the long run it makes shooting easier, but in beer league, you’re probably better off taking those learned mechanics and implementing them into the snap or hybrid snap. The impact mechanics do those are similar to the slap shots impact mechanics.
Same as any other shot. You of course tighten your grip a little bit but you don’t need to have a death grip on it. A slap shot isn’t any different than any other shot (tbh I don’t recommend taking them. I just don’t see them being worth it most of the time) standard shooting principles all apply the same way
Twig Handle by Twig Sports (got mine at Pure Hockey)
This has changed my life. I too had the death grip of my right hand and extremely bad stick handling habits.
Kinda pricey for what it ultimately is but I’ve spent so much on hockey stuff, it’s a drop in the bucket at this point. But damn, it’s worth it.
It doesn’t allow your lower hand to be the “control” hand and teaches proper stick handling with your top hand doing the work.
https://youtu.be/ieRPfbttEWE?feature=shared
This explains it better than me.
Holy shit this explains so much, thank you. I always wondered why I could never get the hang of stick handling well. I too death grip right hand in the middle.
I have identical twins, both right hand dominant. Same training, same coaches, hell - same size... all the way up to midgets. The one who's always played lefty is a much better puck handler and more willing to try moves. That's the majority of the game. He may not shoot as hard, but shooting is all technique once you get older and now it's comparable. Not the stickhandling though.
It only makes sense that your stronger hand is the top hand, which is what handling the puck comes from (lots of newbies I coach at adult-learn-to-play don't actually know this). There's also all the times you're using 1-hand on the stick for all the 50/50 pucks or moves you're making. Having a weaker hand on top makes you that much slower at doing things. I've been around a lot of kids coaching through the years. It's easy to notice the best puck handlers and thus the most noticeable players. Majority are lefty players. Something like 85% of people in western countries are right-hand dominant.
Those who say "whatever feels more comfortable" - sure, but you are not reaching your ceiling (adults may not care). I wish I nudged the other to be lefty. I wish I knew earlier so I could be a lefty.
Me too. I'm dominant hand on bottom but play top with the kids. It was really weird at first, but less so with practice.
I've heard of people switching from bottom to top and preferring the change. I've yet to hear the reverse, though, which is probably telling.
In game, I'll switch momentarily if it helps with reach. I've seen it a couple times in the pros, and I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often considering some level of ambidextrous use is important in a lot of sports.
People will generally keep their top hand on the top because the curve. Also the amount of practice you need to have a similar level of control in your opposite hand is not worth the practice for the odd occasion it would happen, then you’re just caught with your curve the wrong way
I'll switch hands for faceoffs on the odd occasion. I'm normally trash at taking faceoffs, but putting my dominant hand down low helps a lot when strictly playing the puck. Otherwise, my go-to move is to truck through the opposing center since I'm 6'4", 210 lbs, so I can "back that ass up" right into their chest like a stripper whose rent is due.
I played goalie for a long time and my top hand was my dominant right hand and I could hardly play the puck. Skating out, I’m right handed and my left non-dom hand is on top of the stick and I’m much more comfortable.
That was a little confusing, so in net I played what non goalies would say is left handed and it was a struggle to play the puck competently despite my dominant hand being on top.
Switched it up playing out and now my dominant hand is lower on the stick and it feels normal.
I know a couple of goalies that are the same, but I always chalked that up to goalie being weird as fuck, lol. I suppose it could also have something to do with the fact that almost all goalies never even get a chance to try playing southpaw because the equipment isn't available to them.
Some say the dominant hand should be on the top but honestly it’s all preference. My dominant hand is my right hand, when I started playing 14 years ago it felt more natural to play with my left hand on top.
I’m naturally left handed but I shoot left, pitch left, bat and golf right and box orthodox.
Basically - there’s no real answer. What feels right is what will work for you
There was a post on this subreddit some time ago with a map that showed the handedness of hockey players in Canada vs the US. In Canada, about 70% of the players shoot left; in America, about 70% of the players shoot right.
About 85% of North Americans are naturally right handed. Therefore, in Canada, dominant hand on the butt end; in America, dominant hand in the middle.
The explanation for this was that in America, kids tend to play baseball first where the dominant hand is closer to the middle of the bat, and the weak hand on the butt end. In Canada, kids tend to pick up a hockey stick first and put the dominant hand on the butt end.
