Ringette is a
non-contact winter
team sport
A team sport includes any sport where individuals are organized into opposing teams which compete to win or cooperate to entertain their audience. Team members act together towards a shared objective. This can be done in a number of ways s ...
played on
ice hockey rinks using
ice hockey skates, straight sticks with drag-tips, and a
blue, rubber, pneumatic ring designed for use on ice surfaces. The sport is among a small number of organized team sports created exclusively for female competitors. Though ice hockey rinks are used,
ringette rinks use markings specific to ringette and the sport uses strategic play which more closely resembles
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
than
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...
.
The sport was created in Canada for girls in 1963 by
Sam Jacks from
West Ferris, Ontario and
Red McCarthy
Mirl Arthur "Red" McCarthy (March 12, 1930 – 1995), was a Canadian sportsperson, sport and recreation administrator, ice hockey player, founder and co-inventor of the sport of ringette, and for a time, a barrel jumper.
Biography
Born in Stu ...
from
Espanola, Ontario
Espanola (2016 census population 4,996) is a town in Northern Ontario, Canada, in the Sudbury District. It is situated on the Spanish River, approximately 70 kilometres west of downtown Sudbury, and just south of the junction of Highway 6 and Hi ...
. In 2018, over 50,000 players registered to play the sport.
Ringette is played predominantly in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
and
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
with both countries forming the sport's top international teams on a regular basis. Several other countries currently organize and compete in the sport including
Sweden, the United States, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. The sport has continued to grow and has spread to other countries including the
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...
.
The premier international competition for ringette is the
World Ringette Championships
The World Ringette Championships (WRC) is the premier international competition in ringette and is governed by the International Ringette Federation (IRF). Unlike most international competitions, all of the WRC's elite athletes are female rather ...
(WRC) which is organized by the
International Ringette Federation
The International Ringette Federation (IRF) is a non-profit amateur sports organization and the highest governing body for the sport of ringette. Today the member countries of the IRF Board includes four member nations: Canada, Finland, Sweden, a ...
(IRF). The sport is also played at the semi-professional level in Canada (
National Ringette League
The National Ringette League (NRL), ''(french: Ligue Nationale de Ringuette, LNR)'', is the premier sports league for the sport of ringette in North America and Canada's national league for elite ringette players aged 18+. All of the NRL's eli ...
), in Finland (
SM–Ringette), and in Sweden (
Ringette Dam-SM), as well as the university and college level. In Canada, the sport is a part of the
Canada Winter Games
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by total ...
programme and the annual
Canadian Ringette Championships
Canadian Ringette Championships, ''(french: Championnats Canadien d'Ringuette)'', sometimes abbreviated ''CRC'', is Canada's annual premiere national ringette tournament for the best ringette players and teams in the country. It encompasses three a ...
serve as the country's premiere competition for the sport's elite amateur athletes.
Two different
floor variants of ringette are also played:
in-line ringette, and gym ringette.
Play
Ringette is played by two opposing teams using ice hockey skates and other equipment on an
ice rink
An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water and/or an artificial sheet of ice created using hardened chemicals where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The ...
. The objective is to score more goals than the opposing team by shooting a blue, hollow, rubber ring into the opponent's goal net. Skaters use a long straight stick with a tapered end and a drag-tip. There is no
offsides in ringette and no
icing.
During play, teams consist of five skaters: one centre, two forwards, two
defenders
Defender(s) or The Defender(s) may refer to:
*Defense (military)
*Defense (sports)
**Defender (association football)
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''The Defender'' (1989 film), a Canadian documentary
* ''The Defender'' (1994 f ...
, and one goaltender. Goal nets used in ringette are identical to those used in ice hockey (). Ringette goaltenders are the only players allowed to play the ring with their hands but must do so from within their goal crease which only they can enter. After stopping a shot on net or receiving a pass, the goaltender has five seconds to throw, push or pass the ring to another player.
