Right Handed Hockey Stick vs. Left Hand

The way you hold a hockey stick will matter a great deal for your hockey career. A hockey player who holds their stick out to the right, for instance, will find it difficult to play along the left side of the rink when on the attack, because their stick is on the "wrong" side. Aside from position on the ice, however, there are a few other differences in hockey stick handedness worth noting.

  1. The Hand on Top

    • If you hold your hockey stick with your right hand on the top of the stick, and your left on the bottom, then you are a left handed shooter. A hockey player who uses the left hand on top and the right on the bottom is a right handed shooter. The name, then, comes from the hand you hold on the bottom of your stick.

    Curved Blades

    • The curved blade of a hockey stick, which determines the side the hockey stick is held on, has not, actually, been around as long as hockey has. In fact, Gordie Howe, for instance, played hockey ambidextrously, with a hockey stick that had a flat blade. It was not until the '60s that the curved blade hockey stick became popular, and hockey players had to pick a stick orientation to play with.

    America vs. Canada

    • Hockey stick handedness does, believe it or not, have a lot to do with your nationality. Hockey stick manufacturers have long ago noted that Canadian hockey players tend to shoot left handed, whereas American hockey players tend to shoot right handed. Other data suggests that Europeans are also primarily left handed shooters. Oddly, the province of British Columbia is dominated by right handed shooters, just as the United States as. The reason for these preferences is not known.

    Determining Handedness

    • The typical advice when selecting a hockey stick for a first time player is that the dominant hand should go on top. The hand you write with is your dominant hand. This advice is not always true, however, and hockey players sometimes use their dominant hand as their bottom hand. The simplest way to determine what hand orientation you feel most comfortable with is to try both.