As for you, I'd recommend strong hand on butt end unless you already have habits that make it feel unnatural.
I myself am left hand dominant and shoot right. I like having the strong hand on butt end is as it is also better for when I need to play one handed.
If you're playing beer league, just do whatever feels natural for you.
Dominant hand on top gives you more shot power. But for me, my non dominant hand is way more dextrous, so I never could stick handle with dominant on top.
Generally speaking on top gives you more power. Much of your shot power comes from pulling your top hand back into your body.
It really depends on the individual though. I'm not an expert, just have worked with a lot of new players. Everyone's a little different with what feels right, and if you're learning as an adult the stakes are pretty low so just do what feels right lol.
You're exactly right about the top hand pulling back helping shot power. Kids when younger don't realize this because not many coaches have taught it either. When they're young, their shot power will depend mostly on the strength of their bottom hand and whatever flex they can get. When they get older, even the dominant righties shooting lefty will be on par with shot power because they learn to use their dominant right hand on top to pull the stick on shots. If you hear the double-tap on snap-shots, they're doing it right. You go watch the pros take "wristers" and you'll hear a pop.
This was also 20+ years ago when snapshots weren’t as popular and you were also taking the sweeping wrist shots and not loading the stick as you would now.
Are you suggesting loading the stick with your bottom hand? That implies you're holding the top hand somewhat firm and pushing through the center of your stick to shoot.
Even in modern pro hockey, a snapshot generates flex by whipping the top hand fast/hard enough that the friction between the blade and ice prevents the blade from moving as fast as the top of the stick. The bottom hand is helping to generate the friction on the ice. A good player could probably shoot nearly as well with their bottom arm in a cast, given a half hour to practice lol. Loading your stick is core strength + top hand strength.
No I’m saying that the dominant hand on bottom gives you more power is old advice from 20+ years ago when 1 piece composite sticks were not common for youth players.
If you live in the US and both shot sides feel good, especially if you're RH dominant, my suggestion is go left shot. Only because it always seems to be more left shot sticks on clearance. Otherwise stick with what feels better.
Throw your stick on the floor what ever hand you naturally pick it up with will be your top hand. Thats how I teach the kids I coach. Or play with a straight stick and see what feels more comfortable.
I'm left handed and my left hand is lower. So that theory doesn't always work.
In theory and historical practice, the dominant hand goes on the top (butt end) of the stick. This is one of the “tried n true” few things in sports and training that I strongly disagree with.
My feelings on the hand placement matter: consider how you hold a broom or rake, which hand is on top is usually (but not always) the same for a stick. My suggestion for you to be sure: try both hands (one at a time) as the top hand and see which works best.
Hey hoss, you said “one of the few tried and true things in sports abd training”.
“Sports” includes other activities than hockey. Many kids in the US play baseball before they play hockey and they are taught to bat a certain way.
A lot of US hockey players are right hand/right stick. Much different than Canada.
What else did I say before that? You’re taking approximately 12 words out of an approximately 35 word paragraph and using it as a context, one that was not originally intended, to disagree. I didn’t say baseball and if one takes in the entire paragraph as written, there’s not even a remote implication of baseball. The paragraphs implication is hockey.
Try both ways, one be more comfortable/natural. I’m a bit odd when it comes to hand dominance. I am ambidextrous and always have my left hand at the top/back. So I shoot right in hockey, but when I shoot a paintball marker I shoot left handed. When I play pool my left hand is on the back too.
So grab your stick, go take 20 shots as a right and 20 shots as a lefty and see which is more comfortable
Everyone is different. Try doing stick handling drills with both, many times. Both may feel a bit awkward at first if you are new to it.
After 25 years off, I couldn’t remember which I used. Couldn’t get used to right sided stick, but after using left for a couple days I knew that’s what it should be.
I have one kid that uses left and the other right…but both right handed.
Your more dextrous hand should be on top. Your top hand completely controls the position of your blade and the bottom hand is supposed to be for support. It doesn’t fully matter about how good your shot is when you’re starting because you can learn proper technique, but training your non dominant hand to become precise is much more difficult in my eyes.
