Right Shooting Defensemen in High Demand

Roughly 3 in 10 NHL Defensemen are right-handed shots, but given that half the available jobs are on the right side of the ice, lots of players are being asked to play on the opposite side from where they learned the game.

This is no small matter.

Some old hands, like Anaheim’s Scott Niedermayer and Philadelphia’s Chris Pronger, adjusted long ago, but others say it doesn’t feel natural even years later.

Take the Montreal Canadiens’ Josh Gorges, who played his entire minor hockey, junior and pro career on the left before being moved across the ice when he was traded to Montreal in 2007 (for righty Craig Rivet, now of Buffalo).

“I still don’t know that I feel comfortable,” Gorges said recently. “I’m still learning. I mean, I played on the left for 21 years. It’s really amazing how 35 feet to the other side can change your whole outlook on the game. Everything kind of seems to happen on fast-forward.”

There are advantages: A left-handed shot on the right has his stick-blade in the centre of the ice when facing shooters, and it’s easier to intercept passes.

But there are also problems, like trying to hold a puck in the offensive zone with a hard-charging opponent in your face. “That’s hard enough to do on the forehand,” Gorges said.

The biggest drawback, he added, is emerging from behind the net or making dump-ins at the opposing blueline. “You’re exposing your back to the middle of the ice, guys can crunch you and you might not see them coming.”

Fellow Hab Jaroslav Spacek made no secret of his wish to play on the left side when he joined the team as a free agent last summer, but he was overruled by Montreal coach Jacques Martin and has been playing on the right alongside Czech countryman Roman Hamrlik, a fellow left-handed shot.

Is he used to it yet? “No,” Spacek grimaced in a recent interview.

Spacek leads the NHL in giveaways, and some of that clearly has to do with going back to an unaccustomed position. Though he played the right side in Europe, the NHL is a different animal, especially for a player who has patrolled the left for more than a decade.

“It’s not easy to have the puck on your backhand all night,” Spacek said. “It’s harder to make a good pass on the breakouts. You have to try not to go around yourself too much, and make the simple plays, but it’s harder for sure, you have to look over your shoulder all the time, you can’t see the whole ice when you pick the puck up.”

Right-handed shots are at a premium on bluelines across the NHL. The Habs have only one righty, Ryan O’Byrne.

The good news for Habs Nation is that the organization’s three top defensive prospects – P.K. Subban, Yannick Weber and Mathieu Carle – are all righties.

Among Canadian NHL teams, the Vancouver Canucks, Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators each have at least two right-handed shots among their top seven defencemen.

In acquiring Ian White and Steve Staios, the Calgary Flames have restored balance to their corps of regular blueliners – four lefties, three righties.

But that’s the exception rather than the rule. Minnesota, the Rangers and Buffalo have a similar mix, but Philadelphia, New Jersey and Florida have all-lefty defencemen.

More than a half dozen other teams have just one right-handed shot on defence – in some cases none in their top six – including Carolina, Columbus, Detroit, the Islanders and Colorado.

In future, that will mean more players having to get used to shovelling the puck up the boards on their backhand, or learning to bang it off the glass effectively in traffic.

“It’s all about confidence and experience,” Gorges said. “But it takes a while, no question.”

Right Shooting Defensemen in High Demand

Roughly 3 in 10 NHL Defensemen are right-handed shots, but given that half the available jobs are on the right side of the ice, lots of players are being asked to play on the opposite side from where they learned the game.

This is no small matter.

Some old hands, like Anaheim’s Scott Niedermayer and Philadelphia’s Chris Pronger, adjusted long ago, but others say it doesn’t feel natural even years later.

Take the Montreal Canadiens’ Josh Gorges, who played his entire minor hockey, junior and pro career on the left before being moved across the ice when he was traded to Montreal in 2007 (for righty Craig Rivet, now of Buffalo).

“I still don’t know that I feel comfortable,” Gorges said recently. “I’m still learning. I mean, I played on the left for 21 years. It’s really amazing how 35 feet to the other side can change your whole outlook on the game. Everything kind of seems to happen on fast-forward.”

There are advantages: A left-handed shot on the right has his stick-blade in the centre of the ice when facing shooters, and it’s easier to intercept passes.

But there are also problems, like trying to hold a puck in the offensive zone with a hard-charging opponent in your face. “That’s hard enough to do on the forehand,” Gorges said.

The biggest drawback, he added, is emerging from behind the net or making dump-ins at the opposing blueline. “You’re exposing your back to the middle of the ice, guys can crunch you and you might not see them coming.”