Ringette games are typically played on ice surfaces used for playing ice hockey but use different lines and markings; a ringette rink is augmented with lines and markings specific to ringette instead. Though initially played using two separate periods of play per game, games today typically consist of four quarters of 15 minutes each, with the exception of younger divisions which may use two periods of 22 minutes instead. A 30-second
shot clock
A shot clock is a countdown timer used in a variety of games and sports, proving a set amount of time that a team may possess the object of play before attempting to score a goal. Shot clocks are used in several sports including basketball, wat ...
is used to prevent players from
running out the clock
In sports, running out the clock (also known as running down the clock, stonewalling, killing the clock, chewing the clock, stalling, time-wasting (or timewasting) or eating clock) is the practice of a winning team allowing the clock to expire thr ...
, improve the flow of the game and increase the speed of play. The rule was first introduced in Canada in 2002 and went into effect for age groups which used to be known as the junior, belle, and open divisions.
The 30-second shot clock is now used almost universally in all age groups as well as internationally (including the World Ringette Championships) with the exception of very young players and some of the lower divisions.
The
ringette rink
Ringette is a non-contact winter team sport played on ice hockey rinks using ice hockey skates, straight sticks with drag-tips, and a blue, rubber, pneumatic ring designed for use on ice surfaces. The sport is among a small number of organize ...
uses five free pass circles, each of which has a bisecting line. The start of every quarter begins with a free pass from the free pass circle at centre ice. During the rest of a game, free pass circles are used for restarting the game after a goal or a violation. At such times, players may not enter the circle unless they are the player making the free pass. If a player is making a free pass, they have five seconds after the whistle blows to either pass the ring to another teammate or take a shot at the opposing team's goal, but they must not exit the circle or cross the bisecting line before doing so. A blue line rule prevents players from carrying the ring over either of the blue lines bisecting the ice surface and as a result, players must pass the ring over each individual line to another teammate in order to advance the play.
The sport uses a "free play zone" (alternatively known as the "extended zone") which exists in each of the rink's two end zones and consists of the area between the end boards and the free play line (or "ringette line"). The ringette line is a thin red line bisecting the rink which is placed atop of the free pass circles in the end zone. Only three players from each team are allowed in these zones at one time or a "four in" call is made and play is stopped with a free pass awarded to the non-offending team. The remaining players must remain behind the ringette line. There is one exception which can be made in higher divisions whereby the defending team is serving a penalty: in such a case, the opposing team may
pull its goaltender and send in another attacker, meaning four of its players are allowed into the zone without penalty.
There is no intentional body contact in ringette, though incidental contact does occur.
Body checking and
boarding are penalized.
Fighting
Combat ( French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, or ...
is forbidden by a zero-tolerance policy. The only type of checks allowed are stick checks, which are performed by either using the stick in a sweeping motion to knock the ring away from the ring carrier or by raising the ring carrier's stick upwards by lifting or knocking it, followed immediately by an attempt to steal the ring. Sticks may not be raised above shoulder height and
high-sticking is penalized.
Ringette rink
![Icehockeylayout](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Icehockeylayout.svg)
Ringette games are played on
ice rinks
An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water and/or an artificial sheet of ice created using hardened chemicals where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The ...
either indoors or outdoors. Playing area, size, lines and markings for the
standard Canadian ringette rink are similar to the average Canadian
ice hockey rink with certain modifications. An exception exists for European ice hockey rinks which may be slightly larger in size. A ringette rink utilizes most (but not all) of the standard ice hockey markings used by
Hockey Canada but with additional markings: five free pass circles (each with a bisecting line) with two in each end zone and one at centre ice, four free-pass dots in each of the end zones, two free-pass dots in the centre zone, and a line demarcating a larger goal crease area which is shaped in a semi-circular fashion. Two additional free-play lines (also known as a "ringette line" or "extended zone line") are also required, with one in each end zone.
Equipment
Ringette uses a blue, rubber, pneumatic ring designed for play on an ice surface. The official ring has a diameter of 16.5 cm.
Ringette rings have two designs: one for use on ice and another for use on dry floors for
gym ringette. The ring used for the ice game is a blue, rubber pneumatic
torus
In geometry, a torus (plural tori, colloquially donut or doughnut) is a surface of revolution generated by revolving a circle in three-dimensional space about an axis that is coplanar with the circle.
If the axis of revolution does not tou ...
. The gym ringette ring is an orange torus made of a sponge-like material and unlike the ice ring, is not hollow. The ringette "practice ring" ( "turbo ring") is not a torus, but a small open disk (a
toroid
In mathematics, a toroid is a surface of revolution with a hole in the middle. The axis of revolution passes through the hole and so does not intersect the surface. For example, when a rectangle is rotated around an axis parallel to one of its ...