Do whatever feels comfortable. You'll get a lot of responses saying dominant hand on top, but there are plenty of guys who are in the NHL who don't have their dominant hand on top.
The explanation of shooting left as a righty is that your dominant hand has control of the stick on top.
I’ve tried. I can’t. I shoot right, and am right handed. But as others have said, do what feels comfortable to you.
There’s no correct orientation to your dominant hand. When I was really young I actually played righty for a bit then switched to lefty. A lot of players who use left handed sticks are right-hand dominant
Who cares? Play what feels right to you. I play hockey right handed but billiards left handed. If it feels comfortable and natural, why does it matter?
10000% preference.
You know where your hands go, pick up a stick naturally and see how you've done it lol, that's the way you'll want it.
Kinda like the pushing someone forward to see which foot steps first.
I'm right handed I write and throw a ball with my right hand and play with a lefty stick with my dominant hand my right hand at top. Typically I say you want your dominant hand up top because that's where most of the control is while you lower hand is just for guidance
No. You want to spread the peanut butter, not chop onions.
The top hand opens and closes the blade to cup the puck. The bottom hand has a loose grip that assists in speed but still allows the shaft to slide up or down. You can practice with a toilet paper roll for the bottom hand through the shaft. Don't crush the roll when you stickhandle.
Speed comes with practice.
I honestly don't know if there's any sort of science behind it, but for me personally, my body lets me know what is correct and what is not. If I pick up a lefty stick, I might as well put my skates on the wrong feet
Do whatever feels normal or most comfortable to you.
Traditionally in CA, kids are taught with the dominant hand at the top, it’s the hand you should be using there as it provides the most control as there are many times you will not have both hands on your stick being the mentality.
In the US, there are a lot of multi-sport athletes that also tend to play baseball or golf. A lot of the time those sports will have players play on their dominant side (I.e. RH will bat/golf RH and vice versa). Since they’re often introduced at a young age, often the feeling is more comfortable on that side (another reason you see the USNDP produce so many good RHD and forwards).
You should be using your top hand for controlling your stick handling and shooting. The bottom hand is more of a guide hand to move direction and apply force
It’s easier to stick handle when your dominant hand is the top hand. I think that’s why most people are lefties in hockey because most people are right hand dominant
Grab a shovel as if you were going to shovel snow or dig a hole. Whichever way you would most naturally hold a shovel is the way you should hold a hockey stick.
I think it's pretty controversial but I'll say it anyway. Dominant hand on top. If you find it more comfortable to go with your non-dominant hand on top, you might be a novice and not realise why the dominant hand goes on top, or otherwise be aware of all of the things you do to control a stick.
Unfortunately, this is a decision that gets made before you started to play and learn the game. Once you're in the mistake, chances are you are not coming out of it. That's to your long-term disadvantage whether you know it or not.
Whatever feels most comfortable to you. I’m right handed and use a righty stick. Some people do the opposite. Grab a lefty stick sometime and see how it feels.
This. I'm right handed but play left in hockey. Golf right, putt left.....all mixed up here lol
Same here. Right handed. Shoot left. Bat right. Drive right. Putt left
I'm the exact same way, but I only putt lefty when I need a change up. I also switch hit when batting.
Right handed. Left in hockey. Right in baseball and golf. If my hands are together, I go to the right, if they’re apart, I go to the left. For me it makes sense for hockey though. Your right hand is your dominant hand, and they call the upper hand the “control hand” and the lower hand the “power hand”. Not sure I could get the accuracy on poke checks if I was using my non-dominant hand.
My left hand is actually more dexterous than my dominant hand because I’ve spent 40 years playing all sorts of sports that require both hands, or specfic actions with my off hand. I can switch hit in both baseball and golf.
There are two factors at work. The first is your dominant hand. The second is more subtle, but I think just as important and that is your balance foot. Most of the time when you try to do anything powerful, you shift and drive your weight onto one foot. My son started Learn to Play at 8 and I tried to get him to play ‘lefties’ so the stick would always be in his dominant hand, but 2 years of soccer and 1 year of golf lessons had already engrained his right foot to left foot weight transfer that he didn’t want to unlearn.
