Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

What's Right, What's Left?

05/31/2016 at 6:36pm EDT

from Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News,

... It is the one sport in which playing "left-handed" does not leave an athlete holding the short end of the stick. In hockey, on the contrary, shooting lefty — with the stick blade touching the ground near the player's left foot — is so, so right.

In the Stanley Cup Final that opened Monday night in Pittsburgh, 58% of the San Jose Sharks and Pittsburgh Penguins are lefties, not including goalies. In the entire playoffs, 60.5% (204) of the 337 skaters in the NHL's stats register as of May 17 were lefty shooters, compared to 39.5% (133) righties — a ratio of 1.5-to-1.

The 2015-16 regular season reflects an even more extreme split across a wider sample size: 62% lefty shots (559) to 37% righties (339), or 1.64-to-1 among 898 total skaters.

And it's not just pro hockey.

much more

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About Kukla's Korner Hockey

Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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