Around the League 47 Vancouver Collects All the Petterssons

Ovi broke the record against another team!

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And they did the same thing when Gretzky broke the previous goal record, so it wasn’t unexpected.

It’s also so wild to think that this record was long thought to be unbreakable…when in reality, it’s the career point total record that’s truly unbreakable. Getting almost 900 goals is near impossible. Getting almost 900 goals and almost 2000 assists? What the f***?
Just to put this into a bit more perspective, the difference in points between Gretzky (2,857) and the guy in second, Jagr (1,921) is the same as the difference between Jagr and the guy in 106th all time, Nikita Kucherov (985).
 


So just a small thing, he’s throwing the ball with his left hand here but he’s right handed in regular life:

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There’s a whole thing about how hockey players choose their handedness, but it boils down to:

- Canadians and Europeans tend to play with their strong hand on the handle of the stick (if you’re right handed, you shoot left like Crosby or Kucherov)

- Most Americans tend to play with their strong hand on the shaft of the stick (if you’re right handed, you shoot right like Eichel or Kessel)

The predominant theory is that Canadians and Russians typically spend time as young children playing with hockey/bandy sticks, holding them one-handed to manipulate a ball or puck. Therefore they use their dominant hand for those fine-tuned motor skills. Whereas American children typically get presented with a (hopefully plastic) baseball bat or golf club early in life, and spent a lot of time smacking a ball as hard as they can using their dominant hand for power. When it comes time to hold a hockey stick, the American kids put their dominant hand lower for power whereas the others keep that hand in a place where they can fine-tune their movements.

Ovechkin’s interesting here… he’s an example of cross-dominance, someone who throws with their “weak” hand. A quick google shows other photos of him throwing left in both baseball and football, and also he’s a lefty in basketball, but he holds a pen or a fork in his right hand.

The reason I bring this up… this means Ovechkin’s preferred hand for fine-motor athletic skills is his left, which is controlling the handle of the stick, but his actual dominant hand is his right, which is providing the power on his shot. That’s truly a best-of-both-worlds setup, where he’s using his sports-dominant hand for precision while ripping as much power as he can with his life-dominant hand.

Gordie Howe, who held the goals record before Gretzky, was famously “ambidextrous” to the point of being able to flip his stick over during play. But he did have a clear preference for the right hand, holding a pen and a baseball bat on that side, and shooting right. Presumably he was actually right-dominant, but very very agile with his left hand. I wonder if there’s a similar dynamic going on with Ovie.
 
So just a small thing, he’s throwing the ball with his left hand here but he’s right handed in regular life:

View attachment 1008182

There’s a whole thing about how hockey players choose their handedness, but it boils down to:

- Canadians and Europeans tend to play with their strong hand on the handle of the stick (if you’re right handed, you shoot left like Crosby or Kucherov)

- Most Americans tend to play with their strong hand on the shaft of the stick (if you’re right handed, you shoot right like Eichel or Kessel)

The predominant theory is that Canadians and Russians typically spend time as young children playing with hockey/bandy sticks, holding them one-handed to manipulate a ball or puck. Therefore they use their dominant hand for those fine-tuned motor skills. Whereas American children typically get presented with a (hopefully plastic) baseball bat or golf club early in life, and spent a lot of time smacking a ball as hard as they can using their dominant hand for power. When it comes time to hold a hockey stick, the American kids put their dominant hand lower for power whereas the others keep that hand in a place where they can fine-tune their movements.

Ovechkin’s interesting here… he’s an example of cross-dominance, someone who throws with their “weak” hand. A quick google shows other photos of him throwing left in both baseball and football, and also he’s a lefty in basketball, but he holds a pen or a fork in his right hand.

The reason I bring this up… this means Ovechkin’s preferred hand for fine-motor athletic skills is his left, which is controlling the handle of the stick, but his actual dominant hand is his right, which is providing the power on his shot. That’s truly a best-of-both-worlds setup, where he’s using his sports-dominant hand for precision while ripping as much power as he can with his life-dominant hand.

Gordie Howe, who held the goals record before Gretzky, was famously “ambidextrous” to the point of being able to flip his stick over during play. But he did have a clear preference for the right hand, holding a pen and a baseball bat on that side, and shooting right. Presumably he was actually right-dominant, but very very agile with his left hand. I wonder if there’s a similar dynamic going on with Ovie.

Interesting. My take away is that I'm a closet-Ovie :laugh:. Baseball, hockey, golf -- all right-handed. Racquet sports and handwriting -- all left-handed.

Actually since my handwriting is marginal and my athletic ability is more at the "don't get hurt" level, I guess I'm really the anti-Ovie.
 
So just a small thing, he’s throwing the ball with his left hand here but he’s right handed in regular life:

View attachment 1008182

There’s a whole thing about how hockey players choose their handedness, but it boils down to:

- Canadians and Europeans tend to play with their strong hand on the handle of the stick (if you’re right handed, you shoot left like Crosby or Kucherov)

- Most Americans tend to play with their strong hand on the shaft of the stick (if you’re right handed, you shoot right like Eichel or Kessel)

The predominant theory is that Canadians and Russians typically spend time as young children playing with hockey/bandy sticks, holding them one-handed to manipulate a ball or puck. Therefore they use their dominant hand for those fine-tuned motor skills. Whereas American children typically get presented with a (hopefully plastic) baseball bat or golf club early in life, and spent a lot of time smacking a ball as hard as they can using their dominant hand for power. When it comes time to hold a hockey stick, the American kids put their dominant hand lower for power whereas the others keep that hand in a place where they can fine-tune their movements.