) used on ice to help ringette players develop and hone pass receiving skills and is typically either orange or blue.
The equipment players wear is similar to that used by ice hockey players but involves a few differences. Required equipment for ringette players includes the following:
* ringette stick (or goal stick for goaltenders)
*
ice hockey skates (or
ice hockey goalie skates for goaltenders)
* shin pads (or goalie pads)
* protective girdle
*
pelvic protector
A jockstrap, also a jock (male), jill (female), strap, cup, groin guard, pelvic protector (female), supporter, or athletic supporter, is an undergarment for protecting the testes and penis or vulva during contact sports or other vigorous physic ...
(a "jill" or "jillstrap")
* ankle-length ringette pants
* ringette or ice hockey gloves
* elbow pads
* jersey
* helmet with ringette facemask (must meet specific regulations)
*
neck guard
A neck guard (also called a Kim Crouch collar) is a piece of protective equipment worn by players around the neck area, particularly by (though not exclusively) players in the ice skating team sports of ice hockey, bandy, ringette, and rinkball ...
(must meet specific regulations)
* shoulder pads - mandatory for most players up to the junior level (14-15), then the players can decide whether they wish to wear them or not
Ringette sticks
are straight and have tapered ends with metal or plastic drag-tips designed with grooves to increase the lift and velocity of the wrist shot. Sticks must conform to specific rules including those which determine the acceptable measurements for the taper and face of the stick. The stick and the tip must also meet the minimum width measurements. Sticks are reinforced to withstand the bodyweight of a player - a ring carrier leans heavily on the stick to prevent opposing players from removing the ring.
Ringette facemasks are designed to meet ringette's specific safety requirements and are available in different styles for both goaltenders and other players. In the case of the traditional wire cage ringette masks in North America, the bars are shaped like triangles rather than squares and are designed so that the end of a ringette stick cannot enter the mask. Similar North American designs exist but must meet certain safety specifications required by the
CSA Group
The CSA Group (formerly the Canadian Standards Association; CSA) is a standards organization which develops standards in 57 areas. CSA publishes standards in print and electronic form, and provides training and advisory services. CSA is composed ...
(formerly the Canadian Standards Association or "CSA"). European ringette cage and bar styles may differ. Some players wear clear plastic shields but half-visors are illegal. Some masks are a combination of a shield and tightly spaced wires or similar. At all levels, ringette players must wear a pelvic protector, essentially the female equivalent of a jockstrap, known colloquially as a "jill" or "jillstrap". Goaltenders may use an
ice hockey trapper, an
ice hockey blocker, and/or a
ringette goalie trapper "Keely glove", named after a Keely Brown, a former goalie of
Canada's national ringette team who helped create the sport's first design.
Variants
There are two off-ice variants of ringette:
in-line ringette and gym ringette, played wearing shoes. Gym ringette was developed in Canada as a floor variant of ringette in the 1990s, largely by Ringette Canada.
It is meant to be played as a stand-alone activity or as a form of dry-land training to help players develop skills which are transferable to the ice sport.
In-line ringette is played as an informal alternative, but a consistent set formal rules have not been codified and sizeable organizing bodies do not exist. Ringette does not have any
parasport variant.
History
Development
Ringette was created in
Northern Ontario
Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on part of the Superior Geological Pro ...
, Canada, as a civic recreation project for girls by its two founders, Sam Jacks from North Bay, Ontario] and Red McCarthy from
Espanola, Ontario
Espanola (2016 census population 4,996) is a town in Northern Ontario, Canada, in the Sudbury District. It is situated on the Spanish River, approximately 70 kilometres west of downtown Sudbury, and just south of the junction of Highway 6 and Hi ...
.
Jacks is credited with creating the idea for the sport in 1963, following his earlier development of
Floor hockey#Sam Jacks floor hockey, a variant of floor hockey in 1936,
which used bladeless sticks and a flat felt disk with a hole in the centre. McCarthy was responsible for developing the sport's first rules.