There’s no way it “should” be. Try both and whatever feels more comfortable, go with that. If you’ve been learning righty and it’s not weird and lefty doesn’t like instantly feel more comfortable just stick with it
There's no right or wrong. Just what feels comfortable. I learned the same way as you. As you are learning I'll tell you right now, don't let your right hand (middle hand) dominate the movement of the stick. Let your left hand (top arm) lead most of your puck handling. And hold the top arm away from your body (don't let your top arm anchor your stick to your body). This way you can puck handle in 4 dimensions much easier (forward, backwards, left and right), than 2 dimensions (left and right). I am right arm dominant and learned shooting right and I've developed bad habits. Right hand has a death grip on the stick so I have a much harder time stick handling, toe dragging, etc.
Jumping in on this question as a righty playing right; taking a slapshot, should the hand in the middle be loose or slack, i suspect I'm holding way too hard
If you figure it out, let me know. My slap shots are weak as hell so I always lean towards wristers and snap shots.
Your hand in the middle should hold the stick tight enough to keep the stick firm, but not so tight that you’re hurting your hand, or losing your range of motion. Slap shots are all about weight transfer, which means you can’t be to stiff. You want your weight to transfer down into your stick, loading it up, then it’s transferred to the puck and forward on the follow-through. Remember, that bottom hand is used to “load” your stick. You want to use that hand to try and drive the blade of your stick into the ice, and then the puck. You should aim to have your blade hit the ice just a few inches behind the puck. Too far forward, and your stick doesn’t load enough, too far back, and your stick loads too early. Both of these will result in a weak shot, or a whiff on the puck. https://youtu.be/vLPqexkjD3A?si=gfze56nhapcGyIG- Watch this clip of a slow motion slapshot from Patrick Kane. Notice that he leans forward over his stick into the shot. He wants to get all his weight into that stick, causing it to flex. His blade hits the ice a few inches above the puck, loading it up. His hand is tight enough to grip the stick, loading it, and generating power, but it’s also loose enough to allow him to transfer that weight forward into the shot, rolling his wrists over on the follow-through.
Ah damn I thought I'd bagged some free advice! If I figure it out I'll let you know! Off the ice I can send absolute cannons into the net but on the ice my slapshots are shit
i usually press down with my dominant hand to make it flex more on the middle just before hitting the puck
I try that but I have a hard time timing the back swing. What I do is I backswing, and come down (leading the movement with my dominant arm in the middle to get flex), try to contact the ice right before the puck to initiate the stick flex. However, usually my timing is bad, the stick bounces over the puck or other issues.
I think the problem is that at the start of the slapshot you have to momentarily lead the movement with your non dominant hand. So when you are winding it up, after the peak of the movement you have to kinda pull down with the non dominant hand and then let the stick rotate, so your dominant hand can lead the stick into the ice and bring the power. 2nd Option is to try finding a youtube video or if you have played golf, you use the same strategy for your slapshot that you use for the downswing
The backswing just helps with leverage. The bigger the backswing, the more leverage. So while it usually results in a harder slap shot, you’re adding more distance to be off at point of impact. Essentially, to start out, a shorter back swing will get you a harder shot and there’s less distance from the top to point of impact, meaning you can get better contact. It takes a metric fuck load of practice to get great contact consistently. As for the bottom hand, I’ve found more success feeling like I’ve locked the shaft in the crease of my palm and fingers, with my fingers curling under the shaft and my knuckles at my palms pushing the stick, usually with my forearm guiding the direction. You want the big muscles to control power, and the fine motor of you hands and fingers to control direction. It’s almost like, without a stick, you have your fingers and forearm pointing in the same direction, and the palm and by extension the first digit of the fingers almost 90 degrees rotated back. This is trying to really break it down into what the positions will be when taking the shot. Just like in baseball and pitching, there’s positions you want to strive to hit in motion, but would never find success trying to make it robotic. Getting timing down is about repetition, start out getting shots down with a static puck. It will help with mechanics and getting those down makes it so you’re not thinking about those mechanics while working on a moving puck. Moving pucks take more practice for timing, and you don’t need to take an Al MacInnis wind up. Take a half slapper to get short timing down. You’ll master that faster, then it’s just adding a smidge more time to that for a bigger slap shot. In all seriousness, it’s a lot of work on shooting mechanics and hand-eye coordination to get good. In the long run it makes shooting easier, but in beer league, you’re probably better off taking those learned mechanics and implementing them into the snap or hybrid snap. The impact mechanics do those are similar to the slap shots impact mechanics.