Ovechkin’s interesting here… he’s an example of cross-dominance, someone who throws with their “weak” hand. A quick google shows other photos of him throwing left in both baseball and football, and also he’s a lefty in basketball, but he holds a pen or a fork in his right hand.

The reason I bring this up… this means Ovechkin’s preferred hand for fine-motor athletic skills is his left, which is controlling the handle of the stick, but his actual dominant hand is his right, which is providing the power on his shot. That’s truly a best-of-both-worlds setup, where he’s using his sports-dominant hand for precision while ripping as much power as he can with his life-dominant hand.

Gordie Howe, who held the goals record before Gretzky, was famously “ambidextrous” to the point of being able to flip his stick over during play. But he did have a clear preference for the right hand, holding a pen and a baseball bat on that side, and shooting right. Presumably he was actually right-dominant, but very very agile with his left hand. I wonder if there’s a similar dynamic going on with Ovie.
Dont know about Ovi, but theres also just weird people. My brother for example catches and throws left but bats and writes right.
 
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I think I read somewhere that Stamkos also is right hand dominant and uses it as his bottom hand. I’ve always figured it’s more of a preference thing than either way being “correct” and I mean if it works for those two guys there must be something to it
 
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I think I read somewhere that Stamkos also is right hand dominant and uses it as his bottom hand. I’ve always figured it’s more of a preference thing than either way being “correct” and I mean if it works for those two guys there must be something to it

The dynamic is easiest to see on D, where there’s a very clear trend for the best goal scorers to be right handed shooters (therefore using their dominant hand primarily for shooting rather than handling/passing). Silky smooth playmakers and 200-foot threats tend to be left handed.

It translates somewhat less to forwards, where the shots come from much closer to the goal and therefore there’s less need for heavy velocity and precision. But still, when you think about guys like Ovechkin and Stamkos and Laine who made a living ripping one-timers from a little farther out, they’re often right handed shooters who use that dominant hand to let ‘er rip but aren’t anything special in other facets of the game. The balanced shooter-playmaker types (and for that matter, the guys who don’t have much offensive game) are typically left-handed.
 
I was laughing after I was already a righty that your dominant hand should be at the top of the stick. So most of us righty’s should be playing lefty. Which I’m annoyed about now as lefty’s get better shooting angles on left catching goalies.

I sometimes consider whether I should give it a shot with a left handed stick, just to see how it goes. It’s not like I’d be giving up a lot of goals if it went badly :laugh:
 
I’ve dicked around with a lefty stick a few times (as a righty that shoots right, typical dumb American) and while it was a neat experiment and not a total disaster it didn’t make me want to try and make a long term switch or anything. Fun to try though
 
Career goal #4 he absolutely burns Jesse Boulerice lmao

Yeah, what I immediately noticed was I had forgotten how fast he was in his younger years. The kid was flying for many of those early goals.

Also #12 is the first of many one-timer goals from his office. Followed by #19, 25, 35, 50 (maybe, hard to tell), 52, 57, 65, 71, 78, and 97 (another maybe). And that's only in the first 100
 
So just a small thing, he’s throwing the ball with his left hand here but he’s right handed in regular life:

View attachment 1008182

There’s a whole thing about how hockey players choose their handedness, but it boils down to:

- Canadians and Europeans tend to play with their strong hand on the handle of the stick (if you’re right handed, you shoot left like Crosby or Kucherov)

- Most Americans tend to play with their strong hand on the shaft of the stick (if you’re right handed, you shoot right like Eichel or Kessel)

The predominant theory is that Canadians and Russians typically spend time as young children playing with hockey/bandy sticks, holding them one-handed to manipulate a ball or puck. Therefore they use their dominant hand for those fine-tuned motor skills. Whereas American children typically get presented with a (hopefully plastic) baseball bat or golf club early in life, and spent a lot of time smacking a ball as hard as they can using their dominant hand for power. When it comes time to hold a hockey stick, the American kids put their dominant hand lower for power whereas the others keep that hand in a place where they can fine-tune their movements.

Ovechkin’s interesting here… he’s an example of cross-dominance, someone who throws with their “weak” hand. A quick google shows other photos of him throwing left in both baseball and football, and also he’s a lefty in basketball, but he holds a pen or a fork in his right hand.

The reason I bring this up… this means Ovechkin’s preferred hand for fine-motor athletic skills is his left, which is controlling the handle of the stick, but his actual dominant hand is his right, which is providing the power on his shot. That’s truly a best-of-both-worlds setup, where he’s using his sports-dominant hand for precision while ripping as much power as he can with his life-dominant hand.

Gordie Howe, who held the goals record before Gretzky, was famously “ambidextrous” to the point of being able to flip his stick over during play. But he did have a clear preference for the right hand, holding a pen and a baseball bat on that side, and shooting right. Presumably he was actually right-dominant, but very very agile with his left hand. I wonder if there’s a similar dynamic going on with Ovie.
This is interesting - someone told me because it’s how’s Canadians shovel snow because there’s more of it you want your dominant hand on top. Thats was also probably just bullshit.

From growing up in Connecticut I found there were still way more left handed hockey players than right and very few left handed baseball players/golfers etc. I’m the atypical right handed at everything. I wonder if that’s why I have always hand a muffin of a shot but I can go bar down from in tight very easily.

My boys are both right hand dominant but one shoots left and one shoots right. Gave them a straight stick at learn to play and they figured out what they preferred from there so I really have no idea.
 

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