Ringette was created in the hopes of increasing and maintaining female participation in winter sport under the existing authority of the Society of Directors of Municipal Recreation of Ontario (SDMRO) and the Northern Ontario Recreation Directors Association (NORDA) due to a lack of success in generating interest among the young female population in the winter team sports of girl's
broomball
Broomball is a both a recreational and organized competitive winter team sport played on ice or snow and is played either indoors or outdoors, depending on climate and location. It is a ball sport and is most popularly played in Canada and the ...
and girl's ice hockey.
![Ringettecrest1966](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Ringettecrest1966.jpg)
The idea for the new game was first introduced at a general meeting between the members of NORDA in January 1963 in Sudbury, Ontario.
The first ringette game took place that fall in
Espanola, Ontario
Espanola (2016 census population 4,996) is a town in Northern Ontario, Canada, in the Sudbury District. It is situated on the Spanish River, approximately 70 kilometres west of downtown Sudbury, and just south of the junction of Highway 6 and Hi ...
under the direction of McCarthy between a group of girls who had played ice hockey at
Espanola High School.
Other Northern Ontario communities soon began experimenting with the game in the winter of 1964–65.
On May 31, 1965, a set of rules developed by McCarthy were presented by NORDA to the SDMRO which then published them for use in the 1965–66 season.
The SDMRO then developed and organized the sport on a larger scale, and in 1969 the Ontario Ringette Association (now
Ringette Ontario) was formed as a provincial governing body.
The sport was introduced to
Manitoba
, image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg
, map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada
, Label_map = yes
, coordinates =
, capital = Winn ...
in 1967 and the province's first team, the Wildwood, was created two years later in
Fort Garry, Winnipeg
Fort Garry is a community area and neighbourhood of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, located in the southwestern part of the city, south of the district of Fort Rouge and east of the Tuxedo area. It comprises parts of the city wards of River Height ...
.
Growth
In Canada, ringette spread to Manitoba,
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
,
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
and
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
. To better organize the sport nationally,
Ringette Canada was founded in 1974. The following year, the sport received national television exposure in an intermission feature during
Hockey Night in Canada
CBC Television has aired National Hockey League (NHL) broadcasts under the ''Hockey Night in Canada'' (often abbreviated ''Hockey Night'' or ''HNiC'') brand that is primarily associated with its Saturday night NHL broadcasts throughout its hi ...
.
The copyright to the official ringette rules, which had been transferred from the SDMRO to the Ontario Ringette Association in 1973, was acquired by Ringette Canada in 1983.
After Jacks died in May 1975, his wife Agnes Jacks promoted the game and acted as an ambassador for the sport until her own death in April 2005. She received the
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit.
To coincide with the cen ...
for this work in 2002.
In 1979, former professional ice hockey player and coach
Juhani Wahlsten
Juhani Jorma Kalevi Wahlsten (13 January 19389 June 2019) was a Finnish professional ice hockey player and ice hockey coach who worked as an exercise and gymnastics teacher in Finland. He was also known by the nickname "Juuso". He also establishe ...
introduced ringette to
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
at girls ice hockey practices in the
Turku
Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...
area. The first recorded game in Finland took place on January 23, 1979, and the first tournament took place in early 1980. The game quickly gained popularity, aided by Canadian coaches who helped establish programs. In 1983, a national association was established, which organized tournaments of more than a hundred matches by the mid-1980s.
Ringette spread to Sweden in the early 1980s. The league Ringette Dam-SM was formed in 1994, along with the
Sweden Ringette Association
The Sweden Ringette Association, ( sv, Svenska Ringetteförbundet) sometimes abbreviated in English as the "SRA", is the national governing body for the sport of ringette in Sweden and was founded in 1994. The SRA is responsible for the promot ...
was also established in 1994.
Ringette was introduced to the
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...
in the mid-1970s and had gained popularity by the 1980s with most activity centred in
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
. However, participation fell dramatically in the mid-1990s when ice hockey was endorsed over ringette as an official high school sport for girls.
In 1986, the World Ringette Council was founded in Finland to promote and develop the sport internationally and to establish international competitions. The World Ringette Championships were first held in 1990. The following year, the World Ringette Council changed its name to the
International Ringette Federation
The International Ringette Federation (IRF) is a non-profit amateur sports organization and the highest governing body for the sport of ringette. Today the member countries of the IRF Board includes four member nations: Canada, Finland, Sweden, a ...