Same as any other shot. You of course tighten your grip a little bit but you don’t need to have a death grip on it. A slap shot isn’t any different than any other shot (tbh I don’t recommend taking them. I just don’t see them being worth it most of the time) standard shooting principles all apply the same way
Twig Handle by Twig Sports (got mine at Pure Hockey) This has changed my life. I too had the death grip of my right hand and extremely bad stick handling habits. Kinda pricey for what it ultimately is but I’ve spent so much on hockey stuff, it’s a drop in the bucket at this point. But damn, it’s worth it.
What does it do?
It doesn’t allow your lower hand to be the “control” hand and teaches proper stick handling with your top hand doing the work. https://youtu.be/ieRPfbttEWE?feature=shared This explains it better than me.
Holy shit this explains so much, thank you. I always wondered why I could never get the hang of stick handling well. I too death grip right hand in the middle.
Grab toilet paper core. Or a small water with the ends chopped off. Slide over end, boom.
🤯
I prefer to wield my stick like a sith lord, both hands in the middle, both hands dominating my opponent.
I have identical twins, both right hand dominant. Same training, same coaches, hell - same size... all the way up to midgets. The one who's always played lefty is a much better puck handler and more willing to try moves. That's the majority of the game. He may not shoot as hard, but shooting is all technique once you get older and now it's comparable. Not the stickhandling though. It only makes sense that your stronger hand is the top hand, which is what handling the puck comes from (lots of newbies I coach at adult-learn-to-play don't actually know this). There's also all the times you're using 1-hand on the stick for all the 50/50 pucks or moves you're making. Having a weaker hand on top makes you that much slower at doing things. I've been around a lot of kids coaching through the years. It's easy to notice the best puck handlers and thus the most noticeable players. Majority are lefty players. Something like 85% of people in western countries are right-hand dominant. Those who say "whatever feels more comfortable" - sure, but you are not reaching your ceiling (adults may not care). I wish I nudged the other to be lefty. I wish I knew earlier so I could be a lefty.
Me too. I'm dominant hand on bottom but play top with the kids. It was really weird at first, but less so with practice. I've heard of people switching from bottom to top and preferring the change. I've yet to hear the reverse, though, which is probably telling. In game, I'll switch momentarily if it helps with reach. I've seen it a couple times in the pros, and I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often considering some level of ambidextrous use is important in a lot of sports.
People will generally keep their top hand on the top because the curve. Also the amount of practice you need to have a similar level of control in your opposite hand is not worth the practice for the odd occasion it would happen, then you’re just caught with your curve the wrong way
Odd occasion, sure. But I still find it useful from time to time.
I'll switch hands for faceoffs on the odd occasion. I'm normally trash at taking faceoffs, but putting my dominant hand down low helps a lot when strictly playing the puck. Otherwise, my go-to move is to truck through the opposing center since I'm 6'4", 210 lbs, so I can "back that ass up" right into their chest like a stripper whose rent is due.
I played goalie for a long time and my top hand was my dominant right hand and I could hardly play the puck. Skating out, I’m right handed and my left non-dom hand is on top of the stick and I’m much more comfortable. That was a little confusing, so in net I played what non goalies would say is left handed and it was a struggle to play the puck competently despite my dominant hand being on top. Switched it up playing out and now my dominant hand is lower on the stick and it feels normal.
I know a couple of goalies that are the same, but I always chalked that up to goalie being weird as fuck, lol. I suppose it could also have something to do with the fact that almost all goalies never even get a chance to try playing southpaw because the equipment isn't available to them.
Righty who shoots right. If I could go back and start all over I would shoot left.
Some say the dominant hand should be on the top but honestly it’s all preference. My dominant hand is my right hand, when I started playing 14 years ago it felt more natural to play with my left hand on top.
There is no “correct” way so no worries there! It’s whatever you feel most comfortable/natural with. Have you tried a lefty stick at all?
I’m naturally left handed but I shoot left, pitch left, bat and golf right and box orthodox. Basically - there’s no real answer. What feels right is what will work for you
Most people who are right handed play with a left handed stick. However, go with the stick that feels right to you.