Fellow Hab Jaroslav Spacek made no secret of his wish to play on the left side when he joined the team as a free agent last summer, but he was overruled by Montreal coach Jacques Martin and has been playing on the right alongside Czech countryman Roman Hamrlik, a fellow left-handed shot.

Is he used to it yet? “No,” Spacek grimaced in a recent interview.

Spacek leads the NHL in giveaways, and some of that clearly has to do with going back to an unaccustomed position. Though he played the right side in Europe, the NHL is a different animal, especially for a player who has patrolled the left for more than a decade.

“It’s not easy to have the puck on your backhand all night,” Spacek said. “It’s harder to make a good pass on the breakouts. You have to try not to go around yourself too much, and make the simple plays, but it’s harder for sure, you have to look over your shoulder all the time, you can’t see the whole ice when you pick the puck up.”

Right-handed shots are at a premium on bluelines across the NHL. The Habs have only one righty, Ryan O’Byrne.

The good news for Habs Nation is that the organization’s three top defensive prospects – P.K. Subban, Yannick Weber and Mathieu Carle – are all righties.

Among Canadian NHL teams, the Vancouver Canucks, Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators each have at least two right-handed shots among their top seven defencemen.

In acquiring Ian White and Steve Staios, the Calgary Flames have restored balance to their corps of regular blueliners – four lefties, three righties.

But that’s the exception rather than the rule. Minnesota, the Rangers and Buffalo have a similar mix, but Philadelphia, New Jersey and Florida have all-lefty defencemen.

More than a half dozen other teams have just one right-handed shot on defence – in some cases none in their top six – including Carolina, Columbus, Detroit, the Islanders and Colorado.

In future, that will mean more players having to get used to shovelling the puck up the boards on their backhand, or learning to bang it off the glass effectively in traffic.

“It’s all about confidence and experience,” Gorges said. “But it takes a while, no question.”

More Canadiens Shoot Left – Americans Right

The New York Times recently contacted stick manufacturers and found that, according to sales figures, that discrepancy between the two nations was consistent.

We Canadians like to shoot from the left with about 60 per cent of the sticks sold in this country curved that way, according to numbers provided by Easton. In the U.S., about 60 per cent of the sticks sold are for right-handed shooters. Some manufacturers put the ratio at 70 to 30 on each side of the border.

“I have no idea why this is so,” Mike Mountain, who is in charge of hockey sticks for Easton in Van Nuys, Calif., told the Times. “But it has been true for years, and it doesn’t change; it stays consistent over time.”

Chad Purdy has been selling sticks in Surrey, B.C., for 22 years and has long puzzled about why some customers shoot left while others are righties.

As manager of The Hockey Shop, he actually sells more right-hand sticks than left, which goes against the prevailing numbers, but he said on every team he has played on and on the area youth teams he services, there are almost always a majority of lefties.

So why does he sell more right sticks, by about 10 per cent? And why is he left with more left sticks in his shop at the end of a hockey season?

“Breakage,” he says.

Purdy’s theory is that right-handed shooters, while in the minority, go through more sticks and have to purchase a new stick more often. Most people are right-handed, meaning that when they shoot right their more powerful hand is on the lower part of the stick.

“That puts more force on the shaft and those sticks break more often,” he suggests.

Purdy also has a theory about why most Canadians shoot left. He believes a preferred shooting side is imprinted on us, passed on from generation to generation in Canada.

“I shot left because my dad shot left and my first stick was one of his that he cut down for me,” he said. “Kids learn so quickly with whatever they’re given.”

However, in the U.S., he suggests, a lot of players are from new hockey families. As the first generation to take up the sport, they don’t make their stick selection based on a bias. For many, too, hockey might not be the first sport they try. If they’ve already been playing baseball or golf – sports in which a majority are right-swinging – it might feel more natural for them to shoot a hockey stick that way.

In Europe, the majority of players shoot left. On the Russian team here at the Olympics, for example, 17 of its 20 skaters are lefties. Ditto for the Slovaks. The Finns have 15 left-handed shooters and the team from Belarus has 16.

Purdy has a “real loose” theory on that too, based on his own inventory. Since a lot of leftover sticks in North America have long been shipped to Europe, he figures shooting left is just how many players grew up. Those were the sticks Europeans first had access to and then it became ingrained in their hockey culture to shoot left no matter the origin of the sticks.