(IRF), possibly to avoid confusion due to the fact that it had the same acronym as the world event.
International governance
The IRF is the highest governing body for the sport of ringette. There are four member countries: Canada, Finland, the USA, and Sweden. Historically, Canada and Finland have been the most active ambassadors in the international federation and regularly send teams to demonstrate how ringette is played in countries including Japan, Australia, Iceland, and New Zealand, Norway, Slovakia, and South Korea.
Olympic status
Ringette as a sport is not recognized by the
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
(IOC).
The IOC asked Canada to stage a heritage games event for the sports of ringette,
broomball
Broomball is a both a recreational and organized competitive winter team sport played on ice or snow and is played either indoors or outdoors, depending on climate and location. It is a ball sport and is most popularly played in Canada and the ...
, and
lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...
during the
2010 Winter Olympics
)''
, nations = 82
, athletes = 2,626
, events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines)
, opening = February 12, 2010
, closing = February 28, 2010
, opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean
, cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gret ...
in
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
, but the three sports were unable to meet objectives and the event failed to materialize. Because ringette has not obtained Olympic status, the sport does not receive federal financing in Canada.
World Ringette Championships
The World Ringette Championship is the premier international ringette competition between ringette-playing nations, organized by the IRF. Initially held in alternate years, the tournament has been held every two to three years since the
2004 edition. The winning national senior team is awarded the
Sam Jacks Trophy. The winning national junior team is awarded the
Juuso Wahlsten Trophy. The
President's Trophy is awarded to the winner of the President's Pool.
Ringette World Club Championship
Initially organized by the
International Ringette Federation
The International Ringette Federation (IRF) is a non-profit amateur sports organization and the highest governing body for the sport of ringette. Today the member countries of the IRF Board includes four member nations: Canada, Finland, Sweden, a ...
as a separate tournament from the World Ringette Championships, the Ringette World Club Championship was a competition held in 2008 and 2011, which featured the best teams from the Canadian National Ringette League, the national Finnish ringette league, (now SM Ringette), and Sweden's Ringette Dam-SM. The championship was discontinued after 2011 due to the fact that competing teams faced financial costs which made the tournament untenable.
Czech Ringette Challenge Cup
Traditionally held in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...
, the Czech Ringette Challenge Cup is the only ringette tournament of its kind in Central Europe and is organized by the
Czech Ringette Association. Along with the Finland Lions Cup, it is one of Europe's premier ringette tournaments played every summer.
The 16th annual Czech Ringette Challenge Cup took place in 2019.
Finland Lions Cup
The Finland Lions Cup is a ringette tournament which takes place annually in Finland.
Along with the Czech Ringette Challenge Cup, it is one of Europe's premier ringette tournaments played every April, July, and December. The tournament typically features ringette teams from Finland, Sweden, and Canada. Competing divisions include under-14 (U14), under-16 (U16), and under-19/open.
Ringette by country
Canada
![National Ringette League 03](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/National_Ringette_League_03.jpg)
Ringette is played in all ten Canadian provinces and the Northwest Territories. An average of 30,000 players register to play the sport annually.
Ringette Canada is the country's national organizing body and promotes the sport. It established the Ringette Canada Hall of Fame in 1988.
Canada selects two
national ringette teams for international competition:
Team Canada Junior and
Team Canada Senior. Both teams compete in the World Ringette Championships. At the university and college level, ringette players have the opportunity to play their sport in several provinces. The National Ringette League (NRL) is Canada's semi-professional ringette league for elite ringette players aged 18 and over.
Canada's elite ringette players compete in the annual
Canadian Ringette Championships
Canadian Ringette Championships, ''(french: Championnats Canadien d'Ringuette)'', sometimes abbreviated ''CRC'', is Canada's annual premiere national ringette tournament for the best ringette players and teams in the country. It encompasses three a ...
. There are championships for under-16 years, under-19 years, and the National Ringette League (the Open division prior to 2008).
Ringette became a part of the Canada Winter Games program in 1991.
The sport is also part of the provincial, winter-based,
multi-sport
A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports among organized teams of athletes from (mostly) nation-states. The first major, modern, multi-sport event of interna ...
competitions in some provinces. Several cities and regions also have annual ringette competitions.
Cross-sport participation is common among Canada's ringette athletes, with some national-level ringette players having also played
bandy for the
Canadian women's national bandy team.
