Why catch left when you can shoot right!

Matze · Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 2:08 pm Post subject:

PS, don't you catch with your left hand? so why then do you have players sticks for a righ-handed shooter?! Shocked

Arthriticbutterflystyle · Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 2:30 pm Post subject:

You know what's funny. Every goalie I know is left catcher but a right hand shooter. There's only one (out of about 12) goalie that I know that shoots left and is a left catcher.

Matze · Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:04 pm Post subject:

So am I the only one you know who stands true to his his right-handed shooting even as a goalie? Though it's quite unusual. I write with my right hand and so on. but i am a full right goalie and a right handed shooter...

Arthriticbutterflystyle · Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:09 pm Post subject:

I just meant the goalies I know here in the area. If you look at Goalieboy's picture you'll see he's a lefty in goal and a right handed shooter too. Full Right goalies are just uncommon and I think because everyone just does it "the old way" nobody ever learns to catch with their right hand unless they really want to. I know when my best friend was teaching me the finer points of net minding he taught me to catch left because "That's the way I was taught." even though he was a right hand shooter.

Gonz · Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:17 pm Post subject:

Look at me, look at me!!!

I catch left, and I shoot left-handed. I've never understood the hassle of goalies who catch left but shoot right-handed. First off, you have to flip the stick all the way around and secondly, the curve is now facing the wrong direction!

There's talk these days about which way kids should learn to shoot, and one of the prevalent opinions is that your dominant hand (the one you write with) should be on the top of the stick where most of your control is needed. So for right handed people that would mean you're going to be shooting "lefty".
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Arthriticbutterflystyle · Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:41 pm Post subject:

Well it's a good debate, to bring up. In another thread. So, I'll split this topic and start a thread titled "Why catch left when you can shoot right!"

Matze · Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 4:42 pm Post subject:

Well, I've heard about this theory too. But first off it is too late for me. I've been shooting right-handed my entire life long so far and i don't see any reason to change it anymore. Though it's not stubborn IMO. It's weird that I shoot right-handed. But I never could do it the other way round. I just don't feel it. You know what i'm talking about?
That's why I made my decision to catch right and boy... to stickhandle with a goalies stick has been a huge difficulty for me. By now it's ok. I wouldn't say I'm gorgious, but it's alright. Anyways, imagining to catch with my left hand.... I guess that would have been more than just embarassing... Embarassed

Not to mention that i feel far more comfortable to catch with my right hand.

Arthriticbutterflystyle · Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 4:51 pm Post subject:

Lets see...I've been playing since '98 so 11 years? I'm pretty much stuck in my ways too and at first I wanted to be full right but now I have (what I'm told) one of the fastest gloves in the city for my age...not to prestigious considering there's only about 5 other goalies my age...but I do notice that I do get substantially more glove saves on shots that most others miss. And I'm right handed. It was natural for me to shoot right like Matze said, I just couldn't do the left hand shot. It felt awkward. So now I'm rooted in the left hand catch right hand shooter mode...I can't lift passes or really rifle them out of the zone, but I have no problem making stick to stick passes playing left in goal. I wonder how much affect it really has to train kids from when they're young how to play using their dominant hand for shooting with a players stick and catching.

Slinky · Minors Joined: 17 Feb 2009 Posts: 471 Location: Canton, GA

The whole righthanded goalies playing full right was a small movement that gained a little steam when i was... 13 or 14 i think... (8-9 years ago). I believe DiPietro is actually right handed, but he plays as a full right, Kolzig and Theodore I don't know about. I'm fairly certain that Steve Mason is a lefty. Another guy who was terrible as a goalie, but a decent player i knew shot right, and caught right...

It may be that the first goalies catching with their right hand started because the first goalie gloves were baseball mitts that the guys already had in their closets... ie left handed so they could throw with their right. It could also be that the stick used to be quite heavy, and so goalies would use their stronger arm to wield it.

People also use their dominant hand for tools. Hammers, saws, pencils... computer mice. The stick is much more similar to using a tool to stop the puck, where as the glove is just an extension of the hand.

I'm right handed and catch with my left, it seems more natural to me, honestly; but it could just be because i've been playing goalie so long that that's the way my arms naturally turn because of muscle development. I had a girlfriend point out, that when i put my hands in my lap, my right hand (stick hand) faces down (blocking side out) and my left hand sits just past a 90degree angle, like it's facing an imaginary shooter.

As for shooting w/ a goalie stick. About a year ago i started trying to teach myself, and it's been an adventure but i've gotten a lot better. I've gotten where i can make a good 40 or 50ft tape to tape pass with a skater moving at full speed. I even registered a shot on goal last season.
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Because it hurts so good.

montreal961 · Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 6:30 pm Post subject:

I shoot left and catch left Razz

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Matze · Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 6:37 pm Post subject:

I even scored an empty net goal last pracise Cool

but i guess that doesn't count. given that the rink was not that as big as usual... I think with a little more training with my goalie stick i could be a pretty good stick handler. but that's what i've gotta do all summer long - besides stopping the puck. Anyways I think it's a matter of familiarization too. I mean. Arth could be the best example. He has been playing that position for eleven years now, so sooner or later you should inure to it. But - and that's why I finally chose being full right - it's also a matter of feel. Before I started playing a couple of months ago i opted for playing regular style. Somehow - by accident - i bid on a glove and won it though i didn't see it was full right. So I had the chance to try both of them. And finally this is where i ended up.

auburn goalie · Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 9:12 pm Post subject:

I shoot right and catch left. It's a matter of preference. I learned how to catch lefty thanks to baseball, so it stuck with me. And thanks to goaltending, and shotting left-handed as a goalie, I now have the pleasure of being able to shoot both ways Smile

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mx42 · Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 10:43 pm Post subject:

Usually, people catch left if they are right hand dominant.

These people should be shooting left as the right hand is the dominant hand, where you can generate a lot of torque and snap for your shot.

This is why you see a lot of Pro players who are lefties.

puckstopper135 · Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 11:01 pm Post subject:

I'm so not reading all those posts. But in answer to your question... I don't know. I was a player before a goalie, and just naturally started shooting right handed. I played baseball when I was younger and caught with my left hand.

Basically when I was 9, it was easier to be a goalie and have a better catching hand rather than being able to shoot the "right" way.

My sister catches with her left and shoots with her left.

itechwarrior · Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 11:07 pm Post subject:

I shoot right, and catch left, because that's how I've caught a baseball my whole life.