More Canadiens Shoot Left – Americans Right

The New York Times recently contacted stick manufacturers and found that, according to sales figures, that discrepancy between the two nations was consistent.

We Canadians like to shoot from the left with about 60 per cent of the sticks sold in this country curved that way, according to numbers provided by Easton. In the U.S., about 60 per cent of the sticks sold are for right-handed shooters. Some manufacturers put the ratio at 70 to 30 on each side of the border.

“I have no idea why this is so,” Mike Mountain, who is in charge of hockey sticks for Easton in Van Nuys, Calif., told the Times. “But it has been true for years, and it doesn’t change; it stays consistent over time.”

Chad Purdy has been selling sticks in Surrey, B.C., for 22 years and has long puzzled about why some customers shoot left while others are righties.

As manager of The Hockey Shop, he actually sells more right-hand sticks than left, which goes against the prevailing numbers, but he said on every team he has played on and on the area youth teams he services, there are almost always a majority of lefties.

So why does he sell more right sticks, by about 10 per cent? And why is he left with more left sticks in his shop at the end of a hockey season?

“Breakage,” he says.

Purdy’s theory is that right-handed shooters, while in the minority, go through more sticks and have to purchase a new stick more often. Most people are right-handed, meaning that when they shoot right their more powerful hand is on the lower part of the stick.

“That puts more force on the shaft and those sticks break more often,” he suggests.

Purdy also has a theory about why most Canadians shoot left. He believes a preferred shooting side is imprinted on us, passed on from generation to generation in Canada.

“I shot left because my dad shot left and my first stick was one of his that he cut down for me,” he said. “Kids learn so quickly with whatever they’re given.”

However, in the U.S., he suggests, a lot of players are from new hockey families. As the first generation to take up the sport, they don’t make their stick selection based on a bias. For many, too, hockey might not be the first sport they try. If they’ve already been playing baseball or golf – sports in which a majority are right-swinging – it might feel more natural for them to shoot a hockey stick that way.

In Europe, the majority of players shoot left. On the Russian team here at the Olympics, for example, 17 of its 20 skaters are lefties. Ditto for the Slovaks. The Finns have 15 left-handed shooters and the team from Belarus has 16.

Purdy has a “real loose” theory on that too, based on his own inventory. Since a lot of leftover sticks in North America have long been shipped to Europe, he figures shooting left is just how many players grew up. Those were the sticks Europeans first had access to and then it became ingrained in their hockey culture to shoot left no matter the origin of the sticks.

More Canadiens Shoot Left – Americans Right

The New York Times recently contacted stick manufacturers and found that, according to sales figures, that discrepancy between the two nations was consistent.

We Canadians like to shoot from the left with about 60 per cent of the sticks sold in this country curved that way, according to numbers provided by Easton. In the U.S., about 60 per cent of the sticks sold are for right-handed shooters. Some manufacturers put the ratio at 70 to 30 on each side of the border.

“I have no idea why this is so,” Mike Mountain, who is in charge of hockey sticks for Easton in Van Nuys, Calif., told the Times. “But it has been true for years, and it doesn’t change; it stays consistent over time.”

Chad Purdy has been selling sticks in Surrey, B.C., for 22 years and has long puzzled about why some customers shoot left while others are righties.

As manager of The Hockey Shop, he actually sells more right-hand sticks than left, which goes against the prevailing numbers, but he said on every team he has played on and on the area youth teams he services, there are almost always a majority of lefties.

So why does he sell more right sticks, by about 10 per cent? And why is he left with more left sticks in his shop at the end of a hockey season?

“Breakage,” he says.

Purdy’s theory is that right-handed shooters, while in the minority, go through more sticks and have to purchase a new stick more often. Most people are right-handed, meaning that when they shoot right their more powerful hand is on the lower part of the stick.

“That puts more force on the shaft and those sticks break more often,” he suggests.

Purdy also has a theory about why most Canadians shoot left. He believes a preferred shooting side is imprinted on us, passed on from generation to generation in Canada.

“I shot left because my dad shot left and my first stick was one of his that he cut down for me,” he said. “Kids learn so quickly with whatever they’re given.”

However, in the U.S., he suggests, a lot of players are from new hockey families. As the first generation to take up the sport, they don’t make their stick selection based on a bias. For many, too, hockey might not be the first sport they try. If they’ve already been playing baseball or golf – sports in which a majority are right-swinging – it might feel more natural for them to shoot a hockey stick that way.

