THE BOOK--Playing The Percentages In Baseball

There’s another issue that is likely in play in hockey - the angle of one’s shot. I know from personal experience in water polo, that you want left-handed shooters on the right side of the pool, because it gives them a better angle on goal. This gives teams with quality lefties that can play on the right side an advantage, if the handedness of the goalie is taken out of the equation.

I imagine the same is true in hockey (but don’t know, as i stick to the liquid H2O).

Generally speaking, the lefthand shot in hockey skates down the left wing.  You need to accept and give passes, and if the LH shooter is on the RW, he’ll be working on the backhand the whole time.

Well, that’s the way it was for the longest time of up-and-down hockey.  The European revolution of skating criss-cross changed some of that.  Now, there are plenty of cross-shooters (LH play RW and RH play LW).

In any case, if you go to “boring” hockey, you had a need for two wingers, and so, you are almost forced to have a situation where 50% of your wingers are LH and 50% RH.  The centreman can go either way.

Thanks for the link. In 1972 the entire Soviet National Team shot left handed. The Russians did not have the technology to make right-handed sticks, so I suppose people can get used to anything.