Towards an understanding of the determinants of efficiency in ice hockey

2 articles: 

1. Linking the preference in a bilateral asymmetric task with handedness, footedness, and eyedness: The case of ice hockey. (2024) 
   PLoS ONE, 19: e0294125. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294125 
   Simon Grondin, Daniel Fortin-Guichard*, Charles-Anthony Dubeau & Émie Tétreault 
   Université Laval, Québec 
   *Tanenbaum Institute for Science in Sport, Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto 

2. Analyses of the impact of laterality on performances in the National Hockey League based on players’ position and origin. (2024) 
   Scientific Reports, 14, 19390 doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-70480-w 
   Simon Grondin, Pier-Alexandre Rioux & Daniel Fortin-Guichard*  
   Université Laval, Québec 
   *Tanenbaum Institute for Science in Sport, Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto 

Introduction and Context 

The questions addressed in these articles are related to the fact that ice hockey fascinating because it involves a bimanual task (holding a hockey stick) and both hands have different roles (an asymmetric activity). Is it the preferred or the nonpreferred hand (in a unimanual task like writing or throwing a ball) that is placed at the edge of the hockey stick (the other being placed in the middle)? This question is important because the fact of placing the preferred hand at the edge or in the middle of the stick may have an impact on the way of playing the hockey game. Having the preferred hand in the middle of the stick should favor a style based on strength (more force for shooting) and placing this preferred hand at the end should favor a playing style based on finesse (stick handling).   

Methods

In Article 1, an on-line survey in the general population (n = 854) was used to conduct this study. The goal was to determine 1) the proportion of lefthanders and righthanders are shooting right or shooting left in ice hockey and 2) to what extent the way of holding an ice-hockey stick is associated with other lateralized preferences (motor or sensory). 

In Article 2, in order to determine if shooting preference has an impact on performances, the performance data of NHL players since the season 1967-1968 were analyzed as a function of players’ 1) shooting preference, left or right, 2) position, and 3) and origin (USA, Canada, Europe, or Russia).  

Key Findings and Implications 

Article 1: It is difficult to predict the shooting side based on handedness: 70.2% of lefthanders reported a preference for a cross-lateral preference, i.e., shooting right (placing the right hand in the middle of the stick), and 66.2% of righthander reported a preference for shooting left (a cross-lateral preference). Also, note that 16.4% of participants were classified as ambidextrous and 61.4% of them reported a preference for shooting right.  The preference on the ice-hockey stick is closely correlated to the way one holds a rake, shovel, or broom, or a golf club, but inversely related to the way one holds an ax and a baseball bat. The link between the way of holding the ice-hockey stick and eyedness or footedness is weak. 

Article 2: The study shows that 1) players from the USA are more likely to shoot right than players from other countries; 2) compared to defense players from other groups, defense players from the USA have a higher number of shots per game and a higher goal-to-assist ratio; and 3) for wingers shooting left, those playing on the right wing have more goals or points per game than those playing on the left wing. 

There is probably an influence of batting preference in baseball in the choice of hockey preference of American players. Also, the lateral preference in ice hockey has an impact on performances, an impact interpreted as reflecting a playing style favoring either a game based on finesse, or a game focused on force. Finally, wingers shooting left have more success when playing on the right wing than when playing on the left wing, a finding that should be kept in mind by ice hockey coaches responsible for the development of young ice hockey players. 

Strengths and Limitations 

Article 1: The large sample and links with different motor activities are strengths of the study. However, a limitation is that no experimenter was present at the moment to help decide about shooting side, and verify if emphasizing shooting or stick handling has an impact on this preference. 

Article 2: The very large sample size and level of expertise of participants are strengths of the study. However, a limitation is that we do know neither the preferred hand of players in unimanual tasks like writing of throwing a ball, nor their eyedness or their vestibular preference.  

Conclusion and Next Steps 

Ice hockey is fascinating from a laterality standpoint as hand placement on the stick may favor a playing style or another, namely based on force (lefthanders shooting left or righthanders shooting right) vs. based on finesse (righthanders shooting left or lefthanders shooting right). The next step is to analyze when this preference for a shooting side occurs in the development and whether this preference is related to the lateral preference of parents. A complete understanding of the impact of lateral preferences in ice hockey would likely come data revealing not only the links between performances data and lateral preferences in unimanual task and in ice hockey, but also from taking into account the eye dominance (preference for using an eye or the other) and the vestibular preference (preference for turning in one direction or the other when skating).