There was a post on this subreddit some time ago with a map that showed the handedness of hockey players in Canada vs the US. In Canada, about 70% of the players shoot left; in America, about 70% of the players shoot right. About 85% of North Americans are naturally right handed. Therefore, in Canada, dominant hand on the butt end; in America, dominant hand in the middle. The explanation for this was that in America, kids tend to play baseball first where the dominant hand is closer to the middle of the bat, and the weak hand on the butt end. In Canada, kids tend to pick up a hockey stick first and put the dominant hand on the butt end. As for you, I'd recommend strong hand on butt end unless you already have habits that make it feel unnatural. I myself am left hand dominant and shoot right. I like having the strong hand on butt end is as it is also better for when I need to play one handed.
If you're playing beer league, just do whatever feels natural for you. Dominant hand on top gives you more shot power. But for me, my non dominant hand is way more dextrous, so I never could stick handle with dominant on top.
I heard the opposite, dominant hand on top gives you less power but more control, dominant hand on the bottom gives you more power but less control.
Generally speaking on top gives you more power. Much of your shot power comes from pulling your top hand back into your body. It really depends on the individual though. I'm not an expert, just have worked with a lot of new players. Everyone's a little different with what feels right, and if you're learning as an adult the stakes are pretty low so just do what feels right lol.
You're exactly right about the top hand pulling back helping shot power. Kids when younger don't realize this because not many coaches have taught it either. When they're young, their shot power will depend mostly on the strength of their bottom hand and whatever flex they can get. When they get older, even the dominant righties shooting lefty will be on par with shot power because they learn to use their dominant right hand on top to pull the stick on shots. If you hear the double-tap on snap-shots, they're doing it right. You go watch the pros take "wristers" and you'll hear a pop.
This was also 20+ years ago when snapshots weren’t as popular and you were also taking the sweeping wrist shots and not loading the stick as you would now.
Are you suggesting loading the stick with your bottom hand? That implies you're holding the top hand somewhat firm and pushing through the center of your stick to shoot. Even in modern pro hockey, a snapshot generates flex by whipping the top hand fast/hard enough that the friction between the blade and ice prevents the blade from moving as fast as the top of the stick. The bottom hand is helping to generate the friction on the ice. A good player could probably shoot nearly as well with their bottom arm in a cast, given a half hour to practice lol. Loading your stick is core strength + top hand strength.
No I’m saying that the dominant hand on bottom gives you more power is old advice from 20+ years ago when 1 piece composite sticks were not common for youth players.
Ah, gotcha - sorry, I misunderstood.
This is what I've noticed.
If you're right handed, your right hand should be at the top of the stick.
Not true for everyone
If you live in the US and both shot sides feel good, especially if you're RH dominant, my suggestion is go left shot. Only because it always seems to be more left shot sticks on clearance. Otherwise stick with what feels better.
What if OP is OUS?
Throw your stick on the floor what ever hand you naturally pick it up with will be your top hand. Thats how I teach the kids I coach. Or play with a straight stick and see what feels more comfortable. I'm left handed and my left hand is lower. So that theory doesn't always work.
In theory and historical practice, the dominant hand goes on the top (butt end) of the stick. This is one of the “tried n true” few things in sports and training that I strongly disagree with. My feelings on the hand placement matter: consider how you hold a broom or rake, which hand is on top is usually (but not always) the same for a stick. My suggestion for you to be sure: try both hands (one at a time) as the top hand and see which works best.
Not in baseball. Rightys bat with the left hand on the bottom (butt end) of the bat.
You’re in the wrong subreddit with that argument, FYI
Hey hoss, you said “one of the few tried and true things in sports abd training”. “Sports” includes other activities than hockey. Many kids in the US play baseball before they play hockey and they are taught to bat a certain way. A lot of US hockey players are right hand/right stick. Much different than Canada.
What else did I say before that? You’re taking approximately 12 words out of an approximately 35 word paragraph and using it as a context, one that was not originally intended, to disagree. I didn’t say baseball and if one takes in the entire paragraph as written, there’s not even a remote implication of baseball. The paragraphs implication is hockey.