Finland
![Juhani-Wahlsten-1962](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Juhani-Wahlsten-1962.jpg)
There are more than 10,000 ringette players registered to play in Finland. Players participate in 31 ringette clubs, with important clubs in
Naantali
Naantali (; sv, Nådendal) is a town in southwestern Finland, and, as a resort town during the summer, an important tourist centre of the country. The municipality has a population of
(), and is located in the region of Southwest Finland, west ...
,
Turku
Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...
, and
Uusikaupunki
Uusikaupunki (; sv, Nystad, ) is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the Southwest Finland region, northwest of Turku and south of Pori. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is inland wate ...
. The national governing body for the sport,
Ringette Finland
Ringette Finland, ( fi, Suomen Ringetteliitto) is the national governing body for the sport of ringette in Finland and was founded in 1983. It is responsible for the organization and promotion ringette on a nationwide basis and organizes Finlan ...
, was created in 1983, four years after
Juhani Wahlsten
Juhani Jorma Kalevi Wahlsten (13 January 19389 June 2019) was a Finnish professional ice hockey player and ice hockey coach who worked as an exercise and gymnastics teacher in Finland. He was also known by the nickname "Juuso". He also establishe ...
, also known as "Juuso" Wahlsten, introduced ringette in Finland; he is considered the "Father of Ringette" in the country.
Notable among Finnish ringette coaches is
Antero Simo Tapani Kivelä, a retired Finnish ice hockey goaltender who played for
Finland's national ice hockey team making 58 appearances overall, as well as appearing at the
1980 Winter Olympics
The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially the XIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Lake Placid 1980, were an international multi-sport event held from February 13 to 24, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York, United States.
Lake Placid was elected ...
. Kivelä coached several ringette teams in Finland after he finished his playing career in ice hockey, which included being the head coach for ten seasons of ringette club, LuKi-82, in Finland's semi-professional ringette league, SM Ringette (formerly SM-sarja). Also notable is who coached the
Finland national ringette team for many years. Both Team Finland Senior and Team Finland Junior compete in the World Ringette Championships.
![Ilves vs Lahti ringette](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Ilves_vs_Lahti_ringette.jpg)
Finland has a semi-professional ringette league called
SM Ringette
SM Ringette, previously "", is the elite semi-professional ringette league in Finland's first division and its highest. The league features the best ringette players in Finland and is run by Ringette Finland. The league was known as until it wa ...
, formerly known as .
In english it is known as the Finnish National Ringette League. The league has been in operation since the 1987–88 winter season. The Agnes Jacks Trophy, named after the wife of
Sam Jacks, is awarded to the league's Most Valuable Player at the end of the each season and was first awarded in 1992. (Women's Premier League) is the second-highest series level of Finnish Ringette, which operates under (the Finnish Ringette Association). The league was formerly known as Ringete ykkössarja. The first division has been played since the 2008 season. During the 2021–22 season, six teams played in the Women's First Division.
Sweden
Ringette was introduced to
Sweden in the 1980s.
The first ringette club was Ulriksdals, in
Solna, Stockholm, with most Swedish ringette associations located in the surrounding
Mälardalen region.
There are programs of
twin town
A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties.
While there are early examples of inter ...
s between the
Sweden Ringette Association
The Sweden Ringette Association, ( sv, Svenska Ringetteförbundet) sometimes abbreviated in English as the "SRA", is the national governing body for the sport of ringette in Sweden and was founded in 1994. The SRA is responsible for the promot ...
and Canadian associations for the development of the sport within the Swedish population. In Sweden more than 6,000 girls are registered to play ringette each year.
Sweden's elite league (Ringetteförbundet) was established in 1994 and the Sweden Ringette Association was formed the same year.
Several junior teams and numerous amateur teams are connected with these 7 semi-pro clubs. The league groups together seven semi-professional women's clubs: Kista Hockey, IFK Salem, IK Huge, Järna SK, Segeltorps IF, Sollentuna HC, and Ulriksdals SK.
The Swedish Ringette Association is now an associate member of the
Swedish Sports Confederation. The
Sweden national ringette team competes regularly at the World Ringette Championships in the
Senior Pool. Sweden has occasionally formed a
junior national ringette team, but the senior team has made the most international appearances.
