As someone who has several years experience in the manufacture of hockey sticks and has a degree in physics. Years ago I came to the conclusion that the main reason that the Americans shoot right and Canadians shot left has to do with the age at which we pick up a stick. In Canada that age is generally much younger.

The top hand on a hockey stick has to be able to handle the torques of a hockey stick while the bottom hand just has to handle the weight with no torques. Since the torque (the shaft being a lever) can be rather hard to handle, at a young age one has to use their strongest hand to handle the torques thus a youngster (say 4 yr old) will use his strong hand (generally right) to hold the top of the shaft, thus they will learn to shot left if right handed. As we get older (say 10 yr old), the torques are not as hard to handle and one then will try and put the power hand (generally right hand) on the lower part of the shaft, since the weak hand (generally left) can now handle the torque of the stick.

Cheers Kent Mayhew