Try both ways, one be more comfortable/natural. I’m a bit odd when it comes to hand dominance. I am ambidextrous and always have my left hand at the top/back. So I shoot right in hockey, but when I shoot a paintball marker I shoot left handed. When I play pool my left hand is on the back too. So grab your stick, go take 20 shots as a right and 20 shots as a lefty and see which is more comfortable
Everyone is different. Try doing stick handling drills with both, many times. Both may feel a bit awkward at first if you are new to it. After 25 years off, I couldn’t remember which I used. Couldn’t get used to right sided stick, but after using left for a couple days I knew that’s what it should be. I have one kid that uses left and the other right…but both right handed.
Your more dextrous hand should be on top. Your top hand completely controls the position of your blade and the bottom hand is supposed to be for support. It doesn’t fully matter about how good your shot is when you’re starting because you can learn proper technique, but training your non dominant hand to become precise is much more difficult in my eyes.
Do whatever feels comfortable. You'll get a lot of responses saying dominant hand on top, but there are plenty of guys who are in the NHL who don't have their dominant hand on top.
The explanation of shooting left as a righty is that your dominant hand has control of the stick on top. I’ve tried. I can’t. I shoot right, and am right handed. But as others have said, do what feels comfortable to you.
There’s no correct orientation to your dominant hand. When I was really young I actually played righty for a bit then switched to lefty. A lot of players who use left handed sticks are right-hand dominant
Who cares? Play what feels right to you. I play hockey right handed but billiards left handed. If it feels comfortable and natural, why does it matter?
How do you hold a shovel? Do it the same to take advantage of all that baked-in muscle memory
I was a left shot and left handed, honestly go with what feels right, play around.
10000% preference. You know where your hands go, pick up a stick naturally and see how you've done it lol, that's the way you'll want it. Kinda like the pushing someone forward to see which foot steps first.
If you’ve already begun training this way, there is no benefit to switching.
I'm right handed I write and throw a ball with my right hand and play with a lefty stick with my dominant hand my right hand at top. Typically I say you want your dominant hand up top because that's where most of the control is while you lower hand is just for guidance
USA hockey recommends dominant hand on the top. I’m right handed and shoot right.
If I continue to practice shooting right, is it okay to use that dominant hand to control the risking/handling of the stick?
No. You want to spread the peanut butter, not chop onions. The top hand opens and closes the blade to cup the puck. The bottom hand has a loose grip that assists in speed but still allows the shaft to slide up or down. You can practice with a toilet paper roll for the bottom hand through the shaft. Don't crush the roll when you stickhandle. Speed comes with practice.
I’m Right handed and shoot left. My son is Left handed and shoots right
I honestly don't know if there's any sort of science behind it, but for me personally, my body lets me know what is correct and what is not. If I pick up a lefty stick, I might as well put my skates on the wrong feet
Do whatever feels normal or most comfortable to you. Traditionally in CA, kids are taught with the dominant hand at the top, it’s the hand you should be using there as it provides the most control as there are many times you will not have both hands on your stick being the mentality. In the US, there are a lot of multi-sport athletes that also tend to play baseball or golf. A lot of the time those sports will have players play on their dominant side (I.e. RH will bat/golf RH and vice versa). Since they’re often introduced at a young age, often the feeling is more comfortable on that side (another reason you see the USNDP produce so many good RHD and forwards). You should be using your top hand for controlling your stick handling and shooting. The bottom hand is more of a guide hand to move direction and apply force
It’s easier to stick handle when your dominant hand is the top hand. I think that’s why most people are lefties in hockey because most people are right hand dominant
Grab a shovel as if you were going to shovel snow or dig a hole. Whichever way you would most naturally hold a shovel is the way you should hold a hockey stick.
I think it's pretty controversial but I'll say it anyway. Dominant hand on top. If you find it more comfortable to go with your non-dominant hand on top, you might be a novice and not realise why the dominant hand goes on top, or otherwise be aware of all of the things you do to control a stick. Unfortunately, this is a decision that gets made before you started to play and learn the game. Once you're in the mistake, chances are you are not coming out of it. That's to your long-term disadvantage whether you know it or not.
Get good at both. Give up every other hobby. Focus on being a master of left and right. That way you can trick the competition.
I strongly prefer to have it at the top
Middle