United States
The two national sporting organizations for ringette in the United States are USA Ringette and Team USA Ringette. The sport was introduced in the
Midwestern US in various places during the mid-1970s and was most popular in
Alpena and
Flint, Michigan,
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
,
Grand Forks,
North Dakota
North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...
, and
Viroqua and
Onalaska, Wisconsin
Onalaska is a city in La Crosse County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 18,803 at the 2020 census. It borders the larger La Crosse, Wisconsin, and is a part of the La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN Metropolitan Area.
Onalaska is built on ...
.
The
United States national ringette team competes regularly at the WRC, beginning in 1990 with the first WRC. Notable in the success of Team USA's development is coach Phyllis Sadoway who was the team's head coach at the WRC from 2004 to 2013, and was inducted as a coach into the Ringette Canada Hall of Fame in 2012.
Soviet Union
In 1984, a sports delegation helped introduce ringette to the
U.S.S.R.
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, but within two years it became evident that the sport had failed to take hold.
Impact
Ice hockey
Ringette has had an unintentional influence on the sport of ice hockey, including a minor effect on men's professional ice hockey and a larger impact on girl's and women's ice hockey.
The "ringette line" began to have a potential impact on men's professional ice hockey in 2012 in regards to the
American Hockey League
The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...
with several professionals including
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...
general manager
Brian Burke considering its possible application in ice hockey to correct areas of concern about the game.
Ringette concepts and rings have been used in professional ice hockey practices from the late 1970s, when the Toronto Maple Leafs head coach
Roger Neilson
Roger Paul Neilson, (June 16, 1934 – June 21, 2003) was a Canadian professional ice hockey coach, most notably in the NHL, where he served with eight teams in a checkered career. Known as Captain Video because of his technological contributi ...
sought to add variation to practices. After observing this, the coach of the
Czechoslovakia men's national ice hockey team,
Karel Gut
Karel Gut (16 September 1927 – 6 January 2014) was a Czech ice hockey player and coach, who later worked in sports management. He was born in Prague and later played in the Czechoslovak Extraliga. While Gut played soccer in his youth, he was ...
, took notes on the game and made modifications in order to apply it to a training system used in Czechoslovakia's university ice hockey teams.
Prior to the 1990s in Canada, the development of women's ice hockey had failed and growth stagnated. In Ontario where ringette was invented, there were only 101 female ice hockey teams existing in the province by 1976. By 1983, there were over 14,500 ringette players in Canada compared to only 5,379 female ice hockey players.
By 1990–91 there were still only 8,146. Female ice hockey only began to experience significant growth after it banned
body checking, which was mostly accomplished in Canada by 1986.
Following this, the expansion of female ice hockey in Canada was largely accomplished by aggressive recruiting from the ringette system.
Culture
Ringette remains one of the few organized sports worldwide where all of its elite athletes are female rather than male. Many women's sports are variants of male-dominated sports and are meant to serve as the female equivalent, rather than being sports developed for females. Canadian media and parts of the ringette community increasingly avoid calling ringette a girls' sport in spite of its heritage.
Although mixed teams have appeared, some have claimed that there is a
social stigma
Social stigma is the disapproval of, or discrimination against, an individual or group based on perceived characteristics that serve to distinguish them from other members of a society. Social stigmas are commonly related to culture, gender, ra ...
against males playing ringette.
In 2021,
CBC Radio
CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...
reported on the controversy of a teenage ringette goaltender who identified as male and who had competed in ringette in Quebec.
Popular culture
Canada Post
Canada Post Corporation (french: Société canadienne des postes), trading as Canada Post (french: Postes Canada), is a Crown corporation that functions as the primary postal operator in Canada. Originally known as Royal Mail Canada (the opera ...
issued four stamps in a series of sports with Canadian origins: ringette,
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
,
five-pin bowling
Five-pin bowling is a bowling variant which is played in Canada, where many bowling alleys offer it, either alone or in combination with ten-pin bowling. It was devised around 1909 by Thomas F. Ryan in Toronto, Ontario, at his Toronto Bowling Cl ...
and
lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...
.
The commemorative stamps were issued on August 10, 2009, and featured well-worn equipment used in each sport with a background line drawing of the appropriate playing surface.