In Europe, the majority of players shoot left. On the Russian team here at the Olympics, for example, 17 of its 20 skaters are lefties. Ditto for the Slovaks. The Finns have 15 left-handed shooters and the team from Belarus has 16.

Purdy has a “real loose” theory on that too, based on his own inventory. Since a lot of leftover sticks in North America have long been shipped to Europe, he figures shooting left is just how many players grew up. Those were the sticks Europeans first had access to and then it became ingrained in their hockey culture to shoot left no matter the origin of the sticks.

150-year-old Hockey Stick to be Auctioned during Olympics

A curved piece of wood controversially billed as “the world’s oldest hockey stick” — and reputedly appraised at $4-million — is to be auctioned in Vancouver next month during the Winter Olympics.

The object known as the “Rutherford Stick” has been displayed at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto and was offered at auction two other times in the past decade but didn’t sell.

Said to be at least 150 years old, it drew a top bid of $2.2-million on eBay in December 2006.

But the hickory-wood relic — owned by Cobourg, Ont., resident Gordon Sharpe, who inherited the stick from a great-uncle and claims it was hand-carved by a family ancestor in the 1850s — did not exchange hands at the time, nor during a previous auction in 2001.

Now, the stick touted as “the single most important piece of hockey memorabilia in existence” will be available for viewing in Vancouver from Feb. 12 to 28 before being sold by the online auction firm VIPthrills.com.

More at: 150 Year Old Hockey Stick

150-year-old Hockey Stick to be Auctioned during Olympics

A curved piece of wood controversially billed as “the world’s oldest hockey stick” — and reputedly appraised at $4-million — is to be auctioned in Vancouver next month during the Winter Olympics.

The object known as the “Rutherford Stick” has been displayed at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto and was offered at auction two other times in the past decade but didn’t sell.

Said to be at least 150 years old, it drew a top bid of $2.2-million on eBay in December 2006.

But the hickory-wood relic — owned by Cobourg, Ont., resident Gordon Sharpe, who inherited the stick from a great-uncle and claims it was hand-carved by a family ancestor in the 1850s — did not exchange hands at the time, nor during a previous auction in 2001.

Now, the stick touted as “the single most important piece of hockey memorabilia in existence” will be available for viewing in Vancouver from Feb. 12 to 28 before being sold by the online auction firm VIPthrills.com.

More at: 150 Year Old Hockey Stick

150-year-old Hockey Stick to be Auctioned during Olympics

A curved piece of wood controversially billed as “the world’s oldest hockey stick” — and reputedly appraised at $4-million — is to be auctioned in Vancouver next month during the Winter Olympics.

The object known as the “Rutherford Stick” has been displayed at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto and was offered at auction two other times in the past decade but didn’t sell.

Said to be at least 150 years old, it drew a top bid of $2.2-million on eBay in December 2006.

But the hickory-wood relic — owned by Cobourg, Ont., resident Gordon Sharpe, who inherited the stick from a great-uncle and claims it was hand-carved by a family ancestor in the 1850s — did not exchange hands at the time, nor during a previous auction in 2001.

Now, the stick touted as “the single most important piece of hockey memorabilia in existence” will be available for viewing in Vancouver from Feb. 12 to 28 before being sold by the online auction firm VIPthrills.com.

More at: 150 Year Old Hockey Stick

Warrior Dolomite Spyne Double D 2010 Review

New for 2010 Warrior has added dark graphics and the DD blade to the Dolomite Spyne. The double D blade has a high-density mid-to-heel zone which provides maximum velocity and durability.

The Low-density toe zone softens the feel for puck-handling and passing. The SPYNE blade technology increases surface area of the blade and increases stiffness.

FEATURES

• Multi-bias fiber placement
• Carbon Elite construction
• Linear taper consistent flex arc
• Pro-Balance blade and handle design
• SPYNE blade technology
• Double D blade core
• Nipple Grip coating

The Pro-Balance blade and handle design improves stick feel and weight distribution
The Multi-bias fiber placement reinforces the internal shaft structure and the Linear taper creates smoother flex reaction and utmost energy transfer from a consistent flex arc.

Senior Models

• Grip Flexes: 100, 85, 75
• Clear Flexes: 100, 85, 75
• Patterns: Savard, Lidstrom, Draper, Vanek, Kovalev, Kovalchuk

Intermediate

• Grip Flexes: 70, 55
• Clear Flex: 70
• Patterns: Savard, Draper, Kovalchuk

Junior

• Grip Flex: 50
• Patterns: Savard, Draper, Kovalchuk