The sport was featured on an episode of the children's show ''
Caillou
''Caillou'' () is a Canadian educational children's television series which aired on Teletoon (both English and French versions), with its first episode airing on the former channel on September 15, 1997; it later moved to Treehouse TV, with i ...
''.
Notables
International players
Finland
*
Susanna Tapani
Susanna "Suski" Tapani (born 2 March 1993) is a Finnish multi-sport elite athlete who competes in ice hockey, ringette, and in-line hockey. She is a member of the Finnish national ice hockey team and Finnish national ringette team.
Tapani i ...
– a ringette player, in-line hockey player and women's ice hockey player who has competed with the national team
*
Anna Vanhatalo – a retired ringette goalie who competed with the national team
* – a former member of the national team and a former player in the Canadian national ringette league who played for the BC Thunder
*
*
*
*
*
*
* – a national team member who stopped playing after receiving a six-month suspension for kicking a fallen opponent
*
Canada
*
Shelly Hruska – a
Metis
Metis or Métis may refer to:
Ethnic groups
* Métis, recognized Indigenous communities in Canada and America whose distinct culture and language emerged after early intermarriage between First Nations peoples and early European settlers, prima ...
ringette player who helped lead team Canada to two WRC victories
[Forsyth, J., & Giles, A.R. (Eds.). (2013). Aboriginal Peoples & Sport in Canada: Historical Foundations and Contemporary Issues. Vancouver, BC: UBC Press.]
*
Julie Blanchette
Julie Blanchette (born January 9, 1977, in Montreal, Quebec) is an elite level Canadian ringette player who has also worked as a trainer and coach and served as the captain of several ringette teams including Team Canada. Blanchette played for ...
– a former player for the
Montreal Mission in the National Ringette League, and a player, coach and trainer for the national team
*
*
Erin Cumpstone
*
Others
Notable in ringette is
Sam Jacks who created the sport, in addition with the help of
Red McCarthy
Mirl Arthur "Red" McCarthy (March 12, 1930 – 1995), was a Canadian sportsperson, sport and recreation administrator, ice hockey player, founder and co-inventor of the sport of ringette, and for a time, a barrel jumper.
Biography
Born in Stu ...
.
Juhani Wahlsten
Juhani Jorma Kalevi Wahlsten (13 January 19389 June 2019) was a Finnish professional ice hockey player and ice hockey coach who worked as an exercise and gymnastics teacher in Finland. He was also known by the nickname "Juuso". He also establishe ...
is notable for introducing ringette to Finland in the late 1970s.
Gallery
Ringuette 12 février 2012 120.jpg, Julie Blanchette
Julie Blanchette (born January 9, 1977, in Montreal, Quebec) is an elite level Canadian ringette player who has also worked as a trainer and coach and served as the captain of several ringette teams including Team Canada. Blanchette played for ...
, former Team Canada player
Ringuette 024.jpg, Stéphanie Séguin, former Team Canada player
Crashed Ice Québec 2011.jpg, (née Kyhälä), (second from right), former Team Finland player
Antero Kivelä Panini 1979.jpg, Antero Kivelä
Antero Simo Tapani Kivelä (born 26 December 1955) is a retired Finnish ice hockey goaltender. After his playing career, Kivelä coached several ice hockey, rinkball and ringette teams in Finland. Kivelä is also member of the city council in Po ...
, a former Team Finland ice hockey goalie coached in Finland's semi-pro ringette league,
See also
*
Further reading
* Collins, Kenneth Stewart (2004). The Ring Starts Here: An Illustrated History of Ringette.
* Hall, Margaret Ann (2016). The Girl and the Game: A History of Women's Sport in Canada. University of Toronto Press.
* Hall, Margaret Ann; Pfister, Gertrud. Honoring the Legacy: Fifty Years of the International Association of Physical Education and Sport for Girls and Women.
References
External links
Ringette Canada*
Ringette FinlandRingette SlovakiaCzech Ringette*
Turku Ringette History
{{Women's sports
Women's team sports
Ice skating sports
Team sports
Women's sports
History of women's sports
Rivalry in women's sports
Semi-professional sports
Semi-professional sports leagues
Ice rinks
Stick sports
Sports originating in Canada
Sport in North Bay, Ontario
Games and sports introduced in 1963